Anthony - When I planted my right foot into the throttle of the first Subaru WRX I ever drove, back in 1994, I would have done back flips, had I had the talent to perform such physical manoeuvres. I didn’t, so I just smiled – a lot.
But then I got busy with work and ended up with an SV5000, the first Australian sedan to have 200kW under the bonnet. It was a great car, but it didn’t go around corners like a WRX.
Some years later Subaru started preparing ‘super’ versions of the WRX in the guise of the WRX STi. Now, this was a car I aspired to, but the price increase of around $20,000 over a standard REX, meant that I had to either get a new job, or sell our home (unit actually).
Again, fate stepped in, and I was offered a mint 1981 Porsche 3.0 911SC, for less than a song. Still no STi but then, that was probably a good thing, given the car’s impending dark times.
Subaru’s finest tarmac weapon, had risen to newfound notoriety, as the best getaway vehicle ever made. The “Ram Raiders” as they were known, endorsed the WRX STi, with more successful escapes than the police had cars.
It’s also the reason I had lost interest in acquiring what I considered the Holy Grail of affordable super cars. Chances are, you would be pulled over by the boys in blue, every time you took the car out for a drive. That’s something I didn’t need.
Crash cut to 2008. Some would argue that Subaru have gone way too pedestrian with the design of the new WRX. Not me. It’s a hatch, so it’s got practicality on its side and performance wise, its still a very quick car, into and out of corners.
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Looks; impressive fuel efficiency; handling; RNS510
Boot space; short first gear
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