Subaru teases WRX STI with boxer burble and manual cues

Subaru is teasing WRX STI fans again — and this time the focus is not on silhouettes, but on emotion. In a fresh short clip, the engine spins up and settles back to idle, and that familiar boxer burble comes through loud and clear. The signature note usually stems from the exhaust and unequal-length headers — the very setup that made Subarus instantly recognizable for decades.

There are plenty of visual breadcrumbs, too: chrome exhaust tips, an STI badge on the trunk lid, an STI logo on the wheel cap, and a slice of taillight that points to the current WRX sedan as the base. In a second video, a helmeted driver slips behind the wheel and distinctly checks neutral before firing it up — a pretty transparent nod to a manual gearbox and an absence of the “compromise” CVT. When a brand leans into sound and shift cues like this, it’s hard not to read it as a quiet promise to the loyalists.