{"id":100576,"date":"2014-04-24T05:26:47","date_gmt":"2014-04-24T12:26:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/bangshift.com\/?p=100576"},"modified":"2014-04-24T06:51:10","modified_gmt":"2014-04-24T13:51:10","slug":"2015-subaru-wrx-sti-drive-best-dollars-fun-ratio-car-known-man","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bangshift.com\/bangshiftapex\/2015-subaru-wrx-sti-drive-best-dollars-fun-ratio-car-known-man\/","title":{"rendered":"2015 Subaru WRX STi – We Drive The Best Dollars To Fun Ratio Car Known To Man"},"content":{"rendered":"

(Photos by Dave Nutting) – When I learned that there was a Subaru WRX floating around in the New England press fleet a couple weeks back, I made some calls and threats, and weepy begging type pleas to the powers that be so I could get some seat time in it. My experiences in Subaru WRXs in years past have been relegated to largely riding shotgun in others’ cars, beating on one at a drag strip mercilessly, and listening to Dave Nutting sing forth their praises like a cult member. In all honesty, I was expecting a standard issue WRX so when I got a phone call and Subaru let me know that the hot rodded STi version of the car would be coming, I was excited and Nutting just about had a nervous breakdown. Allow me to head a few things off at the pass.<\/p>\n

“The wing is lame!” – Yes, I agree that the wing isn’t the coolest thing to look at, but if you are going to stand there and tell me how much you love the way a Charger Daytona looks with said massive wing on the back you can’t then spin around and tell me how much this one sucks. It may be weird, but that wing has been a signature of this particular variant of the WRX since it was first made available to a US buying audience about a decade ago. If I bought one, I’d be buying a replacement trunk lid and storing the factory lid and wing in the basement until I wanted to sell the thing.<\/p>\n

“But it’s a Subaru!” – Indeed it is. If there were an American car company producing a 300+ horsepower, all wheel drive, tank like creation that handles as if the Almighty himself was pointing the car around corners, has a huge aftermarket behind it, and sells for less than $40,000 sticker, I’d be equally excited to drive that but since none of them do, here we are.<\/p>\n

\"subaru<\/a>Setting those major objections aside, I was pretty excited to spend a week with this car. Being that it is a four door sedan, there’s plenty of room for the kids when you are out screwing around and being that the engine is a 2.5L turbocharged four banger, fuel economy can be decent if you want it to be. During the week I experienced the car, I didn’t want it to be. The WRX STi is not a car that will win net you 600 miles per tank but on the highway with a light foot you can eek out mid-20s for fuel economy, but the problem is that the car just wants to GO. With short gearing and six speeds, your right hand can always find a gear that puts the engine right at the 3,000 RPM sweet spot where the engine really starts making power.<\/p>\n

Landing on the gas at that RPM will plant you and everyone else firmly in their seats and assuming you can keep up with the quick revving mill with your shifter hand, the thing will pull as long as hard as you want it do. That being said, clipping the rev limiter will about put your face into the dashboard because you go from a very strong state of acceleration to nothing instantly. It took me a day or two to really acclimate to the gearing in the car and to be quick and on-time with aggressive shifts. Hey, practice makes perfect, right?<\/p>\n

Realizing the fact that I will probably be attacked in public for making this statement, the 2015 WRX STi has more muscle car DNA in it than any of the current American “muscle cars”. It nearly makes me sad to say that but the fact of the matter is that its true. By the time you get done leaving the lot of any dealer with a Camaro, Mustang, Charger, SS, or whatever you decide, you’ll be well into the 40k range, loaded up with all kinds of gimmick and doo-dad junk that you pretty much have to take because it is part of the “package” of options included with the car. The STi very much has the ethos of the old school muscle car in its blood and that is the idea of taking a cheap car, stuffing it full of horsepower and making it something far superior to the plain Jane stuff everyone else is driving. Listen, you will never mistake the interior of the WRX STi as anything more than a Subaru. The seats are comfy and have suede inserts in the center that keep you firmly in place while you are bending the laws of physics or breaking the laws of traffic. Two things that seem to go hand in hand. There is some lame fake carbon fiber stuff and lots of plastic to let you know that you’re still in a Subaru.On the plus side, the steering wheel is very good and the dash layout was cool as well.<\/p>\n

