wrx scoop

[BigDanTheMan]

i was at a party raving about how sweet i thought the wrx was, (and how i was about to buy one before i got accepted to college) and this dude tried to tell me that the scoops were vestigial. I couldn't believe it, i called him a liar told him that he didn't know what he was talking about. Then a while later i saw one parked and i did some detective work and it did seem that the scoop was pugged up with a peice of plastic. But then i checked one at a dealership and found that the passage to the intercooler was unobstructed.

Was there a year where the scoops were unfunctional, or was i retarded and stuck my fingers up an impreza? Could there be any explanation beside falsely badged imprezas?

[kfoote]

Regardless of whether or not the passage into the engine compartment is blocked, there is not really any function of the hood scoops on the normally aspirated Imprezas, such as my 2.5RS. The biggest benefit I can see is that it allows Subaru to use the same hood during manufacturing, and it is one less piece they have to figure out how to design and manufacure.

[freakray]

kfoote,

Your argument would have merit if the Impreza L of the generation you're talking about also had a hood scoop, but it didn't, the hood on the L was completely flat.
Subaru made more than one hood style so there was no reason for the pre-2001 2.5RS having a scoop and side vents other than cosmetics.
On the post 2001 2.5RS there was no hood scoop since it was no longer required to differentiate the car from the L which was dropped when the WRX was introduced, the WRX obviously bearing a functional hood scoop.

BigDan,
Pre-WRX release Impreza's which had a hood scoop(the 2.5RS) were non-functional and only there for the cosmetics of the car (more aggressive looks).
The hood scoop on a WRX on the other hand is very functional as the intercooler is mounted under the hood scoop (top mount intercooler as opposed to front mount).

If you would like a little side information, the hood scoop on the Impreza WRC is cosmetic only, the WRC cars use a front mount intercooler but they keep the hood scoop so people will see the likeness between the WRX STI, WRX and the WRC Imprezas.

Hope that helps clear something up.

Ray