This might be the first public appearance of Subaru Rally Team USA's new WRX rally car which will hit the stages in 2008.
Subaru will be using the wagon body for both its WRC cars and the cars competing in the Rally America series. The American-series cars which are built by Vermont Sport Car, generate 320 horsepower and 425 lb-ft of torque. Specs are vague on displacement, however. Subaru's 2.0-liter motor will be used in the WRC, but more relaxed regulations in the U.S. might allow slightly more displacement. Lance Smith, SRTUSA's team principal, told us several months ago the team might use larger 2.2-liter engines in 2008. The 2.5-liter production engine, however, doesn't seem to be an option.
Other specs include Ohlins dampers, Cusco front and rear differentials and an electronically controlled center differential as well as a Motec engine controller. A KAPS five-speed, manually shifted dogbox will be used since U.S. rules don't allow the advanced (and expensive) automatically shifted manual boxes used in the WRC. AP/STI rotors and calipers are at all four corners. -- Josh Jacquot, Senior Road Test Editor
SubyTrojan says:
02:53 PM, 10/30/07
It's nice to see that the show car now has the hardware to back up its "sporting" appearance. I say "sporting" because the livery looks pretty bad in my opinion. :( Why not keep the blue and gold like the image at the link below?
http://66.160.188.111/Straightline/3640
Back in August, they were using a regular WRX with the new livery slapped on it (HTML used due to link length).
opfreak says:
06:10 AM, 10/31/07
nice...
And finally a car me an my woman can agree on... now wrx or sti.. himm sti's price tag might be a tad to high for me.. i'd have to start looking at entry lux at that price range. but the wrx is in a nice sweet spot.
ateixeira says:
12:53 PM, 10/31/07
I don't like it.
I don't like the colors.
I don't like that it lacks the STI's front flares that wrap in to the front bumpers.
Very disappointing.