The response to Subaru's WRX concept is immense and immediate: damn, that's a good-looking ride. Wait, are we sure it's a Subaru? Yes? Well, the

model they actually build probably won't look anything like it.

Even so, in a world where fuel prices spiral ever higher and hi-po Ford and Chevy musclecars stalk the land like huge... um... stalking things, Subaru has

breathed new life and relevance into an enthusiast favorite. Granted, much of the pugnacious four-door concept won't make production – like the color

accents by Monster Energy Drink, knife-edge wing mirrors, and the stolen-from-LeMans rear diffuser – it's still a styling coup.

As far as the Subaru faithful are concerned, the new WRX could look like a rutabaga with a hood-scoop, just as long as the driving experience remains

faithful to its turbocharged heritage. Here's a brief history of what makes the WRX so great.

1992 WRX Type RA

Already popular as a sort of sure-footed Japanese Volvo, Subaru's Loyale was reasonably dependable and about as agricultural as you could get this side of

a combine harvester. When its Impreza replacement launched in 1992 (1993 in the North American market), the new, curvier compact sold strongly. For those

in the Japanese home market, life was extra good as a turbocharged, all-wheel-drive option was on sale. With twin viscous differentials and a rubbery

five-speed manual handling 237 horsepower from a forced-induction pancake-four (as compared to 215hp 5.0 Fox-body Mustangs overseas), the WRX was built to

hoon from the get-go. JDM availability also included the Type RA: a stripped-out race-spec car with manual windows, no a/c, closer ratio gearboxes and no

ABS.

1993 Impreza 555

If you've ever wondered why Subaru nuts are forever clad in blue-and-yellow, wonder no longer – while the Prodrive-built 555 wasn't Fuji Heavy Industry's

first foray into the World Rally Championship, it's arguably the most iconic. With Scottish Subaru saint Colin McRae at the wheel, the 300-hp Group A rally

racer was smaller, nimbler and lighter than the moderately successful Legacy RS it replaced. Sliding sideways, spitting fire and gravel like some

Scandinavian elder god, the 555 did reasonably well in its inaugural year, but really captured public imagination in 1995 with McRae taking the WRC

driver's championship. The brilliant but mercurial Scotsman would give Subaru three manufacturer championships before leaving to race for Citroën and Ford.

Following his tragic death in a helicopter crash in 2007, over one thousand grieving WRX owners would gather to spell out his name using their cars on the

main straight at Prodrive's test track.

1994 WRX STi Version 1

Aside from Rally Blue and Gold, the fastest Subies wear pink. Cherry blossom is a very symbolic color in Japanese culture, tied to the samurai code and

thought to represent the fleeting briefness of the warrior's life; it's also the signature color of in-house skunkworks Subaru Tecnica International – or

to put it in its official Mister-Sparkle-sounding name, Subaru Tekunika Intanashonaru Kabushika-gaisaha. These first STis were WRXs taken directly

from the production line and modified with performance goodies ranging from carbon-fibre strut tower bars to forged pistons and uprated intercooling. Power

jumped to 250hp with a much lower torque peak for quicker response. As with all WRXs, there was plenty of room for back-alley tuners to unlock even more

power.

1997 Subaru WRX SportWagon

Right since the first cars rolled off the line, the WRX has been available as a compact hatchback for practical folks who need to haul cargo as well as

haul ass. The GC-chassis Impreza wagons are interesting not just for their ability to fit the family, but also for their loot-carrying capabilities. The UK

was already in love with the WRX, so too were the Australians – but while the Brits loved the Scooby for its motorsports heritage, some Aussies liked the

car for the reasons that probably got their ancestors transported in the first place. WRXs were easy to steal, tough enough to smash through a storefront,

and fast enough to leave police Holdens and Falcons in the dust. Ram-raiding became a big enough problem to cause Subaru Australia a serious PR nightmare

(and to drive WRX insurance rates through the roof), but when the cops fought back by buying their own turbo-'Roo interceptors, you had the makings of some

seriously fair dinkum police chases. 'Strewth!

1998 WRX STi 22B

If you had to pick just one World Rally Blue companion for life, this would be it: the best WRX of them all. Built to celebrate both McCrae's WRC

manufacturer title hat-trick and Subaru's 40th anniversary, this widebody two-door Impreza is an instant rebuttal to anyone who thinks Subaru

can't build good-looking cars. Powered by a hand-assembled 2.2L stroker (as compared to 2.0L contemporary WRXs), the 22B's modest 276hp rating belies its

stonking roll-on torque characteristics, especially in higher-speed passing maneuvers. Basically a WRC race car for the street, the original Japan-only run

of 400 sold out in a reported thirty minutes; a further 24 cars would be produced for overseas markets (but sadly not North America).

