Winging It: The Latest Hopped-Up Subaru WRX Is Still No STI
With its towering wing, the Subaru WRX tS Spec B looks like an STI, but it isn’t. Here’s what it actually is.
Yes, that’s a massive wing towering over the rear of a Subaru WRX. No, it’s not an STI. Subaru is still on its sub-STI kick of putting out models with special kit but no extra power, and affixing a “tS” badge onto it—and while that’s all well and good, the lack of a true STI (and the whelming performance of the WRX itself) make the omission all the more glaring. This Subaru WRX tS Spec B, which is what it will be called in Australia, is set to go on sale later in 2025. And while not all the details have been revealed yet, it will have a little more than simply a big-ass wing on it.
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There’s already a WRX tS available in Australia, and in a twist that might be incomprehensible to American onlookers, it is only available with a CVT. (There’s also a WRX Sportwagon, of which all variants are CVT-only, including the tS, but that’s another story.) So while the big wing catches the eye, it’s the manual transmission—a detail on its own that doesn’t seem terribly remarkable for a WRX—that is going to be the big draw for Australian WRX enthusiasts.
Odds are also in favor of the Spec B getting adaptive dampers, which is something not otherwise offered on manual-equipped WRXs, being reserved for the tS models. Therefore, think of the tS Spec B as being the only way to get all of the equipment that you’d really want on an Australian WRX, all in one model.
Nineteen-inch wheels, “unique” Brembo brakes, and Recaro front seats round out the equipment list (so far). Think of it a bit like the upcoming 2025 Subaru WRX tS that we get, which combines the Electronic Adjustable Ride Control of the top-line GT trim with 19-inch wheels, giving it arguably superior hardware to the non-adjustable suspension found on the WRX TR (which will be replaced by the tS)—a way to get all of the best, most performance-oriented equipment without having to select a slushbox. (Or, rather, a stepless-pulley-and-metal-chain-box…?)
Still, it ain’t an STI, and an STI ain’t coming—to Australia, or here, it seems, for the near future. Subaru still maintains that it can’t get an STI engine to meet emissions, and it won’t even try, at least for this generation. Subaru left the door open to electrification in the future, and with EV interest flagging and hybrid interest growing, that might be the way of future STIs. For now, the tS Spec B—like our upcoming WRX tS—will be the one to get.
Like a lot of the other staffers here, Alex Kierstein took the hard way to get to car writing. Although he always loved cars, he wasn’t sure a career in automotive media could possibly pan out. So, after an undergraduate degree in English at the University of Washington, he headed to law school. To be clear, it sucked. After a lot of false starts, and with little else to lose, he got a job at Turn 10 Studios supporting the Forza 4 and Forza Horizon 1 launches. The friendships made there led to a job at a major automotive publication in Michigan, and after a few years to MotorTrend. He lives in the Seattle area with a small but scruffy fleet of great vehicles, including a V-8 4Runner and a C5 Corvette, and he also dabbles in scruffy vintage watches and film cameras.
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