Friday 5th April 2013

Subaru WRX STI: Pic Of The Week

An Impreza in all but name, snapped in its element

---

Classic images of rally-spec Imprezas ploughing through pools on WRC stages, ejecting plumes of muddy water from their arches as they go, will doubtless be etched on the memory of anyone who was a fan of rallying in the 90s. They certainly are on ours, so when the opportunity presented itself to recreate such an image on our WRX STI farewell tour, we simply couldn’t resist.

The result is about as quintessential as a Welsh rally scene is possible to get. We’ve got liquid mud – and plenty of it. We’ve got a thick, forbidding forest of pine, and sodden, damp mulch underfoot. And, perhaps most importantly, we’ve got thick clods of wet snow. If ever there was a time for bobble hats and a thermos of Bovril, this is it.

And while the subject of our shot is a ‘common or garden’ road car (though sadly these days, it isn’t exactly an everyday sight), rather than a bona-fide rally-bred example, it’s laden with all the aggression and purpose you could ever expect from a WRX on a charge. Lights blazing as it tramps through the mud, it’s in its element, and as it revealed later that day, still as eminently capable of thrilling in this environment as any Impreza that’s gone before it. Savour this pic – sadly, it might be the last of its kind.

Traditional (4:3)
Computer widescreen (16:10)
TV widescreen (16:9)
Portrait (smartphone, etc)

[astra la vista]

i never "got" imprezas and evos when i was younger but now they're on the way out i think i'm going to miss them.
a real hardcore road car.
not an SUV, not a diesel, not electric.
after all this is pistonheads isn't?
enjoy it while you can before it turns into comfyslippers.com

[Gorbyrev]

"And now, the end is near, and so I face the final curtain...."