2008 Subaru Impreza WRC
May 22, 2008 by George Skentzos
Subaru has unveiled its new generation 2008 Impreza World Rally Car in time for its competitive debut at this month’s Acropolis Rally in Greece.
This is the first time Subaru World Rally Team (SWRT) will use a hatchback design, sporting a far more subdued livery compared with the Subaru WRC Concept.
Based on the road-going Impreza STi, it is powered by a turbocharged 2.0 litre horizontally opposed four-cylinder boxer engine producing around 224 Kilowatts of power.
All SWRT materials, including driver and support crew suits, are being revised to reflect the new team identity in time for the Acropolis Rally.
The Impreza WRC 2008 will be driven by Australia’s young-gun Chris Atkinson and Norwegian Petter Solberg in the Acropolis Rally starting 29 May.
CarAdvice will be bringing you a full video review of the new 2008 Subaru Impreza WRX STi in the coming weeks.
Print it: 
………….There’s something about that makes me HATE IT!
Prefer older one!
Gotta agree Duck….the contrived evolution of its design has been a awkward one as not really gelling from year to year and bizarre improvement to looks department. Now if could plant a Mazda 6 sort of on it and tweak it with a bold brash lower treatment under grille and give it aggressive headlights then this sedate look then would be cool…..gotta do something about weirdo rear tailights too as too Holden Maloo looking.
I’ve given the new shape more than enough time for me to get used to it and I still can’t understand why they’ve changed from a familiar ‘3-box’ coupe to a wedgey hatch.
The WRC car looks pretty good though.
cant wit to see how it performs.
perhaps this could see subaru return to the dominance they once had.
agree guys really not a fan of the new impreza styling. they have killed off the ultimate hoon vehicle. probally exactly what they aimed to do.
Duck… I totally agree with you and unfortunately, for lots of reasons I hate the sight of it. That’s coming from a 52 year old former Subie fan! I loved the early Subies, tons of character and tons of raw appeal. This version looks like a grinning, bent, blue, jelly bean punce car. Even if it goes like stink and wins the bag (I hope it does) I still am so pissed off by the designers that I cannot part with another $ to the Subie bank, unless I buy an older MY05 or something with some subtle differentiation. So sad Subie, so sad.
To be more precise, it looks to me like a McHappy meal box, cheap and tacky. In real life, the interior plastics look like a tacky McHappy meal toy, just cheap rubbish.
Is that why the Big T and Subaru in bed together to make McCrappy tacky cheap sporty numbers…..hmmmm!
It really reflects Subaru’s position when, two car stories below, the Mazda 2 3 door sedan, gets a 4.5 wheel rating and a pisser of a write up, yet the Subie comments progressively get downgraded. Shame on you Subie designers, shame.
Maybe Subbie designers have the yips as same designers who penned the equally weirdo AU Falcon of 1998! OOOOUCH (not to be confused with oooch)
I should apologize for my rantings, but I cannot believe hoe totally pissed off I am with the Subaru management team. Are others as pissed off as I am, I’d love to know? That’s all from me.
Naughy Max, they possibly do have the yips, but they’ve abandoned the die hard market and gone for the mass market. In my business we seek niche markets, not the down and dirty real market, which istotally inluenced by price and mass appeal. I wish Subaru would think of its former “passion” again.
Harry,
Yeah mate most are as Subbie WRX’s are meant to be a terrier and not a lame duck it has become. I liked the earlier models as had some clout and aggression….now I look at WRX and think sedate as watching paint dry. OH WHAT A FEELING…..this car is floored (oooch flawed!) in looks department.
I also agree with naughty max. Subie is a lame duck. As sedate as watching grass grow.
I think you are being a little bit harsh. In pictures it certainly does not do itself any favours, although I personally love the flared out spoiler. It is certainly better looking in the flesh and goes like sh*t off a shovel and honestly the look of the car is and has always been second (third, fourth, last) to its performance and this has always been the case with the Rex.
Honestly there is a mountain of pretty boy cars to choose from, so another butt ugly Subie is par for the course. If you are not interested in performance, go for one of those. No point whining about how ugly this car is. It is a Subaru. Pretty has never been in the vocabulary.
But coming second in this car against just about anything you are likely to meet out there on suburban roads is most unlikely. And that is what this car is really about.
Well I think the whole design of new Impreza is testiment to the influence from Toyotas designers.
