Tag Archives: Impreza

Hot Hatch Zenith

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We go from the beginnings of the hot hatch in a small factory in Scotland in the late-‘70s, to their zenith some 45 years later. Yes, the days of the hot hatch are numbered, what with imminent safety, CO2 and fuel legislation, which will effectively outlaw small, fast, fun cars in favour of EV crossovers. Sigh.

Still, they’re going out with a bang, with several hot hatches now making more power than even supercars of a few years ago.

This is Subaru’s last hurrah in the genre, the Japan-only Impreza WRX STI Spec-C.

Packing over twice the power of the world’s first hot hatch, the WRX STI Spec-C features all-wheel-drive, over 400Nm of torque, and a lightened and stiffened body.

This amazing Model Team replica of the ultimate WRX comes from Mihail Rakovskiy of Flickr, who has captured it brilliantly in brick-form, with opening doors, hood and tailgate, a life-like interior, and a superb recreation of the 308bhp turbocharged boxer engine.

There are more excellent images to see at Mihail’s ‘Subaru Impreza WRX STI Spec C’ album on Flickr – take a look at the zenith of the hot hatch via the second link in the text above, and you can jump back to its genesis via the first.

Super Sub

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It’s the UEFA European Championship, when Europe’s best football teams (plus sometimes Israel for some reason) battle it out to win all the Coca Cola they can drink.

Cue the Subaru Impreza STI, a car that’s not even from the same continent, and the most tenuous title vaguely linked to a current event that we’ve managed yet. Well, it was either that or a pun linking ‘STI’ and your Mom, but we’re trying to phase out the ‘Your Mom’ jokes.

Anyway, not at all to do with the delayed European championship, nor your Mom’s list of venereal diseases, is this; Lachlan Cameron (aka loxlego)‘s magnificent fully remote controlled Subaru Impreza STI.

Powered by a third party BuWizz bluetooth battery, Lachlan’s Subaru features all-wheel-drive, working steering (that’s also linked to the steering wheel), all-wheel-suspension with electronic ride height adjustment, LED lights, and some properly realistic bodywork .

Lachlan has even created a wrapped version, like every talentless car YouTuber, turning his super Subaru into a Ken Block ‘[Hoonicorn]’ homage that looks, well… utterly brilliant (talentless YouTubers take note).

Top notch photography adds to the impression and there’s loads more to see at Lachlan’s ‘Subaru’ album on Flickr. Click the link above to take a look, whilst we get ready to watch TLCB’s home nation in action against the Czech Republic tonight. We may even have a few super subs on the bench to help us top the group…

Scooby Doo

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This cartoonesque (hence the title) Subaru Impreza WRX STI was discovered by one of our Elves on Flickr today. It comes from previous bloggee Fuku Saku who has created the GC8 version of the car that featured in the Japanese phenomenon ‘Initial D’. There’s much more of Fuku’s Impreza to see at his Flickr album – click the link above to make the jump!

Unfortunate Acronym

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Subaru Tecnica International had an unfortunate acronym in much of the world. They didn’t change it though, unlike Toyota who renamed the MR2 in France to avoid phonetic embarrassment. Still, aside from standing for an unfortunate side affect of unprotected relations, STI meant some excellent machinery, including this 2000’s Impreza WRX STI recreated by Flickr’s Ralph Savelsberg in his trademark style. Click the link to make the jump to his photostream see more.

Bug-Eye

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Lego Subaru WRX STI

Some cars wow the motoring world upon their release, causing a ripple of appreciation for their design, engineering progress and beauty.

This is not one of those cars.

The second generation Subaru Impreza had a lot to live up to. The original was the WRC poster car for a generation, and whilst it may have been a fairly boring Japanese box underneath, turbo-charged engines and all-wheel-drive turned the first generation Impreza (in WRX/STI form at least) into a cult car overnight.

By 2000 though it was time for the difficult sequel, and with the motoring world eagerly expecting something spectacular Subaru launched…. this.

It’s safe to say that the second generation Impreza was not positively received. It was a slightly better car in every respect than the original though, and it still found buyers thanks to its rally pedigree. A much needed facelift in 2004 and again in 2006 lessened the aesthetic stupidity, but the damage was done, ushering in a long decline in Europe that sadly for Subaru shows no sign of abating.

