When Subaru came up with the current generation Impreza, the Japanese automaker wanted to distance themselves from their once infamous boy racer image in favor of a toned down more mainstream appearance that would not distract a wider audience of new car buyers. Subaru wants to become more than just a niche vehicle for Northeasterners, who appreciate the beauty of all wheel drive; or tuners, who see great bang for your buck in the company’s turbocharged vehicles. The automotive arm of Fuji Heavy Industries is looking for a larger share of the market.
In doing so, the Impreza has grown up. Our $28,000 Satin White Pearl Suabru Impreza GT is fun to drive with its 2.5 Liter turbocharged boxer engine sending 224 HP to all four 17 inch wheels wrapped in low profile 205/50 tires and a comfortable, yet cloth, interior that was just as aggressive as the ride, but the best part is, how the Impreza GT flies under the radar and stays between the lines.
Ken Block is back with an all new Subaru and plenty of BFGs in the highly anticipated sequel to the original Gymkhana video starring the DC Shoes owner behind the wheel. This time Ken is sliding around in a rally inspired2008 Subaru Impreza WRX STI built by Crawford performance. In order to top the Segway circling antics of the first Gymkhana video, Ken had to call in few friends to help out. Like MTV’s Rob Dyrdek and satelite radio’s Jason Ellis; the crew at Mad Media also brought along a big bag of props to take Gymkhana 2: The infomercial to the next level.
It is no secret that Subaru Impreza WRX STI is a great performance car being offered by the Japanese manufacturer for a great price. With the company’s recent withdrawal from World Rally Championship competition and absence from the Super GT Japanese racing series, the STI is having a hard time finding a place to shine. So the performance arm of Fuji Heavy Industries, Subaru Tecnica International, have set out to show the world just how good a car they can make, by building a full on race vehicle out of their factory hot rod.
While most manufacturers test on the Nurburgring, Subaru is sending their car off to the Nordschleife to compete in a 24 hour endurance battle at the Green Hell alongside super cars like the Lexus LF-A, but will compete in the SP3 class with other turbocharged cars that displace 2.0 Liters. This STI’s drivers will not only have to compete against the other entrants in the German race twice around the clock, the ‘Ring itself is a formidable opponent. It is a competitor that will rip you off line and send you flying through the air at 100 MPH in the blink of an eye.
This race spec STI was the result of a concentrated effort of the Japanese racing engineers, have a look at their hard work.
If you are a fan of what Subaru has done with their latest STI then you might like this wild concept. Designed by an independent party who calls himself Grid, this STI concept is to say the least, unique. Grid did get a few things right; like the vehicle’s wide aggressive stance, boxed fenders, protruding power bulge and the combination of a World Rally Blue body sitting on gold rims.
However, the concept looks like an elephant sat on one of Subaru’s current STIs and flattened it like a pancake. Whenviewwed from the side, the wedge shaped body is too close to another great rally car to be considered an original design; the STI concept looks too much like Bertone’s original Lancia Stratos.
This STI concept does have attitude, but if Subaru would take the time, money and energy spent creating this monstrosity, and put it back into a World Rally Championship program, they would definitely sell more of their vehicles.
A little while ago Top Speed brought you Ken Block and his crazy Gymkhana Subaru. Well, the boys at DC Shoes have released a few more videos giving more of a behind the scenes look as to how the shoot went down. This video is possibly even better than the original.
Subaru will unveil a special edition Impreza WRX STI at the Chicago Auto Show. It was designed for its factory rally driver Travis Pastrana.
The Pastrana WRX STI come with a stock 305 hp, SPT front strut tower brace and SPT lower chassis brace, BF Goodrich G-Force Super Sport A/S 275/35 ZR18 tires on Work Evolution XD-9 18 x 9-in. wheels in custom satin black.
The rally-bred WRX STI exterior design lights up with custom yellow paint and graphics. The carbon fiber hood and carbon fiber rear wing are unique to the Pastrana’s WRX STI. As on the stock production WRX STI, the functional hood scoop streams outside air to an intercooler. The Sport Mesh Grille is available for all WRX STI owners. Likewise, the STI front chin spoiler and the exhaust finishers are available through Subaru dealers. A set of PIAA 2100 HID driving lights and rally-spec mud flaps underscore the aggressive rally-bred design of the 5-door WRX STI.
Our mouths started to water when we got word of a new special edition Subaru WRX STI. Then we started to tear up when we heard it would be designated Japan-only. Then we found out the only thing that really makes the Impreza WRX STI A-Line special is that it has a five speed automatic transmission. So we wet ourselves from laughing so hard at anyone who would think this is a good idea.
The A-Line uses the same 2.5-liter turbo from the standard WRX to make 300 hp (down 5 hp from the U.S. spec WRX). Aside from the slushbox, there is little to differentiate the A-Line from the rest of the WRX STIs except for a new paint color called "Satin White Pearl". Maybe this is so we can identify the manual tranny virgins.
Ken Block is an interesting individual. He has already established himself with Subaru as a rally racer. Now he is reinventing himself, and his car, to promote this unique motor sport. Gymkhana is a type of auto cross where participants must drive around cones in a specific pattern as opposed to driving through sets of gates. This time Ken has replaced the cones with some rather large man made obstacles.
Since we showed the Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X N-Spec by Ings earlier today, it was only fair that we also show the kit the tuner puts together for the Subaru Impreza WRX STI. The N-Spec cars are used in Japan for showroom class endurance racing called the Super Taikyu racing series.
The WRX STI’s kit includes a front bumper, sideskirts and rear bumper. Unlike the kit for the Evo X, these materials are made out of fiberglass, but we imagine they still are more about function than form. The price tag of the kit ranges between $2,080 and $2,410, depending on the quality of fiberglass chosen.
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