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Wayne Cunningham has written a review of the 2008 Subaru Impreza WRX STi yesterday and it’s well written. Why? It’s short but concise, and he brings some new opinions that I haven’t seen much from other reviews, because most of them focus heavily on the performance. This review is more balanced and provides insight on the practicality of having a STi, touching on subjects of daily driving, amenities, fuel economy, etc. I think he talked to much about the stock radio, however, at least he mentions that it does seem unnessary to talk about it for such a car, haha. It’s worth the 2-5 minutes to read it, especially if you are thinking about purchasing one or wanting to know more…if not you can read below on some of the key things he talks about.

image credit: reviews.cnet.com

• Performance

  1. “The car has amazing boost between 4,000rpm and 6,000rpm where it gets its peak 305 horsepower. However, it completely bogs down about 2,000rpm.”
  2. “As for wheel slip, we didn’t feel much of that, as the STI is incredibly grounded. We could feel the wheels biting into the road as the car transferred torque appropriately, keeping the front end from running towards the outside of a turn.”
  3. “During our drive, we tried locking and loosening the center differential, but couldn’t feel much of a difference. The center differential’s maximum lock is for slippery conditions, such as mud and slush, while the looser setting is supposed to work in dry conditions.”
  4. “The standard WRX gained a few points over the STI model because of its more even power delivery–its peak horsepower comes at 4,800rpm so it wouldn’t leave us in the lurch on the approach to a hairpin. However, we preferred the STI overall for its markedly better handling.”
  5. “As we mentioned, the 305 horsepower comes at 6,000rpm, right near redline, and its 290 foot pounds of torque comes in at 4,000rpm. In all sorts of driving conditions, from traffic to the mountains, the car bucks and lags at low engine speeds, but above 4,000rpm it bolts forward with an amazing amount of boost. We tried out the different throttle response settings with the SI drive, ultimately deciding never to use the Intelligent mode, as it just make the car lag even more from start. Sport is good for every day driving, while Sport Sharp is fun on the twisty roads.”
     

• Amenities

  1. ” We are a little baffled that the navigation system can only be ordered with either the silver or the gold BBS wheels.”
  2. “The stock stereo can be optioned with either XM or Sirius satellite radio, although we haven’t been too impressed with the integration of this feature in other Subaru models we’ve seen.”
  3. (About the Navigation System)“It is an excellent and thoroughly modern navigation system with nice map resolution and a full POI database. Further, Bluetooth cell phone integration comes with the navigation system, but we haven’t had a chance to evaluate it.”
     

• Practicality

  1. “The STI isn’t a car for those who want to maximize fuel economy, but we will spell out its mileage here anyway. The EPA gives the car a rating of 17 mpg city and 23 mpg highway. We drove the car hard while we had it, but still got an average of 17.4 mpg that, though not good, is better than we expected. The car doesn’t stand out for emissions. It earns the minimum LEV II rating from California’s Air Resources Board.”
  2. “The 2008 Subaru Impreza WRX STI is a little pricey with a base of $34,995, no longer the bargain basement racer of yore. Our only options were a $75 cargo tray and a $163 center armrest. The BBS wheels and navigation package would have run us up another $3,800, bringing the total close to $40,000. As it was, the $645 destination charge brought our total up to $35,878.”
  3. “We can’t imagine being out for a Sunday drive and thinking we need to set the center differential to two ticks below full lock. Fortunately, the automatic setting can be biased toward more or less lock.“
  4. “The clutch and six-speed manual transmission have a very solid feel, and we were impressed to find that the car has a hill-hold feature. While stopped and facing the sky on a steep San Francisco hill, we put the clutch in, shifted to first, took our foot off the brake, and the car didn’t roll back.“

For the full story click here.

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