The VA is the end of an era, and it knew it. When the WRX split off as its own model in 2015 it moved to the modern FA20 direct-injection turbo and 268 horsepower, but the STI held onto the old EJ257, that 2.5-liter boxer soldiering on with 305 and later 310 horsepower while the rest of the industry chased downsized efficiency. It was a bit old-school on purpose, and that became part of the appeal.
Subaru sent the EJ off with fireworks. The 2018 Type RA sharpened the formula for the track, and the 2019 S209 became the most powerful and most expensive Subaru ever sold here: 341 horsepower and just 209 examples, all US-only. When the final STI rolled off the line in April 2021, the nameplate went quiet with no VB successor in sight.
If you want the definitive turbo-Subaru experience before the badge went dormant, this is it. A stock 2019-2021 STI, or one of the halo cars if your budget stretches, is a car people will be hunting for a long time.

This is where the legend starts. The first-generation Impreza turbo is the car that turned a quirky all-wheel-drive underdog into a World Rally Championship force, with Colin McRae and Richard Burns sliding 555-liveried GC8s across every surface on earth. Under the hood sits the EJ20, a 2.0-liter turbo boxer that grew meaner with every revision, topping out with the STI &#x26; its signature off-beat idle.
The catch for US buyers: Subaru never sold the turbo GC stateside. We got the naturally aspirated 2.5 RS and its 165 horsepower, so every WRX and STI Version on these shores arrived through the 25-year import window, which the earliest cars have only recently cleared. That makes a clean GC8 quite the scarce commodity.
Whether you're chasing a gold-wheeled Type RA, a coupe-bodied Version, or just the boxer rumble that started it all, the GC is the root of the family tree. Everything after it is a refinement of what happened here.

This is the one that brought the party to America. In 2002 the bugeye WRX finally landed stateside with a 227-horsepower EJ205, and enthusiasts who'd only read about Imprezas in import magazines suddenly had one at the local dealer. Two years later the STI arrived to finish the job: a 2.5-liter EJ257 making 300 horsepower, gold BBS wheels, a driver-controlled center diff, and a rear wing you could serve dinner on.
The GD ran through three faces that owners still argue about. The bugeye (2002-2003), the blobeye (2004-2005), and the hawkeye (2006-2007), each with its own devoted camp. All of them share the burbling boxer soundtrack and a chassis that shrinks around you on a wet back road.
As a warning to all shoppers: the EJ257 will happily grenade itself if it's been leaned out by an amateur tuner, so don't buy before you get a PPI, a compression test and a clean maintenance log. Find a stock, unbroken STI and you've got the car that defined a generation of rally-bred sedans.

For its third act, Subaru made the STI in a hatchback. The 2008 GRB traded the sedan's three-box shape for a five-door body that split the fanbase down the middle, then backed it with the familiar 305-horsepower EJ257 and a saucy suspension that made it the best-handling STI yet.
In 2011 the sedan returned as the GVB, wearing muscular fender flares and the same wide track, and the WRX finally inherited the STI's broad-shouldered body too. This is the generation where the everyday WRX and the hardcore STI drew closest together, both riding on that unmistakable symmetrical all-wheel-drive layout.
Notably, the EJ257 carries the same appetite for detonation it always has, so leave some room in the budget for maintenance. Hatch prices lagged the sedans for years and are only now catching up, which makes a well-kept GRB five-door one of the smarter buys in the STI catalog.

GR/GV

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