Hi there I'm new to this forum and would appreciate some advice as I'm looking to buy and new car and can't decide what to get.

I have recently owned two imports first a Pulsar which was highly unreliable and a car I would not want to own again. The second was an Impreza Type R which unfortunately was written off when a cement mixer smashed it up for me.

I'm now torn between a newage Impreza or a Focus RS. I am swayed towards the Focus as the Impreza engines tend to give up and the bottom end requires rebuilds, something that I encountered on my Type R. What is the Focus RS like for reliability? Are they good in standard form to up the power or will it require forged internals?

The other thing I wondered about was the looks. Would it be frowned upon to alter the looks of a car like this? I have seen one with the large WRC applied and really liked the look of it.

Cheers

Matt