The most powerful Subaru WRX STI to ever roll off the factory floor has just been created in South Africa.
Lots of things come from South Africa nowadays: blockbuster movies like Chappie and District 9, diamonds from ethically questionable sources, and some of the world’s best-equipped mercenaries. They also make Subarus thanks to the South African branch of the Japanese carmaker, and now South Africa has yet another feather for their headdress: the world’s most powerful WRX STI.
To mark the 30th anniversary of STI--or Subaru Tecnica International, Subaru’s in-house motorsports division--the South African branch decided to make a very special version of the WRX. That special version has a tuned 2.5-L turbo boxer 4-cylinder that now produces 349 hp and 342 lb-ft of torque.
That’s way up from the 310 hp we get here in North America. Engine tweaks include a reprogrammed ECU, a new engine stabilizer, and a new performance exhaust.
Not only that, the South Africans report that the car’s zero to sixty time is 0.7 seconds faster than the stock car at just over 5 seconds. Top speed remains unchanged at 158 moh.
Besides the clear performance upgrades, the new STI gets some cosmetic exterior upgrades. The car is wearing a new body kit with bright yellow trim that’s matched on the Brembo brake calipers. A set of wheel spacers make the car 20mm wider, and the front suspension has been lowered 10mm to give it a more aggressive tilt.
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On the inside, each car gets an exclusive numbered panel on the driver’s side, as well as faceted designs on the driver and passenger dashboard inlays.
They call it the Diamond Edition, and only 30 of these cars will ever be made. They’re also only going on sale in South Africa, which truly sucks for the rest of us.
The Diamond Edition WRX STI will be available in January 2019 for 799,000 South African Rand, or about $56,000. At that price, it might be worth it just to ship it across the pond.
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