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Aug 24, 2023

The Latest Subaru WRX Looks Much Better With The STi Trim It Deserves In This Render

With only 271 hp, the base model WRX is lacking in performance and style - this is how it would look with the 2021 WRX's STi trim in our render. The Subaru Impreza WRX STi is a rally and sports sedan

With only 271 hp, the base model WRX is lacking in performance and style - this is how it would look with the 2021 WRX's STi trim in our render.

The Subaru Impreza WRX STi is a rally and sports sedan hero that needs no introduction – but we’ll make one anyway. Coming out in 1992, the Subaru Impreza made a name for itself both in rallying and in the gearhead world. We can all picture the blue sedan with its hood scoop, gold wheels and big wing making jumps over crests in WRC videos or physically driving one on a video game console.

While basic Imprezas were more humdrum sedans, enhanced versions of the Impreza got dubbed ‘WRX’ (World Rally eXperimental) while even further-upgraded cars got the ‘STi’ (Subaru Tecnica International) badge.

Nowadays, there is both a base-model Impreza and a performance-focused WRX sedan. HotCars digital artist Rostislav Prokop takes the current model (which doesn’t have an STi equivalent) and creates one for 2024.

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For a long while, until 2014, the Subaru Impreza WRX STi was a circa-300-hp, AWD missile. Then the performance focus parted ways with the Impreza and left two cars: the Impreza and the new WRX.

From 2014 to 2021, the first-generation Subaru WRX made 268 hp / 258 lb-ft from its turbocharged 2-liter engine, and 310 hp / 290 from the WRX STi’s 2.5-liter engine. When the next WRX came it got the 2.4-liter, 271-hp / 258 lb-ft engine, but there was no STi in sight. Rostislav takes the second generation WRX and adds some of the STi’s features to the latest model.

Thanks to the second generation WRX’s redesigned front and rear end, with sharp-looking lights and cladding on the wheel arches, the new STi looks muscular and modern. Coated in blue with large gold wheels, the 2024 Subaru WRX STi comes with ‘STI’ badging and a large rear wing.

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HotCars Photo © 2023 Valnet

Inside the wheels are large, vented discs and red Brembo brake calipers. A new front bumper and splitter accompany a rear diffuser and the quad-exhaust outlets, as well as the iconic center fog light at the bottom. The new-style vents behind the front wheels help to disperse heat from the brakes.

While the last WRX STi from the 2021 model year had a base price of around $37,000, it is currently worth an average of $44,000 at auction. We can expect that to rise given that the STi will now not return for this second generation of WRX. Subaru did say that the STi may return but with an electrified powertrain.

Under the hood of this car could be the same engine as the current WRX, but in a different state of tune with upgrades to the intake system, ECU, exhaust, and turbo to make 310 hp or more.

A new electric WRX STi would likely boast far greater numbers due to the inherent weight of an EV but gone would be the magic of the flat-four, turbocharged soul of what the Impreza started three decades ago.

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Hailing from Britain, the home of both MG and Aston Martin, Dave is no stranger to sports cars. Or a little rain. When he's not busy working his day-job or writing songs and pretending to be a musician; Dave indulges his obsession with cars by writing and researching diligently, so that he can inform and convert other people to the dark side.