Crowd pleaser or motoring teaser?

Subaru has announced three special edition, high-performance Imprezas. All three are tuned by Prodrive and offer more power and greater levels of equipment. The WRX-S has 221bhp, the WRX STi 330S has 308bhp and the typical Subaru exhaust note, while the attention grabbing WRX STi 380S concept has 375bhp.

Stand out features?

These Imprezas are all about power and performance. The 380S will have a hand-built engine in order to reliably deliver the claimed performance while the WRX-S and STi rely on modified engine management and exhaust systems for their power gains. Performance claims are impressive: the STi will do 0-100 km/h in 5.5 seconds, 0.6 seconds faster than the standard WRX. No performance claims have been made for the WRX STi 380S but it should be even faster than the 250 km/h and 0-100 km/h in 4.4 seconds claimed for the STi 330S. Aside from the extra power all three cars receive new alloy wheels, extra spoilers and other styling modifications.

Showroom soon or never to be seen?

The Impreza WRX STi 380S is just a concept at this stage but if enough customers show an interest it could be a production reality in six months. The WRX-S and WRX STi 330S will hit the road in September.