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| Photos by Ulysses Ang |
Rally-derived sports sedans such as the
Subaru WRX STI certainly appeals to a lot of buyers. After all, what’s not to
like about its bodacious good looks, powerful turbocharged engine and
all-weather security courtesy of an advanced all-wheel drive. However, even if
you can afford one, since it’s only available with a manual transmission, it
takes a select few—the purist—to truly appreciate a beast such as this. Fortunately
for the rest of the populace, thanks to the increasing trend towards automated
gearboxes on high-performance machines, Subaru is now offering an automatic
transmission option on its WRX STI for the very first time and it’s called the
WRX STI A-Line.
From the outside, there’s absolutely no way
to distinguish between the manual and automatic transmission variants of the
WRX STI. Both the self- and automated-shifting models carry its rally-bred
heritage on its shoulder with the wide body design, copious amount of air
vents, high-luster alloy wheels and of course, a large rear wing. Thus, Motor
Image Pilipinas, the distributor of Subaru automobiles in the country, has
taken upon themselves to offer one big differentiating factor: the six-speed
manual is only available as a sedan while the automatic is exclusively a
five-door hatchback.
