With powerful all-wheel drive vehicles, Subaru had succeeded in becoming a globally recognized 4×4 specialist. Now, in autumn 1992, all that was missing was a charismatic challenger in the compact class, where the VW Golf or Toyota Corolla set the tone. In fact, the Subaru Impreza brought with it all the characteristics typical of the brand, i.e. robust boxer engines with a low center of gravity and a 4×4 drive system with a horizontal layout for neutral driving behavior and this even with the inexpensive basic petrol engine: That was enough for a bestseller career and number one as the world’s best-selling all-wheel drive vehicle its class. But Subaru also had ambitious sports drivers in mind who were looking for a five-seater Far Eastern all-wheel drive alternative to European Vmax plants such as the BMW M3, Maserati 430 or Porsche 968: The Impreza WRX STI, which usually featured bright blue paintwork and golden rims, was initially replaced by a 206 kW/280 hp boxer engine and immediately achieved cult status. No wonder, since the WRX STI dominated the World Rally Championship for years. The fans of console racing games quickly chose the racer with the boxer rotating at up to 8,000 revs as their favourite. This Subaru was even good for shrill, real world records: In 2009, stunt driver Travis Patrana jumped 82 meters with an STI.
Even though the extremely strong WRX STI sports sedan paid tribute to European emissions legislation in 2018 and for the last time presented the characteristic performance insignia of huge rear wings and sharp spoiler lips in a “Final Edition”, the fifth Impreza generation with a mildly hybridized boxer is still drawing on today glamor of this hot-blooded series winner. The sports legend was born in January 1994 at the motorsport division Subaru Tecnica International, as indicated by the type code STI. The abbreviation WRX, World Rally Experimental, in turn pointed to the playing field of the sharpest Impreza: the rally tracks. Subaru drove the first practice laps in the World Rally Championship as early as 1980, but the breakthrough only came in 1994 with the Impreza STI. At the end of the season, Subaru was runner-up in the manufacturers’ championship and rally titans Carlos Sainz and Colin McRae were second and fourth in the drivers’ championship.
A year later, these two Impreza drivers engaged in a head-to-head duel that secured Subaru an entry in the history books as McRae became the youngest ever WRC racer to win the drivers’ title. Sainz was a close second and the Japanese marque clinched the Manufacturers’ Championship, once more in 1996 and 1997. Subaru’s subsequent WRC seasons saw the champion’s crown within reach, but only Richard Burns (2001) and Petter Solberg (2003 ) were able to win drivers’ world championships with the Impreza WRC. In addition, the Impreza WRC set an exclamation point in Germany, as Armin Kremer became German Rally Champion with it in 1998 and 1999. Lots of reasons to celebrate, which benefited the fans of fast street athletes, as demonstrated by the Impreza GT Turbo with 160 kW/218 hp, with which Subaru honored Armin Kremer’s triumphs. One of the sporty special series that is still coveted today is the “Holzer Edition 2.0 GL” with a civil motor, which the Holzer team celebrated from the 1998 rally season.
Far more exciting are the street athletes, whose WRX STI signet indicated engine outputs of 206 kW/280 hp to 235 kW/320 hp, and who sprinted to 100 km/h in 4.4 seconds back in the 1990s: not even V12s undercut this value at the time like the Ferrari 550 Marenello. With the art of burning best times into the asphalt, Nippon’s fastest boxer also earned respect at the Nürburgring. In the spring of 2010, a WRX STI achieved a lap time of 7:55 minutes, a record for four-door cars of this type. Class victories and notable successes at the 24-hour race in the Green Hell and also at the Pikes Peak hill climb have followed to this day an STI leaves its mark.
In contrast, the road led to large numbers and economic gains for the Impreza in the end over average-powered boxer petrol engines and a boxer diesel, which was less popular in the Impreza. First there was the 4.35 meter long Impreza as a classic notchback and five-door fastback, a coupé followed in 1995, under the hood petrol engines with 66 kW/90 hp or at best 85 kW/115 hp worked. That was enough for the tasks of a city runregarding and for meadows and forest paths, because many forest workers and hunters liked the all-wheel drive right away. Contributing to this were special models such as the Impreza Pirsch with a raised chassis, front protection bar and welding pan. In the second edition, the five-door Impreza was given the suffix Sportkombi in 2001, and this body variant actually made a career for itself under the Swedish cult brand Saab. As the Saab 9-2 X, the four-wheel drive should accelerate the Scandinavians to new successes in North America, an experiment that was stopped following only three years.
The attempt to establish the front-wheel drive Impreza 1.5 RF as an entry-level version in the German Subaru program was also short-lived in 2008. The world’s first boxer diesel, which was introduced at the same time, was only temporarily successful in the Impreza, in contrast to the larger Forester and Outback models. On the other hand, the balance of the crossover versions of the Impreza is completely different. Their off-road look went perfectly with the 4×4 drive right from the start, and the Subaru Impreza XV launched in 2010 was so convincing that the Subaru XV followed just two years later: now without the Impreza signet, but further derived from the Impreza. The Subaru designers built a bridge to the future in 2016: The “Global Platform” is designed for electrified drives, and the fifth Impreza generation still uses it for boxer petrol engines with mild hybrid technology.
How it goes on? The next Impreza is getting ready, but before that, the JDM and WRC communities are celebrating the 30th anniversary of this million-selling 4×4 bestseller.
Photos: Subaru
