2015 Subaru WRX STI: The Daily Driver Rally Car Returns! â Ignition Ep. 107

MotorTrend

On this episode of Ignition

Transcript

00:00 [ENGINE REVVING]

00:02 Put the rally history aside, storied as it may be,

00:06 and the Subaru WRX STI's mix of performance hardware

00:09 and economy car versatility seems bizarre,

00:13 but hugely intriguing.

00:15 Why not have a sports car you can drive every day

00:18 and everywhere?

00:20 For 2015, we have the next generation STI,

00:23 which has a significantly stiffer chassis

00:26 and many other improvements.

00:27 But it isn't entirely all new.

00:30 The 2 and 1/2 liter turbo flat four

00:32 that's powered the STI since 2008 remains largely unchanged,

00:36 still channeling 305 horsepower and 290 pound feet of torque

00:41 to all four wheels through a six-speed manual.

00:43 And we're most interested in finding out whether the new STI

00:46 still has it.

00:48 The plan goes as follows.

00:50 We'll get our first taste of the STI

00:52 at the press launch at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca.

00:55 Then we'll run it through the ignition test treatment.

00:57 And then we'll take it along one of our favorite curvy roads.

01:00 [MUSIC PLAYING]

01:03 Now, the STI on track.

01:27 I've had a bit of time to warm up in it.

01:28 And my initial impressions are pretty nice.

01:34 This is a car that it's really easy to get to speed with.

01:37 You can feel like you can reach for its limits really quickly.

01:42 It has a rather forgiving chassis balance and a tendency

01:46 to understeer.

01:49 Once you turn the wheel, the car feels like it

01:50 wants to turn quickly with it.

01:54 That's kind of an alien thing in Subaru, but I really like it.

01:59 The car doesn't flop around like I remember the old STIs doing.

02:04 Also, our car has a short shift kit.

02:07 And it's really nice to throw the gears in.

02:10 I like the interaction between the clutch pedal and the gas.

02:15 It's not difficult to get heel-toe downshifts right.

02:18 The car makes it pretty easy.

02:20 And the stability as we go over one here into fifth gear

02:24 at 100 miles an hour is pretty good.

02:28 This car has a brake-assisted torque vectoring system,

02:31 as we're calling it now, brake vectoring.

02:34 And it's off when you have the stability control completely

02:39 off, which we do now.

02:42 This car on the track has different pads in it

02:46 because a lot of journalists are cycling through this car.

02:48 And they don't want to burn the pads off.

02:50 But I'm curious about how the torque vectoring system is

02:53 going to wear a set of street pads.

02:56 That's something we'll have to find out.

02:58 Again, I'm impressed with the way the car comes

03:00 into a corner, how fast it can get in.

03:03 And the chassis balance mid-corner

03:05 is really nice, too, because of the way you can set it up.

03:08 Turn in, bounce.

03:10 That's the best corner on the track

03:12 as we go up to the corkscrew.

03:14 The sound is very good, too.

03:16 And it matches the way this car builds power

03:19 high in the RPM range.

03:21 We're catching up to our fellow journalists here.

03:32 High level of grips.

03:33 I really feel like I can push this car mid-corner way more

03:37 than I feel like I should be able to.

03:39 I have a lot of confidence driving this car fast.

03:43 And that's cool in a track environment.

03:48 We'll give him some room.

03:51 As we give the driver in front of us some room, let's reflect.

03:55 So let's talk about what's underneath the sheet metal,

03:58 because on the face of it, this doesn't seem

04:01 too different than a WRX.

04:03 Now, the front and rear suspension is much stiffer.

04:08 It has stiffer everything, basically.

04:10 And there's all kinds of percentages.

04:12 They're throwing at this car to make it sound stiffer.

04:15 The gist of it is the car is stiffer.

04:17 Overall, this STI is pretty fun.

04:28 First impressions, again, are very, very good.

04:31 Surprising, almost.

04:33 I was not expecting this car to be this fun, frankly.

04:38 [MUSIC PLAYING]

04:41 [BEEPING]

04:44 [ENGINE REVVING]

04:47 Despite the unchanged power and similar weight,

04:55 this STI handily out-accelerated last year's car,

04:58 although we don't recommend the red-line clutch dumps

05:00 it took to get that number.

05:03 Short gearing requires a shift to third

05:05 to reach 60, which the STI hits in 4.6 seconds.

05:09 [MUSIC PLAYING]

05:12 That's nearly a second faster than the new WRX.

05:18 The STI maintains that gap to the quarter mile,

05:20 reaching it in 13.1 seconds at 104.4 miles an hour.

05:25 That's also 0.7 second faster than last year's STI.

05:31 Peak stopping distance improved, too.

05:33 The Dunlop Sportmax tires and Brembo braking system,

05:37 comprised of 13-inch rotors with four-piston calipers front

05:40 and 12.4-inch rotors with dual-piston calipers rear,

05:43 required 108 feet to stop from 60.

05:48 The most telling benefit of the stiffer chassis

05:51 appeared on the figure 8, where the 2015 STI dropped its lap

05:54 time by a large half-second margin.

