well these aren't rock crawlers, but they are mine
 

the daily driver 2018 STI, she sees the snow, rain, dirt and everything inbetween

https://i.imgur.com/dAq1VLs.jpeg
https://i.imgur.com/pq2QUEl.jpeg

Re: well these aren't rock crawlers, but they are mine
 

one of my fun cars, my 1987 RX-7 Sport

Full bridgeport, 5-lug, turboII brakes,BBS, BC, etc etc
2nd owner of this car

https://i.imgur.com/VfwwkAQ.jpeg

Re: well these aren't rock crawlers, but they are mine
 

last but not least, my 1988 mazda 323 GTX

super rare car, 1.6L turbo 4 cyl, AWD with a locking center dif. Mazda's rally car of the late 80's

https://i.imgur.com/OBlkLP4.jpeg

Re: well these aren't rock crawlers, but they are mine
 

Scrolled right past the Subie, but spent some time on those Mazda's! Very nice!!

We are a Mazda family too having owned several Miata's, a 3 and a 6 - all stick, and all fun.

Re: well these aren't rock crawlers, but they are mine
 

Never seen that version of the 323. Can't be many of those left! As a sucker for 80's Japanese oddballs I heavily dig it.

Re: well these aren't rock crawlers, but they are mine
 

dont worry, i overlook the subie myself, she's just the daily/winter car lol

I never really thought about it but i guess i'm a mazda guy mostly myself

couple protege5's, 4 rx-7's and the 323. problem? nah!

Re: well these aren't rock crawlers, but they are mine
 

there was about 1200 of them brought to the US, most were probably used for rally builds or crashed on some backroad. the rest were pulled apart to give donor transmissions to cars that needed it, long story short, there are VERY few of these around anymore. its such a super oddball car and much fun to drive. surprisingly it gets a lot of people that ask what it is because they've never seen one, or they think its the base model 323 which was everywhere in the 80's. when you explain it to them, about 50% go "OH I've never seen one in person!"

Re: well these aren't rock crawlers, but they are mine
 

ill never forgive subaru for using a toyota as a base for the sti the worst idea subaru ever had i dont even want to sit in one again so uncomfortable in every way shape and form no matter what seat your in it lost everything that made it cool now its just another cropy yota
they even drive like a fliping toy

ill take a old roo over a new toybaro anyday

the 323 is realy cool though i tryed to buy one along time ago the normal one but it dident happen they have a realy cool look to them
they look alot better than there ford branded counterpart the escort

Re: well these aren't rock crawlers, but they are mine
 

so little interesting fact about the sti is it is still on the old subaru chassis(2015 chassis), you cant tell from the outside but it isn't on the global chassis like the toyobaru and others. one little perk of getting the STi over the wrx. iirc the 2022 is the first year that is going on the new chassis for the STi model. that being said, having owned a 2004 STi back when it was new also. i'd take the 2004 over my 2018 any day. point i'm trying to make it, dont listen to the internet, most of them dont actually know first hand what they are talking about

as far as seating goes, the old 2004's seats were horrible after about 30 mins in them, they were super hard and always made your legs fall asleep, the current sti i've driven 8 hours without issue, so i'm not sure what problems you had with it, though i've never been a passenger or in the back seat so i have no experience there.

on the toyobaru chassis conversation, i also owned a 2013 FR-S for about 3 or 4 years and daily drove it through all of it(winters in buffalo were fun in that but there was no way i was taking my S2000 out over the frs) i dont get the hate on them. it is an amazingly fun car to drive speed or not. maybe i'm just used to "fun" cars and not fast cars, who knows


as for the 323, i'm in the opposite situation, i've never came across a normal 323 and in fact this is the only 323 in general i've seen in my life lol. an exes father had it as it was in their family since new. I made it VERY clear to him that IF he ever wanted to get rid of it, i was the guy to give it a good home, he called one day and i couldn't say yes fast enough :)

Re: well these aren't rock crawlers, but they are mine
 

Even as a “professional” technician I’ve only driven maybe a couple of what I would consider fast cars. I don’t think a lot of people realize how much of a handful, and how sketchy driving a fast car can be.

