The four-cylinder boxer engine is sacred to Subaru. Nevertheless, the brand will partly leave that sanctuary for what it is in the future, because Subaru is also working on the switch to electric driving. One more reason to get an old, still somewhat affordable topper for this section: the Impreza 2.0 GT Turbo 555 AWD.
Sporty Imprezas have become quite expensive in recent years. For a WRX STI, the successor to the GT Turbo, you pay 20 grand. In addition, fully original copies are also very rare. After all, the Impreza was and is a popular tuning object. This will partly have to do with the fact that the Japanese was once a relative bargain: in 1998 you bought this 218 hp 2.0 GT Turbo 555 new for just over €26,000. In today’s car market you have just got a bare C-segmenter for that money.
Subaru Impreza 2.0 GT Turbo 555 AWD
In addition to the ‘555’, there was also a regular GT Turbo in the range without that number. It was slightly more expensive than the 555. The latter was there to serve as the homologation model for the rally Impreza 555 in Group A of the World Rally Championship. The 555 was funnily enough cheaper than the regular GT Turbo. A look at the brochure of the time shows that the 555 had to lack a number of things. For example, you didn’t get ABS and airbags on the 555, just like an electrically operated glass sliding/tilting roof. Those things could not be ordered optionally on the 555 either.
cool head
A spartan version of the GT Turbo, this 555. Air conditioning could also optionally be ordered and this copy also has that. It was originally delivered in the Netherlands and has had four owners since 1998. It should be noted that, according to the data from the RDW, the first owner owned it for less than a day. The ‘second owner’, which in this case could very well be the first owner, had it in his possession until 2018. After that it was owned by two other private individuals.
This 2.0 GT Turbo is well used with a mileage of over 230,000 kilometers, but the seats still look neat. The steering wheel is a bit worn, but a new layer of leather around it does not have to be extremely expensive. At first glance, the exhaust is the only non-original aspect of this GT Turbo 555. Furthermore, this copy looks good and has a relatively friendly price in today’s Subaru used market. At the time, we were already very enthusiastic about the driving characteristics of the GT Turbo 555, so who will be the next to let the four-cylinder boxer engine rumble?
– Thanks for information from Autoweek.nl