Limited Subaru WRX STI is more Japanese forbidden fruit

Never do we feel quite so deprived as car enthusiasts as when the Tokyo Auto Salon comes around, with Japanese manufacturers always rolling out their tastiest performance car trinkets that more often than not, turn out to be forbidden fruit. For a while now, that’s what the Subaru WRX STI, what we once knew very well as the Impreza, has been. The latest is the *takes deep breath* WRX S4 STI Sport R Black Limited II STI Performance.

This is the latest in a long line of performance cars that were once very British-coded. Hot Imprezas were cars we couldn’t get enough of once upon a time, when they were in their rallying zenith, with messrs McRae and Burns frequenting the pilot’s seat, their rivalry on and off-road with Mitsubishi filling plenty of pages in evo’s early days.

Alas, the Sunrise Yellow of this car falls on an entirely different side of the colour wheel to those oft-blue rally-bred icons. STI Performance component parts that have been lavished on it include the wing (available for the equivalent of £311, sir), splitter, diffuser and lower skirt elements, marking it out from the WRX S4 STI Sport R EX on which it’s based. Power and performance are unknown but for reference, the Sport R EX has a 271bhp FA24 2.4-litre flat-four cylinder. The WRX S210 special edition of this time last year had the same lump boosted to 296bhp, thanks to a new intake system, a low back-pressure exhaust and an ECU tune. 

Inside the Recaro seats feature yellow trim, with suede elsewhere in the cabin. Joining it on Subaru’s stand in similar spec is effectively an estate version, called the Levorg - deep breath again - STI Sport R-Black Limited II STI Performance, which replaces the saloon boot and big wing of the WRX with a plump, more practical wagon rump.

If you can believe it, the UK has been without a Subaru WRX STI for just over seven years, the last one going off-sale at the end of 2018. The early 2000s hype had died down and the cars had stagnated but we were still fond of the WRX STI – a fondness that has us all looking at what Japan still gets that we don’t with lust and envy. Not too much though, given the latest WRX STIs are CVT-only. Eurgh.