Road Test
Subaru Impreza 2.5 WRX STi
Test date 13 December 2005
Price as tested £27,040
For Faster, more exciting than predecessor
AgainstHarsh cross-country ride, ageing looks, running costs
The easiest way to greet the ‘all new, massively more powerful and dynamically facelifted’ Subaru Impreza STi is with your tongue firmly in the side of your cheek.
Because let’s face it, on the surface the ‘all new, massively improved’ £26,400 Impreza STi looks an awful lot like old Impreza STi, only this time sporting a dubious new nose job and… that’s about it.
If that were genuinely the case, however, we wouldn’t be wasting your time here with yet another road test of yet another hot Impreza. In reality, and despite appearing remarkably similar to its predecessor, this time Subaru really has gone to town on the STi.
Not only is there a brand new 2.5-litre engine in place of the previous model’s 2.0-litre turbocharged four, but everything from the suspension to the gearbox and even the legendary all-wheel-drive system has either been modified or replaced. The result, says Subaru, is the fastest, most agile Impreza ever to go on sale in the UK, and that includes the limited-edition 22B that tore up our streets at the end of last century.
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