Picking Up the Pace in the STI

Now that I’m getting comfortable with the car, I pick up the pace a little through a corner. As expected, the nose bites eagerly as soon as I turn in, and its response is completely different from that of an ordinary passenger car.

The front end feels planted, and the car holds its line well. But as I turn in further, the body rolls noticeably. My thought is that I’d like a stiffer anti-roll bar here. Then, for just a moment, the tires squeal and the car understeers.

The tires are ADVAN Sport V105s. They shouldn’t be the sort to give up that easily, so perhaps the tire pressures weren’t quite right.

After the body rolls outward and settles, the car corners with impressive stability. With a certain amount of G-force and load on the tires, it seems to keep them firmly planted on the road.

The DCCD (Driver Controlled Center Differential), which manages the all-wheel-drive system, was set to AUTO. Either way, I couldn’t tell whether the car was adjusting torque distribution between the wheels or the stability control was stepping in, but the car’s behavior seemed to change slightly from the start to the finish of a corner, and I felt it would take some getting used to.

The owner later told me the car had been fitted with the following STI parts, which may have had some effect on how it felt:

• Flexible Tower Bar, front
• Flexible Draw Stiffener, front
• Support Front Kit
• Flexible Support Subframe, rear
• Flexible Draw Stiffener, rear
• Lateral Link Set
• Coil Springs, front and rear
• Exhaust Kit
• Air Cleaner Element

This may make it sound like a difficult car to drive, but I’d describe it as more of an advanced driver’s car than a difficult one. You need to understand its characteristics, how it moves, and how its engine delivers torque. There’s no question it’s highly capable, but you need to read what the car is telling you and respond with the right inputs. That’s the impression I came away with.

If you ignored weight transfer, turned the steering wheel late, and then suddenly cranked it over once you reached a bend, you’d almost certainly end up in a pretty scary situation. This is a car that rewards the basics: begin steering smoothly before the corner, then turn in more firmly as the bend tightens.

How Does It Compare with the Porsche 718?

Since both cars have flat engines, people often compare the STI with Porsches—especially the 718—and some may be weighing them against each other. But I think they have very different personalities.

This is only a comparison, of course, but the 718 feels more solid and rigid, with a stronger sense of being planted. It feels as if it never lets go of the road and responds faithfully to the driver’s inputs. By contrast, the WRX has a greater sense of lightness and agility. It darts through corners, while the turbo’s punch and acceleration make the drive entertaining.

At heart, it’s still a rally car. The name has changed, so perhaps it’s not fair to compare it with the STI from more than 20 years ago. Still, I can imagine how much fun it would be to take this car through the snowy roads on the way to a ski resort, just as we used to.

You can still feel traces of that heritage in the turbo’s response and the way the handling is tuned. It’s one of the few cars that still has the mischievous spirit that so many modern cars have lost.

Thank you to the owner for letting us drive such a special car.