- 5,895
- Canada
Hi all,
Just figured I would share some of the cars that I have in my collection. I'll start off with the one that speaks the most to my heart, my 2019 Subaru WRX STI.
I don’t have much of a backstory to the car buying process itself as it was fairly straightforward, but what you are seeing is a longtime dream of mine coming true. It’s difficult for me to pinpoint the exact source for my interest in the WRX STI, but there are two main items that I feel sparked my love for the car. The first was receiving a 1:43 scale Maisto Excess Tuners Subaru Impreza WRX STi from my aunt. I could never really explain why but of all the toy cars that I had (and believe me I had too many as a child), it was one that I just played with a lot more than others. Perhaps it was gold wheels that made it stand out next to all the others with silver wheels, I’m not sure, but it made me want to go on the internet and look up information and pictures of the car on the internet (this was before YouTube so hardly any videos). My parents also bought me some car books that featured the Impreza, and arguably this is where my love for the car really began to form. Moreover, getting that toy coincided neatly with my uncle gifting me a PlayStation 2 along with a copy of Gran Turismo 3, which was amongst the first of all the racing games that I owned. As with most car enthusiasts who grew up playing racing games, much of my taste in cars was dictated by what was available to me to drive in GT3, with my toy Impreza being featured in the game as one of the instantly available cars to drive in Arcade Mode. Being 7 or 8 years old at the time, most of my bonding time with the car was mostly restricted to looking at all the different Impreza WRX STi models that were available for sale in the dealership. The one that really caught my eye though, was the 22B STi. In my eyes, and as most Subaru enthusiasts will probably agree, that was just the best looking car there is, with the stunning blue paint with gold wheels, it was the stuff of dreams. I even distinctly remember grinding the Sunday Cup a few dozen times to earn enough credits to buy it, and over time, I also bought or won the Impreza Rally Cars in the game too. Whilst I did own other cars in the game, I primarily drove variants of the STI and really gained an interest in them. With Gran Turismo 4, this marked the first game I owned that featured the 2003-2005 STi, nicknamed the “blobeye”, which I thought was even better looking than the 22B. I was extremely eager to get GT4 when I found out that the blobeye was featured in it, and as soon as I got the game, as with GT3, my obsession with the car continued, with my first few objectives in the game being to own the blobeye STi.
Needless to say, I was a fan of the car by this young age, and as time went on and I became more knowledgeable about cars, I continued to love all cars but the STI in particular. I wasn’t a huge fan of the hawkeye facelift as I thought and still think that the three-section grille looks very odd (I don’t really like the bugeye either for that matter). I also didn’t particularly like the third generation WRX and STI, The pre-facelift STI hatchback in particular being a very sore thumb in styling to me, and I always will remember reading the YouTube comments of people saying they do not like how it looks, especially when comparing it to the previous model, and I agreed for the most part. Whilst I would still be happy to own any STI at all, I particularly dreamed of owning a blobeye STI in blue with gold wheels, but thankfully, I was spared from the potential nightmare that is owning a used turbocharged Subaru when they released the fourth generation model, and here we are.
This is my 2019 Subaru WRX STI in Sport-Tech trim, which is the highest trim available in Canada. I purchased it brand new in late 2018 at MSRP + destination of just over $48,000 CAD. As with all WRX STIs in Canada, it has the tried and true 310 horsepower EJ257 flat-4 engine mated to a 6-speed manual transmission with power being sent to all four wheels via some complicated engineering that even I struggle to understand sometimes. The Sport-Tech trim comes fully loaded with an improved-over-base Harmon-Kardon sound system, a slightly better-than-base infotainment system, moonroof, and a Recaro seat “upgrade” that is still a fairly crappy seat. I could’ve done without the moonroof as I don’t really like them but it’s hard to beat an OEM infotainment and sound system upgrade.
I honestly haven’t done much to the car as I was fairly satisfied with it out of the box, although this was before I got a job that allowed me to drive many other cars. Visually, it has the full STI under spoiler kit including the rear diffuser, JDM-only fog light bezels with an LED strip, and paint-protection film installed on the whole car. This was probably the craziest thing I’ve done to it but seeing as I never plan to sell the car, this was the only way to protect the soft and chip-prone Subaru paint. Currently, it is on Michelin X-ice Xi 3 tires wrapped around a set of gold STI wheels from the 2008-2010 STI. In terms of mechanical mods, it has a Kartboy short-shifter and shifter bushings, and the dealership optional STI Performance Exhaust. I previously had a Borla S-Type catback but wanted something a bit quieter for the winter season. I may or may not swap it back on in the summer.