They have managed to kill what has always been a performance benchmark and turn it into a mainstream souless boring car like the entire Toyota range is.
its a rally car… style??? pfff..
lol rally teams can make any car look cool. get out of the past and live in the now
cookie
Cant believe SWRT are moving away from the blue & yrllow paint scheme. Everyone in the world knows thats Subaru’s race colours you can see them from miles away, any other scheme looks like a privateer. Its like if Ralliart changed from Red. Although that does change from red/black to red/grey every now & then.
As for the styling get over it we know that it sux. I’m really hoping for Atko sake this is a Rally winner because he has proven throughout this year he is he fastest subaru driver and he deserves a win.
Well, here’s me sticking up for the underdog again. I think it looks horn.
Another proof that “looks” are debatable no matter.
It looks fine to me.
The STi is beautiful I think, previous WRX styling has never been styled as distinct as the current one. And I’ve outgrown the massive wing style spoiler.
Just wondering if they will do a facelift later on, Im thinking front grill and bumper re-style…
Jamison,
How doesnt that ugly duck not have a huge wing?
Or is it covered up by its massive A$$ that u cant see it?
If u look carefully enough, you’ll see a giant spoiler attatched to the back of that hatch that probably blocks at least 50% of the view from behind!
Presonally, i think its got a grill inspired from an old Camry and a rear style to match the new Toyota Tarago! Look at a stock WRX and you’ll see what I’m getting at.
This is why Toyota bought out Fuji Heavy Industries! This car licks B#ll$. Long Live the ‘06 WRX!
except for the front grill line, I like the new one more.
the impreza/wrx looks like its been designed for an older more conservative audience… so where does that leave the liberty??? subaru got it wrong, they should have been those who want more sedate style to go for the liberty, rather than have 2 cars competing for the same target market.
compare a WRX STI to the upcoming EVO, that EVO is going to look killer and the WRX is going to looked killed!
Anti-Spam word Subaru. hehehehehehe!
Naughtyius Maximus Says:
May 22nd, 2008 at 9:54 pm
Harry,
Yeah mate most are as Subbie WRX’s are meant to be a terrier and not a lame duck it has become. I liked the earlier models as had some clout and aggression….now I look at WRX and think sedate as watching paint dry. OH WHAT A FEELING…..this car is floored (oooch flawed!) in looks department.
AND
harry Says:
May 22nd, 2008 at 10:03 pm
I also agree with naughty max. Subie is a lame duck. As sedate as watching grass grow.
The duck is crying now, im not lame guys……………….. :(
:’(
Damn it didn’t work!
I’m on the fence on this one, looks cool in rally from but i’m not so sure in street clothes. Saw one yesterday up near London, it did draw my attention but concluded they should have done something sleeker a la Lancer
> N2O Says:
> May 23rd, 2008 at 1:34 pm
>
> Jamison,
>
> How doesnt that ugly duck not have a huge wing?
>
> Or is it covered up by its massive A$$ that u
> cant see it?
>
> If u look carefully enough, you’ll see a giant
> spoiler attatched to the back of that hatch
> that probably blocks at least 50% of the view
> from behind!
Of course THIS car has a huge wing. This is the Impreza WRC2008 world rally car and they need a wing that big for the downforce.
The road going WRX STi doesn’t have that huge rear wing. The only rear adornment is much more understated and located at the top of the rear window.
Also the reason the shape has changed to a hatch is the hatch shape allows for a more rigid car with lower overhangs. These are both areas where the Ford Focus and Citroen C4 (both hatches) have had advantages.
I do agree that they screwed up the styling on the standard Impreza shape, but I’ve grown to not mind the STi’s flared guards. If only something could be done about the grille…
–
Aydsman
dont mind this look from the ugly shape that it has come from….agree wiht early comments regarding ugly tailights….. by the way who is using my nickname “jp” in capitals?
How can you guys blame Toyota for the appearance of this car? It was only relatively recently that Toyota increased its stake in Subaru… and it takes many years to develop a car which is why the first real car that the 2 manufactures are making (celica replacement?) wont be here till around 2012!
Also the taillights do look fairly odd, but I’ve seen them at night and I think the pattern looks really nice… all led’s and its really eyecatching.
Actually I wonder where CarAdvice got this image – the standard STi has a Quad Exhaust set up – this has a single exhaust – why would the rally version get a single exit point?
FH, because WRC cars dont need asthetics like quad exhaust on a 4 cylinder. Everything on that car is functional & extra exhaust pipes just add unecessary weight