If you've ever heard anyone refer to their Impreza WRX as a "GC8", "GDB", or "GRB", then you've heard it. If you've ever heard people talk about their Nissan 240SX or Silvia as an S13, S14, or S15 then you've heard it. If you've ever heard them refer to their Honda Civic as an "EF" or "EG hatch", then you've heard it. If you've heard BMW 3-series owners saying "E30" or "E92" then you've heard it. They're referring to the first two letters of the applied model code.

The Applied Model (also called a Chassis Code) is a 7-digit code number that is used by Subaru to identify a car’s specification, but unlike the Chassis Number or VIN, this does not uniquely identify an individual car. Almost all Subaru cars have the Applied Model stamped on a metal plate that can be found riveted to the top of the near-side strut tower, although some cars have the plate in one of the front door frames.

The information encoded within the Applied Model number contains details of the vehicle’s model, body type, engine type, gearbox, trim-level and period of production.

Each letter in the applied model designates a code:

Series Code

The Series code is the first letter, it tells you which model in the Subaru lineup it belongs to:

Thus, the Impreza WRX starts with 'G'.

Body Style code

The second letter is the Body style code, it'll tell you if the vehicle is a sedan, coupe, wagon, etc.

Applied Model Code

The Applied model is the first-two letters combined, it is what people commonly refer to when trying to casually designate their vehicle:

Engine code

The 3rd-letter in the applied model code. For the WRX STI platform, the EJ207 was mostly commonly used in Japan, while the US got the EJ257.

Model Year

The 4th letter in the code, the model year is the date of production, often times these start the year prior to the marketed year. This is because production of a vehicle starts early, and sales follow.

A is the first year of the generation, B the second, etc. When the model changes generation, (e.g. Mean Eye to Bugeye), this letter is reset back to 'A'.

• A "Mean Eye" GC8 first year has a A, thus GC8A, which is 1992.
• A "Mean Eye" GC8 second year has a B, thus GC8B, which is 1993, etc.
• A "Bug Eye" GDB second year has a A, thus GDBA, which is 2000.
• A "Bug Eye" GDB second year has a B, thus GDBB, which is 2001, etc.

Number of Doors

The 5th letter is the number of doors on the vehicle. Simply put, the coupe has a code of 2, sedan 4, and wagon & hatch 5.

Trim Code

The 6th-letter is the trim code, which tells you which marketing package, equipment and accessories are included in the vehicle. This list is incomplete, if you know any others, please let us know.

Transmission Code

The 7th-letter is the transmission code, tells you if its a manual or automatic.

Examples

In the examples below, I didn't include the number of doors, trim, or transmission codes. Putting this all together, we can see a list of significant applied models:

Can you find your applied model code? Are we missing your trim code? Shoot us an email or find us as @brz_typeRA on Instagram.