1998 Subaru Impreza 22B-STI

Built to celebrate both the marque's 40th anniversary and its third straight WRC manufacturers' title, the 22B STi was billed as the production version of Subaru's already-iconic two-door World Rally Car. With its beefy front and rear arches increasing width by 80mm, a high-rise rear spoiler and the unique EJ22 engine, the 22B was as close to Colin McRae's rally car as any mortal was ever going to get. It wasn't so much a homologation special but more of a road-going replica.

Often mistaken, the '22B' in the model's name is derived from the 555 WRC car sponsorship. Five hundred and fifty-five is 22B in hexadecimal, the number base used in computer programming. At the time, the IT world was booming and the Impreza was the icon car for the successful IT contractor in both the UK and Japan alike. ‘22B’ is often incorrectly referred to the engine capacity, which was increased from 1,994cc to 2,212cc. The 'B', meanwhile, supposedly stood for Bilstein, the damper supplier. Whichever way you look at it, Subaru created a truly fabulous machine.

Only 399 22Bs were built for sale to the domestic market (another 25 were made for overseas markets) and they pre-sold almost instantly in early 1998, costing a shade under £40,000 in period.

The engine wasn't simply a standard 2.0-litre bored out to 2.2-litre, the EJ22 was a separate casting. While they are exceptionally strong engines, people liked to push the boundaries a bit and often found out the hard way where the engines limit was, post-remapping. Subsequently getting hold of replacement engines was a nightmare as there were no more and many owners who blew them up resorted to putting in the later EJ25 2.5-litre engine that was originally developed to get more power for the heavily emission-controlled US cars. Even Nicky Grist couldn’t get a replacement when the engine in his second one (he had an 000 and an import) let go.

The 22B is equipped with a specially-developed, 2.2-litre EJ22-engine with forged pistons, a seam-welded bodyshell (supposedly identical in shape to the WRC), special gearing, a twin-plate racing clutch, strengthened drive/prop shafts, driver-adjustable front/rear diff and bigger brakes. The suspension uses unique forged-aluminium lower links, rose-joined transverse links, inverted Bilstein dampers and Eibach springs, plus a fetching set of Gold 17-inch BBS alloy wheels.

Theoretically Subaru were upholding their end of the Gentleman’s agreement between all Japanese car manufacturers including the likes of Toyota, Nissan, Subaru and Mitsubishi. The agreement was to limit all JDM production cars to 280bhp and 180km/h in order to reduce road fatalities. However, as so many have found since, cars such as the 22B, R34 GT-R, Evo VI and Supra all seem to produce comfortably more than the agreed 280bhp, so while the 22B is officially producing 276bhp, real world figures suggest the BHP readout comfortably starts with a 3!

The car presented here a 1998 Subaru Impreza 22B-STI, car #318 of the 400 examples, is a matching-numbers example, imported into the UK by Litchfield Imports in 2004. After just 6 months of ownership, the first UK owner sold it to our vendor who has cherished and enjoyed the car for the next 18 years and this enthusiastic ownership is clearly evident from the car's superb condition. Our vendor bought the car back in 2004 and has routinely had the car serviced and maintained as and when required by Motor House Servicing, with a letter accompanying the history file verifying this work. The car was treated to a recent full service on 11/05/22. Within the history file there is the Bill of Sale from Subaru Crossroads Garage when our vendor purchased the car in 2004, at 13,000 miles meaning this 22B has averaged a mere 1,300miles per year for the last 18 years as it now shows 36,500(atoc).

On file there is an invoice for the TSL 76mm full exhaust system costing £851.88 when fitted in 2004 with the original exhaust coming with the car. Unfortunately, due to a system error there is currently no paperwork from Motor House Servicing showing the invoices for maintenance/servicing, however the owner of said garage is happy to speak to any interested parties to verify its past. Accompanied by its original Subaru booklets from Japan and photos showing the car pre-import, this is a splendid example of an appreciating icon.

With the ever-skyrocketing prices of the cream-of-the-crop JDM cars, this fabulously original 22B is a very reasonable way to ensure you have one of the greats.