There are times when I wish that I could always be behind the wheel of a true sports car like a Subaru STI. case in point: my return trip to Los Angeles from the mazda Raceway Laguna Seca after test driving the new five-door hatchback. Had it not been for American Airlines canceling my flght and postponing the next available until much later that afternoon, I would have never hopped into an Avis rental (a Kia Spectra, mind you) for a forgettable sprint down california's main artery highway. Talk about a piece of crap without any balls; my rental was the complete opposite of what the STI stood for: relentless power on tap, ultra handling and looks that get more "oh snap" faces than the "ha, he's driving a Spectra" looks I got for the four and a half hours it took for me to cross into L.A. county. Just for the record: yes, you can make it from Monterey to Los Angeles in under five hours, but had I done it in a STI, it probably would've been under four. In all fairness, comparing the STI against a tattered Spectra is probably not an ideal comparison between two cars-it's the proverbial apples and oranges tale if I've ever told one. however, it truly does require an absolute pile to make you appreciate a fine specimen of a car.
The first and very obvious thing that everyone notices about this geneation is its new radical design, which is a love/hate affair. Gone is any semblance of Subaru's traditional box-shaped sedan; now it's more Euro hatchback, or as many have said, "looks like a Focus." We agree-this is not the STI we're used to, but that doesn't mean we won't grow to love it. Remember when honda dropped the EK civic? People who owned the EF and EG hated it, but it eventually wound up becoming one of the better looking hatchbacks to date. I believe the same will happen for the STI hatch. because it is five-door now, you get more utility room, but only if you fold the seats down and use the rear hatch opening to your advantage. Subaru added plenty of bulk to the body panels of this STI by giving it wider front fenders (with integrated brake cooling air ducts) and rear quarter panels, thus adding to the aerodynamics. The base STI wheels should be upgraded as soon as possible, but it's too bad you can't opt for the optional bbS wheels alone; they only come as part of an upgrade package that includes front fog lights.
Since we currently house a '07 STI in our project car fleet, I've already become familiar with the STI and how it performs on a day-to-day basis. From a personal standpoint, the second-gen STI must be pushed out of the low rpm range to experience any pleasure, and its transmission can be somewhat notchy, almost too mechanical for my tastes. What I instantly noticed about the '08 STI was how smooth and linear the engine felt as the gas pedal was depressed and the rpm needle jumped upward. It almost seems to be the current trend for automotive manufacturers, taking the blunt performance and massaging the little kinks out of it. While it was announced at the Tokyo motor Show that the JDm STI would come with a 3.0L boxer engine, ours receives the 2.5L. And despite the extra 0.5L of displacement, the U.S. engine comes with 305 horsepower, which is 12 more than the last, and 290 lb-ft, the same as last, but now it comes on 400 rpm earlier, which equates to better response. This new engine also features variable valve timing-dubbed Dual Active control System (Dual AVcS)-on both the intake and exhaust valves, whereas the '07 engine used valve timing only on the intake side. The Dual AVcS is the key in helping to create that "smooth and linear" feel for the driving experience; it also doesn't hurt that it improves fuel economy and is more environmentally friendly.