2015 Subaru WRX STI First Drive Video Review

Subaru’s WRX STi is the brand’s hero car. It’s the one practically everyone thinks of when the words “performance” and “Subaru” are mentioned in the same sentence. For the 2015 model year, there’s an all-new STi—OK well, actually a mostly new WRX STi—hitting the streets. We say “mostly new” because the engine and gearbox are carried over from the previous model year's car, but pretty much everything else is all new. Subaru’s venerable horizontally opposed 2.5-liter turbocharged four-cylinder engine producing 305 horsepower and 290 ft-lbs of torque feeds the STi’s all-wheel drive powertrain. Tying it all together is a six-speed manual transmission. For this version of the STi, handling on pavement was stressed as the top priority. In the past, the Subaru WRX STi had hewn more closely to its rally car roots, leaving a great deal of compliance in the suspension system. This time, Subaru’s engineers tuned their top performance model to perform best where it will be driven the most—on the street. As a result, the 2015 Subaru STi turns in more crisply, corners with a great deal more tenacity, and is an all around more rewarding car to drive.