Driven: Subaru Impreza STi

How so? The Evo looks great, but the STi finds that task harder to achieve, because it's handicapped by the car on which it is based. That's not to say it's mechanically lacking, for this ultimate Impreza has all the hardcore hardware of its predecessors, plus some updates to broaden its appeal. It's just that from being a car range appealing for doing things differently, with looks to match, the Impreza has been reinvented as a rather average five-door hatch with a nondescript nose and a cheapskate cabin.

Yes, it still has a flat-four engine and four-wheel drive, but most mainstream hatchback buyers don't care about that. So Subaru is in danger of alienating its loyalists with no guarantee of bringing in newcomers. And if that's a questionable move for the mainstream versions, it could be doom for the hottest one.

But perhaps we should just let the new STi speak for itself. Its first communications are pretty loud, after all: a slab of a front valance fairing, massively widened front arches, and similar steroidal enhancement at the back with a wide sill in between. There's a Subaru Turbo-trademark air scoop on the bonnet to feed the intercooler, front foglights hinting at its ancestors, vents either side of the front wheel arches, and the usual aerodynamic addenda.

There are also four exhaust pipes. This seems an unnecessary adornment, given that each pair grows out of one pipe about six inches upstream. Past STis and their relatives usually featured one large tailpipe, minimalist and functional and visually very cool. The new car's move to a transverse silencer justifies two widely spaced pipes, but four is trying too hard. It makes you wonder what deficiencies elsewhere are being covered up.

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