- Doors and Seats
4 doors, 5 seats
- Engine
2.5T, 4 cyl.
- Engine Power
221kW, 407Nm
- Fuel
Petrol (98) 10.4L/100KM
- Manufacturer
4WD
- Transmission
Manual
- Warranty
3 Yr, Unltd KMs
- Ancap Safety
5/5 star (2014)
An acquired taste for well-driven palates
PIGEONHOLE: Like Penfold's 1990 Grange, it's much hyped, very rare and traded for speculative prices.
PHILOSOPHY: Take a world rally championship car and do the bare minimum required to make it street legal and driveable for mere mortals.
WHO'S BUYING IT: So far, only five Australian customers. These include some very high profile, extremely wealthy business figures. The factory can't supply any more so there's both a local black market and an international grey market. The grey cars are some of the 400 sold in Japan within 48 hours of hitting the showroom there last year.
WHY YOU'D BUY IT: Put it this way, light blue touch paper and stand clear. This is a thunderbolt, capable of sprinting from rest to 100 km/h in 4.9 seconds. See ya later, Porsches!
WHY YOU WOULDN'T: It requires 100 octane fuel to give of its best; it doesn't look like $130,000 worth because the donor car for the bodyshell is a modest Japanese small car. And the most compelling reason of all, the RTA takes a very bureaucratic view about affixing rego plates. It will be an uphill battle to put one on the road. Like Grange, it's collectable but not often used - as its maker intended.
STANDARD EQUIPMENT: Twin-plate ceramic/metal clutch, hand-welded guardflares, intercooler water spray, huge BBS wheels with Pirelli P Zero tyres, an adjustable rear wing made by the aerospace division of Fuji Heavy Industries. No radio, no CD.
SAFETY: No anti-lock brakes, no airbag and no independent crash test results, but outstanding active safety with four-wheel drive (including adjustable differential locks) and an engine that can boost its way out of most situations. That said, this is way too much car for most drivers to handle.
CABIN: Spartan and functional. It could be a $20,000 Impreza but for the extra thumbwheel adjusters, water spray buttons and instruments. Luxurious it is not.
SEATING: Cobalt blue racing buckets fit like a well-made suit.
ENGINE: The 2.2-litre turbocharged flat four cylinder produces 206kW (standard WRX is 160kW) and 360Nm of torque (versus 290Nm). While the numbers are very similar to the existing limited-edition STi, there's extra torque from the 22B engine. It feels punchier.
TRANSMISSION: Not the sequential box of the rally car but a very notchy five-speed manual with sharp clutch action. This is not like driving mum's Honda Civic and only feels right when you slapshot the 22B around a racetrack.
STEERING: A damp, greasy surface at Eastern Creek raceway displayed how adjustable the 22B can be. The throttle is an effective steering mechanism on tight corners. Otherwise, the steering is agile and sharp, if a little lacking in feel at the straight-ahead.
HANDLING: Not what you'd expect. A fair bit of understeer on wet bitumen which could be dialled out with just a notch of differential lock. High levels of grip and traction. However, this is not an easy car to drive fast on a track. It demands absolute attention and rewards it with an absolute buzz.
FUEL: It would be a pain to keep feeding the 22B the required 100 octane, or even 98 octane for that matter. Australian premium unleaded is 96 which means octane boosters are required with every tankful.
BRAKES: No anti-lock on the test car was a major surprise. Standard four-wheel disc system has huge reserves of stopping power but a hair trigger response that takes some getting used to.
BUILD: Hand-assembled by Subaru Technica International. Good quality, but the message is fit for purpose rather than cosmetic presentation.
WARRANTY: A grey area this one. The 22B is a special import and although backed by factory coverage it's not the same consumer protection offered on the rest of the range. Buyers of this car won't be turned off by that.
ANTI-THEFT: The most complex immobiliser system on the market but it can also be irritating to use. On the car thieves' league table, the 22B has hero status. One owner parks his on a high lift hoist with another car underneath. Both of them deadlocked, immobilised and secured in a garage with its own movement detector alarm system.
AUDIO SYSTEM: None. Radios weigh kilograms and the 22B is built to be lean. Can you whistle?
COST: A straight $130,000 was the asking price for the five sold. Subaru could have flogged 50. The black market is now sniffing for cars but only one seems to have been re-sold.
VERDICT: A big boy's toy that requires high-level wheel skills. Not the most emotionally engaging high performance car I've ever driven, but one of the most purposeful. Like 1990 Grange, it's an acquired taste and only the most sophisticated palates will see the value or complexity behind the high-octane hyperbole.