Truth is, Subaru’s winged beast owes its place on this list to a stupefying in-car video released in June, in which driver Mark Higgins pilots a mostly stock STI around Britain’s Isle of Man – a torturous 37-mile loop – in a scant 19 minutes, 26 seconds, at speeds in excess of 160mph. He manages to obliterate the standing record in the process – a record held by himself, set behind the wheel of the previous-generation STI.

Fascinating Cars of 2014 Editor Matthew Phenix and deputy editor Jonathan Schultz revisited the most fascinating cars of the year. Click here in coming weeks for more honorees.

The new STI’s turbocharged 2.5-litre horizontally opposed four-cylinder engine is unchanged from last year, but the car around it is new – dramatically stiffer and better balanced (better looking, too, if we’re being honest). The flat four produces a noisy 305 horsepower and 290 pound-feet of torque, delivered to all four wheels through a six-speed manual transmission – no automatic is available. The suspension, too, is thoroughly revised and properly punishing, as a thoroughbred sports car should be.

The STI has few real rivals – cars that can charge as hard and corner as tenaciously and carry a child seat, a mother-in-law and a week’s worth of luggage. Sports car or sporting sedan – quibble among yourselves. The WRX STI is still the sharpest multi-tool in the shed.

Second Opinion: 2015 Jaguar F-type Coupe



There’s a reason why the black side skirts on the top-spec Jaguar F-type R Coupe seem a bit de trop. The fundamental shape of Coventry’s first proper sports car in decades is so alluring that any adornment reads like lipstick on the Venus de Milo. Whether in V6 or V8 guise, the coupe also moves like a welterweight, shifts like a metronome and bleats bloody murder at the merest throttle tap. Tomorrow's Jaguar scholars risk forgetting the letter in the alphabet immediately preceding “F”. – Jonathan Schultz

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