2002 USDM WRX

After teasing the U.S. market with a turbocharged showcar called the 2.5RX in the late '90s (and never giving us anything hotter than the faux-rally-bling,

normally-aspirated 2.5RS), Subaru finally decided we were ready. As two-tone automatic Legacy wagons moved sluggishly-yet-tenaciously across the snow-bound

mid-west, America was about to learn about a new kind of Subaru—goodbye Peter Paul and Mary, hello Petter Solberg. The first cars to reach our

shores were the so-called Bugeyes; dubbed the "New Age" Impreza by Subaru, the world had already taken some time to digest the permanently-surprised Subie,

and it had performed reasonably well in the WRC. The right car at the right time, the 227hp rattly-interior rocket posted up performance times within a

hair of high-performance Teutonic iron like the BMW 3-series and Audi S4, something Subaru's advertising made a great deal of noise about.

2005 Subaru WRX STi S203

Students of Japanese motoring history might be able to tell you a thing or two about the unofficial "Gentleman's Agreement" that once governed the

horsepower levels on Nipponese roads. Nominally set at 280hp in 1990, manufacturers quietly agreed not to sell high-horsepower machinery to the public in

an effort to keep the crowded public roads safe; Subaru got around these restrictions with repeated special models: the GC-chassis S201 (300hp), the

Bugeyed S202 (320hp), and the S203, the second-best-looking Impreza ever built. While American fans were still exclaiming over the riotous 2004 STi, Subaru had a

completely different motor available in its home market. We got a 2.5L torque-lump, they got a 2.0L screamer – in the S203, it spun to 8000rpm with a

upgraded ball-bearing turbo pulling strongly all the way to 320hp. A reduced ride height has the S203 hunkered down over forged aluminum 18" BBS alloys;

uprated spring rates and beefed-up sway-bars eliminate any typical Subaru body-roll. Inside, grey Alcantara takes the place of the cartoonish blue found in

USDM cars, and subtle carbon-fibre accents are found on the exterior. Just 555 cars were produced – an obvious nod to the past.

Oops: 2008 WRX USDM

Good as they are, WRXs often have foibles: numb steering, butter-churn shifting, woeful turbo-lag, fuel-economy like a big-block V8, nose-heavy understeer,

interiors by Fisher-Price. Up through 2007, the charm of the car outweighed the drawbacks. Come 2008 and here's the updated Impreza with the looks of a

running shoe and the personality of a tasseled loafer. Subaru perhaps thought to pitch their car to an older audience and made a sort of wallowy

marshmallow of a car—good low-end response, but hardly a rally fighter. Quickly addressed in the following year with the upgraded WRX 265, the good news

here is that Subaru's Lego-like parts interchangeability allows owners to fix what the factory got wrong.

2011 STi Cosworth CS400

Subaru replaced their big-winged STi sedan with a humpy, hunchy, blister-fendered hatchback in the 2008 model year. It looks terrible, which is just great,

all snorting hood-scoop and 'roided-out bodywork. Unfortunately, the GF-chassis is not quite as sharp as the previous generations, at least not until you

start tweaking it. As a name to brand on the back of a special edition, Cosworth is about as good as it gets. This 395-hp Brit-built barbarian had a

limited run of just 75 cars. It's not just a straightline car, but the speed is worth mentioning: 0-60 in about 3.5 seconds, through the quarter-mile in

12.75. With specially-tuned Bilstein shocks and Eibach springs, it's a hot-hatch made for the winding B-roads of the British Midlands, and their rutted,

rumpled pavement. Six-piston, 355mm brakes are there to help keep you from turning the local livestock into sheep-dip. Subaru has since announced the WRX's

imminent departure from the UK market. This counts as going out with a bang.

2013 WRX Special Edition

Revealed at last year's SEMA show, there's not too much that's actually special about either of these limited-edition WRX or STi sedans. Basically, it's

five hundred bucks extra for knowing you've got the orange-est WRX around. Big whoop. Even so, the bang you get for your buck with either car is impressive

– 265 horsies in the WRX, 305 for the STi, and grippy all-weather performance for both. Plus they're both useful four-door sedans with reasonable trunks

and available roof rails, at home on the track or the road up the ski-hill.

We wait excitedly to see what the next chapter will bring in the turbo-Subaru's story. For now, call your high-school geometry teacher up and tell her how

wrong she was: the shortest distance between two points isn't a straight line; it's a WRX.

This content is created and maintained by a third party, and imported onto this page to help users provide their email addresses. You may be able to find more information about this and similar content at piano.io