Impreza 95 1.6 FWD - power starts at 4000rpm

[el_fela]

Hi this is my first subaru, it has 150k miles. I havent driven any other subaru and I wonder, is it normal to feel the car to accelerate faster at 4k rpms? Below 2k rpms it feels slow, at 3k it feels ok, but startin at 4 or 4.5k rpms, woah, it reallystarts kicking! Wish it was like that at lower rpms. Is this normal? Thanks!

[forester2002s]

I don't know about your particular engine, but typically 4000 rev/min is about 'peak torque'. 

So you would see some better acceleration at that engine speed. With a manual transmission, 4000 rev/min is good for merging & passing on the highway.

[1 Lucky Texan]

more details on car?

 

My WRX feels like the torque is a sharp peak so, it comes on strong but below the peak torque is more 'normal' - makes it feel very different and the contrast is noticeable.

 

But, there can be issues with a car where a timing belt is slipped 1 tooth, or maybe some other issue, that could make it feel much different on the road vs idle/lower rpms.

Edited February 10, 2021 by 1 Lucky Texan

[idosubaru]

On 2/9/2021 at 7:34 PM, el_fela said:

Hi this is my first subaru, it has 150k miles. I havent driven any other subaru and I wonder, is it normal to feel the car to accelerate faster at 4k rpms? Below 2k rpms it feels slow, at 3k it feels ok, but startin at 4 or 4.5k rpms, woah, it reallystarts kicking! Wish it was like that at lower rpms. Is this normal? Thanks!

If it doesn’t have a check engine light and gas mileage is not low, then it may be normal.

Is the check engine light on?

Gas mileage might be hard to know on a new car or if it’s not used on long consistent drives.

Plugs, wires and air filter should be tested or replaced. Are they good? Those engines usually have 30,000 mile plugs so there’s a good chance they’re old. NGK is best for plugs or wires on that engine  

That’s a small engine we didn’t get here in the US so none of us would have experience with it specifically. But it’s probably nearly identical to an EJ18 we got in the same vehicle. They aren’t fast, are often considered underpowered, and they’re larger than yours.  So depending what vehicles you’re coming from it may feel slow.