2002 Subaru Wrx Sedan Silver Turbo Impreza on 2040-cars

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Subaru STI display celebrates the division's high-performance history in New York

Subaru Tecnica International is really getting to celebrate itself at the 2015 New York Auto Show. Not only is the Japanese brand's performance division showing off a turbocharged take on the BRZ in the Big Apple, it also set up a small exhibit commemorating four past achievements. The oldest car of the group is a 1996 Subaru Impreza WRX STI Type RA wearing full rally garb. Its 2.0-liter turbocharged boxer four-cylinder kicks out 270 horsepower, but this specific one isn't a competitor. Instead, Subaru used the vehicle to promote the launch of the 1998 Impreza 2.5RS. STI also has one of the most coveted Subarus ever on display, a 1999 Impreza 22B STI. These limited two-door models were made to celebrate the company's World Rally Championship victories. Each one was plucked off the assembly line and fitted with a curvaceous, wider body and adjustable rear wing. Power was provided by a 2.2-liter turbocharged boxer four-cylinder with 280 horsepower. The final two members of this mini museum are a bit more modern. The 2004 WRX STI should be familiar to performance fans in the US with its 300-horsepower boosted 2.5-liter four-cylinder and six-speed manual. There's also the 2015 WRX STI that blitzed the Isle of Man last year to set a new lap record of 19 minutes and 26 seconds around the island course. With STI planning a US expansion over the coming years, this is a fantastic reminder of the division's past. Hopefully, it can keep living up to these high standards. Related Video:

Subaru offers glimpse of Viziv 2 Geneva concept

Subaru clearly sees something special in its Viziv crossover concept. After debuting it at last year's Geneva Motor Show and evolving it for the Tokyo Motor Show, the Japanese brand is bringing a Viziv 2 concept to this year's Geneva show on March 4. It also has a few other cards up its Swiss sleeve, too, as it has plans to display its new WRX STI road car and racecar for the Nürburgring 24 Hours this summer.
The third iteration of the Viziv gets reshaped boomerang headlights and new LED foglights, but that's all we know for the moment, because Subaru has only released a single teaser rendering along with a tantalizing claim that the showcar "signifies a future path" for the brand's next models.
The powertrain for the Viziv 2 is also still a secret. Both previous concepts used three-motor hybrid systems matched to continuously variable transmissions. In the first concept, primary power came from a diesel engine, while gasoline power was said to motivate the second evolution in Tokyo.

2014 Subaru Forester XT

Power Doesn't Come Cheap
When Subaru first offered a turbocharged Forester XT model to US customers for the 2004 model year, the shoe-shaped second-gen model fell into a ready-made competitive set of small, V6-powered crossovers and SUVs. The XT might have been more of a raucous shopping-trip companion than, say, a Ford Escape V6, but the basics of the cars offered a clear differentiation from the naturally aspirated, four-cylinder models found just a bit downmarket. Here in 2013, the V6 breed of crossover in this size class is all but extinct, and turbocharged four-cylinders with the power to compete with the XT are not thick on the ground.
In many ways, the comparative analysis gets most interesting when you start looking around for CUVs to match up with the all-boxes-ticked Forester XT Touring that we had as a tester for a recent week. The top of the line Touring trim means that the Forester comes with features like 10-way power seats, leather, navigation, a Harmon Kardon sound system with HD radio, Bluetooth and more. In fact, our Forester also had the only option package available on the XT Touring; one that included keyless access, HID headlights and Subaru's EyeSight system (adaptive cruise, lane departure warning and pre-collision braking).