22B · Japan · 1998
The 22B deserves more than “a rally car for the road.”
The wide arches make the connection obvious. STI’s own specification gives the road-going 22B a more precise identity—and a useful lesson in how limited-edition numbers get blurred.
Start with the actual road car
STI’s heritage entry identifies the 1998 Impreza 22B STI version as a two-door road model. Its rally association is part of its appeal, but a road-car specification is not a competition-car build sheet. The name should not collapse those two histories.
The number under the bonnet
The Japanese factory specification lists a 2,212 cc engine, 206 kW or 280 PS net, and 363 N·m. PS is the source’s metric horsepower unit; it should not silently become 280 SAE horsepower in an English-language table.
More than a silhouette
A five-speed manual, DCCD and a distinctive wide body belong to the heritage entry. These details help explain the car as a configuration rather than as a blue paint scheme. A replica can reproduce the visual vocabulary without acquiring the original car’s provenance.
Four hundred of what?
STI states a limited run of 400. That statement is useful evidence for the Japanese edition. It is not enough to reconcile export cars and prototypes into a global completed-production total. Allocation, edition limit and worldwide production are different counts. A 2023 secondary account reports 424 worldwide as 400 Japan plus 24 elsewhere. Separately, Iconic Auctioneers describes three prototypes while a Bonhams-related account says five; both accounts name or imply the same three people, and two more recipients remain unconfirmed. Both disputes remain open.
Evidence-status diagram. Reported values are not additive or independently verified as a complete global ledger.
A photograph is a starting point
The accompanying image shows a 22B at a later UK concours event. It documents that photographed example, not an untouched delivery-day configuration. For a purchase, identification records, physical inspection and a traceable history have to do the work a photograph cannot.
Read the evidence
Sources behind this story
- 1998 Impreza 22B STI version — heritage and specifications
Japanese specification: 2,212 cc, 206 kW (280 PS) net, 363 N·m and five-speed manual. The stated 400-car limit is not a worldwide production reconciliation.
Subaru Tecnica International · Manufacturer heritage record · accessed 2026-10-07 - ScoobyNet.com forum — "How many 22B's were made?" thread
Preserves a genuine disputed forum claim about UK 22B imports (member "S.B." says 16, member "P20SPD" says 15, unresolved in-thread), alongside a 424-unit total production figure and the "plate #13 skipped" numbering detail.
ScoobyNet.com ("Subaru Enthusiast Forum") · Forum · accessed 2026-07-24 - Iconic Auctioneers — Colin McRae's Subaru Impreza STi 22B (Silverstone, Aug 2023) — own listing, news article, and corroborating press
Confirms chassis GC8065754 (McRae's own car, sold for a £480,500 headline price) is a distinct physical car from the Bonhams/Quail-listed prototype GC8-061819, and names David Lapworth, Nicky Grist, and Colin McRae as the three original 22B prototype recipients.
Iconic Auctioneers (iconicauctioneers.com) · Auction house · accessed 2026-07-24 - Bonhams Cars — "1997 Subaru Impreza 22B-STI Prototype, Chassis no. GC8-061819"
Chassis GC8-061819 is described as the first prototype built for the 1998 22B Impreza, numbered "000/400", displayed at the 1997 Tokyo Motor Show ahead of the March 1998 production launch — making it the earliest-built, lowest-mileage 22B known (approx. 49 miles/70 km from new at cataloging).
Bonhams · Auction house · accessed 2026-07-22 - Carscoops and Audrain Auto Museum — "five" total 22B prototypes claim (corroborating, not independent of Bonhams)
Reports "five" total pre-production 22B prototypes gifted to Subaru and team drivers including Nicky Grist and Colin McRae, a figure that does not contradict the specific individuals named in the competing "three prototypes" account but adds two further unnamed recipients.
Carscoops (carscoops.com); Audrain Automobile Museum · Automotive journalism · accessed 2026-07-24