Originally Posted By: JTK
My 2012 Legacy, 2014 XV Crosstrek and 2016 Forester all came with the 160 version of that filter. I cut all of them open to inspect. The cans are well made and take a lot more rotations with my filter cutter to open up compared to aftermarket store bought filters. All 3 had uneven pleating on the media can, but looked/felt decent quality.
Like said, because of being difficult to find the black Tokyo Roki filters, I run the OEM blue filters. They're very good too if you cut open to inspect.
My point being, I'd stick with OEM.
My take is that the black Tokyo Roki 160 is OEM for most Subarus, the 170 is OEM for the WRX.
The blue filters are what the Subaru dealers in the US offer as a cheap substitute. My manual specifically mentions the black 15208AA160 as the filter I should be using.
Given that it's hard to find the 160 (unless the Mazda 302 is really the same thing), I'm a lot more comfortable with the blacks 170s than the blue filters, even if the 170s are targeted to the WRX.