If you are someone who admires the late 1990s World Rally scene, you probably know of Subaru’s success with the Impreza WRX STI. Subaru, along with Mitsubishi, was the leading manufacturer on the 1990s WRC scene, and the 1998 Subaru Impreza 22B is considered one of the ultimate, road-going versions of the car. Fast-forward 24 years and the company behind many of Subaru’s rally cars, Prodrive, has come up with an epic restomod called the P25. And for all the good intentions it was made with, there’s a lot of stuff that’s wrong about it.

The original Subaru Impreza STI 22B was impressive…for its time

Making an homage or a restomod to a car that already has an Iconic status always sounds like a good idea. The 1998 Subaru Impreza STI 22B was a limited-edition, two-door version of the rally icon that commemorated 40 years of Subaru as a company as well as its third World Rally Championship win. Only 425 units of the 22B were built with prices, nowadays, going upwards of $400,000.

While this automatically puts the 22B up there with other price-inflated JDMs like the Skyline R34 GT-R or the Mk IV Toyota Supra, the harsh truth is that Subaru’s ultimate, road-going “Subbie” of the 1990s really isn’t that much better than a standard STI. Certainly not by $350,000. To add insult to the injury, it was still based on a bland, Japanese, economy sedan, with a cheap interior that was about as inspiring as working in accounting.

The Prodrive P25 is simply what the 22B would have been if it was built today

Being a 1990s Japanese sports car, the output of the EJ22G, turbocharged, flat-four of the original Subaru Impreza STI 22B was rated at 276 horsepower (206 kilowatts) at 6,000 RPM and 265 pound-feet (359 Nm) at 3,000 RPM (you are, probably, familiar with the Japanese gentlemen’s agreement). With that said, a horsepower figure of 300 horsepower is often mentioned. Prodrive’s P25 is, essentially, what the 22B would have been had Subaru made it 20-something years later.

It’s clear that, in 2022, 280 horsepower is nothing to write home about even when it comes to a hot hatchback. With that said, the 2.5-liter, turbocharged flat-four in the Prodrive P25 is putting out over 400 horsepower (294 kilowatts) and 442 pound-feet (600 Nm). Power is permanently sent to all four wheels through a six-speed sequential transmission with helical gears and paddle shifters. The shift-time is said to be 80 milliseconds, which to be fair, isn’t all that impressive, considering the 2004 Ferrari F430’s Graziano F1 transmission shifts in 60 milliseconds.

The Prodrive P25 is not distinctive enough

There’s no doubt that Prodrive knows how to build a rally car. The outfit has proven it countless times when working with Subaru during the brand’s best years, during WRC’s peak. And while Prodrive has done for the Subaru STI 22B what Singer does for classic Porsche 911 models, the car just looked too much like a 20-plus-year-old Subaru.

Sure, the stance is a bit more aggressive, the car is more hunkered down, and the body is made out of carbon fiber, but underneath, it’s just a 1990s Impreza STI that has been refreshed and modified. The interior isn’t something to write home about either. It’s your typical, 1990s Subaru interior, which has been retrimmed, and features Alcantara inserts all around as well as bare carbon fiber to make it look up to date. Of course, there are the new Alcantara bucket seats and a new Alcantara steering wheel, but aside from that, it is the same, boring, cheap, plastic interior of the 1990s Impreza.

All this wouldn’t have been a problem if it wasn’t for the price. The Prodrive P25 started at £460,000, which, in 2022 money, is $563,447. The problem is that for all its rally car credentials and pedigree - both Subaru’s and Prodrive’s – the original STI 22B is not an air-cooled Porsche 911. In fact, the 1998 special-edition Subaru was, essentially, a limited-edition of the base Impreza STI that was a bit better and a lot more expensive. Granted, a Singer is also based on an existing Porsche 911, but so much of it is bespoke that most enthusiasts would easily differentiate it from a standard 911. Not so with the Prodrive P25.

We often blame marketers for using the “racecar for the road” sales pitch. While the Prodrive P25 is one place it could have worked, the company never advertised it as such. Instead, it mimicked Singer’s approach of reimagining a classic. The problem is that the Impreza STI 22B, despite its exclusivity and heritage, lacks the mass appeal and desirability of an air-cooled 911. Despite that, all 25 of the Prodrive P25s produced were sold, likely, due to the "they don't make cars like they used to" mentality.

Like the 22B, it is bound to be a garage queen

The price tag and exclusivity of the Prodrive P25 means that, just like the original 22B, it won’t be doing what it was meant to – be driven hard. With a curb weight of under 2,650 pounds (1,200 kg) and a 0 to 60 mph (97 km/h) time of under 3.5 seconds, the P25 is no slouch, which is all the more shame that we’ll never see one driven the way it was meant to. Do we really need another absurdly-priced homage that’s just going to be hidden away and “caressed” by its owner, especially when Mitsubishi no longer provides a basis for a worthy rival to the Prodrive P25?