Subaru Impreza 555 vs Bespoke Impreza McRae Edition: Group A Heaven, Then and Now

Introduction

Few cars carry the emotional charge of the Subaru Impreza 555. It is the car that carried Colin McRae to his first and only World Rally Championship drivers’ title in 1995, a success that made him the first Briton to do so. That crown was not won with the later World Rally Car, but with the Impreza 555, the Group A machine designed, built and run by Prodrive from 1993 to 1996.

Two cars sit at the heart of this story, both driven on a mountain road specially closed by local police in Italy. One is a genuine original Impreza 555. The other is the Bespoke Impreza McRae Edition, a limited continuation series created by Italian collector and lifelong Subaru enthusiast Carlo Baroli to keep the Group A flame burning, with the McRae family’s blessing. Driving both reveals just how far a faithful recreation can go.

The Genuine Impreza 555

The original car here is L439 BXP, a genuine 555 campaigned in the 1994 Italian Rally Championship by Piero Liatti before he moved to the World Rally Championship alongside McRae. It has also been driven in period by Richard Burns, Mickey Biasion and Stig Blomqvist, which is remarkable company for any rally car.

As a driver’s object it is all-consuming. It is nowhere near as aggressive to look at as a modern rally car, with no outrageous wings or intakes, but it wears arguably the best stance of any car anywhere on its gorgeous Speedline alloys, enough exhaust fumes to make your eyes water, and a soundtrack closer to an artillery barrage than an engine. It feels a little sleepy low down, but once the revs build it feels more potent than the roughly 350 brake horsepower suggested by the earlier 38mm restrictor. With the anti-lag switched on it simply explodes forward, and the dog gearbox might be the best manual gearbox ever fitted to a rally car. Gain confidence and you can get on the power earlier and earlier, until the rear begins to step out and gentle steering correction becomes part of the conversation.

The cabin tells the rest of the story: pure nineties Group A, mechanical, immediate and gloriously analogue. Everything happens fast, and the purity and sheer aggression of the thing overwhelm the senses on a first run.

The Bespoke Impreza McRae Edition

The McRae Edition is Carlo Baroli’s answer to a dream. After years of collecting ex-works Subarus, he decided to build a new Impreza to bring the Group A legend back to life: cars as close as possible to the Prodrive machines from 1993 to 1996, with key Group A parts recreated where they are no longer available and completed with the benefit of more than 25 years of technological advancement. He secured the support of the McRae family, and eight cars will be built, each celebrating one of Colin’s victories with the Subaru Impreza Group A: seven wins in single races plus the overall 1995 World Championship title. The car shown here is chassis number one.

From behind the wheel it is a revelation. It looks like the old car, sounds like it, and even smells like it, but performance overall is on another plane. The engine picks up earlier and punches harder, never feeling off the boil, and the gearshift is even slicker than the original. Grip is enormous, but so is composure: the ride quality is vastly more sophisticated, and no bump or poor surface upsets it. It glides over the top of the road, which makes it blisteringly fast. Back-to-back on the same stage, Piero Liatti believes it is roughly 2 seconds or more per kilometre faster than the original car.

How the McRae Edition Drives

Where the original demands commitment, the McRae Edition is brutal and delicate all at once. It takes slightly less effort to drive in some ways yet is arguably more demanding, because you are travelling that much quicker and the controls respond even more sharply. Be confident but measured, forceful but never clumsy, and it is devastatingly effective.

Comparing the two cars directly, the newer machine is simply more reactive and more precise. When Liatti drives it, he is a gear higher on most corners, and the way he laughs at the turnaround point says everything about its pace. It is alive the whole time, always wanting to go.

Should You Buy a McRae Edition?

This is a car for collectors and committed enthusiasts rather than a conventional purchase. It costs £370,000 including UK taxes, which is a serious figure for any car, let alone a continuation rally machine. But what you get is genuinely special: a car built to Prodrive Group A spirit with modern reliability and composure, tied to eight of the most iconic victories in Subaru’s history, and sanctioned by the McRae family. For anyone with memories of standing beside a rally stage in the nineties as a blue and gold 555 rumbled past, it is hard to put a price on that.

Conclusion

The genuine Impreza 555 remains one of the purest and most characterful rally cars ever made, and an original ex-works example is history you can drive. The Bespoke Impreza McRae Edition takes that same soul and adds sharper response, better composure and a far higher pace, at a steep price. If you can afford the McRae Edition, you really are getting something very special indeed. If the original within reach is a genuine 555, you are not doing badly either.