I originally wanted a Toyota 86. But getting married and having kids meant I needed something that could carry child seats, luggage and groceries, and still be fun to drive.

First car on my mind was the WRX. But simply having a turbo meant it’s much more costly to maintain. I’d rather put that money on formula milk.

Luckily, a lot of Imprezas here in the Philippines were GH7s. It meant that they ran the high comp DOHC NA EJ204s. Which was great because it’s basically a WRX sans turbo.

And I didn’t need a turbo in the first place. The car I originally wanted to buy was also a NA DOHC flat-4 2-liter. I’m also one of those types of people who wants to push my car to the limit before I touch anything in the engine.

I plan to make this a “rallyland” build. A car I could take the kids camping, with the occasional rallycross duty.