Subaru has unveiled a front and rear shot of their new World Rally Championship car based on the latest generation Subaru Impreza hatchback, Subaru’s first rally-going hatchback in ages. The new Subaru Impreza WRC2008 features a 2.0 litre boxer turbo engine producing about 300 horsepower. It will be driven in the championship by Chris Atkinson and Petter Solberg.
Notice that the new Subaru rally car loses the livery featuring many yellow stars that we’ve come to expect on every Subaru rally car. The new livery is based on a blue and silver design instead.
One more front shot after the jump.
After dabbling for years in the IT industry, Paul Tan initially began this site as a general blog covering various topics of personal interest. With an increasing number of readers paying rapt attention to the motoring stories, one thing led to another and the rest, as they say, is history. An avid electronic gadget aficionado as well as big-time coffee lover, he's also the executive producer of the Driven motoring TV programme.
The new style of subaru, I’m starting to like it. Indeed it has passion.
liked suzuki swift with subaru engine,lol
lets hope this ugly duckling have some speed, for solberg’s sake
Ah Beng’s. The Subaru has really turn to radical evolution in their design. No Subaru DNA in the stayling.
oik?!! where is the famous bonnet scoop!!???
those wide body is nice… but still don’t like the tail lights.
Very much like a radical 1-Series.. yeah, missed the big scoop!
I think the real thing would be set up higher for a little bit more ground clearance.
Its half done and Subaru has a deficit of 29 points.
With 3 teams working on Fords, you’d think the battle was over before it began …Including a certain Solberg; the younger one.
horrible and ugly…..
hopefully Chris and Peter won’t puke while driving……sigh….
Lancer FOREVER~
I doubt the Evo will do well with the latest Lancer in WRC because they are a Sedan. Unless they come out with a hatch, then maybe.
I think Subaru really have a great chance here now that they have very flexible suspension setup, and a smaller body. I would love to hear that distinct boxer roar down the straights again.
can you say FUGLY
jamsbong, the previous Impreza is a sedan too……
but sometimes, it really depends on the driver, not the car……
few years back, a rally event somewhere in Perlis, a @#$% driver of 1.8 DOHC Wira beaten by a Tiara in overall time, and both cars are stock NA….
The gold wheels doesn’t match up to the overall look….the rim colour is too dull.Maybe a shinier silver rim would be better
evo x will be better than this. looks even better too
mitlanevo, i think u dont get what is jamsbong sed all about. what he’s trying to say that hatchback car has more advantage in cornering since the rear overhang is shorter and no rear bonnet. so there will be less inertia while taking corner. The statement is only based on physical n logical perspective of the car..so either the drive is good or not, it is a different story.
And rally competition is based on time..so who knows if the wira 1.8 got stuck in a mud in the middle of the race and lost his time. Oh nway tiara is a hatchback car while wira 1.8 dohc is sedan..see that?
mystvearn, i thot i watched a vid in youtube where the impreza smoked the new evo in 400m drag… did anyone watch that video?
ugly car with a fantastic engine. what happened to the Subaru DNA.
and in response to evo’s inferior performance with the sedan in rallies.
i think maybe they might use the hatchback version, the Ralliart Sport version or something. that one is nice looking and would perform better in rallies i suppose.
its to much la at the back…very big spoiler…good luck solberg
Personally, i love this baby more than new evoX, that car just dont have digestable rear end! too flat for my liking, on the other hand, this impreza wrc2008 is a beauty!
Hatchback definately have it’s advantage over sedan, big time anytime! its rally man, cornering is very important! do u see ford teams use sedan focus? its a good step forward for subaru rally actually, at least it’s more suitable to have a hatch in this race rather than sedan heavy butt swayer. agree?
o and tat spoiler, is just classic! check out other rally cars, this kind of design is at there for years boy, dont complain its big! hehe cz the rear is light, such spoiler also have better effect than those tiny little fins at above evo’s rear windscreen!
personally, the front side was superb but the back eeeer…a bit odd. But who cares about it? You only have a split seconds to take a look at the back before it speeds off. Hopefully the driver gets to a stop so u can peek through the glass and see the interior.
theanswer, i bet u wont say that if u attended the event….
both cars not caught in the mud, the weather was perfect and no time delay……
the overall result is ridiculous, thanks to the driver…. its a shame because his 1.8 Wira is serviced and maintained by professionals, while the Tiara is kinda those ‘lorong belakang’ type…..
anyway, its a long story….
question. swrt cars usefront mount i/c? would that explain why no bonnet scoop?
also agree a smaller car is easier to handle on smaller roads. defn true, regardless of driver skill.
lets hope this model has better components and both drivers don’t have to retire in the first 3 races because of mechanical problems.
finally, i would prefer to own a sedan body, makes better sense for my life style. so this damned change to hatch better prove something.
get rid of the pirellis and go for bridgestones or michelins la. darn pirelli cursed the last two seasons.
WRC spoiler is dam big heeh…
overal design is average laaa. someone is not doing work here.. haha.
who care.. as long it can win wrc
go look at the old group B rally cars, those lagi big…