The nineties gifted us some truly iconic cars and this is when the story of the incredible WRX begins.
First introduced in sedan and wagon body styles, Subaru brought out the WRX to follow the Loyale in 1992. They needed to revitalise their range and the sleek new Impreza was just the ticket; it took the brand from being known simply for its dependable nature, to something far more exciting.
It was around this time that Subaru found their feet on the rallying stage, signing Collin McRae and introducing the now iconic blue and gold scheme at the World Rally Championship. The legend of the WRX began with the Type RA, the first to be honoured with a WRX badge. In 1994, along came the awesome STI version and by 1996 Subaru had also brought out the GC8D and we welcomed the new look as well as the extra power.
1997 was the Subaru WRX SportWagon’s time to shine, with the GC-chassis wagons proving they could tick many boxes as a practical, family-friendly compact hatchback. However, these were quickly overshadowed by the legendary WRX STI 22B and this is still regarded as the very best of the bunch.
Subaru chose their 40th anniversary gift wisely and even to this day this is a ridiculously rare, a highly sought after gem that everyone wants to get their hands on. This great-looking widebody car was also a celebration of McRae’s WRC manufacturer title hat-trick but sadly only 424 22Bs were ever produced. Whilst the ‘bug-eyed’ style WRX may not have won many beauty contests, fans were won over by the 250hp it was capable of producing.
When the WRX was taken over to the US in 2004, the STI’s design was given a refresh and for the 2008 model year Subaru shook up the Impreza line-up and made it whole lot bigger, following the Mazda3’s lead. Soon after, they added the widebody kit from the STI to the WRX and we witnessed the return of the sedan STI.
Although created with rallying in mind, a truly great WRX can take anything you throw at it!
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