Litchfield Type 25 Impreza

If you had an extra £39,995 in your pocket somewhere, what would you do with it? Assuming you're in England, you can probably buy 2 nice family cars for you and your wife, or for both your parents. Or you could take your family on nice holiday to France and Italy and Germany and Austria. Or you could you could renovate your home and add a jacuzzi and a 2-lane bowling alley and a badminton court. Me? I'd blow it all on THIS:

At £13,500 more than the standard 2007 Subaru Impreza WRX STi Type UK (what a mouthful), this version has been tuned by Litchfield. £13,500 gets you a 12L intercooler spray bottle, lightweight panels, rear strut brace, funky badges and improved bits all around. But since Cosworth helped on the engine while Litchfield tinkled with everything including the interior and bodywork, what £13,500 *really* gets you is 415 bhp and 420 lbft directly connected to your right foot. That translates to a face-ripping a 0-60mph time of 3.7 seconds and all the way to 175 mph. Whats that you said? Your Ferrari F340 also does it in 3.7 seconds? Have you been eating cream crackers and drinking rainwater since you blew £130,000 on it?

Litchfield claims that it now outlaps a Porsche 911 (996) GT3 RS (the race-prepared stripped down version) and said Ferrari F340 around a race track. All in a practical 4-door sedan body that is also comfortable to drive around everyday. The GT3 RS probably costs a billion pounds and doesn't even come with a radio. Talk about lousy kit!

The interior is not much changed from the original Impreza. Which is good and bad depending on how you look at it. Its good because they haven't removed the air conditioning and electric windows. Its bad because on the whole, the interior of the Impreza is bland... typical of Jap cars I think.

The exterior is pretty much stock-looking too, though there are little bits and pieces that improve aerodynamics. They've re-used the proven lightweight STi wheels and rear wing, with the addition of a roof spoiler and re-worked front lip.

There's a lot more technical info at Litchfield. Do also read the review on EVO, who said it isn’t the ferocious pace that distinguishes the Type 25 from its peers. What stands out a mile is its polish and cohesion.

So it's a practical 4-door car that you can keep till your kids turn 30 that so happens to pull your face off when you floor the happy pedal. I really want one... really... dammit!!