---
title: "Subaru WRX STI Diamond Edition Is the Most Powerful Variant to Date and You Can’t Have It"
description: "Subaru will build just 30 of the 349-horsepower WRX STI Diamond Edition, and deliver precisely zip to the United States or Canada."
date: "2018-11-15"
modified: "2018-11-15"
authors:
  - name: "James Gilboy"
    job_title: "Contributing Writer"
    link: "https://www.thedrive.com/authors/james-gilboy"
url: "https://www.thedrive.com/news/24928/subaru-wrx-sti-diamond-edition-is-the-most-powerful-variant-to-date-and-you-cant-have-it"
categories:
  - "News"
  - "News by Brand"
  - "Subaru News"
tags:
  - "compact"
  - "rally"
  - "sedan"
  - "South Africa"
  - "sports car"
  - "Subaru"
  - "Subaru WRX STi"
  - "WRX"
---

# Subaru WRX STI Diamond Edition Is the Most Powerful Variant to Date and You Can’t Have It

![](<https://www.thedrive.com/wp-content/uploads/images-by-url-td/content/2018/11/diamond-hero-e1542299825260.jpg>)
*\<em\>www.thedrive.com</em>*

Subaru will celebrate the 30th anniversary of its performance subsidiary Subaru Technica International (STI) with a 'roided-up WRX STI making 349 horsepower, called the Diamond Edition.

The Diamond Edition follows the path established by the WRX STI STImulating Edition, which celebrated the division's 15th anniversary with a special run of 15 cars. Thus, the 30th-anniversary Diamond Edition will be limited to just 30 cars, each of them faster and flashier than a run-of-the-mill WRX STI.

![message-editor%2F1542301075417-db4.jpg](<https://www.thedrive.com/wp-content/uploads/message-editor/1542301075417-db4.jpg>)
**Subaru**

Its 2.5-liter turbocharged flat-four engine dumps 349 horsepower (260 kilowatts) and 342 pound-feet (464 newton-meters) of torque through the car's all-wheel-drive system, good for a 0-to-60 time of five seconds flat, or three-quarters of a second quicker than the standard STI. It's also good for a top speed of 158 mph (255 kph).

![message-editor%2F1542301234374-db2.jpg](<https://www.thedrive.com/wp-content/uploads/message-editor/1542301234374-db2.jpg>)
**Subaru**

With all that go, you'll need an equal ability to stop, which its Brembo brakes will have no trouble accomplishing. Six-piston front calipers and two-piston rears dressed in radioactive yellow hide out beneath 18-inch alloy wheels, which poke out further than those of the normal STI courtesy of 20-millimeter spacers. Diamond Edition cars also get a standard STI engine bay chassis brace to sharpen handling.

![message-editor%2F1542301377234-db1.jpg](<https://www.thedrive.com/wp-content/uploads/message-editor/1542301377234-db1.jpg>)
**Subaru**

Subaru isn't comfortable letting you buy a special-edition WRX STI without making it obvious to everyone that you're driving something special, so it's adorned the Diamond Edition with plenty of trim in a yellow that would make a banana jealous. Rendered in this color is the car's splitter, side skirts, part of its diffuser, and of course, the aforementioned brake calipers.

![message-editor%2F1542301613144-db3.jpg](<https://www.thedrive.com/wp-content/uploads/message-editor/1542301613144-db3.jpg>)
**Subaru**

Want a WRX STI Diamond Edition? Subaru has three requirements: customers must get in line by reserving a car through a form on the model's [website](<https://www.sti30.co.za/>); they must live in South Africa; and they must have 799,000 South African ZAR, the equivalent of just over $56,000 USD. Even the most expensive STI sold stateside—the [WRX STI Type RA](<https://www.thedrive.com/new-cars/22777/2018-subaru-wrx-sti-type-ra-test-drive-review-wound-up-tighter-priced-even-higher>)—doesn't quite leap the $50,000 hurdle.

https://youtube.com/embed/BeFdamN4SG0

The 349-hp Diamond Edition isn't anticipated to be the most powerful variant of this generation's car, though. Japan will get another limited run of the WRX STI called the [TC 380](<https://www.thedrive.com/news/24680/subaru-announces-japan-only-limited-run-wrx-sti-tc-380>), which will strap on a bigger turbocharger and is expected to produce up to 380 ponies. With the next generation of WRX believed to be [on the way in 2020](<https://www.thedrive.com/accelerator/24721/subaru-might-be-developing-a-subcompact-hatch-for-2020-wrc-competition>), Subaru will milk the current platform dry before starting the cycle anew.

## Author
James is a former staff writer for The Drive. He has changed the conversation around electrification, debunked misinformation online, and become a prominent hunter of what he calls "automotive cryptids."

### Author social links  
[Instagram](<https://instagram.com/jamesgilboy>)