Subaru’s been known to roll out special editions of
its WRX from time to time. Some never make it out of the Japanese Domestic
Market, but others do. This one is limited exclusively to Canada – and it’s the
first such special edition to be offered for our neighbors to the north in over
15 years.
It’s called the Raiu edition, drawing its handle not
from the Street Fighter character, but from the Japanese word for
“thunderstorm”. It’s based on the WRX sedan (in non-STI guise), and upgrades
basically include trim enhancements.
For starters, it comes exclusively in Cool Grey
Khaki, offset by blacked-out door mirrors, shark-fin antenna, and badging. It
also gets a smattering of STI components, including ground-effect aero pieces
all around and a short-throw shifter.
Based on the Sport-Tech RS trim means it packs
Recaro buckets, ultrasuede upholstery, Jurid front brake pads, red-painted
calipers, and a seven-inch infotainment screen and nine-speaker Harman Kardon
audio system. All of which paints an overall picture rather similar to the
Series.Gray edition announced for the US market a few months ago. The 2.0-liter turbocharged boxer
four’s output remains unchanged at 268 hp and 350
Nm of torque, driving all four wheels through a six-speed manual transmission.
Only 100 examples will be offered through Subaru
Canada’s 93 dealers. Each carries a price tag of CAD 40,995, or CAD 43,020.50
delivered, which works out to little over US$ 31/33k in
American greenbacks. That may seem like a steep premium over the CAD 29,995 (CAD)
sticker price on a base WRX in Canada, but works out to just CAD 2k more than the
WRX Sport-Tech RS on which it’s based.
