Depending on when you were born, some models have a special kind of halo around them. Those who are in their late 40's, early 50's will always jump in their seats at the sight of a Lancia Stratos, for example.
The younger ones are probably still in love with another Lancia, the Delta Integrale, while those whose most impressionable years happened during the 90's know that the best car in the world has blue paint and gold wheels.
That's right, if you were a kid when Colin McRae drove his Subaru Impreza on the special stages of the World Rally Championship, then you knew very well what car you wanted to drive when you grew up. It would be a Subaru Impreza WRX STI, the closest you could get to the performances of the rally car while still being able to drive on public roads.
That is, of course, unless you were a fan of the Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution. The two Japanese sedans were the Apple vs. Android war at that time, with both sides being quite passionate about their favorite. While both were magnificent vehicles, the Subaru always had the edge in the end, probably due to the more soulful character of the car.
These days, the Subaru WRX STi has lost a large part of what made it so great - enough so, in fact, that a duel with a Volkswagen doesn't seem so out of place. Granted, it's not just any Volkswagen, but a Golf R with a 2.0-liter four-cylinder engine doing 300 hp and a six-speed dual-clutch automatic transmission pushing that power to all four wheels.
Those specs are dangerously similar to those of the Subaru. Could the German hatchback actually be as fast as the WRX STi? Well, with 309 hp obtained from its 2.5-liter four-cylinder boxer engine and a six-speed manual working together with the Symmetrical All-Wheel-Drive system, it couldn't get any closer.
Except it doesn't. The Golf is a lot faster that the Japanese sedan, even though there's only a 0.3 seconds difference for the 0-60 mph sprint on paper. That's probably down to the two gearboxes and the nearly 100 extra kilograms the Subaru has over the Golf.
The Volkswagen also has something else going for it: interior design and build quality. You can say a lot about the Golf - and most of them may not be flattering - but the quintessential hatchback has a nearly premium feel to its interior, something that really can't be said about the Subaru.
The Golf may not be overly exciting but, in most cases, neither is the partner you chose to spend the rest of your life with, and yet there you are, happily married and with two kids. And you know what? After a while, you realize that excitement might be a little overrated and other things are what the ones that count the most.
"Boy meets car, boy loves car, boy gets journalism degree and starts job writing and editing at a car magazine" - 5/5. (Vlad Mitrache if he was a movie) Full profile
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