Quote:
Originally Posted by krayzie
I finally have time to read thru this entire thread. It's funny how a lot of people outside of Japan (primarily in North America, you have SOA and their marketing to blame for) have the misconception of STI and "tuned by STI". Nothing really changed for like 2 decades. The "STI" in the name "WRX STI" is just a trim level for the Impreza made by FHI, while "tuned by STI" is a limited production model by STI themselves (outside of FHI) that is equipped with most of their aftermarket products pre-installed plus some bespoked parts / tuning (I think this can be traced all the way back to the first gen Legacy RS STI Limited).
You can buy a "WRX STI" in Japan and still have STI aftermarket parts to buy for it, same goes for their other models in the line-up. There is actually an Impreza WRX STI tS in Japan lol!!
I think they came up with the "WRX STI" trim back when the STI aftermarket catalog was pretty much non-existent, and they tried to relate it to their world rallying efforts for homologation / marketing purposes. Isn't that how for example the BMW E30 M3 came about originally as well?
STI has always been famous for suspension and chassis tuning, not really about adding a turbo. Here are some of their marketing material in English:
http://www.sti.jp/e/parts/eye/index.html
http://www.sti.jp/e/parts/eye/parts_menu.html
http://www.sti.jp/e/parts/catalogue/index.html
http://www.sti.jp/e/product/previousmodel/index.html
BTW I think this BRZ with the limited power and acceleration it have is perfect for driving it all out on the streets from time to time. I've always wanted to buy something like a Honda Beat or Mazda Miata to roam around town. The BRZ is just that made for chubby people like me, plus it can merge into highways no problem. Perfect! |
To add to this, tS cars are personally tuned and tested by STi's chief test driver, hideharu tatsumi, who always puts priority on improving handling and smoothness over power. He is one of the most respected drivers on the nurburgring and internally, "ts" is also referred to as tatsumi's spirit or setup (this is why you saw all those spy photos of the BRZ tS on the nurburgring). If anything, tS cars embody far more of what "STi" stands for then just the regular WRX STI model that Subaru builds as a trim.
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