Catching up to STi
Laguna Seca, Calif. — “Hey, Wade, the guy in the car beside us is yelling at you,” says my driving partner, SuperJim, down here in the sunbaked hills of LaLa Land.
This is not something one wishes for on the biways of Kalifornia, my friends: angry traffic confrontations where the other guy may have anything from a machete to a Tec-Nine to a napalm bomb in his car, and may be inspired by the heat and the congestion and the noise to fling you the ol’ Hollowpoint Howdy over a perceived slight.
So I’m all “Whut? Whaddid I do?” because I don’t think I’ve done anything to provoke a Compton handshake from a total stranger. SuperJim takes another look at the man in the beat-up LeMans in the lane next to us.
“Never mind,” Jim says. “My mistake. He’s yelling at himself.”
Ah. That makes it all right then. I glance over at the vehicle beside us, and indeed, the gent is worked into a purple-faced frenzy at what seems to be nothing in particular, directed at the middle distance between his eyes and the front of his car.
I back off and let the feller scream off in front of me, then move on down the road weaving in and out of traffic in the agitated style of the Profoundly Nuts, until he is a dot way out in front of us. And yet, the truth is, I could still catch him if I wanted to.
I could catch anything in this car. Anything.
In the world of rally-inspired, high-powered compact street rods, Subaru’s WRX STi has always stood somewhat apart from its competitors, mostly by virtue of its full-time all-wheel-drive system and boxer engine.
The car, which I was surprised to find out was only introduced in 2004 — seems like I’ve been seeing them for much longer, made a huge splash in its debut as a top-performing small car designed to smoke the best aftermarket-tuned vehicles right out of the ring (or off the track), and Subaru built the little monster to do it right off the showroom floor.
The STi (which is the top end of the WRX marque, which is the top end of the Impreza line — follow all that?) builds on the Impreza foundation with a turbocharged, intercooled Boxer engine that can blast 305 hp out of the four cylinders at 6,000 rpm, and it loves to run high revs.
The sound of the powerplant is pure rally; you could call it buzzy, but that doesn’t really give credit to what the engine is doing, or what it can do — the sound is music for a performance connoisseur, and its minimized inside the cabin with Subaru’s latest NVH handling materials used throughout the car.
The horses have been increased by 12 for the third-generation STi, and while the torque remains the same (a formidable 290 lb.-ft.), it now arrives earlier, at 4,000 rpm.
Subaru showed off the STi at Laguna Seca, where the car could show its best side to we of the media. I can tell you it took everything I could ask of it, but you know what? I’m not a real race driver. Fortunately there was a real race driver on hand — John Paul, Jr. — to help me see just how much the latest STi can do with a pro behind the wheel.
Performance is the raison d’etre behind the top-level Impreza, and the engine’s power is marshalled by its six-speed manual tranny (the only transmission option for the STi) and its combination of sport frame and electronically variable suspension settings.
Like most of the Subarus you have read about here in Autonet, the WRX STi incorporates SI-Drive into the car, a three-position system where a driver can select his favourite of three modes of behaviour from the chassis.
Combine this with the company’s cutting edge manipulation of the all-wheel-drive system, which lets you change the behaviour of the differential (called, appropriately, “driver controlled centre differential” or DCCD).
DCCD at its heart allows the torque split to be changed between front and rear wheels, up to a 50-50 distribution, which will drastically affect the behavior of the vehicle. Both DCCD and SI-Drive are run by simple button switches located below the shifter.
Inside, the STi is the best interior this car has received. Simple control array, I’ll grant you, but with everything intuitive and easy, and an available navigation system that worked quite well for me in my time in it.
Headroom is better than anything in the class as well — I even fit into it with a crash helmet on for the track driving without any slumping or cramping. I can’t say the same for the Civic Si, or even Dodge’s Viper.
The noticeable difference in the car’s exterior will, I think, be a plus for people who didn’t like the previous generation’s audacious boy-racer esthetics. It still has the big air intake on the hood, of course, but the move to a hatchback design (and the STi is only available as a hatcher) has made the new Subaru perhaps more acceptable to a broader range of tastes.
You tell me, really, after checking the photos, but I am down with this new look. Subaru’s people tell me that the hatch-only trim for the STi is a result of the convenience of a five-door for use in rally racing, where quick access to the storage is essential.
And that’s a short taste of the new ’Baroo, friends, and it's still pretty early in the product cycle.
Pricing isn’t even announced yet (though I suspect you can reasonably anticipate it to get near 50K), but when it hits the lots early in ’08, this is a must-drive for people who can appreciate and enjoy a top-flight compact performer that puts its specs and decent build quality (and full-on, state of the art, race-ready glee factor) into a tight and compact package that hits all the marks that count.
The purple-faced self-yeller is gone now, he’s away-way up there, as is the police car that showed up shortly after, following him on his road to oblivion. That’s cool, though, as I would rather have the police in front of me than behind me, especially in the STi.
I hit the passing lane and squawk the 18-in. Dunlops, just because.
I could still catch him, you know?
I could catch anything in this.
2008 Subaru WRX STi
MSRP: TBA
Configuration: front engine/AWD
Engine: 2.5-litre boxer turbocharged/intercooled 4-cylinder
Transmission: 6-speed manual
Horsepower: 305 @ 6,000 rpm
Torque: 290 lb.-ft. @ 4,000 rpm
Fuel required: 64 litres, premium
Fuel economy (estimated, L/100km): 16.4 city, 12.2 highway
Warranty: 3 Years/60,000 km basic, 5 Years/100,000 km powertrain
Competition: MazdaSpeed3, Nissan Sentra SE-R, Honda Civic Si
Highlights: New level of refinement, world-class handling, extreme performance
Available: First quarter of 2008
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