A stock used Subaru WRX STi in good condition that’s unmodified and with low mileage is akin to an automotive unicorn. Like a lot of affordable Japanese sports cars, the WRX STI was the subject—some might say victim—of many tuner projects in the mid-’00s, so finding one untouched and not driven to with an inch of its life is near impossible. This 2006 WRX STi isn’t one of those (sadly), but it’s damn close–and probably the next best thing.
The current seller is the third owner, and bought the 2006 STi with a few modifications already on it, like an aftermarket exhaust, intake, and an ECU tune. They then added an upgraded fuel system, turbo and suspension to round out the package.
However, this WRX STi could have been even more extreme. The seller says, “The next goal was to build the car into some ridiculous clean street beast with an all-out 1000hp engine build and 6pot/4pot brakes. I spent over a year gathering parts for this [but] on the way to the shop to drop the car off for the transformation to start, I had a change of heart and decided I didn’t want to have $100,000 wrapped up in a Subaru. So I abandoned the project. I had a Subaru master tech put the car back to stock with the hope to regain as much as possible from my change of heart.”
Not many modified cars get to return to their factory-spec selves, so while this STi isn’t one of the “unmodified, low mileage” unicorns, it’s a different kind of rarity. When removing all the modifications, the current owner left the aftermarket oil pan to address the 2006 WRX’s characteristically bad oil pickup and kept the stainless steel brake lines for long term durability—probably the most responsible upgrades of all the aftermarket parts this thing has seen.
So, if you’re on the hunt for a lightly-modified Subaru WRX SToi (with a slightly darker past), the current bid, as of this writing, is $16,750. There are no promises it’ll stay that low; it’s a scarcity to see a ’06 STi this clean and well-maintained.
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