Built to win on Sunday.
The Version 3 did not arrive because a product team wanted a faster Impreza. It arrived because a rally programme needed a road car to point at — and the rules said the road car had to be real.
What homologation actually meant
World rallying of this era was built on a bargain: you could compete with a car, but you had to sell one. Not a badge or a body kit — a car whose fundamentals matched what turned up on the stage. That rule is the reason the road-going Impreza of the mid-nineties is the car it is.
It also explains the parts of the car that make no commercial sense. The suspension is set up for surfaces most owners will never drive on. The gearing suits a stage rather than a motorway. The whole specification was answering a question that had nothing to do with the showroom, and buyers got the benefit.
When the regulations changed and manufacturers were freed from selling what they raced, this kind of car largely stopped being made. That is the real reason it is remembered.
Six Versions, one shell
STI revised the Impreza roughly once a model year, and each pass is known by its Version number rather than a name. The GC8 generation ran through six of them. This is the shape of that run — and where the third one sits in it.
Version I
The idea, established. A hand-finished conversion of the WRX rather than a production line of its own.
Version II
The car settles down. More of it built as an STI from the start, and the recipe becomes repeatable.
Version III
The output ceiling is reached and the rest of the car is revised to match. The subject of this archive.
Version IV
Refinement over revolution. The driveline and chassis are developed further on the same foundation.
Version V
A visual and mechanical freshening, and the basis for the most sought-after cars of the generation.
Version VI
The last of the shape, and the send-off before a new generation of Impreza arrived.
Where the thread goes next
The Version 3 is a waypoint, not a terminus. Three things it fed into are worth knowing about if you are trying to place it.
How people talk about them
Placeholder quotes, attributed by role rather than by name. Replace them with real, permissioned ones before this goes live — or remove the section.
It is not the fastest thing I have owned and it is not the most comfortable. It is the one I would keep if I had to pick one, because it does exactly what you ask on a road that would embarrass most modern cars.
They are honest cars to work on. Nothing is hidden and nothing is clever for the sake of it. The ones that come in broken are almost always the ones that were tuned by somebody in a hurry.
Now read the specification
The history is the reason the car exists. The spec sheet is what it actually turned into.