NAIAS 2014: The Subaru WRX STi Maintains Status Quo

Jack Baruth
by Jack Baruth

In the words of Robert Plant, “Does anyone remember laughter?” Does anyone remember when these cars were serious business and hugely desired and not easy meat for V-6 Camrys during freeway rolls? Does anyone remember when showing up somewhere behind the wheel of a pink-trimmed frogeye STi or an Evolution VIII RS was a naked-steel statement of sporting intent? Remember when these cars cost less than the German cars that couldn’t catch ’em?

Well, anyway, here’s the WRX STi, and it’s powered by a twin-turbo flat-six making 482 horsepower.


JUST KIDDING ITS THE SAME ENGINE AS BEFORE AND IT STILL MAKES 305HP




Here’s some good news: Six-speed manual transmission, selectable center diff, Torsen rear diff, helical limited-slip in front. It’s that same stuff you loved ten years ago, in a significantly larger and softer car. The STi is differentiated by a complete bodykit including aluminum hood with top-mounted intercooler that will be immediately be thrown away by most tuners.

There’s also a harmon/kardon sound system and a flat-bottom steering wheel.

They didn’t ruin it, and that’s good. But in order to have the kind of impact on the performance world that the original STi had, the power numbers would have had to be considerably higher. As it is, Subaru can be content with probably having the edge over the fourteen-second-quarter-mile-sloggin’ Mitsubishi Evolution. Just watch out for those sedans.

Jack Baruth
Jack Baruth

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  • Thill Thill on Jan 14, 2014

    The 2015 WRX looks to be the big value.. Near Evo performance for $26K?? The STI has some welcome improvements but they should have updated the engine. Probably will next year when the Golf R hits the US shores.

  • Adub Adub on Jan 14, 2014

    It looks cool but hasn't really improved performance since 2004. However, the price has really gone up. Brembo brakes aren't worth that much.

  • TheMrFreeze That new Ferrari looks nice but other than that, nothing.And VW having to put an air-cooled Beetle in its display to try and make the ID.Buzz look cool makes this classic VW owner sad 😢
  • Wolfwagen Is it me or have auto shows just turned to meh? To me, there isn't much excitement anymore. it's like we have hit a second malaise era. Every new vehicle is some cookie-cutter CUV. No cutting-edge designs. No talk of any great powertrains, or technological achievements. It's sort of expected with the push to EVs but there is no news on that front either. No new battery tech, no new charging tech. Nothing.
  • CanadaCraig You can just imagine how quickly the tires are going to wear out on a 5,800 lbs AWD 2024 Dodge Charger.
  • Luke42 I tried FSD for a month in December 2022 on my Model Y and wasn’t impressed.The building-blocks were amazing but sum of the all of those amazing parts was about as useful as Honda Sensing in terms of reducing the driver’s workload.I have a list of fixes I need to see in Autopilot before I blow another $200 renting FSD. But I will try it for free for a month.I would love it if FSD v12 lived up to the hype and my mind were changed. But I have no reason to believe I might be wrong at this point, based on the reviews I’ve read so far. [shrug]. I’m sure I’ll have more to say about it once I get to test it.
  • FormerFF We bought three new and one used car last year, so we won't be visiting any showrooms this year unless a meteor hits one of them. Sorry to hear that Mini has terminated the manual transmission, a Mini could be a fun car to drive with a stick.It appears that 2025 is going to see a significant decrease in the number of models that can be had with a stick. The used car we bought is a Mk 7 GTI with a six speed manual, and my younger daughter and I are enjoying it quite a lot. We'll be hanging on to it for many years.
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