As some of you know, and others are about to find out, I owned a Golf GTI. It was fine, except for that whole, mk6 timing chain guide and tensioner issue that cost me a cool $2k. But before I pulled the trigger on the VW, I was looking hard at Focus STs. They were different than the ubiquitous GTI, they were something entirely new. But I couldn’t find one in my price range that wasn’t a basket case, so I signed my life away for a year of German car ownership.
Thankfully, someone I happen to know owns a Focus ST, and is pretty stoked on this whole CAM thing, so I got to see what I had missed out on. That person is Ashton, and he’s my girlfriend’s cousin. He also has The Disease, so I got to drive an ST that was pretty close to what I probably would’ve done.
The car is pretty simple, and what you would expect from a Youth who 1: knows his ass from a hole in the ground, and 2: is operating on a budget. Firstly, he snagged a good deal on a good car. The car was stock, and driven to and from work by some dude. Dude happened to live in the Salt Lake Valley, and work in Logan, but that’s neither here nor there. It was well maintained, and a good platform to build upon.
Power adders are pretty simple: intake and catback, downpipe, and an AccessPort with a hot tune on there. The car makes all the right noises, and doesn’t run rough or weird. Again, this is what happens when you’re not an idiot.
The car is riding on BC coilovers, which are a fine set of coilovers. Hell, all the cool kids are on BCs. However, I’m old and washed compared to Ashton, and those BCs can be mighty stiff. Ashton has his set to “mighty stiff”, and East Canyon hammered that home. He was also riding on a set of Riken Raptor tires. These are the tires my brother had on his gold Altima that he named Hazel, because she was a Golden Girl.
My brother was also in college at the time, so naturally they were incredibly cheap. Little has changed since my brother bought them for his Altima, they’re not great tires. Thankfully Ashton knows this, and is only rocking the Rikens because they were pretty much brand new when he picked up his STRs.
Yes, he’s on reps. Get over it. They look good, and survived a day of driving East Canyon with my dumb ass behind the wheel.
So, what was it like taking a peek into the well of what could’ve been? It was interesting. The interior wasn’t as bad as people said, but the push to start made me forget a crucial step in starting a car with a manual: you gotta step on the clutch. Visibility was good, and the wheel felt good in my hands. It went where I wanted it to go, and I never felt like I was lacking for power. Would I have been happier with an ST, or kept it longer than a year? Who knows! But now I’m not not looking at them.
Big thanks to Ashton for waking up in a Sunday morning, making the drive, and letting me burn damn near all of his gas.
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What makes a cool car? I heard someone say that “the scene” considers a car cool if it’s lowered and has wheels on it. Others think cool is a full on race build, with street legality and budgets thrown in the trash with the stock struts. And others think if it isn’t adorned with the rarest of the rare it’s a waste of time. And it has to be daily driven, or else why build it? David Arellano’s 2000 Subaru Impreza 2.5RS is low, and on a rare set of wheels. It has the heart of a WRX, and enough power to embarrass some people’s dedicated track day toy. And it sees regular street duty. If this isn’t cool, then I don’t know what is anymore.
The search for his “Gumball” began three years ago. While biting into a sandwich, he was bitten by the urge to spend a large amount of money on a car. After mulling over such reliable, and easily modified chassis such as FD RX-7s and twin turbo 300ZXs, David finally settled on the mildly rare 2.5RS coupe. After looking at two other coupes he finally found the 2000 coupe you see here sitting in the corner of a shop. The shop was in the process of building the car, and swapping in a 2.0L WRX motor. With the promise of “prototype” coilovers, David was sold. After some hemming and hawing by the shop, they finally dropped it off in David’s driveway. No coilovers, but some blown struts and what would turn out to be a mismatched transmission and rear differential were in the car (which eventually failed), but so was that lovely WRX motor. Soon after arriving in his driveway, David got to work making this car his own.
First things to go were the US spec lights. David made a call to Japan and had some OEM clear corner markers and red/clear tail lights sent over, along with some Chargespeed clear bumper markers and clear signal lenses. With the scourge that is amber lighting removed and banished to the land of wind and ghosts, it was time to address some other visual cues. After running through a Bugeye WRX lip, and a Bakemono replica of a JDM V5/6 STi lip, David finally settled on something that is no longer in production: Orciari 1 piece front lip. Sitting above the Italian made lip, are his OEM fog lights which were hiding behind the OEM fog light covers. Out back there’s a purple Rallytech tow hook, and a set of Honda Accord spats. According to David they were easier to install than his OEM JDM spats, and they look better. He’s also sporting rolled and pulled fenders, because low car problems (the tires were munching the fenders before the rolling and the pulling) and also because wheel whore.
