2015 Subaru WRX STI at the 2014 Detroit Auto Show.

Join Motor Trend editor-in-chief Edward Loh as he gets up-close-and-personal with the 2015 Subaru WRX STI at the 2014 Detroit auto show.

Transcript

00:00 [MUSIC PLAYING]

00:08 All right, so I'm here in the Subaru booth

00:09 with their big news, which is the WRX STI.

00:12 This is a 2015 model, and it's basically a really good mix

00:16 of sort of carryover components and all new features

00:18 that were found on both the Impreza and WRX.

00:21 If we go outside in, everything is changed on the vehicle

00:24 except for the roof, the trunk, and the glass.

00:28 All new fenders, all new front end, doors, massive wing

00:31 on the back, as you can see.

00:32 And generally speaking, I think it looks really good.

00:35 It looks way better than the Impreza.

00:36 Very racy, very rally-looking vehicle.

00:39 Under hood, essentially a carryover powertrain

00:42 from the last generation STI.

00:44 So 305 horsepower, hand-built, six-speed transmission.

00:47 They did say they've done a little bit of ECU,

00:49 engine management tuning, to improve responsiveness.

00:52 But generally speaking, you're going to get that same WRX STI

00:55 performance in what should be a lighter car, probably

00:58 better handling, because there's a new feature called

01:00 active torque vectoring, which is a brake bias system that

01:03 actually retards the front wheel that's inboard in a turn.

01:07 And that's to help prevent understeer.

01:09 We don't know what it's like to drive yet,

01:11 because we haven't driven it.

01:12 But the vehicle does go on sale in the spring

01:15 and should be around the same cost

01:17 as a previous generation STI, right around $35,000.

01:21 One other special feature, there's

01:23 a launch edition STI that comes in World Rally

01:26 Blue with gold wheels, blue trimmed interior,

01:29 has a shorter short throw transmission,

01:31 and push button start.

01:32 Limited to 1,000 and available at your Subaru dealer.