redwagon do you still drive Impreza?
I have look (over internet as I am still at state side) for previous generation Impreza WRX wagon. (this is mine: cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayI … 702wt_1084) and have not seen such models in Taiwan yet. And my 5 trips to Taiwan have not seem them either. Are they not popular? Too expensive? or what?
Thanks
[quote=“feropont”]redwagon do you still drive Impreza?
I have look (over internet as I am still at state side) for previous generation Impreza WRX wagon. (this is mine: cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayI … 702wt_1084) and have not seen such models in Taiwan yet. And my 5 trips to Taiwan have not seem them either. Are they not popular? Too expensive? or what?
Thanks[/quote]
Redwagon still drives an Impreza, but not the one referred to in this tire thread. Bugeye wagons are rare in Taiwan and I’ve only ever seen one. There are a few more bugeye sedans. After TaChing stopped manufacturing Subarus in Taiwan, they became an import product(from Japan) and their price went up compared to the locally made units. The higher prices, quota limits and EPA regulations affected the number of imports from '03 and up. Small batches of WRX sedans and wagons were imported (by Subaru) over the years and they tend to be in two types of condition; either totally modded and about to blow up or pampered by proud owners who won’t sell their cars. As of the new GR and GH body type, Subaru of Taiwan has sold a fair amount more of GRB STis (around 60 units) than new GHB WRXs (around 25 units).
Subarus are not popular because they are not run-of-the-mill cookie cutter cars like what every other person drives here. Toyota, Honda, Nissan and Mazda have the boring market well covered with their limited product lines (mostly locally assembled). It’s the boring market or the super inflated European import market for those with more money than sense…And since Subaru does little promotion and attempts at marketing themselves, the local buyers just don’t know it exists…
anyways, back on topic…
Don’t buy Costco PP2s made in Thailand.
[quote=“feropont”]redwagon do you still drive Impreza?
I have look (over internet as I am still at state side) for previous generation Impreza WRX wagon. (this is mine: cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayI … 702wt_1084) and have not seen such models in Taiwan yet. And my 5 trips to Taiwan have not seem them either. Are they not popular? Too expensive? or what?
Thanks[/quote]
Yes, I still have an Impreza, though I sold my GF body wagon (1st generation, before yours) and bought a new 2008 GH8.
The 2002 models are not common at all here and AFAIK they are all sedans. I don’t know what the total sales figure was but I guess it’s under 200 units for that body.
Subaru used to have an assembly plant here until 2000 when they went bust. There were some leftovers on the market until 2001, GC and GF bodies. In 2002 Subaru of Taiwan was created and carried on with imported models but the market was used to the local prices and it was a hard sell. You could buy a locally built Impreza GT (WRX) for NT$900,XXX in 2001, but in 2002 the new bugeye was imported from Japan and cost over NT$1.2m for the WRX. As Cap’n Stag mentions, that put a lot of buyers off. Sales volume dropped into the range of around a hundred a year and has stayed there ever since.
AFAIK there were a few more 5-door Imprezas imported in 2006/7 when the 2.5 liter engine was added to the WRX, but they are still not very common. If you want a 5-door turbo Subaru of that vintage you will have better luck finding a Forester XT.