Hi all,

 

...Haven't posted since 2008... now I'm a Subie owner again! The question, however has to do with my Dad's 2006 Impreza SW M/T (1.6L stock engine as sold in my country). The car is fine except when driving uphill (very common in my country) with passengers, getting rather sluggish, even with the LO Range engaged... In addition, ground clearance is very poor and the car tends to hit the ground -especially front fender- when fully loaded. Now, what could I do to improve (on a budget) both power and/or torque as well as ground clearance (taller tires?, or?). Thank you in advance.

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2006 1.6L M/T Impreza SW: Dad's latest acquisition

1993 2.0L M/T Legacy SW: My own current ride

1991 2.2L M/T Legacy Sedan: Owned it between 2005 - 2008

1981 1.8L M/T GL SW: 1988 - 1998 (car in which I learned to drive).

If you want more power, you're going to have to just settle with getting a turbocharged Subaru. Most of what I've read here is that it is not worth trying to upgrade the naturally-aspirated EJ, you will get only minimal gains.

 

Also, if you want to improve ground clearance, you could either install strut blocks, or just get a Forester/Outback. The Forester and Outback are lifted from the factory. But if you want that extra torque, you'll have to get the turbocharged versions of those. From what I know, it seems most of the markets use the "XT" to identify a turbocharged Forester or Outback.

 

I would believe it is probably a Subaru Forester 2.0 XT is what you would want.

 

 

As for sticking to the Impreza, I've heard that getting upgraded camshafts is probably your biggest upgrade. Lift blocks for the struts, you can make yourself or buy from Subaru lift-kit manufacturers.

It might be difficult for the USA members to offer meaningful advice, as I doubt that most of us have much knowledge about what is available in Columbia.

 

I do see from your list of current vehicles that 2.0L and 2.2L engines are at least available. A swap of an EJ20 or EJ22 might be a good choice. Since this is a recent model, do you wish to make that big of a change?