The Subaru BRZ STI Sport Is A Delicious-Looking Piece Of JDM Forbidden Fruit

What we have here is forbidden fruit - squared. It’s the Subaru BRZ STI Sport, which is for the Japanese Domestic Market only, and based on the standard BRZ, a car not sold in Europe. Double denial.

That said, it’s not quite as exclusive as it might appear - it’s best thought of as Japan’s version of the BRZ tS that was rolled out in North America earlier this year, sporting similar tweaks as that car.

That means new 18-inch black wheels, under which you’ll find bigger Brembo brakes featuring natty (optional) gold-finished callipers squeezing ventilated discs. Also on the chassis front, there are frequency-selective dampers which according to Subaru give “both a comfortable ride and agile, sporty driving”. The overall suspension gets an STI-specific tune.

Inside, there’s burgundy and black ‘Ultrasuade’ (which is a bit like Alcantara) trim, leather seats, dark metal decorative bits for the shifter surround and heater controls, and a new engine start button with an STI logo.

On the outside, the mirrors and the antenna are now black, and - of course - there are STI badges front and rear. The finishing touch on the front light cluster, whose BRZ logo is now red. 

Otherwise, it’s all as per the standard BRZ, which means a 2.4-litre, naturally aspirated boxer-four powering the rear wheels. The overall structure is much the same as the old BRZ and the closely related Toyota GR86, but there are new body panels front and rear to distance the new car from the old.

In the same press release, Subaru notes that all manual gearbox-equipped BRZs now get the latest version of EyeSight, Subaru’s driver assistance system, which includes a collision avoidance system. Meanwhile, the coupe now has a tweaked Vehicle Dynamics Control system, and the entry-level R grade now has a new tyre pattern. 

The STI Sport is limited to 350 units, and costs 3,817,000 yen, which is around £21,000, and about £1,500 more than a BRZ S.