Subaru Impreza WRX STI – The Ultimate Machine – Boost And Camber

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The well known burble of the Subaru Impreza is well known all across the world, with its flat four boxer engine beating in its chest, with an exhaust note to be recognised by car enthusiasts world wide. The Subaru Impreza WRX STI is a truely iconic car that can never be forgotten.

Even though it seems to be forgotten in most days amongst the modern delights of the Focus RS, the Golf R, Mercedes A45, the WRX STI is still a truely awesome car with mountains of heritage.

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History Of The Impreza

In 1992 the Impreza made its first appearance with the WRX on the roads of Japan, then 2 years later in 1994, they released the STI. This model of Impreza was then put to the test amongst the rally champions in the WRC with its well known Subaru  555.

The Subaru 555 was then later released as a road legal car known as the STI, which came with a stiffer chassis, bigger brakes, front and rear limited slip differentials, stiffer suspension. This meant you could have a rally car for the road.

The WRX STI was a four wheel drive monster and with its low Center of gravity from the boxer engine, made for a brilliant all round car for all aspects of racing. It dominated the WRC with Colin McRae and then dominated the streets. Everyone wanted an Impreza.

Over the years they released more models, with the gen 2 with the bug eyes, to the third generation, which only came as a hatchback and would eventually drop the Impreza name back in 2011. From all models then on it was only named the Subaru WRX STI.

Nowadays we have the Fourth gen of Subaru Impreza WRX STI And even though it hasn’t been as well received as previous models, it’s still an all around awesome car with bags of power, fun and noise.

The Boxer Engine

The most notable part of the Subaru is the classic boxer engine, with its flat four technology, it gives off that truely beautiful burble. This engine came in different levels of awesome depending which level of spec you went for whether it was a WRX or STI and which generation it was from.

It’s unique design and perfect balance are what have made this engine one of the best. With its lower Center of gravity, it meant reduced understeer and better handling overall. It’s balance also gives it the edge over other engines as it has reduced vibration giving it a longer life overall.

This engine had a soundtrack that can’t be beaten, if you don’t believe me check out the links below to see why we love the boxer engine so much.

A Future Classic

The Subaru Impreza might be gone and it’s all upto the WRX STI now, but the car is still a future classic. With all it’s history coming into the World Rally Championships and hitting the streets hard, this car will always be a part of the car enthusiasts.

If you don’t believe me look at the 22B. The 22B is already hitting classic car sales numbers at over £100,000.

The WRX STI on the other hand are still holding great money for their age, with a good example still fetching in around £10,000 for a third generation with average miles. Meaning these aren’t going to drop much in value over time, instead a well preserved model may in fact be a great investment for the future.

Even in today’s age of cars, a lot of enthusiasts still turn to the Impreza and remember the good old days. The engine noise, the handling, the power, the pure fun of four wheel drive and snow days. These cars will be remembered through the ages.

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Should I Buy One?

If you’re thinking of buying an impreza, whether it’s a first generation or a forth generation WRX STI, these are all around cool and I don’t think anyone that’s an enthusiast or non enthusiast wont look at you and be envious or in awe of such a machine.

Right now is probably the best time to buy one, we would recommend picking one up as soon as you can if you want a good ROI (return on investment) as we believe these can only rise in value as more and more will be getting taken off the road to make way for the fifth generation of Subaru.

Even if ROI isn’t what your after and you just want a fun car to drive around in, why wait? The fun is out there to be had and even a second generation bug eye still holds its looks against most modern cars.

Some things to look out for on a used Subaru Impreza though would be

  • Tuned examples over 350bhp should have toughened internals
  • Check for oil leaks on the 2.0 cam covers and sump covers
  • Head gasket on the 2.5 is prone to failure
  • Check the fins on the inter cooler
  • Regular oil changed every 10,000 miles
  • Check the rear diff for leaks
  • Body rot all over, especially around the rear arches

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Keeping those things in mind could keep you from spending an absolute fortune in the long run but if you really don’t mind and just want a cheap runner and want to do bits as you go along, you could pick one up for around the £3,000 mark.

Impreza’s For Everyone

In our opinion everyone needs an Impreza, they are great to modify, look fantastic even alongside modern cars, sound unreal, they are just all around great cars. All enthusiasts should have a project Impreza or even just one for snow days, because you never know.

If you own an Impreza and want to share it with us, hashtag us on Instagram at #boostandcamber, we love to hear about peoples cars and modifications.

Drop a comment below and get chatting to us about the Impreza.

Thanks for reading

Kevin

Kevin@boostandcamber.com

Founder of Boost And Camber

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