Getting up to speed with Subaru's Impreza STi

The 2008 Subaru Impreza has been completely redesigned. Roomier and more refined on the inside, the restyled Impreza is meant to appeal to a more mainstream audience.

It’s also bigger – the wheelbase has been extended almost four inches to increase rear seat legroom. Subaru has also upped the quality of the interior design and materials, made changes to reduce wind noise, and improved the ride quality.

Does that mean it has become too soft then? Not if you consider the Impreza STi. Here is a car that’s about the same size as its Honda Civic/Toyota Altis competition, but has an engine that’s more powerful than – and will handily outperform – your neighbor’s Porsche Boxster.

Key to this otherworldly performance is a turbocharged and intercooled 2.5-liter DOHC 16-valve flat-4 motor developing a stunning 300 ps at 6000 rpm and an equally jaw-dropping 407 Nm of torque at 4000 rpm.

This overachieving powerplant is mated to a 6-speed manual transmission (no wimpy automatic in this hard-core racer!) which, according to most foreign car magazines that have conducted instrumented tests on the STi, endow it with sub-5-second acceleration figures in the 0-100-kph sprint.

That, ladies and gentlemen, is solidly in hyper-expensive (read: P6 million-and-up) sports car territory.

Of course, rocket-sled performance demands equally prodigious stopping power. Which is why you’ll find exotic Italian-made Brembo brake calipers and huge brake discs when you peer through the STi’s huge 18-inch wheels (wrapped by 245/40 tires).

What’s great is that the STi delivers stupendous acceleration, cornering and braking without punishing its driver or occupants. Riding comfort is surprisingly supple, with none of the jarring ride I had expected from a car with this much performance potential.

The clutch pedal is firm but not uncomfortably hard to depress unlike its predecessors. Ditto the gearshift lever that requires a firm wrist but otherwise slams into gear solidly. The throws are not feather-light like a Honda’s or Toyota’s gearshift but it rewards an assertive driver.

Aesthetically, the STi certainly looks the part. It may be a compact 5-door hatchback in the mold of a Mazda3, but it adds a huge hood-mounted scoop, an aggressive front spoiler with huge air intakes, prominent side skirts, a big tailgate-mounted rear wing, a rear under-bumper diffuser and the two main embodiments of supercar performance: those wildly flared fenders with the exhaust vents behind the front wheels and those in-your-face quad chrome exhaust tips.

Goodies? A sport-tuned suspension, sporty and supportive bucket front seats, automatic climate control, electroluminescent gauges, a tilt/telescoping steering wheel, CD changer, suede-like Alcantara upholstery, SI-drive (Subaru’s three-mode setup that lets the driver customize his preferred engine and electronic throttle maps depending on his driving needs), Multi-Mode DCCD (Driver’s Control Center Differential), and Multi-Mode Vehicle Dynamics Control System.

The latter three features are state-of-the-art electronic drivetrain and chassis aids that further elevate the performance potential of the STi and help the driver avoid or recover from hairy situations. Standard safety features on the Impreza include antilock brakes and side curtain airbags.

Inside, the big payoff for the longer wheelbase comes in the rear seat, where legroom is improved. Larger door openings and rear doors that open to 75 degrees also add to the new Subie’s usability. The doors also have framed side windows – a first for the Impreza and a rarity among Subarus – that help quiet the interior.

A new double-wishbone suspension affords a wider cargo area while a 60/40-split-folding rear seat further enhances versatility. Overall interior material quality is a big improvement over the previous car, and as such the Impreza looks and feels more grown-up than ever before.

The Impreza STI gives enthusiasts exactly what they want – a firm, communicative suspension, quick steering response, powerful brakes and a potent rush of acceleration whenever the throttle is tickled. What a rush!

The Good

• Exotic car-like handling, braking, acceleration

• Mean-looking scoop, wing, spoiler and flares

• Spacious cabin and cargo area

• Higher levels of build quality, refinement, and fit-and-finish

The Bad

• Fuel economy an oil company executive would love

• Could use more higher-end convenience features

The Verdict

• The ultimate Impreza for those who find the current Impreza 2.0 and WRX models too mainstream. Simply the best bang for your buck.