Yahoo Autos Lightning Lap 2018: Subaru WRX STI Type RA
Lap Time: 3:04.9
Class: LL2 | Base Price: $49,855 | As-Tested Price: $49,855
Power and Weight: 310 hp • 3401 lb • 11.0 lb/hp
Tires: Yokohama Advan Sport V105, 245/35R-19 89W
Forget what you think you know about Subaru’s WRX STI. Or, really, what you think you know about WRXs in general. Because this limited-edition STI, the Type RA, is to the Impreza platform what diamond-edged saw blades are to your knife drawer. We said last year that our non-STI WRX, with its high-temperature brake pads from the Performance pack, was precise, which is not a word often applied to a Subaru. But it’s even more apt for the RA, which hews 5.6 seconds from the lap time of the last STI we ran at VIR, in 2015.
Inverted Bilstein dampers up front, spherical-bearing suspension pivots at both ends, and six-piston front Brembos do much to make the near-$50,000 Type RA a track hound-at that price, it damn well better be. A carbon-fiber roof shaves mass and lowers the center-of-gravity height. Steering response is the most direct and accurate we’ve ever experienced in a Subaru. There’s also an additional five horsepower and a shorter third-gear ratio, both of which are now standard on 2019 STIs.
But the RA rises above all other Subies at Lightning Lap. Through the infield, it averages 77.1 mph, which is identical to the BMW M5’s speed and faster than the Audi RS3’s and RS5’s. There’s resolute turn-in stability that allows full commitment through Hog Pen, where the RA exits faster than the RS3-even with its left-side rubber leaving the ground over the curbing on entry.
Its engine, however, isn’t fundamentally different from the mill that made its debut in the 2004 STI. And the RA is still based on the aging previous-gen Impreza platform. All of which makes us wonder what a truly modern WRX STI will be like.
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