Used Subaru WRX STI 2014-2017 review

There’s no direct injection or variable-geometry turbo technology here. Neither has Subaru found a way to shorten the inlet tracts between the cylinder heads and centrally mounted turbocharger, which would help engine response.

Subaru also runs up against a packaging problem that forces it to run oversquare cylinders in a big-capacity engine. A slightly undersquare, longer-stroke design (such as most of the rest of the industry use for better low-end torque) would force the cylinder heads even further from the turbo and might not even fit between the suspension turrets.

Porsche’s answer to all this, for the 996 Turbo, was parallel twin turbos and intercoolers, but that might not be an answer cheap enough for a sub-£30,000 Subaru.

Peak outputs are 296bhp at 6000rpm and 300lb ft at 4000rpm, which is plenty for your money. Years ago, however, those outputs would have been enough to create clear air between this car and the chasing hot hatch pack. These days many two-wheel drive variants are approaching and surpassing this mark, you only have to look at the latest versions of the Volkswagen Golf GTI, Hyundai i30 N, Seat Leon Cupra 300 and Honda Civic Type R to see how far the segment has come. Let alone consider the four-wheel-drive cars that the WRX STI would line up against, with the new Audi RS3 approaching the 400bhp mark.

Subaru could certainly have done more to give this car something akin to the superior position it used to occupy on outright grunt. We’ll have to see if the car can distinguish itself by other means.

Assistance levels are necessarily high, however, due to the lateral forces that must be overcome, the reduced diameter of the wheel you’ve got to overcome them with and the extra directness of the steering gear.

Sheer lateral grip puts the STI within two-tenths of the VW Golf R around our dry handling circuit. The Subaru clings on to the track very hard indeed, turns in much more cleanly and keenly than any STI has before and keeps its body upright at all times. There’s still quite a bit of dive and pitch to contend with — a pay-off for those stiff anti-roll bars — but not so much as to corrupt braking stability.

The disappointment is that, in the dry, there’s not quite enough neutrality to the car’s cornering attitude. Once you’ve grown used to the entry speed you can carry, you inevitably look to pick the throttle up as early as you can mid-corner and steer the car on the rear axle as you exit. But no dice.

There’s no limited-slip diff for the rear axle here and understeer only intrudes if you harry the car too hard. So unlike a car with a 4WD system that can push its power rearwards when the front starts to slip (which is most good ones), in the STI you have to play a waiting game until the road opens out. Pity.