I use that last term lightly. Having a garage full of Rotas and other OEM whatever make you drive wheels, makes you a wheel street walking hooker. Having the stuff David has had makes you a wheel high class escort. The streets aren’t littered with Volk CE28Ns or Work Emotion 11Rs, and coming across a set of Volk C-Ultras isn’t as easy as walking to the store. He’s had the CE28Ns and the Works, and the C-Ultras are being repaired (they were in pretty rough shape) and custom center caps are being designed. Enough about the past and the future, let’s talk about the present. Specifically these 17×9 +38 Desmond Regamaster Marquis Promadas. An exceedingly rare, Russian made wheel. Normally you see Regamasters on Hondas, and while that’s not terribly unusual (but still cool, so if you’re doing that keep doing that) seeing them on a Subaru is VERY different. Wrapped around the wheels are a set of Achillies ATR Sport tires, measuring in at 205/40. Also of note, he’s running some adapters to make the wheels work. They’re 15mm 5×100-5×114, and they’re made by a local company called Grapple Parts.
To achieve his stance David had to not only throw on coilovers, but things that allow him to make suspension adjustments. The coilovers are BC Racing BR series coilovers with camber plates fore and aft. For more camber adjustment, he is employing OEM camber bolts up front, and Eibach’s in the rear. Joining the OEM camber bolts in the front is an OEM WRX swaybar, while an STi sway bar joins the party in the rear. Also back there are some Cobb end links. Back to the front, and in the engine bay, is a Cusco Type ST strut tower bar. And speaking of the engine bay…
Here it is, in all its glory! There is the afore mentioned WRX swap, which came from a 2004 WRX. No longer is the wrong transmission behind the motor, a 2006 WRX transmission has taken its rightful place on the back end of the motor. Between the motor and transmission rests an Exedy light weight fly wheel, and stage 1 clutch. For enhanced shifting pleasure there are Kartboy shifter bushings, and a stainless steel clutch cable has been installed. Holding the transmission is a STi Group N mount. Rigged Performance performed an internal stub axle conversion and a 2001 2.5RS 4.11 final drive conversion to pair with the 2001 2.5RS viscous limited slip differential. Bracing that rear differential is a Laile Beatrush rear differential brace.
The motor has been hepped up on goof balls accentuated by digging through the massive Subaru parts bin, and picking up quality aftermarket pieces. The OEM supplied parts are a VF39 turbocharger, top mount intercooler, and 565CC fuel injectors all from an STi. The aftermarket bits are a K&N Typhoon intake, a no name one piece header and up pipe, an Invidia Bellmouth downpipe, and a Cobb cat back exhaust. There’s also a Hallman Pro manual boost controller, which helped Jason Cleverly of Cleverly Tuned tune the car to make 286 horsepower and 240lb/ft of torque at 18psi of boost. Prettying up the bay are a Cusco turbo heat shield, Rallytech fuse box cover and radiator shroud, and a Beatrush alternator shroud. The engine bay has been semi-wire tucked, and the battery is now in the trunk. The coolant reservoir is now hiding in the fender and the A/C has been ditched all together.
The interior has also received its share of JDM goodies. JDM STi pedals and Type-RA front seats have been installed, along with a Nardi Torino steering wheel, Splash steering wheel hub and Omori boost gauge. The Beatrush Duracon shift knob sits on a stock length shifter, which has a Zealous Interiors blue suede shift boot with cherry blossom red stitching. The shift boot matches the emergency brake boot. Black WRX carpet and STi floor mats have come to rest at the bottom of the passenger cabin, and the door panels have been recovered in blue suede. All the lighting is LED, and tunes come courtesy of an Alpine deck, which has an ipod cable weaving out of sight through the center console.
Former Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart is famously quoted as saying “I know it when I see it” in regard to hardcore pornography. Cool is definitely subjective, but when you see it, you definitely know it. Will there be a unanimous consensus on what is cool in the automotive world? Probably not, but if there is ever an argument to be made for it, I shall submit David’s Impreza as my exhibit A.
Words and photos by Michael Chandler
*Article and Photos are copyright of CAMAutoMag.Com and their respective owners.
