![\"sti-impreza_fr\"](\"http:\/\/www.gannett-cdn.com\/-mm-\/2d56ffea67e6f63b43e8c8210e9338b2143cc16e\/c=516-0-3612-2322&r=x404&c=534x401\/local\/-\/media\/2016\/04\/29\/DetroitNews\/B99388545Z.1_20160429233736_000_G7SU0ED4.1-0.jpg\")
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All cars come with WARNING stickers cautioning front-seat passengers about the dangers of air bags.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m thinking four-door sport sedans should have rear-seat WARNING labels, too. Then,\u00a0when drivers are seized by their inner street-racer,\u00a0they\u2019d see something like: WARNING: THIS CAR MAY MAKE SUDDEN, VIOLENT, HIGH-G TURNS THAT COULD RESULT IN DIZZINESS, NECK SPRAINS OR KNOCKED NOGGINS.<\/p>\n
I had such a moment recently in a 2016 Subaru WRX STI with my teenage nephew riding astern. I took a 90-degree right-hander off Telegraph Road like Turn 6 at Waterford Raceway and my cousin\u2019s head thumped \u2014 WHACK! \u2014 the door window. He\u2019s a good, hard-headed Payne male, so no harm done, but you get my point: He should have been warned.<\/p>\n
After all, if you\u2019re riding shotgun in, say, a $75,000 Corvette, you know violence might ensue at any moment. The thing looks like a Ferrari, sounds like the Kraken, and has two \u201cOH, CRAP!\u201d handles within easy reach. But how\u2019s a compact sedan passenger in the back seat supposed to know?<\/p>\n
Such are the risks of today\u2019s most capable, under-$40,000 machines: VW Golf R, Ford Focus RS, and Subaru STI.<\/p>\n
Yes, Subaru.<\/p>\n
The STI is the unlikely, evil twin of arguably the nicest, most capable auto bargain on the lot, the Subaru Impreza. So adorable is Subaru that its ads talk incessantly about \u201clove.\u201d At an affordable $19,090, the Impreza is the only all-wheel-drive compact on the market. I particularly like the utilitarian, five-door Sport hatchback ( my wife\u00a0loves<\/em>hers) which starts at $23,990 \u2014 or\u00a0half<\/em>\u00a0the price of a similarly-sized AWD Audi A4 All-Road. Half.<\/p>\n The Subaru ain\u2019t bad looking, either. In 2012 Impreza received an extreme makeover to match its winsome personality. Raked headlights, trapezoidal grille with chrome winglets, swept-back windshield, athletic stance. No more boxy bods with clown noses that stuck out like pimpled nerds in too-short pants in high school.<\/p>\n The interior is a comfortable office as well \u2014 class-competitive rear head and legroom in the wagon, a console with cubbies in all the right places, big fat knobs for easy infotainment\/climate navigation.<\/p>\n The Impreza is as handsome and as loyal as Lassie. Its AWD will rescue you in the worst stuff that Old Man Detroit Winter can throw at you. And its consistently-high reliability ratings will keep it out of the auto repair pound ( Consumer Reports\u00a0loves<\/em>it).<\/p>\n The all-wheel-drive STI is a whole \u2019nother breed. It\u2019s the Impreza with rabies. A Rottweiler in a collie suit. A snarling, misbehaving ticket to trouble.<\/p>\n Park\u00a0the Hyper Blue STI (special \u201916 edition)<\/a>\u00a0and Quartz Blue Pearl Impreza next to one another and they look as opposite as Schwarzenegger and DeVito in \u201cTwins.\u201d The STI doesn\u2019t hide its aggressive intentions, featuring a big hood scoop and rear wing that looks like it was taken off Baron von Richthofen\u2019s WW I triplane.<\/p>\n Slip into the familiar interior and the instruments\u2019 blazing red graphics \u2014 like glowing wolf eyes \u2014 alert you that something is different. The bolstered seats grip like go-kart buckets, warning of the capabilities to come.<\/p>\n Driving the Impreza hatchback is like driving your washing machine \u2014 the 2.0-liter, 148-horse engine mated to a droning, automatic CVT transmission that methodically takes you on your way: START, WASH, RINSE, ARRIVE. The blown, 2.5-liter STI boxer mill more than\u00a0doubles<\/em>\u00a0the Impreza\u2019s output \u2014 to an Audi S4-challenging 305 ponies \u2014 and is controlled by a firm, 6-speed manual box that begs to be rowed.