Idiotic widgets are virtually non-existent in the car but cool stuff abounds. The neatest functional feature is the selectable center differential and the tuning knob that allows you\"subaru<\/a> to select some different driving modes (I lived in the Sport Sharp mode all week). My feeling on this is that Subaru has recognized that these cars sell on the fact that drivers love them and they sell on that point, not because they have zooty interiors that make you feel like you are a captain of industry. The WRX STi driver wants to feel like a rally god, not Warren Buffet. You can use an automatic adjustment setting on the center differential or you can manually bias the power how you want it. As you will see in the photos below, we took the car to a secret BangShift rally course testing location and did what this car was designed to do, throw dirt and caution to the wind. While there, playing with the differential tuning turned the car from a pushy all wheel driver that was plowing through dirt corners to a tail happy machine that made even my untalented backside feel like Ken Block (back when he raced Subarus). Other than a junker that you bought for the expressed purpose of destroying on old fire roads, you’ll never, ever, ever have more fun in car on dirt as you will this one. But I realize that few of you ever WILL hit the dirt so you are more concerned with the on road handling aspects of the car. Well, we pushed those too.<\/p>\n

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This car is a precise instrument on the street. When you want to turn into an aggressive corner, you best be prepared to turn in when you start moving the wheel because you’ll be heading that direction quickly. The car makes the driver exceptionally confident which is both a great and slightly scary thing. I am by no means a top shelf shoe but I have driven my fair share of hot street cars and varying race cars over the years. I felt as though I knew what the limits of the STi were on the provided snow tires and it was fun to probe those areas. Those with no experience may find themselves getting almost too confident and into the mindset that the car will “save” them. I’m hear to tell you tan even the most advanced safety catch nets in the known universe all bow to physics so I recommend getting this car to an autocross or something of that nature before you decide that you are the next Emerson Fittipaldi in it. The ride is very stiff, no getting around that. On the crappy, frost heaved, and rutted New England roads there were more than a few jounces that left me wincing and I became very adroit at looking out for chuckholes and other obstacles that may look to swallow the car. Road noise was more than I expected on the highway. There is no issue \u00a0or drone from the exhaust but between the wind, the snow tires, and the general sounds of the highway, the car definitely is louder inside than I expected. The stereo looks like it was pulled out of a 1989 Subaru and sent into the future to be installed into this car. It worked and I am not a big car audio guy but it sounded fine to me. The radio looked like a stolen Speak and Spell screen. Again, you are buying a driver’s car here, not a luxo barge.<\/p>\n

\"subaru<\/a>I put a lot of miles on this car over the course of the week that I had it. This was mainly because I fell in love driving the damned thing and secondly because I wanted to have an honest opinion if one could live with an STi as a daily driver, commuter, all around car. My answer is that an enthusiast could live with an STi every day because the car is so\u00a0exhilarating to drive and because some of the spartan nature of the car appeals to gearheads like us that are tired of everything having to have 98,000 “convenience” options. Honestly, if Subaru could have gotten away with crank windows in this thing they would have and I think I would have been OK with it.<\/p>\n

The engine is rated at 305hp and because of the short gearing and absolutely unrelenting traction, it feels like a bunch more. The drag strip rained out the week we had the car but this thing is deep, deep, deep into the 13s or at least that is what my butt dyno is telling me. Dumping the clutch from any sort of rpm is so insanely fun that it’s like an automotive drug. With nothing but a chirp of the tires you are planted harder into your seat than almost anything else possibly can plant you from a standing start. Admittedly first and second gears are on the verge of being annoying in their shortness, but it does get the party started in a hurry when the clutch comes out and the throttle goes down. Interestingly the engine in this car is completely different than the motor in the standard WRX. I’ll let Nutting explain that and jabber on for a second:<\/p>\n

When Brian told me that he was getting the newly redesigned 2015 STI for a week, I was excited. Ok, maybe a little TOO excited based on the frequency and content of the text messages that I sent him over the course of the week leading up to the car appearing in his driveway, but everyone had their thing and Subarus are mine. Lay off, will ya? sheesh!<\/em><\/p>\n

