2018 Subaru WRX STI Review | Auto Expert John Cadogan

There are three flavours of STi in the range - poverty, premium and Spec-dot-R.
Poverty, which is a term Subaru does not use, is actually not all that hard to cop. Standard items are cruise control, dual-zone climate air, the full infotainment package, a 5.9-inch centre LCD and eight speaker Harmon Kardon audio. That’s about $51,000 plus on-roads - it’s just a life-support system for the awesome dominatrix driveline, basically.
Premium costs another $5800 - and for that you get a sunroof and you will sit on dead cow - probably more than one - plus the electronic oversight stuff - blind spot monitoring, rear cross-traffic alert, front and side-view monitors … like that. You also get power-adjustable heated seats, auto-dimming rear-view mirror. So, that’s the hard, fast version of incipient luxury. Dominatrix with a velvet glove.
Spec.R adds $1750 - basically you get front Recaros plus 8-way power adjustment for the driver, but here, Dominatrix giveth with one hand and taketh with the other (it’s always the way) because the seat memory function is removed.
This next bit is for you, if you are quivering at the dealership, poised to drop the big bucks on that horizontally opposed, symmetrically all-wheel driven impossible to please mechanical mistress.
This is a harsh, draining car to drive. It’s wholly unpleasant in a mundane driving context. I mean, you’re not going to wear the gimp suit down the shops, right? Not unless you want to be on the news.
But it is awesome to have a red-hot go in an STi. You will have a Cheshire cat grin in that gimp suit - and I’d be lying if I said I did not scope exactly the right bend on exactly the right gravel - with loads of vision, plenty of runoff and nothing to hit, crank up the centre diff, have a judicious lift mid corner and then just dial it back straight with the throttle.
So I guess there are three factors about buying an STi - and the first one is entirely subjective. You just want one. OK - understood. In that case, make friends with the ‘madam lash’ reality - otherwise the underlying harshness and fatiguing character of the STi might take the gloss off, long-term.
The next factor is the car itself, and factor three is you. In reality, the performance potential of an STi - and its competitors - is insanely high. So the key objective questions there are: Are you ever going to exploit that performance, and: Do you even have the ability to do that?
Most people aren’t, and most people don’t - and for this reason alone, I strongly suggest everyone on the cusp of STi ownership have a good long look at WRX Premium - which still has outstanding limits, is very satisfying to drive, and much more pleasant to use as a daily driver - especially the CVT version.
Objectively, many STi owners would be better suited to a standard WRX - but this is only if you take bragging rights out of the equation. A WRX is a car. A WRX STi is an icon. Big difference, subjectively.
Most people don’t have the ability to drive an STi like an STi, and there are few opportunities to do that reasonably and safely, out there in the real world. These opportunities are only ever occasional. Objectivity - so limiting.
I say this in the spirit of you making a selection with your intellect, as opposed to your reproductive organs, which, if you are a man, do tend to be somewhat single-minded and often appear not to act, overall, on balance, in one’s long-term best interests…
If you do step down - across, whatever - into WRX Premium CVT you will save $2000 compared with the poverty STi, you’ll lose 24 kilowatts in peak power - but get there 400 revs earlier, and the mid-range power delivery gap is not that significant. And you’ll get to run it on 95-octane unleaded.
But the big difference is: WRX Premium is a superb daily driver. WRX CVT is not as quick to 100 kays an hour (6.3 for the CVT Rex, 6.0 for the manual and 5.2 for the STi) - but I would tell you the CVT is amazingly responsive on the fly, and none of these cars are designed for drag racing.
In terms of cornering and absolute limitations there, STi rolls on 245/35R19 Vs WRX 245/40R18 - and of course there’s the tweakable centre diff on the STi - but this is all just going to impact the way it feels at the limit, rather than the absolute amount of grip. STi is sharper, certainly - and that usually also means less margin between grip and slip.
It’s hardly as if a standard WRX is unresponsive or unsatisfying.