POWER TO THE PEOPLE

Two legends of the rally stage also make for democratically enjoyable road cars: the Subaru Impreza Turbo and Mistubishi Lancer Evo

-  Matthew Hayward

If you, like me, watched the World Rally Championship during the 1990s, there are few sights more rousing in your rear-view mirror than a stickered-up Mitsubishi Evo Tommi Mäkinen Edition at maximum attack. Especially when it's framed by the blue wing (and underpinned by the flat-four thrum) of a Subaru Impreza. They're both undisputable legends, and experiencing either would be enough of an event today. Getting both together on the same stretch - with the hungry soundtrack of turbos spooling - feels like a jump back in time to a generation-defining moment in automotive history.

Throughout the late 1980s, 200bhp was the sign of a serious high-performance car. The final roadgoing evolutions of Group A motorsport-derived legends such as the Lancia Delta HF Integrale, Ford Sierra RS Cosworth and BMW's E30 M3 all peaked just above that magic figure. As the 1980s evolved into the 1990s, more mainstream cars were regularly topping 200bhp, and the goalposts for what constituted a genuinely fast car shifted towards the 250bhp mark.

While this barrier had been surpassed by more exotic machinery, a new breed of affordable, giant-slaying Japanese rally weapons was on the horizon. Not only were they unspeakably quick, they were easy to drive and genuinely affordable. Subaru's Impreza officially came to the UK in 1994, and changed the face of performance cars forever. This compact saloon did everything an Integrale could - both on and off a rally stage while offering Japanese reliability and build quality. More importantly, it did it at a price that the Europeans couldn't match.