On the flip side, driving a slow car fast can be some of the most fun you can have on the road.

I would much prefer a ‘15+ sti/wrx over my 2002 wrx any day. It’s not much fun knowing you’re about as fast as a fusion hybrid.

Nice collection of cars!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Re: well these aren't rock crawlers, but they are mine
 

for sure, i agree. i've driven a few pretty fast cars and they were all pretty sketchy. they were experiences, but not fun

and yea, i agree on the 2002 wrx. it was a hell of a time though back in 2005 when i got my 2004 sti, it was one of the faster cars you'd see on the road on any given day, bone stock. hell of a time to be in my early 20's(dont do the math). today that scale is tipped a bit for cars like the 220hp wrx(i think thats what the 2002's were at) these days almost everything is north of 250hp

thank you on the collection, i've been lucky to have been able to own a bunch of different fun cars over the years, wouldn't trade it for anything. i'm on my 4th rx-7 and i dont consider it a problem....yet lol!

Re: well these aren't rock crawlers, but they are mine
 

subarus started using carrolas for the wrx and the sti back in 2011

the damb thing even came frome the factory with a damb toyota branded radio what a con job thats was anyway i love my 91 with true 4wd tcase with lowrange its a beast not many 2 door panel wagons running around with 5" lift tube fenders and a winch bumper sliders and a roof rack out there

but i daily at 2000 imp outback sport with 3" lift and bigger tires but the bad boy is the 98 ob sittin on 32s its still a work in progress though im trying to decide if i want to run the subaru tcase or a aftermarket one or go all out and use a brz and a divorced tcase i have a set of solid axles to if i decide to go that route

ive got other rigs to but thats just my roos and thats not counting the 2001 forester or the 93 loyale

Re: well these aren't rock crawlers, but they are mine
 

After several beater used cars (one example - my $600 1970 AMC Ambassador sedan, same car as used for the cop cars in the Dukes of Hazzard TV series), my first new car was a stripper model 323 hatch that may have been the same exact year as that GTX - an automatic, to boot. Pretty mild-mannered with no turbo (and FWD)... ;-)

Later on when I had a much better paying job, I went the opposite direction and picked up a new 5-speed '95 Protege (which is really just a name change for a refreshed 323) - the rare North American ES model that came with the Miata (NA)'s 1.8-liter twin-cam engine (though the internals were not entirely the same), all-wheel disc brakes, and dual stabilizer bars.

I got some Koenig J-Spec 14x6 alloys for it and wrapped them with Dunlop 205/60 tires - my favorite handling car ever. Wish I still had it. It had a few less HP than a Miata, but a bit more torque, to deal with the weight increase.

Re: well these aren't rock crawlers, but they are mine
 

that is AWESOME to hear! my second car was a 2003 protege5(i also bought a 2002 a year later as a winter beater) i would always look up and lust over the models we didn't get like the 323F which came AWD, which led me to find the 323 gtx and i always wanted one from that day on. it was just fate that this one literally landed in my lap. my GF at the time had driven it to my house one day as her dad had her car for some unknown reason. i was dumbfounded that she pulled up in a GTX and actually knew what it was also.

the gtx is just an experience to drive, for a car that really isn't that "fast" it sure packs a lot of fun, makes all the right turbo noises, man the 80's were a hell of a time

Re: well these aren't rock crawlers, but they are mine
 

i know i read somewhere back when i was looking at the 2018 where the chassis was different somehow to the normal imprezas and such, i cant remember the details but i remember it saying it isn't the new chassis. but anyway, like i said, this is my daily driver. it goes to the store, to work and wherever else i need to get, the other cars are the ones i actually care about. if i had to get rid of one, it would be the STi

Re: well these aren't rock crawlers, but they are mine
 

toyotas are good cars just not for me
i got to say though if i had a choice between your sti and a mini van i would probably drive the sti
when toyota took over subaru they cut corners to make more profit once toyota letgo of the controling share of fuju heavy industries subaru got some control back but by then they already pissed of alot of there loyal customers
maybe when they bring back the duel range tcases i might look at another one but for now ill stick to the older ones