No. I don’t want an STI. I am perfectly fine with my va WRX! Fuck you fuck you fuck you, the fa20 is better and the “SuBiE RuMbLe” is over rated! I don’t care how good people say it handles, I’ll just drive my WRX harder, it’s the same shit anyways. The STI is just a trim level for the WRX. Yeah you can play with your fancy diff button to practice playing with yourself later! So anyways, here’s mine:

I was a heavy “WRX scrub” for a while. I had driven a VA STI two times up to that point, and came back to my car not really getting what the hype was all about. They felt slower, more linear, and a bit dull to be perfectly honest. More refined and a nicer place to be, sure, but throughout high school and into college, I couldn’t see myself ever getting one. Plus being from Florida, I wouldn’t really be able to feel a big difference in handling given the roads down here. Figured I’d skip the middle man and go straight to an RS3 once I graduated college and turn the old VA into a track car. Or find the bargain of all s2 Elises. Either way, a VA STI wasn’t part of the plan.

That changed when my dad and I test drove a particular 2018 STI. We tried a VB WRX and an automatic M2 (non-comp), and found the STI to suddenly be a boat load of fun. So right before semester 5 finals, out went the old WRX, in came a used STI (should be noted that the WRX lived a hard 150,000 mile life and had a failing AC condenser).

It needed an alignment bad, the steering rack gushed fluid and failed once I got to Daytona, there was an exhaust leak because the after market down pipe was installed improperly from the prior owner, and someone hit me leaving a gas station after a track day. The prior owner also had removed the cat and resonator (but left the mufflers) and put it on spine ruining lowering springs. So off to a great start!

However, the trouble doesn’t end there. The car got an alignment, the steering rack fixed (twice… don’t buy anything from Haim Motors near the Hard Rock in S. FL), and the fender was replaced. So what’s next? Pull a move only a recently single guy with too confidence in himself and a Subaru would do, drive up 5 states to take a friend to Pocono because she’d never been and work gave me free race tickets (and I had to stare at aero data for that car on that track to the point where it showed up when I shut my eyes). And then somewhere in Pennsylvania, the car decided that oil and fuel both come from petroleum so why not burn both, and then spun a rod bearing on cylinder 3.

Idiot VA owner… so what was the car like before the engine was replaced?

It rides rougher than our 2014 Z28. Bumps hurt your back, and the car doesn’t really like to go into dirt anymore due to the springs (and the thought of having to replace one of the tires if anything punctures them keeps abuse on pavement). Turn in is a lot shaper, and feedback more direct compared to a WRX (hydraulic vs electric rack), though I got to experience first hand the hydraulic rack’s reliability issues. Outside of really tight corners, there wasn’t much understeer that you’d feel on corner entry, and it felt a lot more controlable on exit compared to the WRX being driven without trail braking. The tires on the STI helped a lot, as do the different diffs compared to the old car. Speaking of, playing with the diff settings (the sacred DCCD switch) will translate to a tangible feeling in your hands, and you can feel each of them doing their thing when you power out of a corner, which I’ve always thought was cool.

The brakes are one of the big things that stood out to me when jumping into the STI. Neon green brembo 6 pots up front and two pots in the rear, stops in its tracks like a punch to the dick. Could use better pads, but damn they feel nice.

The exhaust note was fun. Quieter than my old WRX, but also more characterful. Sounded like a mix between a tractor and an turbo 911 with the exhaust leak (we named car Mahindra after that tractor company because of it). I also don’t wanna blabber on about “the subie rumble”. It makes a nice, aggressive, kinda raspy noise and makes my inner 16 year old very happy, more so when the turbo starts to chime in. And I’ll leave it there. You’ve probably had some loud-ish, “big dick” STI owner fly by you for no reasonable reason, so you can form your own opinion on the noise.

The ej25, now with more variable valve timing! It’s fun engine, happier to rev than the FA, and doesn’t think about falling off until well into the rev range. You’ll step on it, get a bit of torque, then gradually fed boost until you’re passing 4500 rpm and should start to consider how far you’re gonna commit to, because the car is up for the task and won’t slow down now. The car also had three modes. “Intelligent” makes it drive like a Brz minus the torque dip, and makes your friends roll their eyes with the weight of a supertanker. Sport is probably where it’ll live most of its life, and “Sport Sharp” (spelled Sport #… we get it Subaru… stop…) is touchier and angrier. It shows a torque curve for each mode that pretty much sums it up.

And then it went *pop*

So the new engine. Subaru wasn’t going to cover the engine under warrantee (turns out the ECU was messed with…), and talks about slapping in some stupid IAG block fell through on multiple occasions. So, outta the blue, a “type RA engine” was found from a car up in the northeast. That “type RA” motor had different pistons, connecting rods, injectors, an HKS turbo, and made about 340 hp… without that nice and expensive STI filter or water sprayer for your intercooler… ok so maybe it wasn’t a “Type RA motor” after all… call it the s2-0-10th engine 🙂

So what’s the “totally not an s209 motor for legal reasons” like? Top end. Jesus… fuck… it has more top end. For the most part, the engine is a bit angrier than the normal ej. Builds boost quicker, pulls a bit harder. It’s noticeably faster over stock, but the anger isn’t fully apparent until after, say, 4000 rpm. It builds more boost, and the engine refuses to quit. It pulls in anger up past 6000 rpm and then yells at you like it’s on steroids for more. The extra oomph is ever more noticeable on corner exit, as the car builds boost and tracks out with a hell of a lot more urgency.

