Subaru WRX STI: now £6k cheaper

Subaru has just announced a rather significant price cut on its WRX STI saloon. The car formerly known as the Impreza now costs [drum roll]... £26,995. That's six grand cheaper than before. Six grand.

And the company has also announced a power upgrade available immediately that ups power to 335bhp and 361lb ft of torque for an extra £1,599 - dubbed the ‘340R' - which you can choose alongside the ‘320R' (316bhp) announced last year.

The ‘standard' WRX STI, if there is such a thing, has a 2.5-litre ‘boxer' engine producing just under 300bhp and 300lb ft of torque, and as such, will accelerate - using all of its four wheels - from 0-62mph in 5.2 seconds. It's also rather good once you've stopped timing yourself and find a decent B-road, proving itself to be a most impressive tool.

The 340R upgrade drops that 0-62mph by half a second to 4.7s, which is BMW M3-baiting territory. Quick, then.

Of course, the interior remains the same, as do the looks, sadly. But if you're looking at bang-for-yer-buck, surely this hovers near the top of the list? Think of it another way - it's exactly the same price as an Astra VXR, or a smidgen cheaper than a 1.6-litre 4WD Nissan Qashqai+2.

GT 86 vs Astra VXR vs Focus ST vs Suzuki Swift Sport