<\/p>\n Impreza is hardly a boat, but\u00a0it\u2019s a \u201995 Buick Roadmaster<\/a>\u00a0compared with the STI\u2019s washboard-hard suspension. When the STI debuted a couple of years back\u00a0I rung its neck around Laguna Seca<\/a>\u00a0raceway, posting times that would make many sports cars blush. Its power and torque-vectoring AWD make it a sensational weekend track warrior. You might want to check house listings next to Waterford.<\/p>\n On road, though, it\u2019s like a piranha in a goldfish bowl \u2014 it never seems happy unless it\u2019s devouring other fish. Stomp the gas, bury the bravo Brembo brakes, throw it through corners (sorry, nephew), and STI pleases. But grunt around town and it\u2019s loud and uncomfortable.<\/p>\n The 2016 Impreza and STI are built for different folks. And they are taking their last bows.<\/p>\n At last fall\u2019s Los Angeles Auto Show Subaru showed Impreza 5.0 due later this year. The exterior was nicely evolved \u2014 crisp lines, tidy fascia \u2014 but the biggest change is within, where Subaru promises a quieter ride on an all-new, stronger global platform. This will benefit STI as well as it pales in daily drivability next to same-priced peers such as the Focus RS and Golf R. We can\u2019t be boy racers all the time.<\/p>\n But when we are, my nephew would appreciate that WARNING sign in the back seat.<\/p>\n 2016 Subaru Impreza<\/p>\n specifications<\/p>\n Vehicle type:\u00a0Front-engine, all-wheel drive, five-passenger hatchback<\/p>\n Price:\u00a0$19,090 base ($26,682 Sport Hatchback as tested)<\/p>\n Powerplant:\u00a02.0-liter, Boxer 4-cylinder<\/p>\n Power:\u00a0148 horsepower, 145 pound-feet of torque<\/p>\n Transmission:\u00a05-speed manual, CVT<\/p>\n Performance:\u00a0Zero-60: 9.0 seconds (CVT, Car & Driver)<\/p>\n Weight:\u00a03,131 pounds (as tested)<\/p>\n Fuel economy:\u00a0EPA 28 mpg city\/37 mpg highway\/31 combined<\/p>\n Report card<\/p>\n Highs:\u00a0All-wheel-drive; Roomy hatch<\/p>\n Lows:\u00a0Droning CVT<\/p>\n Overall:\u2605\u2605\u2605\u2605<\/p>\n 2016 Subaru WRX STI<\/p>\n specifications<\/p>\n Vehicle type:\u00a0Front-engine, all-wheel drive, five-passenger sport sedan<\/p>\n Price:\u00a0$35,290 base ($39,790 HyperBlue Series as tested)<\/p>\n Powerplant:\u00a02.5-liter, Boxer 4-cylinder<\/p>\n Power:\u00a0305 horsepower, 290 pound-feet of torque<\/p>\n Transmission:\u00a06-speed manual<\/p>\n Performance:\u00a0Zero-60: 4.8 seconds (Car & Driver)<\/p>\n Weight:\u00a03,411 pounds (as tested)<\/p>\n Fuel economy:\u00a0EPA 17 mpg city\/23 mpg highway\/19 combined<\/p>\n Report card<\/p>\n Highs:\u00a0Great seats; Torque-vectoring terror<\/p>\n Lows:\u00a0Harsh ride; Pricey next to more refined competitors<\/p>\n Overall:\u2605\u2605\u2605<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" All cars come with WARNING stickers cautioning front-seat passengers about the dangers of air bags. I\u2019m thinking four-door sport sedans should have rear-seat WARNING labels, too. Then,\u00a0when drivers are seized by their inner street-racer,\u00a0they\u2019d see something like: WARNING: THIS CAR MAY MAKE SUDDEN, VIOLENT, HIGH-G TURNS THAT COULD RESULT IN DIZZINESS, NECK SPRAINS OR KNOCKED […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,87],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18508"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18508"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18508\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18509,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18508\/revisions\/18509"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18508"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18508"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18508"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}