Subaru Impreza 22B - My Unbiased Review of An Appreciating Rally Legend 

The 22B was an absolute dream of mine, unfortunately silly prices will always make it just a dream. I’d happily take a P1 or RB5 instead though.

I was born 1999 so just missed the hype this car brought. Growing up, the rally icons for me was your hawkeyes and evo 7 8 9's etc. Likely speaking of the fast and furious era, rather than the peak wrc/group a/b etc. but I was always more drawn to the rwd applications such as your supra's, rx7s etc. so got myself a toyota chaser, but can certainly appreciate the history of a car like this

As an owner of three classic cars and one retro, I can say hand on heart, prices have gone beyond the point of stupidity, and verging on the insane. I'll never sell my cars so their value is the last thing I care about, but 250K for an Impreza? Err, no, just no.

Spot on. 22B are the best Subaru but the Evo TIME will always be the better drivers car.

It's the most commonly known yet rarest model. It's as close as you can get to Mc Rae. It's the car from Sega Rally or the Playstation games of the 90s. Even In Japan they're worth a mint. Go and watch 'the best of McRae' and then tell me which other rally car apart from group B sends it any harder than the late 90s Scotish legend. Hope you're right and prices fall, I'd love one!

As honest as always. Great viewing.

A weird thing about those STIs is the rev limiter at 8K where their best ends even before 7K rpms. No point to draw the motor so much higher when the torque/power range is between 3K-6,5K. Other than that, the understeery chassis of that gen was the only handling con that if you pushed on it was vanished by the diff setup when gas pedal was pushed hard. A great car of its epoch though.

I’m 50/50 when it comes to the Subaru, I just think it’s a bit cringe and maybe a slight bit chavy, when I think of Subaru I think spoiler, loud exhaust, bonnet scoop and a driver that thinks he’s faster than everyone, but it was a fast car back in the day and it’s performance isn’t bad at all

As a Subey owner this is tremendous! Loved the opening sounds :)

Well I do agree, I had one when nearly new for over 3 years and would buy one again when prices come down under £100k I think a ok one should be around £70-£80k 😊

200k quid is huuuge but totally understandable. It's a pure classic.

One of my mate's son and his friends are big fanboys of the Subaru, they all have a tuned one and could confirm these cars are becoming classics increasing in value.

Waiting for RB5 and P1!

Fair comments. My wallet would have appreciated the gearing of my '95 STi being set so that @~70mph the turbo hadn't already kicked in when in 5th. And it did drone. And it was amazing.

Subaru's finest hour, I must say!

A Doug's score, LMFAO.

The only thing I’m not happy with this car is the price

some folks just dont get it...and he is one

difference between this & the impreza type r? I hope you can find an NA2 NSX to test.

I have been able to sit in one these and they def are not near anywhere in region of 250k lol. They are the pinnacle of impreza likely and def up there with the rest of the era's rally based road cars from various manufacturers, but never been a huge fan. The sounds despite being iconic are a bit annoying lol wonder if the insurance for this.. 250k car are aware of the tinted A-B pillar windows haha. I wouldn't be driving something so valuable with voided insurance O. O

So..now youve done both the fabled japanese Rally icons...Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 6 Tommi Makinen Edition, And this Subaru Impreza 22B?what do you think ? :) .Im a bit amazed you didnt even mention the Lancer in this video,as these two cars are " the ones".,but you managed to mention " Skylines " in the same sentence....;) .I love em both personally....i own a Evo 6 Tommi Makinen Edition,which i feature on my channel. I think the " values" on these cars is just unrealistic in terms of " what you get".I love my TME,as it drives like nothing else.Soo..It Would be cool to hear your opinion on how these two icons compare?And pricing also...it is kinda strange that the 22B is soo much more "expensive" than the TME, I mean..the 22B is actually a " copy" of the rally car...wheras the TME is WHAT the rally car was :) aka ...the TME is somewhat more special i think.Eitherway, Thank you so much for lovely video, Greetings from Norway ,Stefan :)

250k ? I'd buy three Delta Integrale instead lol

Great car but crazy price.

As a WRX driver, I love the 2 door 22B, but these prices are clearly a form of tulip mania.

