“While I get why Subaru didn’t include a manual in the Impreza for 2017, it’s a bit disappointing. Heck, the 2017 Impreza sedan even offers a new “Sport” model complete with rear spoiler. And adding a sporty spoiler to a car with a decidedly un-sporty transmission is like painting spots on your cat and calling it a cheetah. Regardless, it’ll likely be a wonderful sedan or hatchback, and only a few cantankerous Subaru fanatics will flail about with fury over the lack of a manual gearbox (including me). The other normal, more tech-focused consumers will find much to love with the new Impreza.” –– Nick Jaynes, Mashable
“In person you’ll immediately notice the flame-surfaced panels oddly reminiscent of Mazda5’s Kodo design language, in a profile that can otherwise be mistaken for its predecessor.” — Aki Sugawara, Yahoo Autos
“Subaru’s new Impreza has many firsts for the company, including being the first of Subaru’s lineup to use the company’s new Subaru Global Platform architecture. This modular platform will likely be used to underpin many cars and crossover throughout the company’s lineup going forward. Additionally, it wears Subaru’s new design language, which intended to give the car a more athletic look.” — Jonathon Klein, Automobile
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Think about it. How many flavours have we seen these cars presented to us in? Turbocharged; supercharged; engine swaps of every type; built for drifting; time attack; drag racing and of course fast road use. And to think that it’s only been around for just a few years. It’s all pretty incredible, and even more so to have witnessed this wave of inspiration hit tuners and parts makers. But it’s not quite over yet…
After shooting Brill Steel’s turbocharged V8-swapped Nissan Silvia S14, Enrico showed me another interesting car that his Italy-based company is putting the final touches to. This Rocket Bunny-kitted BRZ will soon be homologated as a Brill Steel complete car, meaning it will eventually be available for purchase throughout the whole of Europe and the world.
What Enrico wanted to do is take full advantage of the chassis’ adaptability and give it his very own twist, which started with chopping off a chunk of metal from the fenders, screwing on Rocket Bunny’s Version 1 aero conversion, and spraying the exterior bodywork in a shade of matte grey.
But the whole purpose of the car becomes obvious once you lift the bonnet. Enrico wanted to inject some serious fun into the compact chassis, and that called for removal of the original 2.0-litre flat-4. Its replacement, a tuned GM 6.2-liter LS3. The idea here was to keep everything as stock as possible, therefore maintaining factory-like street car reliability. This means that all creature comforts are retained, from the A/C to ABS, to a stock and fully-equipped cabin. The only thing is, the car now boasts a V8 soundtrack.
The motor was fitted onto a custom subframe using ZR1 engine mounts and sits in a way that it doesn’t obstruct any of the stock components mounted to the firewall. The LS3 was treated to upgraded heads, a hotter cam and some stainless steel headers which allow it to rev out to 7,500rpm and develop 580 reliable horsepower. There’s massive torque on tap across most of the rev range too, topping out at 912Nm!
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