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Words whispered amongst friends at SEMA was that the long-dominant Honda/Acura lines were losing their strong hold on the performance compact segment of the SEMA scene. With years of normally aspirated Civics and RSX/Integras rolling out of their corresponding dealerships, mirrored by years of strong turbocharged AWD models coming from the likes of Subaru and Mitsubishi, the new cars to own in the compact segment seem clearly to be the rally-bred WRX and Evo.

As if things hadn’t already gotten pretty good for North American Impreza owners in the way of parts availability, it appears that with greater numbers, things can only get better. Companies catering to Subaru seem more plentiful than ever, and we’re finally starting to see a serious effort to cater to owners of “other” Subarus.

With Subaru’s newfound strategy of a generous helping of turbos across the line, cars like Legacies and Foresters are finally being discovered for the tuning potential we always knew they had and were showing up, not as oddballs, but in numbers – within booths and exhibited in the flashy curb-front show area.

Subaru themselves have become a staple at the SEMA show. Within their sizable stand, Subaru of America displayed their ever-growing range of dealer-offered accessories and performance parts. They also displayed several show cars, exhibiting the potential of their newly developing line.

The Forester XT, with its 2.5-liter turbocharged mill – basically a detuned WRX STi motor – is an incredibly utilitarian performance car. As such, the one on hand was the very same that had achieved Class Winner of the 2004 Alcan Winter Rally – a 4,700 mile race that spans from Seattle to Anchorage, Alaska.

The new Legacy GT, also with the new 2.5-liter turbocharged 4-cylinder, was an important addition to the Subaru booth. This particular car had been modified by Bosal and also made generous use of STi parts sourced through Subaru of America’s own accessories group.

A red WRX by Subaru Performance Tuning (SPT), Subaru of America’s own accessories group, featured over 30 parts and accessories available to North American customers for their own WRXs.

Like last year, Easy Street Performance was prominent in the Subaru booth. This year, they displayed a red ESX740 “Street” WRX, boasting a jaw-dropping 950 claimed horsepower. If that’s too much for daily use, they also showed off a 500-hp version of the Baja Turbo, which seriously gives a whole new meaning to the word “hauler”.

News around the Baja was that Subaru is working with a company called Duracon, also present at the show, to develop a hard cover for the Baja’s bed.

Near the “Street” WRX was Easy Street and Subaru’s new Pro class WRX drag car. Norwood Autocraft helped build this car, with full tube chassis, carbon fiber components, slicks, alcohol-burning engine and – as with any other Subaru – All Wheel Drive. It’ll be interesting to see how the car compares on the circuit next season.

More cool stuff could be found outside the Subaru booth as well with little effort. Japanese suspension manufacturer TEIN showed off many of its applications of hardware within their booth, including the Control Master Type Flex coilover suspension systems and optional Electronic Damping Force Controller (EDFC) that allows the driver to control the damping force with the touch of a button on the dash-mounted control box. TEIN currently offers these kits for the multiple years of production of most Impreza models. (http://www.tein.com).


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