With AWD-month coming to an end I thought it would be interesting to look at a pretty rare car to come out of Japan. When people think of Subarus the rally-bred Impreza is without a doubt the first that will come to mind, with the more mature and elegant Legacy not so far behind.
The boxier and more awkwardly styled Forester may not be every one's cup of tea, but this didn't stop Subaru Tecnica International going crazy with it. By tuning the 2.5L turbo flat-4 and fitting Impreza running gear it transformed a comfortable and practical family SUV into a fire-breathing AWD beast.
I met up with my friend Adam, the owner of this Mica Blue example, who kindly let me take a few snaps of it in an industrial corner of Kawasaki city.
In order to immortalize the Forester STi in action we also headed south of Tokyo to Hakone the other week, the closest place to the city for a bit of fun through the corners.
The badge on the grille says it all! If you happen to miss that, there are also two huge pink STi logos on each corner of the front bumper as well as on the sides of the car and behind on the hatch.
STi made sure the Forester would handle better by fitting Bilstein inverted-strut dampers and stiffer springs as well as dropping the ride height by 30 mm at each corner.
More performance calls for an upgraded brake package and up front the chunky Brembo 4-pot calipers bite down on larger discs, while the rear is stabilized with 2-pot calipers, again from Brembo. The special 18-inch wheels are shod with Bridgestone RE030 tires, 225/45/ZR18 all round and due to its low mileage, Adam's car is still running the original rubber it came with from the factory!
The EJ25 develops 265 PS at 5,600 rpm with a nice mid-range torque peaking at 3,600 rpm where 378 Nm is produced. The 6-speed manual gearbox from the Impreza offers fast and precise changes and sends drive to all four wheels via Subaru's Asymmetrical AWD...
...which is what helps it stay nice and flat through the corners, something you wouldn't expect from such a tall car.
This is by far the best angle of the Forester, any higher and it begins to show its SUV-ish proportions, not to mention that front end, which is far from being aerodynamic. That's the least offensive comment I can come up with!
Along with a speed limiter cut, Adam has also fitted a rare Rays Engineering Gram Lights Dragon 57 exhaust system. A rare part for a rare car!
The interior is spiced up with STi parts like the smaller diameter STi steering wheel, the drilled pedals, the stitched gear knob...
...and of course the STi seats. If you look closely enough you can see the carbon fiber STi key chain dangling from the ignition.
To spice up the driving feel of the Forester, STi also fitted a more direct steering rack, but what it really lacks is the adjustable DCCD center differential as used on the STi Impreza. Without this the Forester is stuck on a 50:50 torque split between front and rear.
The Forester did a good job of keeping up with the RS6 I took out to Hakone at the same time, but only on the tighter roads. With 600 kg less that the big Audi (the Forester STi hits the scales at 1,490 kg) Adam had the more agile car to play with.
This particular Forester STi is up for sale as Adam is looking for a change, something equally rare such as an Evo 9 Wagon or a Legacy S402 wagon, but just as much fun. It will also be interesting to see if STi will attempt to spice up the new generation Forester with something along the lines of the older car.
-Dino Dalle Carbonare