I just bought a brand new 2011 impreza 5MT camilla red pearl base model. Hopefully I'm not being a noob here but has anyone else driven one of these and though that the suspension is abnormally soft and rolly? The particularly concerning point is that it doesn't feel very confident at reasonable highway speed. I can definitely hand a bit of softness, but for example it kind of oddly (and unevenly) body rolls on turns on the highway when there are medium size bumps in the road. I'm coming from a suzuki aerio sx, which seemed to have a decent suspension for an econobox, and then later my Uglacy: (with 250,000 and new suspension didn't feel like that) http://mnsubaru.com/forums/showthre...-backfiring-chariot-of-DOOM!?highlight=uglacy Let me know if you think I'm crazy.
The regular Impreza is going to be pretty soft compared to a WRX. And the WRX is pretty soft compared to the STI. Larger sway bars will help you significantly. ~Dan
Dan is absolutely correct here. The wrx in 08 is softer but they made it's different 09..... I think they made it 45 percent stiffer. I know that the base impreza has a softer suspension and 08 wrx. I agree that a good set of sway bars and end links would help you. Check out 3Gwrx.com in the suspension and handling forum, there is a good sticky thread about the sway bars that are out on the market right now. There also a couple other threads with polls on what people like and what they wish they would of picked up. I've been reading up on it quite a bit because I think I wanna pick some up for my 09 WRX.
Are you running snow tires? They can make your car feel a bit "all over the place" on the highway. I noticed this in my si sedan which had Blizzaks but in my WRX which has a less performance oriented snow tire it's pretty bad. Just a thought.
Thanks for the feedback guys, I'm not running snow tires. Maybe a whiteline anti-lift kit or some other minor upgrades would solve most of it. BTW, you guys are right about the WRX, my mom just bought an 2011 hatch and it's obviously completely different. I'll have to see how much different it is at highway speeds with decent bumps on corners.
Yep, stock Impreza suspension is pretty soft. The bushings are too. Subaru's pretty set on building soft, squishy cars. It's great for comfort, but it's unnerving from a performance standpoint. There's simply a lot of mush, roll, isolation, lack of feel, body movement, etc. that really doesn't have to be there. I like driving tight, precise cars. Some manufacturers build their cars pretty sporty stock. Some don't. Subaru is on the don't side of things. You have to build it yourself.
I had the same feeling with my 09 impreza, I looked over the car a little and there was NO rear sway bar, so I threw on one for a wrx and problem solved! Infinitely less body roll then the car had originally, cost about $90 because the part was used but they usually run about $120
bahhh..... enjoy the nice soft ride. Hop into one of the members cars with full-on coilovers and low-pro tires... then you'll want to go not touch your car at all. [Dom's F&F voice] ....let's go for a little ride.... [/Dom's F&F voice]
Yeah, uh just got under my car and NO REAR SWAY BARS, I couldn't believe burtonboy00 but holy crap wow. Just Wow. I didn't think it was possible to buy a reasonably good new car and not get rear sway bars, the 95 UGLACY had them. I guess I'm going to look for one, anyone selling any used compatible ones? I'm ready to buy right away.
Yeah I couldn't believe it either, I talked to someone else about the issue originally and they said that Morries Minnetonka Subaru has had some stuff stolen off cars on their lot before, but this confirms that they come like that from the factory for some unexplainable reason
love the soft ride, don't hate. Daily drive my oh four sti and have put 70k on it in about 3.5 years and am starting to get tired of it....every day. maybe im getting old... good luck making it stiff (lol)
