Why the 22B is probably the greatest Subaru Impreza of all time

You wouldn’t be in this community if you weren’t a big fan of the first-generation Impreza, so I don’t need to preach to you about why it’s awesome.

ThatDontImprezaMeMuch

24 May 2016

You wouldn’t be in this community if you weren’t a big fan of the first-generation Impreza, so I don’t need to preach to you about why it’s awesome. In case you’re not yet a convert, you really need to experience the way Subaru made an all-wheel drive rally car feel so light and nimble - it’s got AWD grip but with a RWD personality.

So let’s take a moment to honour one of the greatest Imprezas ever made, the 22B. Only 424 were made to celebrate Subaru’s 40th anniversary, as well as its third consecutive year of winning the WRC championship.

It was kind of like the Type R STI, but improved in all the important areas. The original car used the 2.0-litre Boxer engine like that in the rally car, but for the 22B it was bored out to 2.2-litres. It also got other improvements, such as nozzles to spray water into the intercooler when driving hard. The result was an official 276bhp - bear in mind this was when Japan had that gentlemen’s agreement about advertised power; according to those testing it at the time, the real figure was in the region of 300bhp.

Why the 22B is probably the greatest Subaru Impreza of all time

The exterior styling is one of the most obvious ways that the car is upgraded, as it comes with wider arches - it’s more than three inches wider than the standard WRX - to make it look like the rally car. To further mimic the rally car, it got blue ‘555’ inspired paint, and gold BBS wheels, which became the iconic Impreza colour combination. Furthermore, that massive wing at the back is actually adjustable.

Its performance humbled much more expensive and supposedly ‘better’ performance cars, helped by the fact it was even lighter than before, and the bored out engine now came with a better mid-range, giving decent torque from about 3500rpm up to the red line at 8000rpm. To help the car feel more agile in tight turns, the manually operated centre differential could divert 65 per cent of the engine’s torque to the rear wheels, giving it a rear-driven personality.

To be honest, the 22B’s looks alone are enough to make it an Impreza legend. The fact it also performs like a true hero just adds to its awesome nature.

Comments

Good read, but a little short. Wish it was longer

Thanks! Glad you enjoyed it :) I tried to keep it short so I didn’t bore people too much. If everyone enjoyed this I’ll do more on other special editions in the future and maybe I’ll go into a bit more detail

Nice to learn a bit more about this car, good article

Thanks! Any other Imprezas you might want to know more about?

I usually dont read these but when i saw the 22b heading u was like “MUST READ NOW!” Great read, mate.

I had my first w#*+ to this car

Please ignore the last message, stupid friend messing about

That car is one of my dreams. But I think the new STi is a little down the hill, as it has got “only” 305 hp and the turbo is quite laggy, which in modern times isn’t really justifiable anymore. I mean, a that small increase in over 15 years? If they had more power, the STi would be a Hyper Hatch beating monster. But the great days of Japanese performance cars definitely were the 90s.

I don’t know why everybody is crazy after numbers. Sure, it could have more power. You’ll never have enough power, right?
But in fact what really matters is the driving experience. Rushing trough corners, having a better steering feel, improved all-wheel drive. I’m kinda thankful that they didn’t went mad with horsepower. “Why?” you might ask. Because I can afford it in the near future. See, insurance taxes make cars with more over 300 hp hardly affordable in my area. So, if it had more power, you know this is heading to.
Also, you can always modify those engines, they can, if they were modified in the right way, take away a beating.
You’re absolutely right that they went out of competition, the Evo is dead and Nissan just got bonkers with the GT-R. But you have to keep in mind that Subaru is a small manufacterer, compares to the others. And they still manage it to give us lovely driving machines. A lot of credits and CT points from me for that.
Cheers, buddy.

Sorry but anyone who goes on about the turbo lag doesn’t know how to drive a turboed car properly!

Good article, if I’m allowed for feedback I’d lije to say the same like the others. It’s a little tiny extra bit too short and you could spice up the post with some gifs, like a 22B jumping over a hill. Or putting a video link somewhere. All in all I really enjoyed it and keep up the good work.
Cheers!