Toyota Altezzas have become common and popular around Uganda especially because of their awesome look, design and speed. Subarus on the other hand have been around for as long as can be remembered and have of infamy for their noise and speed.
The hottest debate on most lips now is which is the fastest? With Altezza loyalists pitting for the Altezza and similarly the Subaru fans for the Subaru. Read on, you might discover the answer to this long battle.
To understand the verdict, we have to understand both car variants. The Toyota Altezzas were first made in 1998 as sports and luxury cars and stopped being made in 2005 as they were shifted over formally to the Lexus IS line.
The Altezza sedans and the station wagon “Gitta”, are in 3 models based on the engine, the AS200 (2.0L), RS200 (2.0L) and AS300 (3.0L). In Uganda the most common are the AS200 and some few RS200, coming across an AS300 is quite rare.
Subarus has several car types but our focus will be on the key popular sports/rally ones such as the Forester, Outback, Legacy and most profoundly the brand flag bearer, the Imprezza.
Back to our comparison, the Altezza AS200 Automatic which is most common in Uganda with Beams engine and stock, no customizations especially the 1998 model has upto 160bhp. The manual has a 6-speed and the auto a 4-speed gear box.
On average a normal Altezza will go from 0-100kmh in 7 seconds and some models reach it in 7.5 seconds.
Most Subaru Forester models in Uganda use petrol engines like the Altezza and are about 2.0L or less. Most of the tested models reach 0-100kmh in 9.9 – 10.6 seconds with the exception of the XT which will reach the same speed in 7.5 seconds.
The Subaru Legacy models in Uganda are between the year 1998 – 2004 especially the RX Sedan, B4, the 2.0 GT wagon and some few in the recent years up to 2015. They range between 2.0L – 3.5L, most common being 2.0L.
Most of the Legacy’s reach 0-100kmh in less than 5 – 5.57 seconds for the manual and 5.8 seconds automatic. In Uganda the B4 and GT wagons are most popular and majority are automatic.
The Subaru Imprezza has multiple versions and we won’t get in details about all of them however the base plain Imprezza will hit 0-100kmh in an average of 7.8 seconds, the Imprezza WRX will reach the same speed in an average of 5.6 seconds and the Imprezza WRX STi will reach that speed in 4.7 seconds.
Verdict: The Altezza is no doubt faster than the Subaru Forester and will accelerate and start faster than the Subaru B4 and Imprezza however, the Subaru B4 and Imprezza will beat the Altezza by far in a matter of seconds.
However, there are many important factors to always remember. Sometimes speed will depend on the driver, experience, service and shape of the car, custom upgrades and tuning, road type, stability, weight and so much more.
For instance, an Altezza will seem to have much better handling because it has power steering and is lighter at lower speeds, but during extreme speeds it is wobbly and might lose control compared to the Subaru Imprezza and Legacy with enough weight and handling.
The Altezza also relies greatly on RWD (Rare Wheel Drive) compared with the Subaru’s AWD full time 4WD (4 Wheel Drive) which comes pretty much in handy on rough terrain plus the suspensions built for racing and rally speed unlike Altezza built for luxury.
Have you tested out any of these cars and would like to weigh in? Please leave us a comment.
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