2011 Subaru Impreza WRX STI tS - First Drive Review

To most people, the Subaru Impreza is a practical compact sedan with enhanced all-weather capability. But enthusiasts have long known its darker side. The WRX alludes to the WRC rally car, and for several years now, Subaru has offered Americans the STI with even more power. Sophistication, however, isn’t the STI’s thing: it is brash and loud, with a wing that makes it look like it's ready to launch into outer space.

Now, Subaru is trumping its STI with the tS, which stands for “tuned by STI” and strikes us as redundant. The model will only be sold on Subaru’s Japanese home turf, but we were invited to sample one on the back roads and autobahns near the company’s European Test and Development Center in Ingelheim, Germany. The "tuned by STI" addendum in mind, we fully expected an Impreza with even more outrageous wings and flares. What we were shown instead by the center's general manager, Hideki Arai, was a rather subtle evolution of the STI. We wouldn't exactly call it refined, but, even at first glance, it is visibly more mature and sophisticated.

Nine-Pound Fixation

For one thing, the STI tS loses the STI's massive rear wing, instead sporting a discreet lip spoiler. The carbon-fiber roof cuts nine pounds, as does an aluminum hood, and ultra-lightweight wheels with a unique design save another nine apiece. Arai-san points out a strut brace up front, and says that the suspension has been reworked extensively. The Impreza STI tS is only available as a four-door sedan.

The powertrain is unchanged from that in the Japanese-market STI: a 2.0-liter turbocharged flat-four making 304 hp and 317 lb-ft of torque. Those who want an automatic can have one, but they get downgraded to a 296-hp 2.5-liter that makes only 258 lb-ft. Called “A-Line,” the automatic car is significantly cheaper than the manual tS.

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