Subaru started a minor revolution in Australia with the original 1994 Impreza WRX. Today the hard-charging 4WD Subaru is something of a living legend particularly in STi form. The WRX STi thumps out 221kW and 407Nm from its 2.5-litre boxer turbo, all fed to the wheels via a six-speed manual gearbox and a driver-controlled, variable-bias centre differential with limited-slip front and rear diffs. The performance Impreza gets worked-over suspension, Brembo brakes, 18-inch alloys and faster-ratio steering. Passive safety is attended to via six airbags, while passengers benefit from deep-contour front seats, special STi gauges, automatic climate-control and 10-speaker, six-CD audio.
