Automatic for Subaru STI

Subaru buyers will be able to order a five-speed automatic version of the storming Impreza WRX STI towards the end of this year.

This is a first for the all-wheel drive sports sedan/hatch, but it promises to represent only a relatively small portion of STI sales -- which are only a relatively small proportion of overall WRX sales anyway.

Subaru's managing director Nick Senior says the company has been getting an increasing number of enquiries for an auto STI. "We're delighted to be able to deliver what a significant number of customers have requested," he says.

Although experience with some (conventional) auto versions of cars otherwise known for aggressive behaviour has tended to show a certain degree of emasculation, Nick Senior says the STI will be a "fantastic driver's car that will expand its appeal to a wider audience."

That might be the case, but a regular auto transmission should not be expected to offer the efficiency advantages of a twin-clutch automated manual gearbox used by the likes of Porsche, Audi, BMW, Volkswagen and almost numberless others -- and archrival Mitsubishi.

Whether the "softer" STI will quote the same 221kW at 6000rpm and 407Nm at 4000rpm as regular versions remains to be seen.

Subaru says the auto STI will go on sale with the revised STI sedans and hatchbacks revealed at this year's New York International Auto Show. The upgraded STi and the automatic option are due here in the final quarter of this year.

Orders are already being taken by specialist STI dealers.

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