The S209 follows in the footsteps of other limited-edition, S-badged STIs. We can’t wait to test this one on American soil.
Subaru
We definitely knew this was coming.
First, Subaru applied to trademark “S209” in the US. Then the company released a teaser video of a hotter WRX STI sedan testing, saying we’ll see the production version at the 2019 Detroit Auto Show in January. Now, the cat’s officially out of the bag: Subaru confirms its Detroit-bound STI is, in fact, a limited-edition S209. But we still have a couple of questions.
For starters, what’ll be under the hood? As Andrew Krok smartly pointed out last week, Subaru’s most recent special STI — the not-for-US S208 — used a 2.0-liter, turbocharged H4 engine. The current, US-spec STI, meanwhile, uses a 2.5-liter H4 engine. Our money’s on the 2.5 for the US-spec S209, tuned somewhere north of the 310 horsepower and 290 pound-feet of torque it makes in the STI Type RA.
Regardless of engine, expect the S209 to get a number of tasty performance upgrades. The S208 came with a faster steering rack, new front strut tower brace, Bilstein dampers and model-specific, 19-inch wheels, among other niceties.
We also don’t know just how limited this limited-edition model will be. The Type RA, for example, is limited to just 500 examples in the US. It’d make sense for the S209 to be less than that. Maybe, oh, 209?
We’ll know all this and more when the S209 officially debuts in January.