Special Sundays: The Subaru Impreza 22B STi

Welcome back to Special Sundays, where we re-visit automotive history, and take you back in time to the automotive legends from the 20th century!

This week’s special featured automotive overview is a car from very late 20th century, the 1998 Subaru Impreza 22B STi! This car is a legend amongst the Japanese car community, and a lot of you will be able to confirm this! It is the holy grail among Subaru enthusiasts, and we were lucky to encounter one last year at the Adelaide Motorsport Festival!

The two-door coupe/compact was created in 1998 with only 425 units ever produced, to celebrate Subaru’s third win at the WRC, and to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the company. 25 were made to be exported outside of Japan’s domestic market. The car produced 209kW (280 hp) at 7000RPM with its 2.2 litre turbo-charged Boxer-4 engine, and had a top speed of 247km/h, but was electronically limited to 180kph. 0-100kph took just 4.7 seconds.

This car was so popular, that every single unit was sold up to 48 hours after the release of the car! Only 5 were imported to Australia, with Subaru Australia keeping one, while the other four were sold for $125,000! That was three times the price of a standard Impreza WRX at the time. Unlucky for you Americans, according to Subaru of America, Inc., only two entered the United States, so it wouldn’t be easy to spot one of these!

Oh, and on another plus side, famous rally car driver Colin McRae had one.