Road & Track: Subaru WRX STi Drives by BMW 5 Series, Mazda RX8, Nissan 350Z Roadster and the Porsche 911 GT3 to Win Best Car 2004

According to Road & Track Magazine Readers

NEWPORT BEACH, Calif., March 5 -- The ballots are in! Road & Track magazine readers have voted for the first-ever Road & Track Readers' Choice Award: The Best Car 2004. And the winner is ... the Subaru Impreza WRX STi.

According to Road & Track reader Chris Melnick of Fredericksburg, VA: "The Subaru Impreza WRX STi is an easy choice. It is fast, stripped-down, raw, grippy and fun!" Melnick joins thousands of other passionate Road & Track enthusiasts who favor the Subaru over the 22 other vehicles, first nominated by Road & Track editors in the November 2003 issue via Roadandtrack.com The Subaru Impreza WRX STi, the inaugural Readers' Choice Award: The Best Car 2004 will be announced in the April issue of the magazine, available at newsstands on March 9th.

With a list price (MSRP) of $30,995, the Subaru Impreza WRX STi can be classified as a sports car with its 0-60-mph acceleration time of 4.9 seconds and 13.3-sec. to the quarter-mile mark. In the handling department, the Subaru circles Road & Track's 200-ft. skidpad pulling a .88g of lateral acceleration and turns an average speed of 68.4 mph through the magazine's 700-ft. slalom.

"Our readers, who are the most knowledgeable, influential and passionate about automobiles, voted for the Subaru WRX STi because they believe this car represents the best combination of performance, value and practicality," said Thos. Bryant, Road & Track editor-in-chief. "This all-wheel-drive four-door sports car is hands down a sensational driving experience, according to our enthusiast readers."

Along with the Best Car 2004 announcement, the April issue of Road & Track will also reveal the readers' choice of the Best Dream Car 2004: the Porsche Carrera GT. This Porsche model, with a list price of $440,000, triumphed over the other six vehicles in this category that followed the same rules for eligibility as the Best Car 2004 competition (see criteria below); however, The Best Car 2004 candidate must have a MSRP of less than $100,000. Road & Track readers voted for the Best Dream Car 2004 via www.roadandtrack.com during the initial ballot for the Best Car 2004 contest.

Road & Track is also presenting the Road & Track Readers' Choice Award: The Best Car 2004 special on SPEED Channel, a Fox television network, on Saturday, March 6 at 8 pm ET, to be followed by airings on Tuesday, March 9 at 9 pm ET and Wednesday, March 10 at 2 am ET.

Four-time Trans Am champion and Speed Channel Analyst Tommy Kendall will take viewers through the Subaru Impreza WRX STi's road testing and evaluation process with commentary from the magazine's editor-in-chief Thos. Bryant and his editorial team. NBC-TV Tonight Show host Jay Leno and other enthusiast readers will also share their experiences about the Subaru WRX STi, having road tested the Best Car 2004 winner, as well as its four finalist competitors.

The finalists for the Road & Track Readers' Choice Award: The Best Car 2004 were announced in the magazine's February issue and on the Readers' Choice Award: The Best Car 2004 television program on SPEED Channel. This issue and television show also presented extensive road test results and evaluations of all top finalists, conducted at the track and on the street by Road & Track editors. Armed with information on each car, readers then logged onto the magazine's site and cast their final vote.

The more than 5.8 million consumers who read Road & Track every month purchase five times as many cars as the national average and have influenced the purchase of more than 180 million new vehicles in their lifetime, according to Road & Track subscriber studies.

Eligibility for Road & Track Readers' Choice Award: The Best Car 2004:

To be eligible for the Best Car 2004 award, every car must have what it takes to be an enthusiast's car -- above-average performance and handling, pleasing design and space and fuel-efficiency -- as well as the following criteria:

   -- an all-new model or a model with significant upgrades
   -- a model-year 2004 designation
   -- a manufacturer's suggested retail price (MSRP) of less than $100,000

  About Road & Track:

Backed by 56 years of authoritative journalism, Road & Track magazine is written for the automotive enthusiast and contains information about cars and driving blended with wide-ranging feature stories, entertainment and racing coverage. Road & Track's road tests and comparison tests are the most complete and technically accurate in the industry. Read by more than 5.8 million readers per month, Road & Track's readership is 92 percent male with an average age of 37 and a household income of $67,000, according to Spring 2003 MRI.

Road & Track is published by Hachette Filipacchi Media U.S., the New York-headquartered subsidiary of Hachette Filipacchi Medias, the world's largest magazine publisher.