Subaru Impreza WRX STi

Our verdict

Very fast, very clever and, thanks to a fat new bodykit, definitely better-looking than the mid-nineties Korean abomination that is the standard Impreza. Good

Comfort

OK, it’s all a bit cheap and plasticky, but – for the performance you get – the STI is easy to live with thanks to infinitely adjustable, er, everything. 2.5-litre boxer engine is gentle enough around town but turns into a turbo-nutter when you thrash it.

Performance

Yes, quite a lot of this. Sub-five seconds to 60mph… from a twenty-something grand hot hatch? That’s fast, that is. Clever tech helps you get all the power down on the road… or act like a total drift monkey, if you so desire.

Cool

Only if you spent a lot of time hawking pirate DVDs in your local Halfords car park. Then again, with gold wheels and rally-spec blue paint...

Quality

Like all Subarus, long-term reliability and quality is superb, but you might not notice on your first contact with the plasticky dashboard.

Handling

Once again, quite a lot of this. Can be flipped from all-wheel drive maximum attack machine to rear-biased drifter at the flick of a diff switch, and has more than enough talent in either mode to keep most of us happy. A tiny bit more steering feel wouldn’t go amiss, though.

Practicality

New hatchback shape means more useable bootspace than old saloon versions. But you don’t really care about that, do you?

Running costs

Group 19 insurance. 27mpg if you drive it gently. Which you won’t. No, the STI won’t be cheap to earn, but in terms of bang-for-yer-buck it’s a veritable bargain. Should hold its used value, too. So long as you don’t spoon it into a ditch.