For Subaru fanboys, nothing gets better than toying around with the Driver Controlled Center Differential in their heavily modded STI with a massive spoiler and loud exhaust (catalytic converters optional, of course). But way before Subaru even started shipping the WRX and its STI big brother to the United States, the Impreza went on sale in Japan—and that first generation did, in fact, include a high-performance variant, which was never shipped to the United States. Undoubtedly the most awesome Subaru of all time, and a beautiful sports car to boot, the 22B-STI remains a unicorn to this day and somehow, automotive talking head Doug DeMuro got the chance recently to take one for a spin and see if it's really worth the ridiculous prices that people are willing to pay.
Click And Watch
Watching DeMuro play around with this 22B is like watching a kid in a candy store. This is the car that started it all for Subaru, leading off the brand's true rally success (yes, the Legacy raced in rallies before it but no, nobody really cares) and inspiring the commitment to all-wheel-drive systems that remains part-and-parcel of Subaru's marketing strategy to this day, 26 years after the first STI debuted for the Japanese Domestic Market.
Marking The Occasion
In 1998, Subaru had the honor of three consecutive World Rally Championship manufacturers' titles under its belt, plus a drivers' title from 1995. The year was also Subaru's 40th anniversary as a brand, so something special had to happen. The result was the 22B, which got a high-spec engine displacing 2.2 liters (do those numbers look familiar?) rather than the normal 2.0-liter flat-four powering the rest. The engine produced 280 horsepower and 267 lb-ft of torque, with a 7,900 RPM rev limiter, which is sky-high for a forced-induction powerplant.
All The Goodies And More
With a curb weight below 3,000 pounds, the 22B was fast. Unofficially, it could do about a 3.9-second sprint to 60 miles per hour. No wonder Doug loves driving it just as much as he loves fiddling with the dial gauge for controlling the center differential. With the 25-year importation rule set to elapse in 2023, hopefully more 22B examples will make it to these shores.
Source: Youtube