Evo6 TME, 22B, R34 GT-R ... The golden age

200 - 250k pounds for an old subaru really makes the classic car market seem like a huge ponzi scheme. buy a hyped up old car - find someone who will pay you more for it than you did - let the cycle continue

It’s not worth £250k to real petrol heads, don’t get me wrong this is the holy grail of Scoobys and I’d love one (I currently own a spec’d up Foz STI) but unfortunately this has turned into a rich kids investment toy, u could get a version 6 STI coupe with a remap that would get u a very similar drive but unfortunately these r now also turning into collectors cars and r fetching big bucks 😡

This is my all time favourite car and I was hoping so much to get an opinion from you, thanks James for all the amazing content you bring to this channel.

A vehicle like that is worth precisely the amount of nostalgia in the bidding room, multiplied by the amount of drinks served and squared for each rich drunkard in said room.

Such a great car. I was offered one in 2001 for around 25 grand maybe I should have bought it?! But I didn’t and bought a 360 CS and an ex works 306 maxi years later which are just as much fun. Are they the best Subaru probably not but they look so good and echo the wrc car of the day. 👍

Talking about value and the 22B: I feel like the ever increasing value of the 22B also had a massive impact on Impreza WRX/STi values in general. It's difficult to find any sort of decent used performance Impreza for less than 15.000 euros where I live. People are starting to look at the less desirable variants because the market gets thinned out and prices rise to a point only a few people can actually afford.

Great Video James, the Subaru 22b is a very special car with sale prices achieved above 300k. But being an enthusiast and driver its such a shame they are now out of reach for most. Anyone who has sold a car for 23k and then has to pay 5 times to get one back will know the mental pain. For me in my era it was king of the road, I sold my TME Mitsubishi as it did quite live up to my expectations but I love the looks of the Tommi Mak. I do love driving the 22b for the memory’s past and it was the car I always wanted. Having owned Mcrae series - 2000 - Terzo - RB5 - P1 the RB5 was one of favourites. Thanks for a great video 👏

I was lucky enough to own a 1996 Impreza STI version 3 grey import (this version was rumoured to have 300bhp from the factory) some 9 years ago for which I paid the bargain price of £5500 and boy did I love the thing.. There was lag below 3000rpm but once the turbo started whistling you knew it was only moments before that massive sudden surge lit up your senses in any gear.. 50 to 70 in just 2.5 seconds in third gear would truly amaze any passenger I had in it. My girlfriend at the time loved the car so much that she married me to gain access to it herself on a regular basis. Seriously!. It averaged 16 miles to the gallon though and would understeer if you were not committed and mine had lowered bilstein suspension which made the ride quite stiff and the car snappy in the wet and I only got insured on it because I was a personal friend of the manager of a local branch of a national insurance company but all that was all part of the fun!. I DREAMED of owning a 22B though.

That is what I call an absolute champion car.great work jay

Still waiting for your Dougscore🤨😂

£250k? You must be joking. Lots of people hammer their cars from cold, you can't do that with any ICE car. You do that the engine will be fucked.

Surely it can't be a coincidence that 22B is hexadecimal for 555. Failing that, 2.2 Boxer would be more logical than 2.2 Bilstein. But what do I know 😂

Who the hell is Colin Mig-ray?

The price makes 0 sense. 22B is the HEXADECIMAL of 555 the TOBACCO brand that sponsored Subaru back then. They were responsable for the livery

I remember driving my then-new, 1998 STI version 5 and feeling like I had been granted immortality - I just couldn’t get into trouble with it. I lived near a truly massive shopping centre + retail park, complete with large roundabouts and even a huge section of dual carriageway. In the very early hours of the morning it was truly deserted and I would have some real fun. Oh to be young and stupid again…

My Hawkeye STi Spec C type RA is even rarer than this. Wonder if it will ever appreciate in a similar manner.

I chuckled at “Doug score”, but you missed out “quirks & features”. 😊

I always thought 22B meant “2.2 boxer”…why would they mention the suspension in the name?

2:22 ''and then, we're going to give it a Doug score.'' Jay, you had one job Jay.

Do love these sorts of special cars but with the massive economic crash we are looking at i think all these will drop in price quite a bit, i think that is why so many special cars are going up for auction these days before the prices crash back down.

This, just like many others, is not a car anymore. It's merely an appreciating asset that just happens to be a moderately fun mean of trasportation. As you mentioned, a low production number and a legendary status can do miracles for the asking price of such thing. And us plebeians can just sit here and watch it happen in front of our eyes...

Hunans are funny. No car is worth this money.

Nah all respect to Colin McRae but give me an EVO VI instead - much better Road car than the Impreza.

