Before the release of the 2004 Subaru Sti, the big buzz was about how they can release such a beast: 300 horsepower, 300 lb-ft of torque at 4000rpm. Subaru engineers definitely need a dose of Ritalin! Seeing the WRX on paper is one thing, but driving it would be another. Now that the car is roaming the States, it was time for me, the tech editor you love to hate, to get behind the wheel and do some Van Damage. We had four days to run the STi through rigorous tests and we chose the perfect weekend to see how bad ass the 2.5-liter beast could be.
Day One (Thursday)10:00 AMBeing a horsepower freak and a big fan of adding aftermarket bolt-ons to imports, the first thing I did was pop the hood and inspect the vital stats. PROS: The engine is a 2.5-liter, 300-horsepower monster and the stock exhaust seems as if you don't need to upgrade! Also, the intercooler spray bar is dope! CONS: I don't like the fact that they went to side-feed fuel injectors and how they incorporated the drive-by-wire throttle cable. What this means is traction control is no longer mechanical without a throttle cable. Tuning will definitely play a big part on adding bolt-on pieces.
11:30 AMI finally took the car for a spin and upon firing it up, I noticed that the needles for the gauges do a quick sweep. Not stopping at that, I had to watch the needles come to life once again. The coolest thing was that the needles light up and do a quick sweep then come back to zero before the back-lit numbers turn on. Once all that is complete, the pink STi in the center of the gauge cluster turns on.
12:00 PMAfter a quick call to Ben Chong at RSR, we found out that they had a Japan Spec exhaust and downpipe in stock that needed test fitment on a US spec.
12:39 PMYou know we had to pick up the exhaust and try it on the dyno.
1:14 PMOn the way to XS Engineering to dyno I decided to stop and grab some lunch down the street. It must have been fate cuz as I pulled into Sammy's Grill, Eric Hsu from XS Engineering was pulling out from the same food joint. That's not the end of it. He was driving a new Mitsubishi Evolution in stock trim. I stopped him from pulling out and as he looked in his mirror to see me, he smiled and said, "Let's do it!"
1:15 PM We found a remote straight away to do a quick street race and then it was on. This was the fist time I launched the car so it was definitely a learning experience. Eric got me out of the hole but for the record, I bogged pretty hard even trying to ride the clutch. Sure enough, shifting through the six-speed tranny, I was able to pull away from the Evo like no tomorrow. In other words, I saw him in two mirrors.