TOTAL STI-MULATION

We’re in a remote control car. We’re toys. And we have the newest plaything in the Subaru playpen, the absolute top trump in the Japanese anagram library. Hyperventilate in the style of a panic attack victim before attempting this name in one go: the Subaru Impreza ‘Dubble-Woo-Arrr-Ex’ STI. Ned flew to the land with the most populated Subarus per square capita on the planet to get his first taste of this latest monster. So is it more than just essentially an Impreza with protein powder? Let’s find out.

 It’s fair to say that Subaru imprevalance in the motoring press is well into yawn territory. They’re everywhere. They might be as well be germs, with their silly gold wheels and tails. Why don’t we just get over them? Unfortunately, the problem is that we keep driving them. Our enthusiasm wells get refreshed all over again, and spread over into print, again. So gird yourself: the Impreza STI is a heavy deluge into the praise vessel.

  I believe that every car has its own personality. They feel, react, have the ability to judge. We grant them knowledge and responses, make them honorary things. Like any Imprezas, you know that it’s going to be a loud, pissed-off young man, railing against more genteel social constraints with showy and pointless displays of juvenile behavior. It probably has body piercings and smokes extra-strong fags, leaving 200 Sing Dollars in advance to the cops. This car watches nothing but MTV and plays thrash drum and bass on the stereo loud enough to collapse the delicate parts of your ears. It shouts and screams and forces itself upon you visually and mentally until you cry, ‘Okay, okay, we get the message’. And that’s when standing still. Subtlety, it seems, is for other people.

 Massive flares and more aggressive panels lend the five-door a muscle bound, purposeful look, a useful departure from the somewhat denatured appearance of the new WRX. STIs have never been truly beautiful things, but they have always clearly telegraphed their intent. Its controversial mug has been reworked somewhat, with the standard car’s shopping cart grille being broomed in favor of a mesh insert, along with a coca-cola bottle figure for its front and rear fenders that adds some much-needed aggression to the STI’s form, as does a rear wing. Out at the back, the STI’s new aero-effect bumper nicely exhibits a delicious set of dual exhausts.

  It looks more bling on the street rather than a rally car collecting dirt. It definitely looks cooler, more upmarket if not Euro and one wouldn’t be out of place driving one. Seeing it in metal you’ll realise that the car is incredibly understated, more gangsta and incredibly sexy. Again, whatever your personal take on the styling, Subarus have always been about the driving experience. It’s about giant killing and not fashion-conscious pretty-boy pretension. Well not anymore.

   STI is like the M-division or AMG for both BMW and Mercedes-Benz. It stands for Subaru Technica International and specialises in turning its championship rally cars into street legal machines. What they’ve done to a standard WRX is exactly everything Subaru has done over the past few years, making it harder, faster and generally more than standard.

  Flick the boxer engine into life and it sounds like an Impreza, too. The 2457cc flat-four is noticeably smoother and less vocal, despite making more power thanks to a new turbocharger and a more sophisticated variable-valve-timing system that acts on both the intake and exhaust camshafts. Astute GET@CAR readers will note that this displacement represents a half-liter bump over the Japanese domestic market STI. The differences are slight but telling: the UK-spec we drove makes 300bhp at 6,000rpm and 393Nm at 4,000rpm, while some 15 horses went missing at the Japan’s 1994cc spec. The reason why the Japanese is stuck with the 2.0-liter while the rest of the world (including us) gets the 2.5-liter is for them to accommodate World Rally Championship rules.

   We’re now at Singapore’s Turf City where they once used to race horses on the greens that wrapped around the oval track. These trees might never sigh at the passing streak of a rally car speeding through the mud and rocks, never smell the petrol and excitement of a thousand bobble-hatted, caffeine-soaked, joyful fools. But the trees are used to it. You’d think peace would be shattered, but there’s a certain synergy between the trees of this forest and the warble of the flat four. It is as if they miss it, the noise – as if they vibrate in time – and the sighing of the wind in the branches is like the sound of faint cheering…

   We are now behind the wheel of the all-new, all-singing, all-dancing STI. Comfortable and supportive seats greet our backsides, and in terms of design, ergonomic, space and quality, the interior is light-years ahead of any Imprezas. The interior is fairly similar to the other base Imprezas, though you do get a red-stitched gearlever, leather wheel and some shiny bits that remind you that you’re in the STI. Again the best bits are the rally buckets which grip you like any four-year- old to their precious teddy bear. With a look in the rear view mirror, you’ll realise with the absence of the big Airbus rear spoiler and for the first time in a Subaru Impreza STI, you can see where you’ve been.

