Subaru WRX GR/GV

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.