And you’re not constantly looking over your shoulder.  Don’t get me wrong, I crave an exhaust note, but the WRX’s combination of volume and sophistication is way more soothing than the war-going-on-nearby cacophony of the others. 

The important thing to note is that sounding classier doesn’t detract from performance.  No Siree.  In fact, the Rex was the quickest of this lot, storming across the quarter mile in a stunning 12.8 seconds.  The Nissan was next at 13.4 seconds but, curiously, felt faster than the Sube on the road. 

It probably is, too  and you can put that down to the way the Rex launches hard and fast with about 5500 rpm dialled up and a side-stepped clutch.  Sounds cruel, but in reality it’s probably kinder than slipping the clutch.  You can jump off the clutch with confidence because this Rex makes 240 kW and won’t like a stocker, bog down and die in the bum. 

APS fits a front-mounted intercooler, along with a cat alloy air intake for maximum deepbreathing.  The turbo unit is also uprated to a ball-bearing model capable of 1.3 bar, while a Unichip and pop-off valve complete the RT-Spec package.