Subaru WRX 2000 v Subaru WRX STI 2023 Comparison

The Subaru WRX STI is a car that needs no introduction. Built from the rigours of world rallying, the STI became an instant icon upon its introduction in Australia and around the world.

The popularity of the WRX STI has ignited endless discussion about which generation is best, and with confirmation there’s won’t be a new-generation WRX STI, that argument has intensified. Here, Sam Charlwood tries to settle the score once and for all.

For many car enthusiasts the Subaru WRX is kind of regarded as the ultimate disrupter when the all-wheel drive pocket rocket first landed in our showrooms back in 1994.

It presented a massive shake-up to the performance car landscape which back then, let's face it, things were kind of dominated by V8 Commodores and Falcons.

Well as the WRX prepares to mark 30 years on sale in Australia, we've been thrown the keys to a couple of different generations including the original. I'm really excited for this.

Out there who haven't lost it over a WRX at one point in their lives. Born out of Subaru's efforts in global rally the production WRX or World Rally experimental became an instant icon in Australia and around the world the production WRX really helped change the ingredients for street performance forever with symmetrical all-wheel drive and the famous EJ20 turbo boxer engine.

Performance pedigree was really ratcheted up in 1999 with the introduction of the WRX STI with its faster engine bigger turbocharger stronger components revised suspension. It basically had it all and that's where we begin our adventure today behind the wheel of this 2000 model WRX STI.

I am so excited and privileged to be able to do this in the last of the first generation WRXs and an STI at that. This car is incredible in person, 924 kilometres on the odometer that's it. It gets wheeled out for dealer things and Subaru events but it's never really been driven in anger and I'm privileged enough to kind of be the first person today to to really jump behind the wheel.

So what's it like? It has aged remarkably well, everything feels tight, the engine, the gearbox, it's like the day it rolled off the showroom floor. The other thing for a four-door sedan all-wheel drive underpinnings and everything else this is sprung remarkably well it's it's so flat through corners obviously the STI has always been known as a compromised car in terms of its road comfort, but from a performance capacity on this closed road circuit that we're driving at the moment, body is taut, I can feel exactly what the car is doing underneath me. It's easy to place and it is a perfect match for the amount of horsepower that I have on hand, what I also love is the engine. Some of that the induction noise, the turbocharger, the rush of an old-school four-cylinder engine is so cool, unlike a lot of modern turbocharged engines.

You're not getting peak power torque from really low figure, instead it's coming on and you've got that typical rush, it's like the turbocharger is there to augment what the engine is offering up, not sort of provide that initial assistance right-hander, third gear, 4000 RPM.

The engine really sings, brakes are great, body control is excellent. This is an absolute blast and you can see why the first generation WRX really set the template. I own a 95 V8 commodore and although it's tidy, definitely doesn't drive like this. To be fair the STI’s on-road performance still feels quite sharp by today's modern standards and all to 100 time of 4.9 seconds, which is even faster than the latest iteration and a curb weight of just 1200 kilograms.

It is simple fun and full of character so are those virtues extended to the latest model now we could spend all day in this video comparing the original to the bug-eye and the different generations of WRX STI that followed, but I think probably the most relevant comparison is between that first STI iteration and the latest one and that's what we have here. 

It's a 2021 model, it's a bigger car, it's a more powerful car, it's also a heavier car so really interested to see what this one's like on a closed circuit.

So what I find really remarkable with the STI is that when you drive that early 2000 model first generation car, you kind of think how can they get it better than this, because it's visceral, it has so much character. I mean the crescendo of the engine as I said before 4000 RPM and just how taut the body and everything else is. It's hard to imagine really, rewriting the raw book with what's being done. I think you jump behind the wheel of the latest STI and I feel like it's an evolution of the breed. It's taut again it's more refined, it still has that great tangible mechanical base to all the key controls, but you're in a bigger heavier car and somehow it's still feels as though it has more performance to offer.

The engine is probably the huge breakthrough for me, I was really surprised actually, like that first engine is inherently mechanical with the way that it goes about its business. The huge lag and everything else, whereas this engine just feels instant and immediate with its response. It has a slightly more digital veneer but, the sound and everything that you kind of expect for an STI is still there, but everything has improved the technology has gotten better as you would expect.

Bigger more powerful brakes the steering technology has approved so it's more immediate but it doesn't quite cultivate the same feeling and feedback as the original. The all wheel drive technology has improved too, this feels like such a well tied down car there isn't really much missing between this and the original STI. They've actually done a really good job of capturing that rawness and that intrinsic performance in a car that is safer, more stable, much more refined and is loaded with all the expected equipment that you'd expect. 

Okay so we've driven both these models now on a closed circuit and I feel hugely privileged to do so but the obvious question is which one would you take home if you had the choice? Being a really long time fan of the STI nameplate I'd have to go with the original, it's such a solid foundation for all of these cars to build on but it just has so much character, has a real aura about it and it's so visceral as well.

Obviously this new car isn't a departure from that, but it is also bigger and heavier, at the same time the next obvious question is, where to next for the STI badge? Well officially Subaru says that their STI engineers haven't gone home back in Japan, so to me that says hopefully we'll see a new STI around the corner. What that new STI looks like and whether it includes electrification is unknown, but here's hoping Subaru's performance legacy lives on in some capacity.