Lego Subaru WRX STI

As a result the second generation Impreza is now worth about £50, meaning you can pick up a car with genuine rally pedigree that will beat pretty much anything away from the lights for next-to-nothing. Unfortunately this means the WRX has become the favoured tool of the Donuts-in-a-Parking-Lot-Pikey, ruining Cars & Coffee meets for everyone else the world over.

Which is a shame, because catastrophically ugly though the second generation Impreza WRX is, it’s still a fantastic performance car. It’s just you can’t drive one without wearing a paper bag over your head.

We’ll settle for this one then, a rather delightful Model Team style replica from previous bloggee Alexander Paschoaletto. Alex has captured the second-gen Impreza’s, er… ‘unique’ look brilliantly, and he’s included a detailed engine and interior accessible via an opening hood and four opening doors.

There are lots more images of Alexander’s 2001 Subaru Impreza WRX STI to see on both Flickr and MOCpages – Click the links above to do some donuts in a McDonald’s car park.

Lego Subaru WRX STI

Scooby Doo Picture Special

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Lego Subaru Impreza WRX STI

This impeccably recreated replica of Subaru’s famous Impreza WRX STI was discovered by one of our Elves today (now contentedly munching on a blue Smartie).

Subaru Impreza WRX Lego

It’s been built by previous bloggee Rhys’ Pieces and it includes some stellar detailing inside and out. There’s loads more to see at Rhys’ Flickr and MOCpages accounts – click the links for all the photos.

Lego Subaru WRX STI

Aaaand in the Red Corner…

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Lego Evo X vs Impreza STI

These two heavyweights of the performance car world were suggested by a reader, and they remind us of a time when Japan was on top of its automotive game. It’s a shame then that currently the entire Japanese auto industry makes almost nothing exciting, and both Mitsubishi and Subaru are virtually dead in the UK market. And don’t even get us started on Honda. Where’s your mojo gone Japan? We’re not the only ones missing it…

Oh, these excellent recreations of the Mitsubishi Evo X and Subauru Impreza WRX are the work of Alexander Paschoaletto on MOCpages – click here to see more.

Double Trouble

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Lego Lamborghini vs Subaru WRXWe’ve blogged quite a few classic vehicles here at The Lego Car Blog recently, so to bring a bit of balance we’d like to post a duo of cars so newly-released we’ve not even seen them on the road yet. Luckily though, the Elves rediscovered the page of our very promising Featured TFOL Alexander Paschoaletto, and his two latest cars; the 2014 Lamborghini Huracán, and the 2014 Subaru WRX STI*.

Making modern cars is getting harder, with lots of curves and angles appearing on everything from city runabouts to limited-run exotica, but Alexander has managed to pull off the curves found on these two nicely. See more of both creations via the links to Alexander’s pages.

*Our American readers may think the Subaru should read ‘2015’. Our marketing department refuses to time travel.

Scooby Too

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Lego Technic Subaru Impreza WRX

Technic Subaru Imprezas are like buses it seems. You wait ages for one and then two turn up at once. Following Pippasseyoyo’s superb large-scale ‘super car’ style WRX posted earlier in the month, another builder has uploaded their take on Subaru’s rally weapon. Filsawgood‘s Impreza WRX STI is a whole lot smaller, but a whole lot more Power Functions-y too. See more of the remote control Scooby on Eurobricks via the link above.

Scooby Doo

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Lego technic Subrau Impreza WRX

Ask anyone from the Playstation generation what the most iconic car ever made is and you’ll get only two answers. One; the Nissan Skyline GTR, and Two; the Subaru Impreza WRX STI.

Brickshelf’s Pipasseyoyo has recreated the latter in simply astonishing technical detail, using standard LEGO Technic pieces to engineer the Scooby’s four-cylinder boxer engine, five-speed gearbox, symmetrical all-wheel-drive, and fully independent suspension and steering.

There’s a huge gallery of images available to view via the link above, but to really do this model justice it’s needs to be viewed in action. Thankfully Pipasseyoyo’s taken care of that too, with an excellent demonstration video. Watch it below…

YouTube Video: