COBI Subaru Impreza WRX STI Set 24649

COBI's Subaru Impreza WRX STI is a 1:35 model built from 65 blocks under official Subaru licence, 12.5 cm long, with movable wheels and the STI's rear wing and wide arches reproduced. A sticker sheet is included.

The sound is an accident

Everyone who knows these cars knows the noise — an uneven, burbling rumble that no other engine makes. Most people assume it comes from the flat-four layout. It does not.

It comes from the exhaust. Subaru's headers had unequal-length pipes, because a boxer engine with cylinders on both sides makes it awkward to route them evenly in the space available. Exhaust pulses therefore arrived at the collector at uneven intervals, and that irregularity is the rumble. Fit equal-length headers and the car sounds like any other four-cylinder — which is exactly what happened when Subaru finally engineered them, and owners were not pleased.

STI stands for Subaru Tecnica International, the company's motorsport division, and the badge means the car was developed there rather than merely decorated: stronger engine internals, a driver-adjustable centre differential, and suspension set up by people who spent their working lives on gravel.

In the COBI range

Part of the 1:35 Subaru collection, with the Impreza WRC of 2003 (24650) and 2004 (24652).

Specifications

Pieces: 65 · Scale: 1:35 · Age: 7+ · Officially licensed
Model dimensions: 12.5 × 6.2 × 4.3 cm (4.9 × 2.4 × 1.7 in)