05:56 [MUSIC PLAYING]

06:01 At 24.9 seconds, it's 0.4 second faster than the new WRX.

06:07 Average lateral acceleration increased to 0.97 g.

06:10 [MUSIC PLAYING]

06:14 Now we have the STI in what would seem to be more

06:22 of its natural environment.

06:26 As good as this car handled on the track,

06:28 as fun as it was to drive, I think

06:30 the road is a true test of how fun these fast Subarus can be.

06:36 You can just palm down this.

06:42 These cars are great on bumpy, uneven roads

06:44 that you just want to go fast through.

06:45 You just keep your foot in it.

06:47 And don't worry about it.

06:48 The car's going to go all over the place and bump around.

06:50 And you just keep the steering straight, and it's fine.

06:57 Steering feel is quite nice.

07:01 You still have hydraulic assist, while the WRX

07:04 is an electric assist.

07:06 And you still hear, like the previous gen STIs,

07:08 you can still hear the hydraulic fluid going around

07:12 as you dial in some steering input.

07:16 But overall, the weighting is nice.

07:17 The feedback is nice.

07:19 And the response-- I'm impressed with how quickly the car

07:23 responds once you dial in steering input.

07:25 [ENGINE REVVING]

07:28 I like the sound of it, too.

07:37 They're piping in on this 2 and 1/2 liter.

07:39 They're piping in the induction sound.

07:41 You can actually hear some turbocharger whooshing

07:44 and sneezing as well.

07:46 And it's pretty cool at about 3,500 to 4,000 RPM.

07:49 That's when it starts getting in the meat of it, it sounds like.

07:52 [ENGINE REVVING]

07:56 Now, disappointments.

08:02 I'm disappointed in the fact that the 2 and 1/2 liter turbo

08:06 is just a carryover engine.

08:07 Now, that doesn't mean it's a bad engine.

08:09 It's just been around for a long time

08:11 with the same horsepower and torque figures.

08:15 They've done some changes to this,

08:16 but it still feels very much like the engine that

08:19 was in last year's STI.

08:20 Right now, though, I'm having a lot of fun.

08:23 There's a lot of confidence in this chassis.

08:28 There's a lot of confidence in this car.

08:30 And it has an ease and accessibility with driving it.

08:33 This car doesn't scare you.

08:35 There's no worries here.

08:36 [ENGINE REVVING]

08:39 In fact, when you're bombing down a mountain road that maybe

08:42 you haven't been on before, it's a nice thing.

08:45 [ENGINE REVVING]

08:49 [TIRES SCREECHING]

08:51 As is, the STI makes no effort to hide its intent.

08:55 You may think it's a responsible car.

08:57 It has four doors, after all, and all-wheel drive.

09:00 But it's not.

09:01 You aren't fooling anyone.

09:02 Just look at it.

09:03 Look at that wing.

09:04 Look at those gold wheels.

09:05 Everyone knows the real reason.

09:07 You just want to go fast.

09:09 Now, Subaru's received no shortage of criticism

09:12 on the design of the new STI.

09:14 It's rightfully earned, too, especially

09:15 when you put the finished product next to the WRX

09:18 concept of a few years ago.

09:20 On the other hand, Subaru's never really

09:22 been in the business of designing

09:23 particularly beautiful cars.

09:25 So perhaps we're expecting too much.

09:28 Now, the WRX and STI are getting a lot of flack

09:30 for not looking great.

09:32 And it's probably deserving.

09:35 Let's face it.

09:36 They aren't attractive cars.

09:38 But this is a bizarrely versatile, extremely unique

09:43 car.

09:44 And it retains those elements, those things

09:47 that I like so much about the last generation STI.

09:50 So why STI?

09:53 Because of the drivetrain.

09:55 While the WRX makes do with just a viscous center

09:58 diff at a nominal 50/50 torque split,

10:00 the STI has an electronically controlled and adjustable

10:03 center diff with a 41/59 split and locking

10:06 differentials on both axles.

10:08 Where the WRX begins to falter, the STI

10:10 gives the driver just that much more control.

10:14 Combined, it simply makes for a faster and better handling

10:17 car.

10:18 Graceful, it's not.

10:19 But the new STI is huge fun.

10:21 And it succeeds in giving its driver

10:23 both that versatility and big speed we love.

10:27 While we're disappointed the engine hasn't been updated

10:29 since 2008 and that you can't easily option gold wheels

10:33 and that it doesn't look that great,

10:35 we keep coming back to one simple truth.

10:37 The 2015 STI is the best driving STI yet.

10:43 Oh, yeah, bro.

10:44 Got our helmets.

10:46 Got our Alpine Star gear.

10:47 Oh, yeah.

10:49 Going to ride really slowly on a mountain road.

10:54 Cagers.

10:55 That's what motorcycles have slang for cars.

10:59 I didn't know that.

11:00 Because they've got a metal cage around them.

11:02 Cagers?

11:02 Yes, they're cagers.

11:04 I think you just made that up.

11:05 No, that's an actual thing.

2015 Subaru WRX STI: The Daily Driver Rally Car Returns! â Ignition Ep. 107

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2015 Subaru WRX STI: The Daily Driver Rally Car Returns! â Ignition Ep. 107