Thanks for all your comments. It's a bit of a change for us going back to lightweight RWD but such fun! I miss the turbo shove from the wagon, but you can have great fun with this car at 30mph.
It's 1220kg and you can feel immediate pickup when you touch the throttle, even in 6th gear, because the direct injection delivers same torque from 2800 revs as above 4000. Quite unexpected. So although there is not much torque as standard, it is very efficiently delivered. So keeping to 4k revs for first 1000 miles-ish is not going to be the pain I thought it would be. Redline is at 7400 and the car was surprisingly lively on the test drives.
Half the weight of the car is at or below knee level, thanks mainly to the Subaru boxer, and you sit very low in the car, so it feels fast whatever you do. It exceeds my expectations. You can see how low the car is.
Thanks to Ron for taking us over to collect it in his new car!!
Exhaust is very quiet though, and has been suggested, a Milltek should provide more boxer warble. A group of owners are arranging an exhaust meet soon, so I will be able to experience different systems.
I can't believe how much tuning stuff is available for these cars already, even in the UK. Litchfield are doing amazing stuff as James pointed out, and I am already in contact with Abbey Motorsport in Surrey, who have invited me up to test drive their test mule in a week or so. I wonder where that will lead..............
