I swear, Orlando probably has the best, if not, one of the best car scenes in Florida. While we were there for only a couple hours, we saw more modified cars than we would see in a month back home in Sarasota. However, the downside to having friends in Orlando is having to drive in Orlando. If you haven’t driven in Orlando, it’s basically like idling in a parking lot.  On a windy February afternoon, we navigated that parking lot they call I-4 to meet up with Marc, the owner of this beautiful WRX.

Marc picked up this Plasma Blue Pearl 2014 WRX brand new. It now sits with around 75,000 miles on it, although you would have no idea just judging by the appearance. Believe it or not, this is Marc’s daily. His only car. This show-quality car has been driven every day since he bought it and still looks this good. This was a fun photo shoot for us because of the location (some plain looking warehouses that made for a great backdrop, with tons of room for rolling shots), the colors on the car (just look at it!), meeting and talking with Marc, and towards the end a couple of his friends showed up. They also had nice Subarus. We got Chipotle, it was fun.

Look at those wheels… Pretty, aren’t they? They’re Marc’s dream wheels – Volk TE37Vs in gunmetal with a polished lip. These wheels are 18×11” with a -7 offset. Wrapped around these wide wheels are some wide tires as well – 285/30r18 to be exact. “But how does anyone fit wheels with those specs on these cars?” The answer is flares. Marc’s WRX has paint-matched and carefully-installed HT Autos flares. They could not have turned out any better! The addition of these helps him achieve that perfect fitment, and he only has to run about -1.8 degrees of camber in the back and -1.3 up front! If you couldn’t tell, Marc’s car is on bags. Airlift Performance’s V2 kit with a dual compressor setup, to be specific. He said he made the switch from coilovers to bags out of convenience and being able to get the fitment he wanted.

I also really admire the smaller, more subtle appearance parts he’s installed. (Excluding the BTA wing – I wouldn’t call that subtle, but it definitely looks good). One of the things I’m talking about are his APR brake ducts, which I’ve been wanting to do on my car for some time now. Not exactly a common part to see on these cars, but it’s a little something that adds to the front end and actually can be beneficial when driving.

Marc’s WRX is also equipped with a Varis carbon fiber diffuser and front lip, as well as Aeroflow Dynamics skirt extensions. These three things can be subtle but even have a huge visual effect on any car at the same time. It doesn’t exactly jump out at you, but Marc removed his grille. I didn’t really notice it until looking closer, but it actually looks pretty cool, considering you can see his Hella horns and oil cooler right behind there. What really deserves recognition though are his flares, and what it took to get them on. I asked about how that went, and he told me he actually did it all himself over three or four days. In the rear, about 2.5” of the quarter panels are cut to allow wheel and tire clearance when airing out.

Performance-wise, Marc has a handful of parts under the hood. He’s on the stock turbo, but has a huge Grimmspeed TMIC, an Invidia downpipe and a CNT catback exhaust to name a few. To make even more noise, he’s got a Grimmspeed up-pipe with a Tial EWG. Other engine bay mods include a Cobb SF box intake, a Grimmspeed EBCS, a protune by Corbin Johnson at Johnson Tuning, and a Crawford Air-Oil Separator, which Marc says was “probably the hardest thing I’ve ever installed.”

When asked about his future plans with the car, Marc told me he’s shooting for around 500hp with a rotated turbo setup, a flex fuel tune and the notorious STi 6-speed transmission. He would also like to throw in some nice racing seats with harnesses and a full roll cage eventually. The parts he has on the car not only set it apart from other builds, but work together for a high-quality execution. The wheels, the flares and miscellaneous appearance parts all show that Marc has good taste and knows what he’s doing.

He really does know what he’s doing – he does all of the work himself or with friends. This makes the car a bit more special, since he puts in all of his own time and effort on it, plus he knows every little detail about the car. He says he was inspired by others to start modding the car, and started only six months after buying it! Marc is a good guy with a great WRX, and we had a blast hanging out and shooting with him. Keep an eye out for his car at shows! You’ll be impressed when seeing it in person, I know I was.

Thanks Marc for letting us feature your WRX!

By Ethan Pfab – @supwagon

 

Marc’s full build list:

Engine:

Grimmspeed TMIC

Invidia downpipe

CNT catback exhaust

Grimmspeed uppipe

Tial external wastegate

Grimmspeed EBCS

Crawford AOS

Mishimoto Oil Cooler

Cobb SF Box intake

Cobb V3 AccessPort

Protune from Johnson Tuning

 

Exterior:

HT Autos fender flares

BTA rear wing

Varis carbon fiber rear diffuser

Varis carbon fiber front lip

Aeroflow dynamics side skirt extensions

 

Suspension & Wheels:

Airlift Performance air struts with V2 management

Megan Racing lower control arms

Megan Racing toe arms

Volk TE37V 18×11″ ET -7

285/30r18 tires