A few years ago, the Subaru’s were looked upon as some sort of strange Japanese beast. Remember those weird pick-up things with four wheel drive and an air-cooled horizontally opposed engine like a VeeDub? Styling by Wally Disney, but the marque had this strange knack of being able to get converts to it who became totally obsessed and one eyed about the cars, something like converts to a wandering evangelist. (Billy Graham, where are you now we need you?)

Subaru Impreza WRX STi

That religious fervour continued to surround the cars and drivers, but by the mid 1990’s the following for the brand was well merited, with the WRX Subaru Impreza’s being world class performance motor cars.

One motor noter who also has the Subaru religion is our Down-Under correspondent, John Weinthal. After spending a week in the company of the latest offering from Subaru, he had this to say.

“The Subaru I am driving this week is strictly for the out and out driving enthusiast. The Impreza WRX STi launches WRX performance onto a yet higher plane with power up from 160 to 195 kW. That’s 195 turbocharged kW from just two litres.

Interior of the Subaru STi

The whole car has been beefed up to match the Porsche-territory performance which this AUD55,000 four door sedan can deliver.

“You had better believe that this car can invigorate, while still being among the safest on our roads thanks to its highly developed full-time four-wheel-drive, larger Brembo brakes and heavier duty suspension. It also has all the expected mid 50 grand comfort features from air conditioning, power windows, mirrors and locking to cruise control, six stacker in-dash CD player and five lap and sash seat belts.

“But this is primarily a car for the most dedicated driver. It rewards wonderfully when driven with a real dedication to being in the right gear and, dare we say it, an equally keen eye out for the tax-gatherers. (These are extremely prevalent in Australia with on-board radar, speed cameras at the side of the road, amphometers across the road and in some states, sky patrols.)

“This is a car which can accelerate from 0-100 kph in under 5.5 seconds. It can overtake in a blink, and hills are simply obliterated. And unlike some turbos it can sound terrific on full throttle.

“Almost needless to say, anonymity is not on for the WRX STi driver - even more so than with the standard WRX. There’s a different grille and 40 per cent larger air intake in the aluminium bonnet. STi badges appear in several places and the 17 in gold wheels and brake discs with red lettering further distinguish the STi from less committed autos.

“Inside there are body hugging sports seats, a large tachometer dead centre of the instrument cluster, drilled aluminium pedals, more STi badges and two air bags.

This car is great over a brief experience at least. It would make a terrific sunny Sundays on traffic-free roads car.

“As to the rest of the time, the firm - almost jarring - ride on anything but the smoothest surfaces is hard on the driver and probably worse for all but the hardiest or most devoted passengers.

“It is also vital that one constantly snicks the six-speed gearbox to ensure it is always in the rather narrow power band. Otherwise the engine revs drop and there’s a noticeable turbo lag before things fire up again - with near neck-snapping urgency. At least it is the most pleasant WRX gearbox to date.

“Apart from the obvious, about the only enduring irritation is the need to tap in a four digit code every time you want to start. It is no doubt an excellent security gadget, but putting the keypad under the handbrake lever was less than clever. As I said, no doubt it is valuable for security but I found it a constant irritant over a week and around 500 km.

“For me, I’d be more than happy with the regular WRX. For the majority, including me, it’s an altogether more everyday useable proposition with no shortage of excitement capability. I could also find good use for the AUD 13,000 saving over the STi, not to mention the STi’s probably even heftier insurance premium.

“This is a great car for the wholly dedicated. But before you buy one be sure to take it for a test drive and sample it over all road surfaces. You might love it, but make sure your regular passengers come along for the ride too - they mightn’t be quite so enthusiastic. Whatever happens, even the test drive will be an experience to relish - your time in a truly hot car at well under half the cost of its performance peers.”

Well, that was John Weinthal’s impression of the Impreza. It looks as if the STi is what we used to call “Homologation Specials” which allowed the factory to run high performance specification cars in competition. The local (country) rules would say that X number had to be built for sale to allow them to be driven in rallies or races. Since Subaru are very big on the rally scene, it would not come as any shock to find these cars are the basis for their works rally team.