Announced in October 1992, the Impreza launched in Japan in November of that year in sedan and five-door wagon body styles, available in either front-wheel drive or all-wheel drive. The platform used a shortened version of the Legacy's floor plan. Subaru chose to continue its boxer flat-four engine layout, citing the lower centre of gravity and balanced vibration characteristics inherent to the design. Initial engine options included 1.5, 1.6, 1.8, and 2.0-litre naturally aspirated units; a two-door coupe arrived in Japan in late 1995.
The high-performance WRX debuted in November 1992 with 240 PS. The name WRX stood for World Rally eXperimental, and the car was engineered with rally-derived technology including all-wheel drive, stiffened suspension, and turbocharged four-cylinder engines. Subaru Tecnica International (STI) introduced badged versions beginning in late 1993 with Version 1, offering blueprinted engines, close-ratio gearboxes, and performance suspension.
The Impreza debuted in World Rally Championship competition at the 1993 1000 Lakes Rally in Finland, immediately achieving a podium finish. To accelerate development, Subaru had partnered with British motorsports preparation firm Prodrive since 1989. The team's breakthrough came via Colin McRae, who won the 1995 drivers' championship, the first WRC title for a British driver. The Impreza brought Subaru three consecutive WRC constructors' titles from 1995 to 1997, the 1997 season being the first under the newly introduced World Rally Car regulations.
Richard Burns won the 2001 drivers' championship for Subaru, and Petter Solberg won in 2003 aboard the Impreza. The car holds the record for the most WRC event wins, tied with the Lancia Delta.
An evolved Impreza WRC debuted at the 2007 Corona Rally Mexico but suffered persistent reliability problems. For the 2008 Acropolis Rally, Subaru debuted a hatchback-bodied Impreza WRC for the first time, on which event Solberg finished second. In December 2008, Subaru announced its withdrawal from the World Rally Championship citing economic difficulties.
Road-car variants were frequently produced to celebrate rally milestones. The 22B STI, built between March and August 1998, was a widebody coupe produced to mark Subaru's 40th anniversary and its third consecutive WRC manufacturers' title. Only 400 Japanese-market units were made, selling out within hours; 24 further units went to export markets. Its EJ22G engine displaced 2.2 litres, and the body used Peter Stevens-designed wide fenders drawn from the WRC car.
UK-market limited editions included the 1995 Series McRae Turbo 2000 (200 units in Rally Blue), the 1997 Catalunya (200 black cars celebrating the second WRC manufacturers' title at the Rally of Spain), the 1998 Terzo (333 units in blue honouring the 1998 title), and the 1999 RB5 (444 grey cars celebrating Richard Burns' arrival on the team).
The second generation, the New Age Impreza from 2000, was larger but retained the AWD platform. The third generation, revealed at the 2007 New York Auto Show, moved the primary sporting body style to a five-door hatchback. A modified third-generation WRX STI driven by Tommi Makinen set a Nurburgring Nordschleife lap record for four-door production cars of 7:55 in April 2010.
From 2005 to 2008, the Cusco team entered the Super GT championship using an Impreza, the only team to run a four-wheel-drive car in that series. The Subaru Road Racing Team campaigned Impreza WRX STI models in the Grand-Am Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge. Mark Higgins set and later broke the Isle of Man TT mountain course lap record in an Impreza in 2011 and 2016. The car also took class wins at the 24 Hours of Nurburgring, the 1995 Eastern Creek 12 Hour, and the Bathurst 12 Hour in 1994, 2007 and 2009. It won the Targa New Zealand three times, Targa Newfoundland four times, and Targa Tasmania three times.
The Impreza's motorsport identity, forged in the WRC during the 1990s with McRae, Burns, and Solberg, made it one of the most recognisable rally cars in history and translated directly into road-car sales globally. Its consistent symmetrical all-wheel drive and boxer engine layout became core brand identifiers for Subaru. The WRX sub-brand eventually separated from the Impreza nameplate in several markets from the third generation onward, reflecting the performance line's evolution into a standalone model range.