To drive, it probably is one of the most unrefined cars that you can buy brand new when it was on sale. The engine idles like a tractor, the shift action is clunky, and the steering is anything but lifeless, if a bit numb. The ride is also quite jarring on the stock 19 inch wheels and summer tires, but does get better on the 18 inch winter tires that I currently have. Even just driving around town, every trip is an adventure. It’s hard to describe in words but the combination of all the touch points - the steering, shifter, the feeling of sitting in the car, and so on - add to a very visceral experience that is bound to energize you no matter the situation. My favourite part is the pedals which are perfectly spaced for my size to heel-toe downshift. I honestly loved commuting to and from the job that I had at the time when I picked up the car, which was a 30 kilometre round trip, sometimes in heavy rush hour traffic. Perhaps I still have the ignorance of youth but I never got tired of being in the car no matter how crappy the traffic was around me. When I do get a chance to drive a bit more spirited, once past the turbo lag/boost threshold and the car gets into the power band, the engine really does start to hustle. The handling perfectly copes with all that and the all-wheel drive keeps you gripped even when the weather gets a bit more slippery. I would say that the car comes alive at this point but the fact is that you feel that the car is alive as soon as you get in it, not only when you start driving fast. Really, the only thing that I don’t like about the stock setup are the front seats. Not only are they not too supportive as the seat bottom is practically flat, they sit too high in the car and make you feel like the car is tipping more than it is. They’re certainly comfortable for what they are but I wanted something more supportive and would provide a better seating position so I purchased a pair of Recaro Sportster CS.
Installing these seats turned out to be quite the pain. I initially had a setup that consisted of Recaro sliders and a Sparco seat base. I ended up not liking it for two main reasons. Firstly, the seat was offset too much for me. I'm not sure why but every VA WRX and STI that I've been in, the steering wheel actually comes out at a slight angle from the steering column. The Sparco base lines you up perfectly with the steering wheel, but since the steering wheel itself is offset you're actually sat slightly crooked from the rest of the car. You end up sitting too close to the door and too far from the transmission tunnel. There's only so much space you can adjust the seat on the seat base as well because the seat belt mount will get in the way of the seat if you move it too close to the transmission tunnel as I would have preferred. I ended up finding out about Recaro mounts made by Recaro of Japan. Believe me when I say that I must've spent hours and hours looking for a solution to this issue, and this was the best solution that I had found. Firstly, they correctly align the seat to where you want to be. Secondly, because it's a slider + mount in one, you shed a bit of weight from the seat base + slider setup. I don't have the exact figures but the Recaro mount is roughly the same weight as the Recaro sliders that I previously used, so you save at least the weight of the seat base. Moreover, unlike most aftermarket seat hardware options, the Recaro base frame looks very OEM, with an absence of ill-fitting seat brackets or ugly custom drilled holes. It really is the most elegant solution that I had found for installing these seats in my car. For driving, you sit about an inch and a half or so lower than the stock seat, which was enough to totally transform the feel of the car, going from driving an SUV to driving something more like a sports car. They are incredibly comfortable and very attractive to look at as well. The only reasonable improvement from these seats, in terms of support, are full racing buckets. For daily driving, these are perfect, and really what the car should've come with from the factory like with the S207 and S208.
The best part is that at the end of the day, the STI is still a 5-seater sedan, and comes with all the practicality that you get in the standard Impreza. The fuel consumption is definitely a bit shocking for a 4-cylinder, but wasn’t really an issue that stuck in my mind, especially once I started driving the car. Some of the interior materials are also a bit questionable but again, not a big deal for me as this was the class of cars that I grew up in anyway. Really, the only reason I don’t drive it more is because they don’t make it anymore, and so I want this one to last as long as possible, and so in July 2021, I purchased a 2006 Honda Civic Si as my daily/beater. More on that soon…
Just figured I would share some of the cars that I have in my collection. I'll start off with the one that speaks the most to my heart, my 2019 Subaru WRX STI.
Needless to say, I was a fan of the car by this young age, and as time went on and I became more knowledgeable about cars, I continued to love all cars but the STI in particular. I wasn’t a huge fan of the hawkeye facelift as I thought and still think that the three-section grille looks very odd (I don’t really like the bugeye either for that matter). I also didn’t particularly like the third generation WRX and STI, The pre-facelift STI hatchback in particular being a very sore thumb in styling to me, and I always will remember reading the YouTube comments of people saying they do not like how it looks, especially when comparing it to the previous model, and I agreed for the most part. Whilst I would still be happy to own any STI at all, I particularly dreamed of owning a blobeye STI in blue with gold wheels, but thankfully, I was spared from the potential nightmare that is owning a used turbocharged Subaru when they released the fourth generation model, and here we are.
This is my 2019 Subaru WRX STI in Sport-Tech trim, which is the highest trim available in Canada. I purchased it brand new in late 2018 at MSRP + destination of just over $48,000 CAD. As with all WRX STIs in Canada, it has the tried and true 310 horsepower EJ257 flat-4 engine mated to a 6-speed manual transmission with power being sent to all four wheels via some complicated engineering that even I struggle to understand sometimes. The Sport-Tech trim comes fully loaded with an improved-over-base Harmon-Kardon sound system, a slightly better-than-base infotainment system, moonroof, and a Recaro seat “upgrade” that is still a fairly crappy seat. I could’ve done without the moonroof as I don’t really like them but it’s hard to beat an OEM infotainment and sound system upgrade.
