HAPPY BIRTHDAY

IT’S BEEN A YEAR OF CARS CLOCKING UP ANNIVERSARIES

The Subaru Impreza is now five generations old. and featured Subaru’s flat- four Boxer engine.

Then some other stuff happened, yadda- yadda- yadda and then… ta- da. The WRX and WRX STi were born.

Things got interesting for Subaru’s mid- sizer as it set about accumulating World Rally Championship wins at the hands of amazing rallyists such as Colin McRae, Richard Burns, Carlos Sainz, Petter Solberg and of course, our own Possum Bourne.

The car struck a chord with enthusiast drivers too; a perfect case of “race on Sunday, sell on Monday” marketing that didn’t involve Aussie tin- tops.

Now five generations old, the Impreza and WRX are technically stand- alone models; the former a suburban hatchback, the latter still breathing fire in a more restrained but no less enthusiastic way.

The Global Financial Crisis effectively put an end to Subaru’s factory motorsport efforts and signalled a change of direction for the Impreza in terms of how it was pitched to the public (“Rallying? No sir, you’re mistaken I’m sorry.”). But we’re confident there will still be plenty of gravel- spitting glory on display as Subaru celebrates a quarter century of the Impreza next year. The German luxury sedan that isn’t an S- Class turns 40 years old next year. It was kind of like a big 5- Series for most of its early life, albeit with a plusher interior. By the time the second ( E32) generation arrived in 1986 though, it was starting to become a sort of mobile development laboratory for many of the company’s latest innovations.

The second- gen 7- Series debuted the option of an in- car telephone and ( crucially) fax machine, double- glazed windows and even a system that automatically increased the spring pressure on the windscreen wipers to keep them pressed firmly against the rain- lashed windscreen when tearing along to that business meeting in Cologne at de- restricted Autobahn speeds.

The range- topping E32- era 750iL was the first production car to offer High- Intensity Discharge ( HID) headlights, while the third generation 7- Series — unveiled in 1994 — offered well- heeled customers integrated satellite navigation as standard. The model had become a high tech test- bed with wood- capped trim.

In fact, you could never argue that 7- Series owners are conservative Luddites who prefer things the way they were; the controversially- designed E65 model from 2002 — which gave the world a new- fangled, thendifficult to use system called iDrive — is still the best- selling 7- Series of all time. Wait a sec; the Lada Niva? Didn’t