Subaru's latest salvo in the budget high-performance saloon war is the Impreza WRX STi, which will cost £25,995 when it goes on sale in January next year.

The 261bhp Impreza roars to 60mph in just 5.2 seconds and will battle head to head with the Mitsubishi Evo for the crown of the UK's hottest saloon.

And Subaru says there's more to the STi version than its half-a-second improvement in the 0-60 sprint over the standard £21,995 WRX. It also features sharper steering, better suspension for more grip, and shorter stopping distances thanks to larger discs from Brembo.

Power is delivered to all four wheels through a new short-throw six-speed gearbox which Subaru reckons is one of the slickest on the market. Limited-slip differentials on the front and rear axles maximise grip under hard acceleration.

Buyers can also opt for a Prodrive Style package for an extra £1500. The package includes a massive high-riding boot spoiler, different sills and a deeper, squarer front bumper, but leaves performance unchanged.

Both versions of the STi are marked out from the standard WRX by larger 17-inch gold-coloured alloy wheels, a larger air intake on the bonnet, smoked headlight covers and a single exhaust.

The £25,995 price may look affordable, but insurance bills and running costs are likely to be high, as with many 'budget' performers.

Fuel consumption of 23.3mpg on the combined cycle adds up to plenty of visits to the petrol pumps, while top-ranking emissions will land company car users with a monthly bill of £167 for lower-rate payers and £303 for higher earners.

Although the car hasn't been rated by the Association of British Insurers yet, the STi will be in group 19 at the least, giving typical premiums of around £1511. Subaru says it is doing everything it can to minimise the insurance impact on owners and will fit a satellite tracking system to each car.

Its rally-bred rival, Mitsubishi's Evo VI, costs £30,000 and blasts to 60mph in 4.2 seconds. The latest VII version of the car has been imported to the UK for some time, but from early next year will be available as an official Mitsubishi import.
http://www.whatcar.com/default.asp?a=news&b=story&article=501&makeref=40&modelref=853

That is one hell of a deal! Now convert that to US dollars in any way you want and you still get one heck of a deal.

:devil:

Live Rates as of 2001.11.20 01:19:38 GMT.
25,995.00 GBP United Kingdom Pounds * = * 36,770.55 USD United States Dollars
1 GBP = 1.41452 USD 1 USD = 0.706952 GBP

I don't know about a screaming bargain, but it's probably fair if we get the genuine article.

Fuzz

too rich for my blood.
I was hoping $32K + tags, title, etc.( not to exceedd $35K out the door).

thats to say if we can just go by the exchange rate. If that car costs that much I really doubt people would buy them. Thats getting real close to a vette and M3.

Realize that a base WRX sedan in the UK costs £21,995.

That's $31,163.54. Car prices in the UK are just very high - you can't compare the prices even if you do the currency conversion.

A more fair way of estimating the price of an STi is to do it by percent price differential.

In the UK, the STi costs about 18.2% more than the base WRX.

So our WRX MSRP of $24,520 plus 18.2% is just a shade under $29,000. If they want to sell more than a handfull, they'll need to price it right around $30,000.

Why is the Hp lower than the J-spec model?

Probably a combination of fuel octane being lower and emissions being different.

Amen, Kelly. I was hoping that someone would point out that cars are just more expensive over in the UK! I think $30K is too low, though. I expect to see ~$32K-33K. Hopefully they will keep the good things like wheels/brakes and the variable valve timing stuff when it comes here.

AFAIK, $36,770 includes the 17% VAT, which means is the US that would be $31,427

Originally posted by Iowannaski
AFAIK, $36,770 includes the 17% VAT, which means is the US that would be $31,427
Yep, $32,000 nicely outfitted sound marketable:)

Up to around $32k or $33k and it's fairly well priced, I think. Upwards of $34k is just too much of a premium.

I also tend to think that if they are going to bring them, it won't be some rediculously small number like 75 examples. There is a lot of administrative overhead, paperwork to be filed, PR and advertising, etc that you pad the price of the car with.

That, or they eat the cost. There's no reason for them to do that.

When I compared the UK, Australian and US prices I think I came to around $34,000. Figuring that if they bring over the STi they will probably bring both of them, the STi and a smaller amount of STI Prodrives. We are all just guessing here anyway, but I would think selling a couple of thousand STis for ~$32,000 and maybe thousand STi Prodrives for ~$36,000 would make sense.

Until they bring them over we won't know, but here are some of my thoughts;
-they don't want to price the STi too close to the WRX and slow down WRX sales too much.
-they want to keep it exclusive without bringing over too few, hence a couple of thousand.
-we waited so long for the WRX there is no hurry to bring over the STi now that we have the WRX
-the M3 and Audi S4 are close competitors, but you won't get either of those for less than $40k so charging $35 is still a bargain.
-production of the STi Prodrive? That might limit that number unfortunately.
-maybe they will lower the price on the STi and use the STi Prodrive as the one hard to get?!

There are many maybes,

-anders

Originally posted by aov

-the M3 and Audi S4 are close competitors

I don't know about that. The STi doesn't really address any of the issues where the WRX lags behind those cars, namely luxury.

close, in the sense that they are all performance sedans. There is a reason why they are more expensive though, and I think that difference is enough to make the cars appeal to different buyers. Many of the WRX customers are looking for a performance sedan, and for the money nothing can touch the WRX at the moment. But, if the STi costs too much I think many will opt for the S4 instead, because if they are going to spend that kind of money they want a little luxury as well. The STi is really cool, but they would never sell as many as they have WRXs.

-anders

Line forms behind me. :D

Six Speed! Droooooool. :D Can't wait to get mine. I better start saving now. I guess I won't be buying that condo after all :p

Another source:

http://www.4car.co.uk/jsp/main.jsp?lnk=211&id=2993

and

http://www.whatcar.com/default.asp?a=news&b=story&article=518&makeref=40&modelref=853