I honestly haven’t done much to the car as I was fairly satisfied with it out of the box, although this was before I got a job that allowed me to drive many other cars. Visually, it has the full STI under spoiler kit including the rear diffuser, JDM-only fog light bezels with an LED strip, and paint-protection film installed on the whole car. This was probably the craziest thing I’ve done to it but seeing as I never plan to sell the car, this was the only way to protect the soft and chip-prone Subaru paint. Currently, it is on Michelin X-ice Xi 3 tires wrapped around a set of gold STI wheels from the 2008-2010 STI. In terms of mechanical mods, it has a Kartboy short-shifter and shifter bushings, and the dealership optional STI Performance Exhaust. I previously had a Borla S-Type catback but wanted something a bit quieter for the winter season. I may or may not swap it back on in the summer.
To drive, it probably is one of the most unrefined cars that you can buy brand new when it was on sale. The engine idles like a tractor, the shift action is clunky, and the steering is anything but lifeless, if a bit numb. The ride is also quite jarring on the stock 19 inch wheels and summer tires, but does get better on the 18 inch winter tires that I currently have. Even just driving around town, every trip is an adventure. It’s hard to describe in words but the combination of all the touch points - the steering, shifter, the feeling of sitting in the car, and so on - add to a very visceral experience that is bound to energize you no matter the situation. My favourite part is the pedals which are perfectly spaced for my size to heel-toe downshift. I honestly loved commuting to and from the job that I had at the time when I picked up the car, which was a 30 kilometre round trip, sometimes in heavy rush hour traffic. Perhaps I still have the ignorance of youth but I never got tired of being in the car no matter how crappy the traffic was around me. When I do get a chance to drive a bit more spirited, once past the turbo lag/boost threshold and the car gets into the power band, the engine really does start to hustle. The handling perfectly copes with all that and the all-wheel drive keeps you gripped even when the weather gets a bit more slippery. I would say that the car comes alive at this point but the fact is that you feel that the car is alive as soon as you get in it, not only when you start driving fast. Really, the only thing that I don’t like about the stock setup are the front seats. Not only are they not too supportive as the seat bottom is practically flat, they sit too high in the car and make you feel like the car is tipping more than it is. They’re certainly comfortable for what they are but I wanted something more supportive and would provide a better seating position so I purchased a pair of Recaro Sportster CS.
Installing these seats turned out to be quite the pain. I initially had a setup that consisted of Recaro sliders and a Sparco seat base. I ended up not liking it for two main reasons. Firstly, the seat was offset too much for me. I'm not sure why but every VA WRX and STI that I've been in, the steering wheel actually comes out at a slight angle from the steering column. The Sparco base lines you up perfectly with the steering wheel, but since the steering wheel itself is offset you're actually sat slightly crooked from the rest of the car. You end up sitting too close to the door and too far from the transmission tunnel. There's only so much space you can adjust the seat on the seat base as well because the seat belt mount will get in the way of the seat if you move it too close to the transmission tunnel as I would have preferred. I ended up finding out about Recaro mounts made by Recaro of Japan. Believe me when I say that I must've spent hours and hours looking for a solution to this issue, and this was the best solution that I had found. Firstly, they correctly align the seat to where you want to be. Secondly, because it's a slider + mount in one, you shed a bit of weight from the seat base + slider setup. I don't have the exact figures but the Recaro mount is roughly the same weight as the Recaro sliders that I previously used, so you save at least the weight of the seat base. Moreover, unlike most aftermarket seat hardware options, the Recaro base frame looks very OEM, with an absence of ill-fitting seat brackets or ugly custom drilled holes. It really is the most elegant solution that I had found for installing these seats in my car. For driving, you sit about an inch and a half or so lower than the stock seat, which was enough to totally transform the feel of the car, going from driving an SUV to driving something more like a sports car. They are incredibly comfortable and very attractive to look at as well. The only reasonable improvement from these seats, in terms of support, are full racing buckets. For daily driving, these are perfect, and really what the car should've come with from the factory like with the S207 and S208.
The best part is that at the end of the day, the STI is still a 5-seater sedan, and comes with all the practicality that you get in the standard Impreza. The fuel consumption is definitely a bit shocking for a 4-cylinder, but wasn’t really an issue that stuck in my mind, especially once I started driving the car. Some of the interior materials are also a bit questionable but again, not a big deal for me as this was the class of cars that I grew up in anyway. Really, the only reason I don’t drive it more is because they don’t make it anymore, and so I want this one to last as long as possible, and so in July 2021, I purchased a 2006 Honda Civic Si as my daily/beater. More on that soon…
Last edited: