If ever a car name conjured up an image, it’s Impreza.

From boy racers with more pace than taste to greying directors trying to recapture their youth, Impreza was an icon.

Style-wise, it had little to get excited about. Everything that appealed about this car was below the bonnet. It was a performance motor despite its modest dressings.

Things have changed. Don’t worry, the Impreza is still around and still putting the wind up dawdlers. But one thing: it isn’t called Impreza any more.

Welcome to the Subaru WRX STi.

I can’t quite get my head around why Subaru think it’s a good idea to ditch the one highly-evocative name in its brand but it’s something to do with the effect it has on the rest of the everyday Impreza range. No matter, that’s not important.

What is important is that the Subaru WRX as we must call it is every bit as good – and in some ways better – than the Impreza WRXs. OK, so it’s not without faults. The dash is very 1980s and some of the build quality feels flimsy for a car which costs a remarkable £32,000. My, what sort of highly-polished Audi, BMW or Jaguar would that sort of cash buy you?

So, sensible ones among you would put your cash into an A6 or a 5 Series.

But the Impreza, sorry the WRX, can offer quite astonishing performance: Nought to 60mph in 5.2 seconds. That feels fast, and I can assure it sounds fast. It whooshes and whines (in a positive way) that makes passers-by stare. It might look like a 1980s car, but its performance is like something from the future.

This WRX was blue (it’s almost a law that fast Subarus have to be blue in homage to Colin McRae).

It came with Recaro seats which were solid and locked you firmly in place. The ride and handling was excellent, much better than I expected for a high-performance car.

Like all good things such memories don’t last forever. Subaru’s bold choice to switch from a four-door saloon to a five-door hatch stunned fans. There are always two sides to this of course, and Subaru’s desire to boost its business with a more Euro-friendly hatch was understandable.

WRX and STi performance models followed and have, on the whole, been well received. But here’s the thing; with Subaru keen to reposition itself as a maker of semi-premium models and a recent resurgence in the popularity of compact, premium sports saloons, the four-door Impreza WRX STi is back.

A development of the existing five-door, adding a boot has brought back a familiar profile. One thing missing is a rear wing, although a modest one can be specified. Again, this is part of Subaru’s premium repositioning of the car.

That’s not to say that the car itself has gone soft. With 300bhp available from Subaru’s now familiar 2.5-litre four-cylinder Boxer turbo engine, this WRX STi has been designed to deliver all the usual thrills but with more polish. Certainly the lack of a monster rear wing helps with that image. Frankly the four-door WRX STi is chunky and imposing enough without it. Its muscular wheel arches and deep front bumper send out all the right messages. At the rear the quad tailpipes ape those of the Impreza hatch, but this time there’s no race car-like diffuser.

In keeping with the car’s newfound premium positioning, the cabin includes higher grade materials.

The rest of the improvements are more than skin deep, with this Impreza adopting the ‘Spec C’ suspension that would be more familiar to fans of Japanese market imports.

Less ‘pointy’ and nervous than UK market STI cars of old yet capable of striking a pleasing balance of ride comfort and agility on poorly surfaced roads, this new WRX STi is still eye-poppingly rapid when it counts but won’t dislodge your fillings in the process.

The car’s ability to cover ground at pace is without question. The slight rear bias of the four-wheel drive system allows you to have some fun in the corners, too. That you can fine tune the behaviour of the centre differential and the throttle response adds a welcome extra layer to the experience.

Also welcome is the generous level of standard equipment on this WRX STI. The noticeable uplift in cabin quality is worthy of praise, as is the inclusion of numerous airbags, an unobtrusive electronic stability system and a decent audio unit boasting auxiliary and iPod inputs plus Bluetooth phone connectivity.

In a world where ‘me-too’ has become the default setting for everything from exterior design to steering feel, it’s refreshing to see a maker brave enough to stick to its principals.