Subaru WRX STI: PH Fleet
After nine months and nine thousand miles the Subaru is heading home - will it be missed?
Fair to say it's not a car that's won everybody over in its time on the PH Fleet, or in the wider world either. Actually, that's putting it too mildly. A good number of people seem think this car is an unwelcome relic of a bygone era, compromised, outdated and irrelevant in the age of 300hp-plus four-wheel drive mega hatches. As one colleague correctly identified, all the money went on the engineering. Leaving nothing in the budget for, you know, stuff like the interior. Or a decent infotainment system.
But that's what I love about this car. As evidenced by the bewildering array of graphs and data earnestly thrown at us at the launch event, the WRX STI has been built with total honesty and absolutely zero cynicism. It hasn't been relentlessly benchmarked or subjected to customer clinics. No attempt has been made to appeal to an audience beyond those who like Subarus with big wings. This, ladies and gentlemen, is basically the anti Golf R. For that reason alone I'm glad exchange rates make it viable for Subaru to sell it here again, the (just) sub-£30K price actually looking like decent value for what you get.
Enough flag waving. What's it actually been like to live with? The looks will be a Marmite thing but the sheer aggression still stands out in the currently conservative climate. I like the fact the Japanese seem to have regained their bonkers edge, this and the Civic Type R totally bucking the prevailing trend for underplayed looks. It's a turbo nutter car and it looks like one. Bravo.
But under all that it's proved decently practical, the boot has taken bikes and furniture and remains usefully big even when the back seats are filled with a couple of baby seats. The grown-up ones don't have every-which way adjustment but - get this - just feel good and it's a comfortable if predictably cut-price cabin. Touch points are OK but you don't need to dig deep to find exposed this or Tupperware that you simply wouldn't get in a German rival. Likewise the Pioneer head unit, which ticks all the functional boxes of nav, phone connectivity and the rest but adds a grand to the price and feels about 15 years out of date. Spotting a theme here?
Someone had a sense of humour putting a touchscreen operated system in a car with suspension this stiff too... Ah yes, the ride. It's not shy, let's put it that way. But once up to pace the spring and dampers are perfectly matched and, in character, it does at least match the snappy clutch, twitchy steering and hyper aggressive throttle response. You can at least dial the latter back with the mapping switch and I spent most of my time in the more mellow Intelligent setting, enjoying its less aggressive initial phase and then the sense of the turbo spooling up.
No, it's not a relaxing car to drive by any stretch. Tiresome even, if you're not in the mood. Because this is a car always on the attack and one that gets better the harder you drive it. What it lacks in electronically contrived driving modes it more than makes up for in 'proper' mechanical adjustability too. You know, the type derived from steering and throttle inputs. Or an adjustable centre diff, the 'open' minus setting offering a nice neutral to rear balance with less understeer and minimal drive influence on the front axle and (still hydraulically assisted) steering. Examples of where being outdated can be a positive.
Did anything go wrong? Well the puncture over Christmas and subsequent diff warning light were a pain but that was no fault of the car. More annoying was the disappearance of the USB/aux-in interface into the centre binnacle. A bit of DIY and skinned knuckles retrieved and replaced it was an unfortunate confirmation of the cabin's flimsier elements.
That won't stick in the memory as much as the four-wheel drifts round slip roads, the inescapable bassy soundtrack of the exhaust or the all-round character of the car, especially at full chat. There are now more socially respectable ways of taking apart a greasy British B-road but it's nice to know Subaru still sets the standard. In a small nod to the modern age I even saw mpg figures starting with a '3' when tickling along, something I'd have considered pure fantasy when I was running my old MY95 WRX back in the day.
And while it's departing the PH Fleet I have a feeling a turbocharged flat-four may be returning to my personal one in the not too distant. For both Subaru and its fans old habits die hard it seems.
FACT SHEET
Car: 2014 Subaru WRX STI
Run by: Dan
On fleet since: December 2014
Mileage: 11,589
List price new: £28,995 (£30,007 as tested including £1,012 for Pioneer touchscreen navigation unit; c. £75 fitting charge applicable but varies according to dealership)
Last month at a glance: Warts and all the NotImpreza will be missed!
Previous updates:
New arrival - the NotImpreza has landed!
Rusty nail plays Scrooge over a white Christmas
Four wheels back on his wagon, Dan's having fun
To the circuit for a real test of the NotImpreza
STI vs. S3 in sports saloon shootout!
Back from Le Mans and ready for the Golf!
[Photos: Stuart Price, Anthony Fraser, Terry Oborne and Dan]
I've a C63 coming up to the end of lease with low miles and its a case of do I jeep it or buy a car in this class? And my criteria is I don't want a Golf R.
I like the Civic Type R too - but could I live with it on a day to day basis when I'm driving around suburbia and not the race track? I don't think I could take the laughs and negative comments pointed at a guy approaching his bus pass. Need to see it in their grey, not red.
I think the Focus RS, will tick all the right boxes, if I could wait that long. Awfully tempted to buy the Scoob with a proper engineered 4wd system.
HOWEVER Subaru's of old have always had decent suspension travel and a very supple ride. They are supposed to be based on rally cars which spend most of there time hammering down horribly surfaced roads after-all and the ability of the road cars to mimic the ability to soak up any such punishment was one of the great things I admired about them.
I am therefore very disappointed to hear that they seem to have abandoned this so it seems even the old skool Subaru isn't totally immune to the march of fashion where a horrible harsh ride seems to be de rigueur for any car with sporting pretensions these days.
Yet it still uses the same FF econo-layout that all the hyper hatches use. Maybe you should ask for your money back.
The 2017/18 model should rectify the power issues. A little bird, to be taken with much salt, claims it'll use the new 2.0 but with twin turbos and over 400bhp.
I have no regrets thus far (other than perhaps speccing the Subaru STI Performance exhaust, which can get a bit boomy at times) and I'd happily buy another when I replace this one. There are concessions though, that one doesn't have to make with its more luxurious competitors: only the driver's side window is one-touch, and the passenger seat is manually adjusted. Not a big deal, but someone who is cross-shopping an S3 or 45AMG will notice the difference.
Reactions to the rear wing have so far been positive. Friends and family seem to think of it as a "sports car" rather than thinking I bought a chav car (though the chavs over here, as in the UK I've heard, now buy 10yr old Audis rather than Subarus and Evos). I think its because most owners of more recent STIs are actually enthusiasts who are in their 30s and 40s. It may not be the best car to ferry clients around in, but I'd say that about some of the harder-riding Audis as well. I think someone could turn up anywhere in this car and it would be fine. I see older men in business suits driving to work in the morning in orange GT3 RS' so this isn't much different (albeit lacking the badge kudos of the Porsche, though I suspect much of that prestige is removed by the lairy colour and rear wing as far as the public's concerned).
Anyway, for those who are thinking about taking the plunge, I'd say to wholeheartedly do it. I was worried (and still am) about the "chocolate engine" also, but as long as one does regular oil changes (I do mine every 4000 miles) and maintenance the engine will live longer than we will.
Spa + Ring 17/18/19 October: can you make it ? I didn't see you last time despite promises ?
Yes, I'm sure some people have been lucky, even for 7 years, but the failures are documented and numerous. How Subaru can continue to employ the same engine unrevised I don't know. Unless it is revised somehow. Does anyone know one way or the other?
Worst petrol head ever
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