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Intense fanboy feelings aside, I was a bit leery of this new car, as I was feeling a little betrayed by the actual production vehicle after being wooed by the concept that Subaru touted back in 2013. All Subarus are ugly in a slightly endearing way, but the 2015 was a huge letdown after the hotness that was the concept. However, after actually spending some quality time with the 2015 car in the flesh, I have to admit that the production model is closer to the concept than I originally gave it credit for.<\/em><\/p>\n

But enough of that, how is this little AWD alphabet soup Subaru to drive?<\/em><\/p>\n

Just like the other 99.9% of the population I believe that I’m a better-than-average driver, but I know that I’m not a great driver. That said, the WRX STI makes you feel like a hero. While you’re behind the wheel, it’s your experienced ring-side trainer, telling you: “Ok, you took that corner at 45 MPH last time, but I know we can do more. I’m there for you”.<\/em><\/p>\n

“Experienced” is the key word here, which is a nice way of saying “getting a bit long in the tooth”, which the STI is in some respects. Sure, the chassis is new, but unlike the WRX, which has a whole host of upgrades this year ranging from larger brakes to the new direct-injection EA20 engine, the STI is still blasting down dirt roads using basically the same 2.5L 305 horsepower engine (The EJ257), Brembo brakes, and close ratio six speed manual transmission that it featured when originally introduced to the US market in 2004. Hey, it works, but with the WRX getting better every year it makes less and less sense to spend the extra $10,000 or so on the STI versus its lesser sibling. End of the day, it’s still a fantastic car, but I’d recommend at least test driving a WRX before pulling the trigger on the STI.<\/em><\/p>\n

WE’RE GOING TO TELL YOU THE REST OF THE STORY ON THIS CAR THROUGH DAVE NUTTING’S PHOTOS – CHECK IT OUT!<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

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The exterior styling on the STi in interesting because frankly it’s boring as hell. Yes, there is a big scoop to feed the intercooler and there’s the big wing on the back but other than that not much is happening. This is another reason why this car is in the muscle car realm. Classic muscle cars from the middle 1960s were not all that bold in the styling department either but worked up versions of base cars.<\/p><\/div>\n

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2.5L of horizontally opposed four banger turbo fury. I joke but this is a mean little piece and few engines sound more neat at idle and low RPM than the throaty Subaru boxer.<\/p><\/div>\n

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The black wheels added a nice sinister finishing touch to the all black STi. Huge brakes are effective but not what I would consider world class. The car stops hard but not hard enough to make you question whether or not your dentures got sucked out.<\/p><\/div>\n

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The interior reminds you quickly that you’re strapped into a bad ass fast economy car. Don’t get us wrong, dates will still dig the seats and all but there’s a boy racer element of this gut that could be ditched. Not that we want to see it go uptown but the fake carbon fiber is pretty lame.<\/p><\/div>\n

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STi’s get their aggressive looks from their widebody fenders and quarter panels. Because everything else is stretched width-wise, the rocker panels are also stretched out and this was a minor, shin bashing annoyance for the first day or two until my brain started saying, “Watch out for that dumbass.”<\/p><\/div>\n

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There are not adequate words to describe how much fun this thing is in the dirt. You have great control due to the AWD, great tuneability due to the adjustable center differential and enough horsepower to drive yourself out of any (or into any) situation you run across.<\/p><\/div>\n

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The snow tires that our tester was equipped with may as well have been sand paddle tires. They clawed and chewed at the Earth like super swampers. Super impressive performers off road. We’re not sure what the all seaons would be like but these babies were awesome.<\/p><\/div>\n

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This is what your life looks like with the majority of the power biased to the rear of the car. BIG TIME FUN!<\/p><\/div>\n

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The wing. Hated by many, loved by fanboys, but it has been a signature of this car since day one here in the USA. If you are shortsighted enough to let that piece of plastic stop you from buying or even liking one of the great performance driving values on the road today you are beyond our help.<\/p><\/div>\n

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Final impressions? The Subaru WRX STi is one of the most fun pound for pound cars we have ever spend a week with. It is uncompromising and does not apologize for the fact that the performance comes at the price of some creature comforts. We’re not sure where else you’d get this blend of acceleration, handling, and dirt prowess. Love it or hate it, you’ve got to respect this four door rocket because if you don’t, that wing will be mocking you all the way home as it drives off into the sunset.<\/p><\/div>\n

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