The price of the once-iconic Subaru WRX STI (no longer called Impreza WRX, incidentally) has been reduced from £32,995 to £26,995.

The price cut is a response to the new Ford Focus ST, whose starting price is £21,995. An extra 50 PS (the Subaru has 300 PS and the Ford has 250 PS) and 4 wheel drive is worth something, but not an extra £10,000. Subaru says the WRX STI is now “one of the performance car bargains currently available in the UK.” We would not go that far, but it is certainly fair value now.

At the same time, Subaru is launching an optional 340R power upgrade, at a cost of £1,599. This brings up the power to, you guessed it, 340 PS (335 bhp). The 340R upgrade can also be applied to an already-registered car without affecting a car’s warranty.

The 340R will accelerate from standstill to 62 mph in 4.7 seconds, an improvement of 0.5 seconds over the standard WRX STI. “The 340R power upgrade turns our most performance-oriented model into one of the most rapid and charismatic cars available in the UK,” said Darren James, Managing Director of Subaru UK.

Well, up to a point. The turbo-nutter era was really a 1990s phenomenon and the whole concept looks a bit dated today. With no Subaru rally cars to give the car a strong identity, the WRX STI looks like a generic Japanese hatchback with a loud bodykit. Last year, UK sales of the WRX were fewer than 250 units, so clearly the UK public tends to agree.