2000 Subaru Impreza P1

Built at Subaru's Fuji Heavy Industries plant in Japan and honed by rally 'royalty', Prodrive, the Impreza P1 was always destined to become the hugely desirable modern classic that we rightfully see it as today. Built in a limited run of just 1,000 cars, every one featured the iconic Blue Mica paintwork, Anthracite 17" OZ racing wheels and a plethora of upgrades and unique features. It's easy to see why the P1 has gained such a cult following.

Based on the two-door bodyshell, with the aerodynamics enhanced by Peter Stevens of McLaren F1 fame, beefier running gear and a fabulous suspension setup by Prodrive, the P1 has more in common with the legendary Impreza 22B than its larger four-door Impreza WRX contemporaries. Developed with British B-roads in mind, by the very same company which helped the likes of Colin McRae, Richard Burns and Petter Solberg win World Rally Championships, the ‘Prodrive One’ was intended to counter the wave of ‘grey import’ STI Type Rs coming from Japan.

The upgrades to the P1 were extensive, but not intrusive. The list includes a more powerful 280bhp engine (up 69bhp from a standard Impreza Turbo), mated to a 5-speed manual transmission with longer gearing and ABS brakes. Further upgrades include a big-bore exhaust, quick-shift gear linkage, 17" titanium-finish alloy wheels and a rally-proven suspension set-up. With the sprint from 0-60 taking just 4.66 seconds, the P1 certainly has the bite to match the bark.

The car offered here is #429/1,000 and was first registered on 16th June 2000. This P1 presents very well in (seldom seen) standard specification and has covered just 1,000 miles in the last nine years, being professionally stored in the meantime, and almost exclusively being brought out just for MOT testing. It has only covered 63,200 miles, and has recently been subjected to a full recommissioning service to ensure it is up to standard, MOT’d and ready to go. As is normal with cars being stored for extended periods of time, there are patches missing in the car's history as it simply didn’t move, so had nothing spent on it. Nevertheless, the history file includes a plethora of past invoices and the service book is stamped in line with usage throughout the car's life.

With soaring prices of Japanese domestic-market cars, and 22Bs heading well north of £100,000 in recent years, this very smart, standard, useable P1 seems exceptionally good value in comparison, and is ready to carry on doing the things that Imprezas do best, taking on any B-road in sight.