The Subaru Impreza seems to epitomise modern rally cars, especially in the eyes of slotcar makers! Just about every major manufacturer makes several versions of the Imprezza, usually in the familiar blue and yellow livery. This recent release from SCX shows the car campaigned by Valentino Rossi in the 2006 New Zealand rally.

We've come to expect high standards of appearance from modern slot cars and SCX don't disappoint. The car is crisply modelled with no visible flaws or mould lines. The body shell looks accurate and neatly detailed. The paint is flawless, deep and gleaming, matched by crisp, solid tampo-printing - even down to the tiny Subaru badge on the front grille. 

Fit and finish of detail parts is equally good. The glazing is flush-fitting and looks neat and convincing, as do the head and tail lights. The mirrors are integral parts of the car and can't be removed. The rear wing is a nice solid item that looks like it will stand up to the inevitable knocks but the aerials aren't particularly flexible and could be vulnerable.

The interior is a shallow tray. Driver and navigator are present from mid-chest up, the driver with both hands on the wheel while the navigator studies his notes. Both figures have painted and detailed crash helmets, including microphones. A spare wheel is moulded in behind their seat, painted to match the working wheels. A blue roll cage completes the interior.

The chassis, as you'd expect for a rally car, is set up with 4WD. The motor is labelled as a RX81B, rated at 19,000 rpm. Power is delivered to the motor with SCX's usual metal strips and quick-fit guide. The motor is mounted towards the rear of the car and drives both axles via 9:27 gearing. The rear axle runs in metal bearings which are a good fit on the axle but the front axle bearings are plastic and a fairly loose fit. The magnet is medium strength, fitted in an adjustable holder between the motor and rear axle. Front and rear lights are fitted with the light circuit is mounted entirely in the body. 

The body and chassis are held together by 5 long screws - two at the front, two in the middle and one at the back. I discarded the middle two as unnecessary.

SCX cars are often noisy at first and the Subaru continued this tradition! I ran it for a couple of gentle laps and then stopped to oil the axle bearings and each end of the motor. With this done the car seemed a little faster and smoother, another 40 or 50 laps brought a noticeable reduction in the noise level.

On my small Scalextric layout the Subaru spent most of its time demonstrating its rally heritage - sideways! The ribbed tyres don't give a lot of grip on Scalextric track and the magnet on my car was screwed very tightly to the chassis. Lowering the magnet (by loosening the two retaining screws) gives you much more grip in the corners. The magnet retaining screws are quite long so you can fine-tune the handling to suit your track and driving style. 

Of course the magnet makes no difference on a routed track but the tyres seem to have more grip on this (slightly coarser) surface. The car is quieter now but it's still noisier than most, and it seems to judder and bounce when accelerating - time for a closer look.

The sloppy front axle bearings seem to be the cause. I used the 'superglue trick' - oil the axle and then run a tiny drop of superglue into the bearing. Rotate the axle while the glue dries. Repeat as necessary until the slop is gone. 

With this done the Subaru is both quieter and smoother. It accelerates well and brakes strongly (partly due to the increased drag of the 4WD). Handling is fairly good though too much throttle into or out of a corner will inevitably push the tail out. I loosened the three remaining body screws to allow the body to rock a little which seems to make the car a little more predictable, though you'd need to sand around the edges of the chassis to let the body move freely. Sanding the tyres would give better grip but for now I'm enjoying driving the car like a hooligan! 

I'm not really a rally fan but this is a nice car. 

Ok, so it took a little work to get it running sweetly but to many people fiddling and fettling is a big part of the hobby. The Subaru isn't the fastest thing on the market, but it's an awful lot of fun to drive. And when you consider that it's a nice scale model, well made and that SCX are some of the most competitively-priced cars around (at least in the UK), it really is worth a look.

This review was originally written for 

Scale Models International