As it turns out, the WRX STi is *considerably* more expensive than I thought it was so that wouldn't make as much sense as I thought.
That said, the current 3.6R is a complete joke. When Honda and Nissan both offer sporty turbo engines and Toyota is the performance leader with a big V6 and aggressive design, it's time for Subaru to up their game. If they even keep the anemic 3.6 engine, it needs at least 300 hp and some work to turn it into a sporty option. The Nissan isn't available with its big engine and AWD, so Subaru would have an obvious performance advantage in that regard. The 3.6R with a sport package for between $35-$40k would compete directly with the sporty, but have AWD, and be cheaper than the Acua TLX A-Spec which is basically the next level up for sedan performance. The Japanese don't offer anything between about $32-$40k that is both AWD and performance-oriented. Subaru can go ahead and offer a Wonder Bread 3.6R like they currently do, which looks exactly the same as the rest of them, but they should also offer a sizable sport package that ups the game into an area that doesn't really exist right now outside a gnarly FWD Camry.
