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2013 Subaru WRX STI Special Edition

Despite my best efforts to convince myself otherwise, I think I'm finally getting too old for this car. I remember the days when I would go ga-ga over the winged Subaru WRX STI sedan, my inner boy racer caring only about its turbo thrills and not taking into account things like price, packaging or interior quality/comfort. Even now, as someone who generally appreciates offbeat color choices, I'm having a hard time getting behind the Tangerine Orange paint of this Special Edition tester, a unique version of the STI sedan limited to just 100 cars. (West Coast Editor Michael Harley recently spent time in the Special Edition WRX sedan, which will see a production run of 200 units.)
To give it The Full Halloween, this limited-edition Subie comes with black accents on its mirrors and fender badges, not to mention black alloy wheels and special graphics on the rocker panels. Special Edition cars also come standard with foglights, and there are orange accents found throughout the interior. All in, this flashier Subaru will set you back $34,795 plus $700 for destination, or $500 more than the standard version.
No, $35,000 isn't chump change, and many will argue that there are far better vehicles to be had at that exact same price point. And while my aging brain is beginning to think more toward that side of the rational thought spectrum, there's still a lot about this car that makes my more youthful self endlessly happy.

Kayaba, Sumitomo to pay millions for price-fixing in US

Kayaba Industry Co, which does business in the US as suspension parts maker KYB, and Sumitomo Electric Industries are facing payments in the millions to settle price-fixing cases about the components that they make. As part of the Department of Justice's ongoing crackdown of price fixing in the auto industry, KYB agreed to pay $62 million and pleaded guilty to conspiracy to set the cost of shock absorbers from the mid '90s through 2012. The company allegedly worked with co-conspirators to keep the cost of the parts high, and those components then made it into vehicles from Honda, Kawasaki, Nissan, Subaru, Suzuki, and Toyota. "Any collusive agreement among competitors to restrict price competition undercuts our free enterprise system and violates the law," said Carter M. Stewart, US Attorney of the Southern District of Ohio, in the DoJ's announcement. Over the past few years, the DoJ has brought cases against 37 parts suppliers and 55 executives, leading to over $2.6 billion in fines. The investigations haven't always been so successful – some of the Japanese execs fled from the US to avoid prosecution. Critics allege that price fixing is simply how business is done. According to Automotive News, Sumitomo Electric Industries is also facing a $50 million settlement in a civil lawsuit that's related to price fixing of parts like wiring harnesses and heater control panels. The plaintiffs include owners and dealers that purchased vehicles with these parts. The company asserts that the violations are from before 2010, and it now has different process in place to avoid further violations. KYB Agrees to Plead Guilty and Pay $62 Million Criminal Fine for Fixing Price of Shock Absorbers Kayaba Industry Co. Ltd., dba KYB Corporation (KYB) has agreed to plead guilty and to pay a $62 million criminal fine for its role in a conspiracy to fix the price of shock absorbers installed in cars and motorcycles sold to U.S. consumers. According to charges filed today, KYB conspired from the mid-1990s until 2012 to fix the prices of shock absorbers sold to Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd. (manufacturer of Subaru vehicles), Honda Motor Co. Ltd., Kawasaki Heavy Industries Ltd., Nissan Motor Company Ltd., Suzuki Motor Corporation and Toyota Motor Company, including their subsidiaries in the United States.

Subaru Levorg STI Sport should get us closer to the future WRX

At the Tokyo Motor Show, Subaru showed a "prototype" of the next-generation Levorg, itself a Japanese-market wagon derivative of the Subaru WRX sedan. While it gave us a good idea of what to expect from the next WRX, the Levorg STI Sport that will be shown at Tokyo Auto Salon in January should give us an even better look at the hot Subaru we'll get. This is based on the fact that among current Levorg trims, the STI Sport has a front bumper fascia that's more aggressive and that echoes the design of the WRX, whereas the standard trim is more mellow. So far, Subaru has only released a teaser video of the sportier Levorg. It shows STI badging on the back of the car and on the exhaust tips. There's also a glimpse of the tachometer that shows a redline of just over 6,000 rpm. Since that's lower than the WRX's turbo 2.0-liter engine's 6,500-rpm redline, this is probably the new 1.8-liter turbocharged engine Subaru announced will replace the current base turbo 1.6. It will probably make at least 170 horsepower to match the outgoing model. Based on the current STI Sport engine offerings, this should be the base engine, while the WRX's turbocharged FA20 will be an option. The full reveal of the Levorg STI Sport will come on January 10. Expect further details on mechanical changes as well, which will hopefully include information on a more powerful engine that could appear in the WRX. We wouldn't be surprised if it ended up using a slightly updated version of the current WRX's 2.0-liter FA20 engine, since even the WRX STI is expected to get a more powerful - probably over 300 horsepower - version of that same engine.