Lovely car, one of the poster child cars for the Gran Tourismo generation! I love this shape anyway, but the 22b is definitely "peak Impreza" in my eyes.

That price is plain crazy, it's a Scooby FFS, if it were Colin's actual car, fair enough, but it's not.

9:08 "The song of the yob" 😅 very good.

For alot more sane money I would just import a WRX type R and try and get a wrc body kit. Save yourself a bucket load.

A guy who owned a butchers near me owned one of these a few years ago. Absolutely awesome car. I got talking to him once about it he said he sold his escort cosworth after buying the 22B as he just didn’t want to drive it anymore with the 22B in the garage. It stood out a mile in the car park too, to the point where my 50 year old mother pointed it out one day and said “that Impreza looks like it’s been sent to the gym,it’s got muscles” 🤣🤣

Prices for cars are ridiculous, as my fortunes have improved, vehicle prices have grown even more, so the once upon a time dream of owning something like this or an Evo VI Makinnen or even an RX7 type RS remain out of reach, even the P1 is hard to justify! There are clearly people out there that want them desperately enough to drive the prices up to these levels otherwise we wouldn't be in this situation but I suspect if I was a wealthy person I would have to have a serious think about it first even with a disposable income and that makes me sad.

Love the Doug demero reference! May as well have started the video with THHHHHHISS

Fantastic looking car

I seem to remember that Peter Stevens of Mclaren F1 fame was responsible for the 22B styling. The rear wing on the 22B was actually bigger than the one on the WRC car. The one thing that has always baffled me about the 22B was the choice of engine, why was it a 2.2 when the WRC limits capacity to 2.0?

Song of The Asbo! Great Post. Luvvit - That's the closest I am ever gunna get to one... But am waiting for my GR Yaris (Sept/Oct time) so all is not lost!

I used to have a JDM version of these. My understanding is that the 22B name came from the fact that in a hexadecimal base the decimal number 555 is 22B

Awesome car but not for 150k$ when you can import or buy bug blob hawk eyes for a fraction of the price or just buy a evo ;]

and everybody thought they were way overpriced @ 40k in 99

So what's the Doug score?

I had the opportunity to buy one of these for $17kNZD about 15 years ago. Unfortunately I couldn’t afford it at the time!

22B is hexadecimal for 555 which was the main sponsor of the championship winning rally car

"Then we're going to give it a Doug Score! Wait, no..." Thanks for that. I needed a good laugh this morning!

I have always thought of them as extremely ugly and wouldn't pay £5k for one, especially with such a boy racer spoiler. That's the great thing about cars, the fact prices are high mean other people covet them and my opinion doesn't really matter but totally not for me. Other than not wanting to be seen in one and I wouldn't enjoy driving it either, too focused for me. I am nearly 60 and I suspect that my time to enjoy this kind of thing had gone before it came out and I think I would look a bit ridiculous driving one in the same way as if I had a 25 year old girlfriend. I wouldn't be interested in something to put in a garage and not use either even as an investment. Interesting video nonetheless.

Five Doug's out of five!

Quater of a Million will get you a genuine rally Subaru WRC car!

I see 22B, I click. That and for the noise!!!

The Dream Scooby, absolutely destroyed everything when Hot Version tested it, and there's a video in thr depths of youtube of a Standard 22B absolutely wrecking a GTR(35) on a Tougue run. I was on my way to finally buying a Scoob, likely only a T2k or WRX which are nothing on an STI but ill health put me out of work and well its gonna take some catching up when I finally get back earning. IF I can keep a car running on these fuel prices. Great review Jay as always :)

The problem with this car is you're going to have to be that guy who constantly tells people how special it is, how rare it is, how much it's worth to stop it being mistaken for some beat up, cheap old Impreza you see everywhere. And nobody wants to be that guy

The 22B is an absolutely amazing classic. I love Subaru's (as you can see from my channel!!) and the 22B is a dream 🔥👌

I've driven a 22b and own a V5 Tyre R limited and its very true you cannot tell the difference in the driving experience. If you bought one 10 years ago its quids in, but buying one now then I think it's definitely reached the top and not an investment. I think the American Market will put them up slightly more but nothing like the first boom in prices. My advice would be to go get a P1 or preferably a fresh imported type R. Save a ton of cash for the same driving experience and that awesome burble.

22B = 2.2L Boxer engine. I'm thinking.

its not a impretza its an impreza!!!

