Subaru WRX STI: Cheesy & Soft?

By Feann Torr - 27/July/2007

Tokyo, Japan — There have been countless photoshopped images of the new Subaru Impreza WRX hatch, tweaked to make it look like the STI, or what some believe the STI will look like. Unfortunately none of these renderings can hide the fact that the widely-criticised Impreza hatchback design will still be as prominent as ever in the STI.

The latest image to attract our attention comes from Nihon Car and is enough to make owners of the unloved bug-eyed 2003 Impreza WRX hold on to their purchases with glee. It is, to be blunt, an unappealing car.

To be fair, the altered image is only one person's guess at how the new model will look, based on current spy shots and previous model WRX STI's. Nevertheless, it gives a good idea of the overall silhouette of the new vehicle, and provides a fair indication of what we can expect.

Update: One of our readers sent us an email after this article was posted, highlighting two photos scanned from a Japanese car magazine. The pair of photos show what appears to be the Subaru WRX STI model. And slap me with a kipper, but they look good! Posted on Scoobyblog.com, the scans show a much wider, more aggressive WRX STI that makes the yellow STI render look like a uninspired photoshopped fake. Heh.

With a much chunkier bodykit, not to mention a bonnet scoop flanked by a pair stylised micro inlets, and a much lower ride height, these new images shed a bit of light on the secretive STI.

Thanks for the tip Craig!

Subaru has decided to shift away from it's hard-charging, rally-racing heritage that made the WRX and it's nut-bag cousin, the WRX STI, such angry little machines. They used to go hard, and they used to look tough.

The new Impreza hatch models embody this shift away from this banzai reputation, and will be marketed with words like 'premium' and 'luxurious' and, though performance will still be strong, it is rumoured that the vehicles won't be huge leaps forward in terms of driving dynamics.

One explanation for this 'softening' of the Impreza brand is that Toyota is now the largest stakeholder in Fuji Heavy Industries, the parent company of Subaru, and that it is leaning on Subaru to create cars that appeal to a wider demographic, and not just the petrol heads.

Seems to me that Mitsubishi appears to be doing both with great success. The new Evolution X is expected to be the most powerful version yet, and will be packed with a range of upgraded AWD traction and transmission technologies, together with higher levels of comfort and quality.

In an interview with Subaru's CEO early in '07, TheCarConnection reported that Ikuo Mori essentially conceded that Subaru needs all the help it can get to survive in the long term, something that a Toyota take-over would undoubtedly achieve. Perhaps Subaru is attempting to curry favour with the world's biggest automaker by assimilating it's products and philosophy?

Subaru may be diluting it's hard charging nature to appease the powers that be, or perhaps it's just trying something different. Whatever the case may be, this car looks like a swoopy Mazda 3 MPS that doesn't deserve the STI badge. Where's the aggression and arrogance that WRX STI's or yore used to have? Where's the gaping maw of a bonnet scoop that can swallow an albatross whole??

Expected to output around 400Nm and 230kW from its 2.5-litre turbocharged 4-cylinder boxer engine, the Subaru Impreza WRX STI will be incredibly powerful, but one wonders if the new design will turn a lot of potential buyers off. What do you think? Send us your thoughts: Mailbox.

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