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Tamiya 1/24 Sports Car Series
No. 231 |
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| Last Update: 09/29/01 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Injection plastic curbside kit | |||||||||||||||||||
| Manufacturer : | Tamiya http://www.tamiya.com |
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| Scale : | 1/24 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Number of Parts : | 57 plastic parts, 4 rubber tires masking sheet, decal, metal axis metal transfer |
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| Date of Purchase : | April 11, 1999 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Paid Price : | 1800 yen retail | ||||||||||||||||||
| About the Real Car | |||||||||||||||||||
| The three time WRC champion, Impreza entirely
changed the image of Subaru, and the sales of the street version has been
very strong not only in Japan but also in the world where the car is
available. Small, agile and powerful, it has an ideal packaging to
be a pocket rocket for youngsters, who don't necessarily have a big wallet
to afford a sports car and insurance. Performance of the WRX nearly
reaches that of the sports cars, that would cost 2 million yen more than
the WRX. And
the WRX is actually faster than the NSX or Corvette on the mountain path
or in short circuits, where top speed (i.e. engine power) is less
significant. The Impreza WRX is one of very few Japanese cars, that
gives the owner a pride and status of ownership. Having an advantage of living in Tokyo, I had a chance to take a test drive of so called New Age Impreza WRX STi version, when I was choosing a car for my father. It was a short trip, but I had a pleasant experience. The car felt slow at low engine speed, but once it reached 4000 rpm, the engine slowly started showing its true potential of 280 HP boxer four, and when it exceeded 6000 rpm, I felt a strong power, and the seat pushed my back hard. Passing acceleration was great, and the roar of the engine sounded nothing like the inline or V. Suspension was very stiff, and I could even feel the small bumps through my backside. While I said, "This isn't a comfortable car to drive," I imagined the car clearing an S curve on a track with a very stable manner. Obviously, I had a smile on my face. The previous generation WRX was exported only to a few selected countries, having made the U.S. enthusiast frustrated so bad, but the latest version, is available in the U.S. Of course, Japan gets the privilege of having the STi, and UK has its own special version, called the UK300, which looks good. For more information on Impreza WRX, there is an official web site in English. http://www.imprezawrx.com/wrx.htm |
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| About the Kit | |||||||||||||||||||
I called the kit near promo quality when I reviewed the Shizuoka show. The kit is not as detailed as Tamiya's usual offerings, and even suspension details are molded with the chassis. Front wheels are not posable either. This is due to the fact that Tamiya is marketing the kit to not only the full time modelers, but also beginners and part time modelers, who don't spend too much time on modeling. The owners of the real Impreza are also the target buyers. Tamiya is trying a different approach to bring more people to modeling, and the Impreza is designed to carry out the task. So, this doesn't mean that all Tamiya kit will be like this, and they say they will continue making detailed kits according to the subject. |
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