The character of the car changed a bit it too. I still believe the STI has somewhat of an indifference to how fast you drive the car. It’s perfectly happy to putt around normally, rumbling as it meanders. But it wakes up like a cave full of bats with a stick of dynamite thrown in. It’s fun, and pulls hard, but doesn’t exactly egg you on to gas it. Once you get on it, the car just kinda looks at with a serious face going “you wanna go fast? Ok fucker we’ll go fast. How fast? 60? 70? 80? 110? I don’t care, fucking I’ll do it. You gonna keep going or are we done here? Oh btw I’ve burned a qt of oil already”. The added top end might seem like it would make that worse, but it just makes the voice shouting back seem more angry, like the car shuts up and just yells after asking you “how fast” past 5000 rpm, and it’s always amusing to see it just not let up.

Gas mileage is worse, if you where interested.

That’s cool and all but really no dirt action?

I started writing this review a while ago. At the time, I had yet to really drive the car on a loose surface. Then, I had to deal with someone who’s reliability is about on par with my old ej25, and suddenly I found myself in the woods, on a familiar dirt road. So what’s this STI like when you add in a bit more chaos?

Diff settings. If you find yourself in a facelift VA STI, mess with with with diff settings. The tangible feeling you get in the dry messing with the differentials is exemplified once you leave the tarmac. Play with how much the front grips, how much your rear steps out, and get treated to a techy little playground as you try and figure out where the car best lives for you. The car feels a bit twitchy on initial turn in, maybe more than my old WRX, but not uncontrollable. Mid corner to exit the STI feels more capable and composed than the WRX, although you can still get it stupidly sideways. The car still talks to you well, which enables you to quickly get to grips with how it rotates and responds to your drivetrain settings. I think the biggest challenge with an STI in the dirt is the speed. This car still rockets up to stupid speeds as you power slide out of a corner. The feeling of acceleration is still there, but the sensation of speed is oddly dulled until you look down and almost have a stroke at how quickly you find yourself going. And when boost comes on, you best be ready for it.

Simply put, it’s stupid and brilliant. Before you lower your STI for the track or to join the lowered lyfe, go beat it on some gravel/dirt forrest road for an hour.

So it’s fun off road too. What’s next? the interior is nicer than a WRX?

The interior was an upgrade over the WRX, (mind you I had a base model for both cars), with suede seats and trim replacing the cloth and fake leather of the WRX. The shifter is heavier and smoother, and this particular car has the factory short throw optioned. The knob is metal, so it still burns you like the old one did mid summer (but worse), and you’ll find the usual Subaru plastics inside. The infotainment screen is better than what the 2015 WRX had, although all later gen cars have the same unit as mine. It’s a clunky, but it works, though it will piss you off. Also don’t allow it phone access, or else your dipshit friends will non-stop text you, which prompts an alert on screen that mutes music and stays there for too long.

You can still set birthdays and anniversaries on it, so if you want to say… leave the car with a friend and make it display horrific messages, you can. The rear is fine, same as the WRX but this time, the passengers get a center armrest! Living in luxury baby!

The wing vibrates above 80, and applying a probably 10lb load with your hand will also cause it to bounce. So bullshit that the rounded flat plate you call an airfoil is making enough rear downforce for you to notice a difference at high speeds. Yes it had a twist, cool, I guess your first year aerodynamics lesson on flat plates won’t have to account for flow separation because you can assume it’s potential. At least it makes some sense, unlike the “golf ball dimples” on the VB generation. You can use differing surface conditions to alter flow attachment, trust me, between horrendous FSAE ideas and [redacted], it’s valid. However what they’re up to just seems like the design dept. liking a pattern and having the aero guys send marketing some misc wind tunnel images using flow vis to pass on to the accountants as “proof”. For the aero guys reading, I hope this all hurt.

I hate you for what I just read

And I hate me for writing it!

Anyways, the VA WRX STI. It’s one hell of a ride. The normal WRX is a wonderful car and both the VA and VB would make fine and fun daily drivers, while being entertaining when you want to beat the piss outta them. The STI is that little bit of steroid filled icing on top of the Subaru sandwich. You probably won’t really get it unless you drive one, and even then you’ll probably still be longing for that Evo X you used to own that got you into this mess in the first place. But put that memory of a past that won’t be coming back soon in the happy corner of your mind, and enjoy this 3400 lb awd sedan as the STI gets to join its friends at a farm somewhere in the countryside.

The car isn’t without fault. Some still cheap interior bits, reliability issues (aside from normal owner neglect), laggy infotainment, a lack of refinement, and as fast as the car feels, a new GTI will keep up with it in a straight line. It’ll still understeers, the steering fights back when you become overconfident, and it’s not the lightest car anymore (though what do you expect? A 2800 lb modern sedan for $35k? Be happy it’s not m car levels of meaty).

Older cars will feel more raw, and modern (or even some contemporary cars) will feel faster and more refined. This STI, and to an extent the VA in general lives in an odd middle ground of modern tech that still retains a raw feel. From turbo lag, steering feel, engine note (or just the ej’s general existence), it makes a unique and intoxicating experience.

There may be better cars out there, but fuck it, I’ve caught the disease and like most STIs, I’ll probably be stuck with it for life.