Subaru Impreza WRX Sti

Nick Hall really didn't want one. Then he drove one. Now he does.

Subaru Impreza WRX STi

My old man has a natural, in-built resistance to change. On any visit I can genuinely emerge believing that, if I just picked up the phone now and again, I probably could do without e-mail. While I can dismiss his more rational railing against the dying of the light, some of his less well-founded beliefs slipped through the net.

Which brings me to the Subaru Impreza WRX Sti.

I used to be opposed to the rice burning rally car for the road, on the grounds that the car would do the driving and make the whole experience a little tedious. It was a belief passed from father to son: the only real driver’s car is rear-wheel-drive, preferably mid-engined with bags of horsepower.

So I had studiously avoided any proper chance to drive one beyond a mile or so through town. In truth I guess I kind of knew I’d love it and that, like ordering a top and a dash of lime for your lager, is just not right.

But now, after finally caving in to peer pressure and spending a week in the Subaru’s presence, I have confirmed my innermost fears and am publicly munching on humble pie, in a hessian dress, on the road to Damascus that I’ve been told is home to an excellent Subaru showroom.

Performance

Subtle as a smack in the mouth

The STi is mind numbing, ball shrinking quick, yet can be treated with all the finesse of a rhino on ice skates. Plant the throttle from a standing start and sidestep the clutch and the Sti will rip down the road with Tasmanian Devil intensity, gnashing its teeth and spinning every one of its 8x17” Bridgestone Potenza wrapped wheels screaming in protest as it spins in turn.

Subaru claims just 261bhp and 252lb ft of torque for its latest rice-burning road warrior, with a 0-60mph time of 5.5s. My dad will trade on e-bay before I believe that. An American mag timed the Sti at 1.3s to 30mph and 60mph in 4.7s, factoring in that it only does 58mph in second gear and they had to snatch third. That felt far more realistic from the hot seat.

In-gear acceleration, too, is ferocious, providing you’re in the right gear. The Subaru’s powerband is limited and, unlike some of the cars it destroys when driven properly, it’s a lumpy disaster when running on low revs. It’s on or off, which is bad for fuel economy and relaxed progress – something you’ll probably learn to live with.

Incidentally, there’s a £2000 Prodrive package that takes the horsepower up to 300bhp, or more, depending on how much you trust them.

Conservative figures are par for the course and in Japan a bizarre gentleman’s agreement was installed whereby Subaru and Mitsubishi agreed not to put out cars with more than 276bhp. Neither abides by the rules and it’s common knowledge. So it’s not unreasonable to assume the 152mph published top speed came from a Harry Potter book, too, and 160mph should be more accurate.

Chassis

Other changes over the old model, aside from the obvious new styling, include a new front diff, new damper settings and a 10mm longer wheelbase. The tyres are the same size as in the previous Sti, but the wheels have half an inch more width and that, apparently, firms up the sidewall, squares off the shoulder and adds to the cornering speed.

We’re well into the realm of diminishing returns here. All those changes were worth seven seconds on the Nordschleife, allowing the Sti to break the eight minute barrier, so that’s less than a second a mile. Not worth chopping in your old car then, but you’ve got to admire the attention to detail.

Subaru devotees reckon the turn-in is a little crisper, and the ride quality has certainly improved. That’s not to say it’s soft, though.

On rough roads, despite its rally ancestry, it will bounce loose ill-fitting fillings. TVR and Morgan Roadster drivers might find it slightly soft; nobody else will.

On the first day’s running I gave so much space to parked cars for fear of the surface knocking the car out of line on a broken road that I was stopped by police doubting my sobriety. To be fair they were also deeply interested in the car’s ownership. Subarus are extremely popular with thieves, so it’s good to see positive police action even if it does mean standing by the side of the road while hatchback driving librarians provided that ‘string up the wideboy racer’ look.

Handling

No police on my preferred test route, thankfully, which is where the harsh ride paled into insignificance beside the road holding capabilities of this brute. Its cornering skills defy belief and, providing you’re not on the brakes at the apex, it’s nigh on impossible to spin this car with the electronic traction taming in place. You can go all day on the loud pedal round hairpins if you want and the car will catch the slides.

Turn them off and it will give the most lurid powerslides known to man and spin on a sixpence, as it did when setting a new world record for the number of donuts in a minute recently.

When stretching its impressive legs, another dimension becomes apparent. It may be easy to drive a Subaru fast, but smooth progress with the electronics on, well that’s harder than shooting flies with a nail-gun.

Turn in a fraction too hard, ham-fistedly hammer the throttle, unsettle the car by just a fraction, and the traction control strangles the lumpy, aggressive boxer beat and the car redirects power to the front. Keeping the car on the limit without an excess of electronic involvement, that’s the hard part.

The Subaru transfers power from the back to the front when the rears start to slip, while Mitsubishi’s Evo moves the force from side-to-side. During normal progress the Sti puts 65 per cent of its power through the rear wheels, adopting a normal sportscar approach.

Of course you can change this balance with a dashboard-mounted control, but this is best left for track day curiosity than real road use.

The philosophy of dragging the car out of slides makes it a more natural driving experience than the Evo and also, according to the experts, makes it far more adjustable mid-corner than its nearest rival. The Mitsubishi is quicker, in experienced hands, but the Sti is ultimately more user friendly, which makes it quicker for the rest of the world.

The Brembo brakes are just as user friendly, allowing the Impreza to slow deep into the corner well past the point that others have gone off the road entirely. It provides an abject lesson in doing more or less everything extremely well.

Styling

As for the styling, it’s as subtle as a punch in the face. There is a distinct whiff of a Daewoo crashing through a Bostik factory and landing in Halfords’ warehouse, but the wing, scoops, and pink Sti badges do fit the naked aggression of the Impreza’s underpinnings.

It’s interesting, though, who loves this car and who doesn’t. The police clearly don’t and nor do posh people, but driving this car through a council estate was like bringing the WRC to their door. Shell-suited gentleman doffed their fake Burberry caps and one ‘big-boned’ girl even asked for a ride, but I feared for the dampers.

Overall

It’s not perfect on a number of levels. It’s too focused for most, drinks like that smelly bloke in Woolworth’s doorway, the doors close with a tinny note and the wing shook violently every time I closed the boot. The interior, too, bar the Momo wheel and superb seats, is adequate rather than brilliant. But nothing is terrible and, considering Subaru has taken £2,500 off the price off the old Sti and put it up for sale at £26,400, that’s a real achievement.

It’s relatively easy building supercars in small numbers with telephone number price tags. Mass producing them with four seats and the price of a specced up Golf GTi, is something else and Subaru has done it with class.

So it took just a week to convert this purist into a four-wheel-drive rally car fan, and next time we’re heading for Wales. My dad still thinks they’re crap, but I have e-mailed him with the news.

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