What Subaru to choose (WRX, RS or Legacy) ?

wrote in message

> Hi there,
>
> I drove a non-turbo Subaru Impreza, and I was impressed with its
> handling and acceleration. I would like to buy a few-years old Subaru.
> The question is, which one. In the beginning, I wanted an Impreza WRX
> because it had a turbo and allegedly provided loads of fun. On the
> second thought, I realised that I am not that young anymore, and I do
> not value the acceleration capability of a car as much as I value
> getting pleasure from handling the car. The best handling, I heard, is
> provided by BMW, and the model 325 was named most often. German card
> are expensive in here, but I heard that Subaru is the one out of the
> Japanese makers which manufactures the cars most resembling German cars
> in handling.
>
> At the moment, I am thinking about:
>
> Impreza WRX -- 2L or 2.5L turbo
> Impreza RS -- 2.5L
> Legacy/Liberty -- 2.5L or 3L
>
> It occurs to me that RS should be almost as good as WRX only
> accelerating slower, but still with more grunt than I normally need.
> Compared with the plain RX version, the RS has larger wheels, and a
> larger engine (2.5L vs 2L). RS has its engine from Legacy, and thus it
> has less torque at mid-range revs, but more torque at low revs than RX.
> I wonder if this makes handling RS more pleasureable compared with
> handling the RX. And generally, I wonder if RS handles better than
> plain RX.
>
> My other thought was to "grow up" and get a larger car, a Legacy. It is
> larger than Impreza and thus it occurs to me it might be less
> maneurable. Is the pleasure from driving Legacy better than from
> Impreza ? People say that Legacy with 2L is a slug, so they strongly
> recommend a 2.5-L engine. I wonder if the 3L engine is a must ?
>
> My last thought was that perhaps the differences in driving RS or RX or
> Legacy were marginal, and thus I just might have a cheaper option of RX
> and be happy with it.
>
> Thanks in advance. I guess I would like to have some pointers before I
> start taking the cars for test drive.
>
> D.
>
This advise is from a Subaru owner who also has a Porsche. Get the Beemer!
While the WRX may be fun to drive, there's a reason BMW is always on
everybody's top 10 list. You only live once.