Someone just bought a 1998 Subaru Impreza 22B STi on Bring on Trailer for $312,555. Despite the mind-boggling amount spent on this car, this auction isn’t even close to being one of the most expensive cars sold on the selling platform.
The vaunted Subaru Impreza 22B STi is one of the most desirable recent-model cars around, and there weren’t many made. This special edition of the WRX STi was built to commemorate Subaru’s third consecutive manufacturer title in the FIA World Rally Championship and the marque’s 40 years on this planet. It comes with a turbocharged 2.2-liter EJ22 engine and an awesome widebody.
A rally car for the road, its official engine rating was 280 horsepower and 268 lb-ft torque, but remember that just about every sportscar in Japan made that amount of power on paper. This is a car that raced from 0 to 60 mph in only 3.9 seconds.
Only 424 examples were ever built, with 24 being exported.
It’s no surprise then that these cars sell for ever-increasing prices. Recent results show these cars bringing astonishing amounts, from about $100,000 to nearly $400,000. One of the latest 22Bs to be auctioned just went for $312,555 on Bring a Trailer, and it has the distinction of being one of the few examples of this model in the U.S.
The 1998 Subaru Impreza 22B STi here is 156 of the 400 sold in Japan. Yes, it’s younger than 25 years old, but it made it into the U.S. legally through NHTSA’s Show or Display exemption. The buyer gets those documents as well as the car’s Japanese service records and a clean Montana title in the name of the seller’s company. Of course this car was registered in Montana under someone’s LLC.
The buyer of such an expensive vehicle does get a little luxury to show for it. The seriously fast coupe comes equipped with a leather-wrapped steering wheel with red stitching, automatic climate control, a leather shift knob, Recaro seats and power windows.
The seller drove it only 100 miles of the 24,855 miles on the odometer. That said, due to the car’s Show or Display status, it can be driven a maximum of 2,500 miles anyway.
Bring a Trailer has sold a number of million-dollar cars, with its most expensive as of December 2020 being a 1957 BMW 507 Series II that went for close to $2 million.