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When a car receives a completely customized job extensive enough to change the overall body style, and arguably the purpose of the vehicle, it does not exactly look like it just rolled off the factory floor. If anything, they look thrown together and unprofessionally built, as if they were literally made in somebody's backyard shed. However, this Subaru WRX STI that is for sale on Cars and Bids stands in firm objection to that common occurrence.
This Thing Has No Business Being This Cool
Let's start with the elephant in the room. The "ute" conversion kit was done by Smyth Performance, which is also known for doing similar "Ute" modifications on Dodge Chargers and Audi A4s, among others. The most striking thing about the build (other than the fact that it even exists at all) is the quality of the fit and finish. One could argue it looks like Subaru themselves made it. The trickiest part was more than likely making sure the B-pillar lines up with the back of the front door to create a natural-looking, regular cab-type cabin that you may see on a base model pickup truck.
The proportions may be a bit off. Perhaps if the side walls of the bed were just a few inches taller it would look better and allow more room to haul stuff. As it stands, the top of the bed is at the same level as the bottom of the door window, but we're nitpicking here. The taillights have even been modified to make sure they do not protrude onto the tailgate. Even though the bed may not look cavernous, it stretches 79 inches from cab to tailgate and 35.5 inches from side to side, even with the wheel well intrusions. For nostalgia's sake, there are even spots to install Subaru BRAT-style rear-facing back seats in the bed itself.
Let's Bring It Back Down To Earth
The 2006 Subaru Impreza WRX STI was originally powered by a 2.5-liter turbocharged flat-four boxer engine capable of sending 300 horsepower and 300 pound-feet of torque through the six-speed manual gearbox to all four wheels. Now though, that engine has some modifications, including a Turbo Tek Tuning ECU tune, a COBB Tuning boost control solenoid, a COBB Tuning Accessport tuner, and COBB Tuning turbo blanket. Elsewhere, there is a high-flow catalytic converter, a three-inch stainless steel exhaust, an IAG Performance engine skid plate, 18-inch fifteen52 "Integrale" wheels on the outside, a Kenwood touchscreen stereo head unit, and Alpine speakers.
The car did undergo some important maintenance fairly recently, such as replacing the spark plugs, ignition coils, and timing belt, but it still has over 178,000 miles on the clock. We can't say for sure if this is a smart financial decision, but we can say, with the utmost confidence, that it is definitely a fun one.