Wednesday 14th October 2009

Subaru Plans STi Version Of New Coupe

High-performance version of 'Toyobaru' joint venture waits in the wings

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A speculative rendering of the STi

Hot from Japan comes this speculative rendering of an STi version of Subaru's half of the Toyobaru project.

The, er, 'Subarota' penned for your delight by Japanese magazine Holiday Auto bears a passing resemblance to the apparently officially leaked Subaru artwork we ran last week, and we're not sure whether the accompanying story is based on speculation, informed guesswork, or insider tips.

According to HA, the standard Subarota will use Subaru's EJ20 boxer engine with direct injection, six-speed Aisin gearbox and a rear axle nicked from the Lexus IS250 parts bin. Power will be in the region of 200hp, they claim, which is more than has been previously rumoured for the entry-level Toyobaru version.

The Toyota FT-86 arrives first

More interestingly, HA tells us that a hot STi version of the Subarota will get Subaru's EJ25 2.5 litre engine pushing out closer to 250hp, along with a wider track and a raft of suspension upgrades to improve the driving performance. A turbocharged version of the car is under consideration too, the report says.

The wide-track STis will naturally require wider wheelarches to cover the rubber, and various motorsport-inspired aero-parts will be stuck on to give the STi a more aggressive look, says HA, which also confirms earlier reports that the Subarota will appear in the metal at the Tokyo motor show in 2011.

At which point they appear to have run out of facts, and handed the crayons to their resident artist - with the results above.

[Bizzle]

Very interesting
EJ25 powered light weight FR Coupe.

Providing it's not horribly expensive, i smell win.

[Dagnut]

I read the new direct injection ej20 would be replacing the ej25.

[UncappedTag]

Pictures not working here?

[wab172uk]

Picies not workies.

[BBS-LM]

Step forward the real Subaru STI, at last.

[roland82]

Bizzle said:

Very interesting
EJ25 powered light weight FR Coupe.

Providing it's not horribly expensive, i smell win.

Thats what I was thinking. The spirit of this car was meant to be CHEAP rear wheel drive fun. This version does look much better though.

[Jenny Tills]

250hp STI? Is it being deliberately held back so it doesn't threaten the Impreza?

[EDLT]

Subaru will never make a car that looks that good. They are going to nail the front of the new legacy to it.

[collateral]

EDLT said:

Subaru will never make a car that looks that good. They are going to nail the front of the new legacy to it.

I was going to say 'doesn't look fugly enough'

[Mudfish]

EDLT said:

Subaru will never make a car that looks that good. They are going to nail the front of the new legacy to it.

I hear they are modelling the front facia on Gordon Ramsays face

[Freypal]

Bears more than a passing resemblence to the Nissan GTR.

Not a complaint though, that looks fantastic.

[WorAl]

Jenny Tills said:

250hp STI? Is it being deliberately held back so it doesn't threaten the Impreza?

Was thinking the same thing, though the 250 version reads to me like its NA so a turbo'd version may be a beastie. (if im reading correct)

ETA.

article said:

More interestingly, HA tells us that a hot STi version of the Subarota will get Subaru's EJ25 2.5 litre engine pushing out closer to 250hp, along with a wider track and a raft of suspension upgrades to improve the driving performance. A turbocharged version of the car is under consideration too, the report says.

Edited by WorAl on Wednesday 14th October 14:24

[Tyranosawus]

About time Subaru stopped fking about and delivered a car once again worthy of the STI badge

[ThirdShift]

Looks like a poor mans Skyline..... Which would be good as name another sub £20k rear wheel sports car with the (potential) of 300bhp? As others have said lets pray Subaru get their act together and bring us this weapon!

[SleeperCell]

The power outputs may seem a bit lame compared to the higher end stuff like the 370Z or 135i, but I think this will be more likely competing around the hot hatch end of the market and in that respect the power figures are pretty decent, 200bhp is equivalent to a Golf GTi, which requires a turbocharger to make that much and that's really not considered to be a sluggish machine. I'd be suprised if this weighs that much more than a Golf either (remembering a current Golf GTi is well over 1300kg), so performance should be decent enough. The main question at this point is how much will it be and will they totally balls up the styling.

I'd also be willing to bet a turbo version will come a bit further down the line. Once it's been out for a while and the initial fuss has died down, they will want to get people interested again so they'll probably announce a turbo version or something like that, it's fairly unusual for a manufacturer to release the main performance variant early in the model cycle.

[cvegas]

The rendering is pretty naff, but the prospect of new affordable turbo powered coupes has to be good!

[dapprman]

Remembering the conversations last week I think I'll check out of my 5th floor window to look for any swine in the sky before considering it's possible appearance.

It'd be nice is Subaru could pull it off, but personally I think all last week's napkin sketch showed was just what deep financial st the company is in.

[johnhenry]

an engine that matches the potential of the car! will be a laff

[W00DY]

What a load of speculative bullst! The Subaru will look nothing like the toyota version because then you'd have the same chassis, engine and looks in the lower end models which i'm sure neither company wants. The subaru sketches released also look nothing like that. However it sounds quite likely and will probably make for a pretty decent car.

[clarkey318is]

That's going to be so so cool. Can they give up with the hatchback impreza now? That thing looks like a piece of tat.