Hey guys, I've never modified any car so I am kinda a noob. But l love cars of all kinds.
l have a 2.5i impreza '08. That is right, not the WRX. l did not have the money to throw down and extra 10 grand, so l got the lower trim impreza. However, can l turbo charge this car and would a normal WRX turbo charger work in this? What steps would l need to take?

Thanks.

you can turbocharge pretty much anything..a weedeater if you wanted to.. im pretty sure you couldnt buy a kit because the 08 impreza is new and no one has had time to manufacture one so you would have to wait or get one custom made.

It may be hard to find a turbo for it, but somewhere u might be able to. Wait a year or two. Then u may have more saved up & more turbos will be available, so there will be more competition, so therefore, lower prices. If you've never done any kind of major auto work, either find someone to help u (so u can learn but not screw up ur car) or get it professionally done. Whatever u do, do not be an idiot hot rodding on the streets. Save it for the track so u do not kill anybody.

yes you *can* turbocharge it but honestly it is not the greatest idea. a motor with an aftermarket turbo kit is never as reliable as a factory turbo motor.

keep the motor stock, replace the tires with something sticky like bridgestone RE01R and enjoy your new car. save your money and use it towards your next car in the future

Understand that if u do this, ur car WILL break down from time to time, & sometimes it will be expensive. If u subject any car to any kind of serious modification u will have problems. People who say 'do it right & u wo not have problems' have never owned a car with significant mods :P

Can u do ur own mechanic work? Do not even think about doing this unless u either have a ton of expendable income for maintenance & repair, or u can do it all yourself. l do *all* of my mechanic work, from oil changes to tearing down & rebuilding the engine, & the maintenance is still expensive for me. A modded car (when l say modded car l mean something with significant modding like you're talking about, not intake & exhaust) is an ongoing investment, do not expect to just buy the parts, have them installed & forget about it.

So ask yourself if it is worth it. You have a brand new car with factory reliability & a factory warranty. Do u really want to give that up? Would it be better to buy a cheap old second car to mod, & keep ur new impreza for a fun daily driver? You're going to kill the resale value, nobody wants to buy a modded car because it is a red flag that it is had a harder life than most cars.

Lower it, put some nice wheels & tires on it, a stiffer rear sway bar, & an intake & exhaust & leave it at that is my suggestion. You will have a very fun to drive car that is still reliable.

Physically u can. Actually, no. A turbo motor has a lower(around 8 to 1) static compression ratio. A non turbo engine has a higher, around 10 to 1 c.r. You will have a detenation problem. Your knock sensor may not be able to compensate for the amount of detenation that will occur. If it does, ur car will not accelerate as fast as a factory installed turbo because the timing will have been retarded so far to offset the knock.
If u really want to have forced induction, check into a centrifugal blower. The kit will be engineered to only give X amount of boost at a certain rpm. It can be set up to operate on a normally aspirated engine.

Check out rallitek.com and look for the AVO bolt on turbo kit for your car. It is built with reliability in mind so not a huge power gain but it is more than you can get from other bolt on parts. Give them a call and talk to a guy named Sean. Awesome guy who really know is his stuff.