Viewed
in its own right the
new Subaru Impreza WRX STI 330S is a bit special. The numbers are impressive enough:
325bhp and 344lb ft of torque. That's 29bhp and 44lb ft more than the standard
STI, thanks to a few engine tweaks and a big new exhaust from Prodrive.

It's £5,000 more expensive too, and a
full half-second quicker to 60mph. That makes it the quickest Impreza you can
buy without recourse to grey imports or dodgy men with spanners.

The
330S imbues you with Loeb-esque driving skills even if you're only average,
leaving you at the end of a cross-country schlep with a lot of time to kill and
a bemused expression on your face. Beyond that savage straight-line speed,
there's such a monstrous reserve of mid-range power and torque and so much grip
that you can simply punt the car into a corner far, far quicker than should
physically be possible, let the magic diffs sort things out, then emerge out
the other side in a yobbish yowl of flat four.

It's even more intense and more
extreme than the standard STI, which is pretty much as fast a point-to-point
car as you can think of. Stiffer Prodrive springs and grippier Recaro seats don't
do any harm.

But
look at the 330S against the history of great Imprezas, and cracks begin to
appear. Most disconcerting is the vague, wafty steering, a malaise that seems
even more pronounced than in the standard Impreza STI. 

And
the exhaust, which sounds brilliantly burbly on the fly, cuts an irksome drone
at idle, while the fuel economy is sodding awful. Oh, and the ride is
arse-bruisingly firm. And the brakes are a bit dead.

Then
there's the turbo lag. The extra 29bhp over the standard STI engine is all
developed at the top of the rev range, and the headline figure clearly took
precedence over low-range response: floor the throttle in second gear at low
speed and you'll be overtaken by keen joggers as you wait to hit 2,500rpm, when
the boost arrives with a clouting upper cut.

These flaws,
sadly, will consign the 330S to a mere footnote on the annals of great fast
Scoobies past. It's a fabulous car, yes, if you didn't have other Scoobs for
reference, but it's not worth an extra £5k over the standard WRX STI. It ain't
half quick, though...

Sam Philip