Subaru WRX STI returns, almost: New powered-up S210 edition revealed for Japan
Three years after the plug was pulled for the rest of the world, STI in Japan has unveiled a sharper and more powerful version of the new WRX – but it's not the global offering the WRX STI once was.
The legendary Subaru WRX STI sports sedan has – almost – made a comeback, three years after plans for a new model were axed, but it is not set to be sold outside Japan.
The S210 STI unveiled at the Tokyo Auto Salon is not formally badged as a 'Subaru WRX STI', nor is it a series-production global offering like the WRX STI last sold in 2021, and is instead limited to 500 cars.
But it is a new Subaru WRX with the power boost, chassis upgrades and styling changes expected of a true STI – bar its signature driver-controlled centre differential – as well as the hallowed badge to back it up.
The S210 is the ninth car in the Subaru Tecnica International (STI) division's series of ultra-high-performance WRX-based limited editions, the most recent being the S209 sold in the US in 2019.
Most previous iterations have been based on the WRX STI of the time, but with no new STI donor to work with, the S210 is based the standard WRX – which, in Japan, is sold exclusively with a continuously variable automatic transmission (CVT).
Power has been increased above the standard 202kW for the first time in a factory new-generation WRX, the 2.4-litre turbo four-cylinder engine now said to develop 221kW.
It is 20kW down on the 241kW of the last S-series STI sold in Japan, the S208 of 2018, despite a 20 per cent larger engine.
Torque remains unchanged at 375Nm, matching regular models in Japan – and 25Nm up on Australian and US examples.
STI attributes the lift in power over the regular WRX to a retuned ECU, new exhaust system with a low-back-pressure muffler and "cannonball shaped chamber", and "newly-developed" intake and pre-turbo ducts.
The Subaru performance division boasts it is the first S-series model with the 'Subaru Performance Transmission' – the marketing term for the WRX's CVT – after decades of manual-only models.
The CVT is said to have been retuned to match the power boost for a "high degree of controllability".
Larger 19-inch BBS forged wheels wrapped in 255/35 Michelin Pilot Sport 4S tyres have been fitted, hiding drilled brake discs with red six-piston Brembo calipers up front, new brake pads, and retuned brake boosters.
There are also specially-tuned adaptive dampers, new rear anti-roll bar bushes, a CVT fluid cooler, a front strut tower bar, and additional front and rear stiffener bars. Lacking is the STI's adjustable centre differential, a hallmark of the car.
Some of these changes – including the Brembo calipers – may have been sourced from Australia's manual-only Club Spec edition based on the regular WRX.
Unlike the S209, the S210 is only slightly wider than the car it is based on – 20mm broader, with new gloss black wheel-arch cladding – but it has gained an STI front splitter, rear diffuser and side skirts, plus a carbon-fibre rear wing.
The front grille, mirror caps, roof antenna and other elements are finished in gloss black, with some featuring STI's signature cherry red accents.
Inside, there are Recaro front bucket seats with carbon-fibre backrests, nappa leather-trimmed padding and eight-way power adjustment, red contrast stitching and seat belts, unique dashboard wrapping, suede on the armrests and centre console, black highlights, and S210 badges.
The 2025 STI S210 – or Subaru STI S210 – is due in Japanese showrooms later this year, through a "sales method" which will be announced by the end of May.
Higher-resolution images published by multiple Japanese media outlets, including Car Watch.
