A small bit of digging will tell you the history behind some of the storied badges on your favorite cars.
When you look at a car and see the word “TURBO” on it in giant font, that doesn’t leave too much to the imagination. It’s very obviously turbocharged. The same can be said with badges on some Chrysler cars that say “HEMI.” That means the car is equipped with a Chrysler HEMI engine.
Sometimes, however, there are badges and titles on a car that aren’t quite as easy to parse. Occasionally they denote a special feature or performance mod that makes the car a little different than your average grocery store lot fare. Sometimes it’s just because the car has a spoiler and body kit that’s ever so slightly altered from the base model. Either way, the car itself isn’t always forthcoming about what exactly its badges and acronyms mean. Fortunately, with a little bit of digging into automotive history and looking at how a specific brand presents its cars, it’s not all too daunting to decipher. Subaru STi
Subarus with a huge “STi” badge can take on a few flavors depending on where you see one. These cars are equally at home ripping through back roads during an international rally competition or revving loudly in a parking garage at 4am. There doesn’t seem to be a lot of middle ground. But what exactly does the badge mean aside from “fast Subaru?” It’s actually an acronym for “Subaru Technica International” and denotes the performance division of Subaru that’s been making rally cars since 1988.
Subaru’s current lineup is sadly lacking in STi cars, but past models have been nothing short of howling all-wheel drive turbocharged rally monstrosities like the WRX STi. The most recent WRX STi sported 310 hp, Brembo brakes clad in all manner of wacky colors and Apple CarPlay integration so you can listen to speed metal to your heart’s content while whipping around the rally course or abandoned parking lot of your choice.
