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Alright, time to go on the record and say that I almost like the looks of this new Impreza STi.
I said 'almost'. And part of the reason I almost like the look of it is because I've driven it.
Even ten minutes behind the wheel of this car will have you feeling that the looks don't matter too much - it's got wider, flared arches than the standard car, so it's probably better as a result. Put it this way: the fuel filler cap is convex rather than concave.
Besides, we're all used to ugly Subaru Imprezas, ever since the goggle-eyed squinter that was the second generation car shocked the hell out of us six years ago.
Subaru has been trounced in the WRC recently, partly because the saloon-shape current car has too much front and rear overhang. Note that the winning Citroens and Fords are all compact hatches. Subaru has.
The new five-door hatch has a longer wheelbase than the outgoing saloon - important for rallying - and is also shorter overall. So it has more of a wheel-at-each corner stance. That helps the road car, too. You can feel that it holds its line slightly better than before, and turns in a little bit more positively.
The engine I sampled in Japan was the Japanese-spec 2.0-litre, which develops 304bhp and 311lb ft of torque, driving through a six-speed manual gearbox with a shorter throw than before. It's a great gearchange, meaty and positive, and the engine is even better.
It sounds both quieter and more, er, 'zimmy', for lack of a better word, than the growly, deep-voiced STis I remember. It's not unpleasant, and a good deal of the change is down to better engine isolation and more sound deadening, but it takes you aback slightly at first. It's still undoubtedly a Scoob boxer in its voice, but less so. We're told the 2.5 we get - which makes about the same power and torque - will sound gruntier.
It revs cleanly and quickly to 8000rpm and it goes very, very hard, like every STi should. We took it round the track at Fuji Speedway, which gave us plenty of chance to sample the new tech, all of which add great chunks of desirability to the new machine.
Tech part one: the centre diff. Using switches on the centre console you can set it to auto, auto plus, auto minus and manual. Auto is the standard setting, with 59 per cent of drive sent rearward and the diff set neutrally. Auto plus tightens the diff for more traction in slippery conditions. Auto minus loosens the rear diff for when you're facing a challenging, twisty road with plenty of grip and want more turn-in and a smidge more adjustability at the back.
Then there's manual: you can adjust the percentage of rear bias to suit your mood, over six steps, the most extreme throwing 70 per cent of drive to the rear. Cool.
The other big news is called SI-Drive. This alters the engine and throttle mapping to three settings. 'I' is basically 'City' mode.
What it does is loosen-off the throttle pedal sensitivity for town driving - it also alters the way the boost comes in, bringing it to full torque more gently. This is a superb feature, which makes a mewling baby out of the car for normal commuting, where the old car was a bit of an animal.
Two other settings, Sport and Sport Sharp, give you more throttle response and more immediate boost, with 'Sharp' the setting of choice for track work.
Get the picture? The car's a proper technical tour de force. But the tech stuff actually works. It's a better STi than before, and that makes it one of the world's great performance cars, end of story.
