Subaru WRX STI Receives Top Safety Award

The Subaru WRX STI has once again broken the four-wheeled lap record around the famous Isle of Man TT circuit, with British rally champion Mark Higgins setting a new record of 19 minutes 26 seconds in a production version of the newly launched high-performance saloon. Higgins’s lap around the challenging 37.8-mile TT Mountain course saw him post an average speed of 116mph and a top speed of over 160mph. Higgins completed his timed run under closed road conditions as part of the TT schedule and beat his previous record, set in 2011, when he set a time of 19 minutes 56.7 seconds. That was done at the wheel of the previous-generation WRX STI, breaking a record that had stood for 21 years.

Later model Subarus have often been critised for being less than exciting, especially compared to their rivals. Obviously, enough must have been enough for the chaps at Subaru, who have spent many years on developing a totally new WRX for 2015. A wild concept and an exciting looking production car will, to a certain extent at least, sell itself. To aid their sales campaign, Subaru USA has made a commercial showcasing their 2015 WRX. The video starts with scenes of the WRX being pursued and eventually being pulled over by a cop. The driver is revealed to be Subaru USA rally driver Bucky Lamsek, who in the ad, was chasing the cop’s daughter,played by Kayslee Collins. More cutscenes with fancy shots of the Subaru sliding over some gravel is played, before the cop’s daughter in a suggestive pose sucking on a lollipop while sitting on a swing is cut in. Obviously, this being an advert, there are lines written to make the Subaru look better, and to be honest, those lines don’t quite fit in with the rest of the script. There are more shots of the girl, followed by more shots of the car sliding about in slow motion on some dirt, probably in an attempt to remind the viewer of Subaru’s rally heritage. Subaru were keen to showcase the car’s on road drivability as well, as the sideways Subaru transitioned from gravel to asphalt, before breaking out in a series of donuts.

Subaru of America, Inc. announced that the Insurance Institute of Highway Safety (IIHS) has awarded the 2014 Subaru BRZ (models manufactured after December 2013) an IIHS 2014 TOP SAFETY PICK award. The Subaru BRZ achieved a ‘good’ status in the Institute’s crashworthiness evaluations of front moderate overlap, side impact, roof crush and rear impact. The model also received an ‘acceptable’ rating in the institute’s front small overlap test. This is the first time the IIHS has rated the BRZ in the small overlap test since it was launched in 2012. With the addition to the 2014 BRZ, Subaru now has seven models that have earned 2014 safety awards from IIHS – four with TOP SAFETY PICK and three with TOP SAFETY PICK+ including its Forester, Legacy sedan and Outback models with optional EyeSight . Subaru has more 2014 IIHS Top Safety Picks than any other brand.