Minneapolis Street Sighting: Subaru Impreza WRX

It's no secret that I love Japanese cars; and Subarus are no exception. I've always been a fan of Subarus, despite the fact that ours was a complete lemon. As I grew older, I began to appreciate cars that were sleepers--vehicles that looked boring to the untrained eye, but could whoop ass. Unfortunately, Subarus had a different market. Subaru enthusiasts for the most indulge in stupid fads, such as stickerbombing, lowering their vehicles with excessive negative camber, and painting random bits in bright/ostentatious colors. There are a few non-gaudy examples running around, but even those have a few nits to pick.







While this example of Subaru's famous three-letter-all-weather-sports-car is far from pristine, it's about as "nice" as a beater-track car can get. The carbon hood is warped, and the sheen has all but worn off; the wheels, too, have their fair share of cheapness about them. While looking great from across the street, closer inspection reveals that this Pretzel is probably driven hard--everywhere it goes. It smelled of molten race gas, too, suggesting that while ratty, it goes like absolute hell, and is likely very loud in doing so.
While there are likely other small changes I'd make, this Rex is about as awesome as a daily-beater can get. Although for abuse' sake, I'd rather daily-grind a 2.5RS with bolt-ons and save the turbo monster for the track. No sense is doing sever mechanical harm trying to outcorner an Elise on the drive home from work-- or is there? That's what makes these things so incredible. And that's why I love them so.