Johannesburg - Just weeks after the South African release of the fourth-generation Subaru WRX, comes its seriously attitudinous bad-boy sibling, the WRX STI, due to land here in July 2014.
First shown at the 2014 Detroit motor show in January, the new STI's prime mover is the proven 2.5-litre EJ25 turboboxer four, now tuned for 221kW at 6000rpm and a muscular 407Nm at 4000.
All the good stuff is there: Symmetrical all-wheel drive, a multi-mode, driver-controlled centre differential - plus, for the first time on an STI model, active torque vectoring, to minimise understeer.
Then there's the wide body kit, the notorious rear wing and signature bonnet scoop, without which this would not be a real STI.
WHAT YOU SEE IS WHAT YOU GET
The 2014 Subaru WRX STI is available in one derivative only, with six-speed manual gearbox and all the standard kit and safety features of its (slightly) saner sister.
Only 30 of the new STI's will be available in South Africa for 2014, at exactly the same price as the outgoing model - R599 000 - and some of them are already sold, so Subaru SA is expecting them to sell out relatively quickly.
The new Subaru WRX STI will come standard with a three-year or 100 000km warranty and a three-year or 75 000km maintenance plan, which can be optionally extended at purchase.