Subaru’s Most Iconic ’90s Cult Favorite Is About to Really Enter Holy Grail Territory

When thinking of Subaru’s greatest moments, its victoriously storied history and association with the FIA World Rally Championship comes to mind. But this relationship didn’t hit its peak until the 1990s, which is when Subaru gave us the Impreza STI 22B.

The 22B isn’t just hands down one of the greatest and rarest Subarus of all time. It’s also one of the greatest Japanese sports cars of all time. But not many were made.

Which is why we can’t help but drool over an example that just recently surfaced on the market.

The car that catapulted Subaru into the global spotlight

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Subaru might be known for making affordable and practical all-weather automobiles for the mases. But they’re also one of the most storied brands in motorsports.

That’s all thanks to its victorious history in the realm of the World Rally Championship. And this Impreza STI 22B is one of the quintessential byproducts of that era.

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Back when the WRC established its Group A rules for the 1990s following the wicked times of the former Group B regulations, which determines the performance metrics for all the competitors, the FIA governing body still held its production vehicle homologation requirement.

The latter rule required automakers to produce a certain amount of road-going versions of its racecars in order to compete. The 22B is one of those road-going versions of Subaru’s iconic WRC racecars. But it’s far more than that.

A legendary car spawned from legendary winnings

The 22B is the road-going version of the same exact rally car that led Subaru to score three consecutive WRC constructors’ titles between 1995 and 1998. And it was driven by none other than the late, legendary Colin McRae.

McRae is highly regarded as one of the greatest drivers of all time and is paralleled with the equally one-and-only Ayrton Senna. Except, while Senna’s fame happened in Formula One, McRae’s legend emerged in WRC.

One of 16 1999 Subaru Impreza STI 22Bs going to auction in June 2026

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McRae also gained notoriety for being the first British rally driver to win a WRC Drivers’ title. He also held the superlative as the youngest league champion up until 2022.

During the same period when Subaru was at such a high point in its motorsports efforts, the company also celebrated its 40th anniversary. So, in a three-prong push, the Japanese automaker created the Impreza STI 22B to honor the victorious rally car, its WRC wins with McRae at the helm and to celebrate four decades in existence.

Introduced in 1998, Subaru produced only 424 22Bs in total. Initially, the company capped production at just 400 numbered units specifically for the Japanese market.

But because it sold out almost instantly and demand was so high, Subaru and STI secretly made an additional 24 unnumbered examples specifically for the British and Australian markets.

Only 16 of those made it to the UK. The remaining eight went down yonder.

It’s either a brand new Lamborghini, a nice vacation home or this

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This latest example to surface for auction bidding on PistonHeads is one of those 16 cars. It bears the 1999 model year, as the unnumbered production extras bled into it after the initial 1998 production year.

It boasts just 23,514 miles and lived its entire life on the plucky set of islands in the Northern Atlantic. And while it’s exchanged hands a total of four times, the auction states it’s current owner was one of its longest.

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Because of its legendary status, the 22B is known to fetch some high monies whenever they go on sale. Typically, around the quarter-million-dollar mark.

But some predict it could go well past previous values and set a new record in the neighborhood of half-a-million.

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