Still think the version v type R was just as good at the time. And now cheaper

Ahahah the doug score... no no you are better than him. Greatings from italy.

I bet that jacket is rarer than the Subaru impreza 😉

Subtle dig on Daddy Doug, I see.

We definitely need an ASMR clip consisting of drive-by's. Can't beat old school.

Amazing car. No chance this is worth 250k. I have STI V3 in black mica, 60K miles. Is of course not as good as 22b but 22b is not a 10x better car

I'm sorry. This car is NOT 250K worth of car. Is it cool? Yes. Do I love it? Absolutely. BUT 250,000?????????????

Colins name is McRae with a C not Grae

The ONE AND ONLY 22B. My all time favourite Subaru Impreza. It got me into watching and visiting rallying around the UK. RIP Burns and McRae.

This is my dream car which I will never be able to afford... however I found a base model coupe (same chassis as 22b without widebody) with a blown engine for $900, got a smashed up bugeye WRX and swapped everything over in about a year. Now I'm rocking a poor man's wanna-be-22b for about $8k total investment :)

Awesome rare car. But as other people have said, you can get 95% of the experience for a tenth of the price. Its an investment only now. Just like a crap painting by Picasso, all be it the Subaru is easier on the eyes!

I have a very rare car i think you would love to drive, will be contacting you soon after i get it properly detailed and looking factory fresh

I don't think buyers of a 22B are buying them for any other reason than they think they're cool AF. If they make a profit and it's capital gains tax free, then bingo. But I suspect most of them just want one.

Love those cars. But, £200k+? No. How times have changed? I remember Alistair McRae driving my friend's 288 GTO round Donnington, and him being a bit scared he was going to prang it! He said, "Do you know how much this car is worth?" It was £250k at the time....!

A 22b here in New Zealand fetches $600,000 nzd. (About $312,000 pounds) I sold my v5 sti 6 years ago for $6500 nzd which now go for around $60,000 nzd. A Subaru ST201 is now a $120,000 car. Don’t get me started on EVO’s lol

It's got the small 4 pots and a 5 speed. The engine is rare, ok, CD 2.2, but nothing spectacular. Take ANY impreza, either GC or GD, drop 20k in it and will just blow this one from a drive perspective. Or just a stock 2006-2007 sti. The price on these is for the rarity only.

Spec C Type RA-R is a much better car. Had many Subarus, and I build Group A Replica rally cars nowadays. I had a 22B in 05/06 sold it because I wasn't that impressed with it compared to the Spec C's, but I paid £17K for it and sold it for around the same money a few months later... If only I had kept it locked away until now lol

Thanks! You should review an 92 Saab 900 turbo

If it wasn`t for government regulation we could have produced brand new attractive classic`s in 2022. As usual the government is the problem. imagine a brand new 2jz toyota supra, r34 gtr, 1970 chevelle, nissian silvia s15, elise s1 and so on. One more reason for the stupid high prices the popular cars now command is that newer stuff, just cant compare. too much computers, most of them ar ugly for safety reasons and fuel economy and they are heavy.

John 3:16 [16]For God so greatly loved and dearly prized the world that He [even] gave up His only begotten (unique) Son, so that whoever believes in (trusts in, clings to, relies on) Him shall not perish (come to destruction, be lost) but have eternal (everlasting) life.

22B isn’t the best, it’s special, it’s the collectors car, its gorgeous with her hips… BUT the best Impreza is a JDM SPEC C TYPE RA-R, that’s the drivers car.

I’d honestly say £60k for a low mileage concours condition example would be quite reasonable. I love the 22B. But no way it’s a 6 figure car. That’s just my opinion though.

It's speculation, it's consumerism,, it's Rolex. it's people buying cheap and garaging until the sunny day. Don't be fooled.

Usually I like your criticism videos but I think you missed the boat on this one. This car is not just an old Subaru WRX with some fresh paint. You're focused too much on the car looking like the original 22B. There's a lot that changes under that blue paint. And the reason you're hearing different prices, specs, etc. is because you can customize how this car is built to the exact way you want. You can have a car that's good on the road... all the way to one that's pretty much track-only So yeah... I like your other videos but you missed big time on this one.

An interesting review James and a similar conclusion…this has never been a car that ever inspired me at all….too many angry young men roaring about in them and none I wanted to be linked with..?.except for the genuine rally drivers of course. At £200,000…..no sale here.🙃🙃😐