Subaru Impreza RB5 (1999) review – limited-run rally special is still a riot today

You really had to be there, as they say. For a while the Impreza was a cult; then it became almost a cultural phenomenon. It was the car to have, right up until the point where someone without a valid claim to the keys snatched it, whereupon you stood a small chance of getting it back thanks to the efforts of the local traffic squad… in an Impreza. Then there was the rallying, with our two much-missed stars, first Colin McRae and then Richard Burns: both world champions at the wheel of an Impreza, and a whole story in itself. Subaru’s unlikely anti-hero was everywhere, including in the pages of this magazine, where more letters than before or since were written about the merits or otherwise of its continual inclusion in some form or other. 

Time has in no way dulled the impact of the Impreza, and the RB5 is one of the very best. As a special edition it was tweaked in all the areas that matter, and the results were sublime. That rally DNA seeps from every fibre of the RB5: it has so much poise, so much traction, that so little of the fabulous, turbocharged mojo from that boxer engine is wasted. It’s still heroically fast yet so involving with it, so thoroughly loveable with that thudding, thumping soundtrack. Everybody should have an Impreza in their lives at some point, and the RB5 would be near the very top of our wishlist. 

History and specs

Some will be old enough to remember when the Impreza Turbo 2000 first appeared in the early ’90s and didn’t win every group test it was entered into. Sensationally fast, and a genre-busting bargain, it wasn’t quite the polished article. It took time – subtle revisions through the middle of the decade and a sprinkling of magic marketing dust from Prodrive’s increasingly successful WRC campaign – to really propel the Impreza onto that wave of near hysteria a few years later. And as that happened, so here in the UK we became increasingly aware of the forbidden fruits available in the car’s home market – the specials, the lightweight ones, the faster ones. Except, as exciting as a short-geared, 8000rpm-red-lined, hardcore Impreza could be, they were never officially developed for the UK market in the era of the original ‘GC8-series’ Impreza, save arguably for a few small tweaks to the 22B and, of course, eventually Prodrive’s P1. 

That means a later UK-spec car, with its less frenetic power delivery, more supple suspension and outstanding traction, has all the key attributes to master our peculiarly ruinous roads, and of those, the ultimate is surely the RB5. Taking its name from Burns’ competition number, the RB5 was limited to 444 examples, all finished in Steel Blue metallic with titanium-coloured 17-inch Speedline alloys, a pair of PIAA spot-lamps, and Alcantara-trimmed seats and door panels. When it went on sale in 1999, the price was £24,995 (£4000 more than the standard car) but for £27,545 you could have a Prodrive-prepared WR Sport version with a quick-shift gearchange, air con, an STI rear wing and a power boost from 215bhp to 237bhp (and torque up from 214lb ft to 258lb ft).

Performance, ride and handling

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Boring stuff out of the way first: it’s a workmanlike cabin, lifted by the blue Alcantara and the view through the screen of the ridiculous bonnet bulge, but the seats offer excellent support and the Momo wheel feels just so. Ergonomically it’s pretty much faultless, from the seat/wheel/pedal relationship to the heater controls. Mainstream performance cars like the Impreza had reached a point where the basics were just right. How over-complicated things were going to become in the following decades…

On the test route, control weightings are well matched, the five-speed gearshift grittily tight but well defined, but it’s that torque that hits you: 258lb ft is almost as much as a Ferrari 355 has and produced at 3500 rather than 6000rpm. When it flexes its turbocharged muscle, the Impreza just takes off. From point to point not much from the era could touch it.

The way it covers the ground, it feels mighty, indomitable. In fact it makes you feel a bit of a hero – as if you can go as fast as you dare and it’ll be right there with you, right under you. It’s what you’d hope an Audi Quattro would feel like but with another layer or brilliance on top, and no allowances whatsoever need be made for its age.

It’s a brilliant car, from its suppleness to the richly characterful noise, the way the turbo ramps up the power. The steering’s lighter than you might expect and it’s not that precise; you have to energise the chassis, but once you’ve got it flowing in and out of the corners, it all makes sense.

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Driver’s note

‘The car it brings to mind straight away is the GR Yaris. It has that same feeling of security and mechanical toughness, and I was shocked at how hard you can push it. It just seems to demand more and more commitment. You need to time your throttle inputs to hit the boost when you want it, but once you’re in a rhythm you can cover ground at an amazing rate. For me, it’s everything you want a rally-inspired road car to be.’ – Yousuf Ashraf, evo senior staff writer, who tested the Subaru Impreza RB5 on the road in the UK.

Value today

The RB5 has gained cult status, and rightly so. Being limited to 444 units they don’t come up for sale often these days. When they do, a leggy example will command as much as £15k, while something with low miles that’s lead a pampered life will fetch even more. We often bemoan the shortage of affordable performance cars in today’s market but the fact you can bag a bonafide evo icon steeped in motorsport history for family hatch money does cheer us up a bit. 

Subaru Impreza RB5 specs