...and rally-bred rocket is a real blast

nose, functional bonnet scoop, stubby rear end and a huge rear wing, all shouting out about its rally car heritage. Up front, there’s a gaping grille and big air intakes in the front bumper plus distinctive, C-shaped daytime running lights.

Bulging wheel arches house dark grey 18-inch alloys and at the back there’s a black diffuser and two pairs of big exhaust pipes.

The latest model’s body shell is wider, lower, longer and is claimed to be much stiffer than that of the last STI saloon, giving notable improvements in ride and handling.

The suspension has been modified with stiffer cross-members and bushes front and rear, as well as thicker anti-roll bars meaning the previous car’s already legendary grip is even further improved.

The power steering has quicker gearing and the engine and drivetrain get a revised ECU and bigger intercooler for the twin scroll turbo. That means 2.5 litres of burbling flat four driving all four wheels via a six-speed manual gearbox through a viscous limitedslip centre differential with driver-selectable front or rear bias.

For many people the WRX is the epitome of Subaru and its rallying success transformed the brand from a company famed for workhorse 4x4s to a firm synonymous with performance and handling.

We were without the WRX in the UK for a while before Subaru brought it back with this model a couple of years ago after the exchange rate with the Japanese Yen became more favourable.

The STi was pressed into service for a quick weekend break to London and when she first saw its distinctive styling, Her Indoors was less that impressed. But she was not the one behind the wheel for the 450-mile round trip so the car’s driving charms were a bit lost on her with the words ‘boy racer’ being muttered more than once.

Mind you - this did prove a more efficient way of slowing me down than tossing an anchor out of the window, which is probably as well as this car is a real licence looser!

Negatives? Well surprisingly our test car did not have sat nav and with around 300bhp and permanent four-wheel-drive fuel consumption is never going to be great (27mpg combined)... but then it can do 0 to 62 in a near supercar time of 5.2 seconds and hit almost 160mph. And when all that performance can be yours for a shade under £29,000 then the WRX STi is also a bit of a bargain.