   It makes a dubba dubba dubba boxer trumble when idling and sounds even more electrifying as the rev climbs higher, while a longer trek will find the noise intruding into the cabin. Despite being more refined and having more kit than the old car, the new STI is fractionally lighter than the one it replaces. Let loose and the STI goes schizophrenic. On the road you fight. On the rough, you fight, but with slightly more time to realize the enormity of the accident you’re potentially about to have. But all you want to do is exploit the limit of the car.

  Turbo lag, turbo boost, violence, goading, shouting, BANG BANG THUMB, go on, faster, more. Aaaargh. And you’d better pay attention, because when the STI gets past its dead zone below 3,000rpm the turbo starts bellowing. It is very much improved over the old STI where it is very much controlled, civilised and less abrupt. But hold on tight, because it still feels as if, on the tarmac, all 300 angry Japanese stallions are fighting with you for control. Snatch another gear and it all happens again – boost, steer, shift light – all the way to hitting the hugely powerful Brembo brakes and powering around the bend for what feels like the 53rd time.

   There’s always an adrenaline of excitement by carrying an extra km/h around the corners and there is no space to breathe because you’re concentrating on going as bloody quick as possible at a high speed as humanly possible. This car does not crave; it hacks and attacks. It doesn’t cruise, it thrashes. It does all that without you working hard doing it. You may think that the Impreza is a wild horse and hard to handle. Wrong. But exit this car shaking with adrenaline. And absolutely knackered.

   Behind the slick short-throw six-speed gearbox sits Subaru’s new electronic bits. A major development is the inclusion of Subaru’s SI-Drive, a tri-mode system that governs both throttle response and boost levels. The system’s default setting is Intelligent mode, with Sport and Sport Sharp. Sharp mapping but a knob-twist away. We tried all three on separate sorties and found a pronounced difference in power delivery. Intelligent mode was a genuine liability when trying to keep up with our fellow hotshoes, resulting in ego-killingly slow throttle inputs and markedly less power. Sport was better, with Sport Sharp quickly revealing itself as the clear choice for track work. Net result? Peerless traction in all weathers.

  Out on the road, the STI is a real firecracker, only this time the pyrotechnics happen with a far less audible bang. Overall performance is better than ever, and not exactly abrupt or sudden like its predecessors. What’s more, it boasts even greater adjustability than before. It can now exert its silicon upon the car’s three differentials in a dizzying number of ways: Auto, the all-around default setting, Auto (-) Active Sport, which pushes the torque bias rearward and disengages the centre differential and Auto (+), which clamps down on the limited-slip differential to aid on a low-friction surface-like gravel or wet surface. We felt most comfortable leaving it in Auto mode on the street, but found some merit in employing Auto (-) on the track. While most wannabe rallyists will probably twist the selector knob right to Sport Sharp every time they enter the car in order to maximize engine performance, mileage be damned, be warned: you have to be aggressively imbecilic to get the STI to seriously misbehave, and when it does you’d better be a braver driver than me.

   There’s huge grip and great body control so the Impreza will cope with everything that Singaporean roads and weather will throw at it, however fast or wet it arrives. Keep on the gas through a bend and the way the Impreza rearranges its torque between all four wheels to keep you nailed on course is frankly eerie. The brakes are mighty too, but the car doesn’t communicate its abilities clearly enough; the controls don’t give you the confidence they should, and you discover the car’s reserves of talent only by tentatively pushing harder. The car is so unflappable and reserved under duress that it is easy to carry much speed into a corner. Unlike the old car, the new STI is so clinical by comparison that one can’t help but wish Subaru electronic wizards had included yet another knob to dial in some of the old car’s rambunctiousness. It proves to be less fun and a bit of an arcade to some, where else the standard WRX feels more realistic, guess that’s how far the progress was made with the STI.

   I guess what we really want is a car that zooms from point A to B, helps us not to crash, a car that makes us look good and the STI does that. The new car is very much civilised to any driver, and your mother too can steer in the STI and turn her shopping groceries into rojak. Most importantly the STI now feels very mature and capable of embarrassing exotic machinery at three times the price with its incredible natural aptitude for roads like these. You don’t feel like you’re going fast in the STI until you’re going too fast. And this car has seriously serious speed.

Believe it.

The Impreza WRX STI that will be officially brought in by Motor Image by end of this year at RM 300,000. Some lucky

Subaru Impreza WRX STI

Price: RM 300,000 (est)

Engine: 2457cc, flat-four, turbocharged

Layout: Front engine, all-wheel drive

Power: 300bhp at 6,000 rpm

Torque: 407Nm at 4,000 rpm

Transmission: Six-speed manual

Weight: 1,505 kilograms

Acceleration: 0-100km/h in 4.7 seconds

Top Speed: 250 km/h