The Subaru Impreza joins the ranks of the 6-figure restomods

Precious few cars that get the 6-figure restomod treatment. It’s no coincidence that these homages celebrate the absolute icons of automotive history — the Porsche 911, Jaguar E-Type, or Ferrari Testarossa. Now the Subaru Impreza has been welcomed to the club, thanks to Prodrive, the UK race car engineering firm known for building countless rally machines.

Prodrive has built race cars for BMW, Porsche, and Aston Martin but its most renowned might still be the WRC Subarus that won three consecutive WRC titles from 1995-97. Earlier this year they announced the Prodrive P25 to mark 25 years since that victory streak. Now, they’ve outlined the extensive amount of work that will go into each car to prove exactly why it will cost £460,000 ($564,000 USD).

Each Prodrive P25 will start out as with a WRX coupe as its foundation. However, the curb weight has been dropped down to just 1,200 kg (2,645 lbs) thanks to carbon composites on all major body panels — hood, trunk, roof, sills, fenders, rear quarter panels, bumpers, wing, and mirrors.

Beneath the lightweight hood lies a 2.5-liter Subaru flat-four built with new cylinder sleeves, pistons, connecting rods, and valvetrain with variable cam timing. Combined with upgraded turbos, intercooler, airbox, as well as titanium and stainless steel exhaust, the built boxer makes over 400 horsepower and 443 lb-ft of torque.

It’s all fed through a 6-speed semi-automatic paddle-shift gearbox with helical-cut gears that is said to execute shifts in just 80 milliseconds. Add a WRC-style launch control, floor mounted pedal box. and anti-lag, and the Prodrive P25 clocks a 0-62 time of less than 3.5 seconds.

The AWD system adds an active center diff between LSDs at both front and rear.  The suspension get new aluminum struts with camber adjustment and 2-way adjustable Bilstein dampers. Front and rear wheels get 15- and 14.8-inch vented discs mated with 6- and 4-piston calipers, respectively. Prodrive 8.5 x 19 wheels in gray — not gold — wrapped with 235/35/19 Bridgestone Potenzas finish off the corners. 

While Prodrive has not yet released photos of the interior, the cabin is said to “[recreate] an authentic late 1990s Impreza interior” but with leather, alcantara and carbon door cards and trim. The P25 has lightweight race buckets in the front, while the rear can house two additional seats or a partial safety cage. The decision is up to the buyer.

Only 25 examples will be built. “The iconic blue Subarus bring back memories of an extraordinary era of the WRC and it was the Impreza 22B that brought this rally car performance to the road. By reimagining this car using the latest technologies and materials the Prodrive P25 pays homage to its roots and there will be little else able to match its performance on the open road,” explained Prodrive chariman David Richards in a release, “I therefore believe we have achieved our vision of creating our own modern interpretation of the most iconic Subaru Impreza ever.”

Iconic is right. The list of Japanese cars that have been deemed worthy of a pricey restomod is short. It includes really only the Toyota 2000GT, FJ40 Land Cruiser, and perhaps the Nissan Skyline GT-R if you can count a restomod done by an OEM. The Prodrive P25 will make its public debut at the Goodwood Festival of Speed this week.

Images: Prodrive