2008 Subaru WRX STI

Calling the 2008 Subaru Impreza WRX STI “practical” is much like saying Eli Manning has a nice personality. While both statements are accurate, it’s more appropriate to first reference the outstanding performance of each. On the other hand, the well informed already know Manning was the Most Valuable Player of the 2008 Super Bowl and that the 305-horsepower all-wheel-drive 2008 Impreza WRX STI is wickedly fast.

All-Wheel-Drive Prowess

Still, you can’t avoid the fact that the ’08 WRX STI is very practical. First, it’s available only in a five-door (a.k.a. hatchback) version. With the rear seats folded forward, the WRX STI will hold 44.4 cubic feet of stuff. A four-inch longer wheelbase helps increase roominess. Also, its hatchback, or fifth door allows easy loading and provides more cargo space than a trunk-equipped car. (Subaru calls the WRX a five-door, perhaps because about 20 years ago hatchbacks went completely out of style in the U.S., but not the rest of the world.)


The 2008 Subaru Impreza WRX STI will hold enough stuff for a camping adventure for two people, that new computer and monitor, or the boxes for the move to a new apartment. If you tie everything down very securely, you’ll deliver the goods more than rapidly. With the rear seats up, Subaru says it will accept two golf bags behind the seats, although it’s hard to imagine the average WRX STI owner as a golfer.


On dry pavement, Subaru’s all-wheel-drive system offers enough acceleration traction that you probably couldn’t spin the greasiest off-brand tires. We also tested the WRX STI on a rainy day and even then its “extreme sport performance” 245/50R18 Dunlop SP600 tires never offered even a hint of spin under maximum acceleration out of tight hairpins. An important note to those who live where it snows: Invest in a second set of wheels and winter tires. The Dunlops are great in the dry and wet—better than all-season tires—but snow is not their specialty.

Performance Driving

This is not to say the tires won’t slide: All-wheel-drive aids acceleration, not cornering power. In the professional-driver-who-should-be-but-isn’t-on-a-closed-road mode, the fronts lose grip slightly before the rears. Even if you improperly gas it at that point, the fronts don’t slide excessively, perhaps because torque is split 41 percent front, 59 percent rear. Save for those with racing experience, if you did the same in a rear-drive car like a Mustang GT you’d probably spin out. Do it in an equally powerful front-driver and the car would slide nose first toward the edge of the road, unless you released the accelerator.