Back in the Nov. ’09 issue, I wrote my Tech Talk column (“The Ultimate Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing”) about the tuning potential of the ’04–08 Subaru Forester XT, given how much it shares in common with the GD Impreza WRX and STI. That story led to quite a few emails rolling in from FXT owners, some of whom sarcastically thanked me for letting the cat out of the bag, others just wanting to share a few stories and pictures of their own FXT builds.
One of those emails was from Remington Lee of Port Colborne, Ontario, owner and hands-on builder of this thoroughly improved World Rally Blue ’07 FXT. As it turns out, Remington is a full-blown Forester fanatic, having built an encyclopedic Fozzie knowledge thanks to subaruforester.org and the close friendships he has developed within the Forester fraternity. It should come as no surprise that Remington’s FXT is damn near perfect because of its appealing blend of performance and practicality.
In fact, it’s the practicality of the Forester’s wagon body style that initially drew Remington to it. “I chose this platform for a large number of reasons, but the biggest influence had to be my dog Kaiku. I was looking for my first new car after graduating from college, something that I could commute to work with and reduce the wear and tear on my prized possession, a JDM ’90 Nissan Skyline GTS-t Type M. I wanted something AWD for the winter months, but I also wanted something turbo after falling in love with boost, thanks to my Skyline. So I started looking at a wide variety of cars from Audis to EVOs, but ultimately, knew I wanted a station wagon so I could haul my dog around with me. After many months of research and lots of inspiration from the online community, I tracked down the car I wanted, a 2.5XT ‘Sports’ Limited 5-speed from New York, which I imported with the help of family, friends and a very helpful dealership.”
Once Remington got his FXT home, he put it on a steady diet of WRX and STI goodness, along with some rare Forester-specific aftermarket goodies. For starters, the smaller XT turbo found its way into a storage bin and in its place Remington bolted up a VF43 STI turbo, along with the larger STI top-mount intercooler. Add to that a free-flowing exhaust setup, including a JDM HKS catted downpipe and a very rare Forester-specific Fujitsubo after-cat system, and Remington’s COBB AccessPORT–tuned Subie pumped out a rock solid 298 whp and 337 ft-lbs of torque on the dyno. And just in case you think these numbers are for show, Remington has a time slip from Toronto Motorsports Park’s dragstrip verifying a best pass of 13.182 at 104.52 mph.
Although we love how subtly Remington has tweaked the appearance of his Forester, an educated enthusiast will certainly spot more than just the STI badges. The RavSpec carbon front lip is a particularly rare item, this one being the first ever production unit. The Subtle-Solutions carbon-fiber exhaust heat shield is another rare piece, as is the Delrin shift knob with the JDM Forester ‘F’ logo on it (one of 35). We would’ve liked to see legit Volks over the WRX brakes rather than Rotas, but other than that it’s hard to fault anything on this Forester’s build sheet. We particularly like the Retro-Lite E55 Bi-Xenon projector retrofit and the practical stance provided by WRX dampers and STI springs. Although the Yakima roof rack is a “love it or leave it” addition, Remington feels it completes the look of his FXT.