The WRX has always had the strong whiff of Boy Racer around it, much to Subaru’s displeasure. Sure, no company really minds if complete cocks buy their cars – it means they are selling cars, after all – but pouring billions of dollars into development, winning numerous rally championships and other motorsport accolades and generally building the best Bang-for-your-Buck performance car for a couple of decades now, just so some utter twat can lower it so it is scraping on the ground, chuck on a massive drainpipe exhaust and otherwise ruin all your best efforts must get to a company eventually.
That is why the new WRX is no longer two key things: 1) it is no longer an Imprezza and 2) it is no longer a raw, noisy, cheap-feeling performance-on-a-budget style of car.
To make sure it is still a lot of fun, however, we had to take it for a scream up a driveway… yes, that’s right – a driveway. Admittedly a very special driveway though… watch the video for more.
What is it?
No longer a car for people with a propensity for wearing hats incorrectly and excessive application of Lynx body spray.
No, there will no longer be any of that with the new WRX, as it is now a classy executive car. According to Subaru, at least. How the general population will perceive it will depend, as usual, on who buys it.
While it has the brutal performance to appeal to the same people who have always bought it, they way it delivered it and the package it is wrapped up in may well have what it takes to attract the attention of the sort of people Subaru will hope will buy it.
Coming in two guises, the WRX packs a 2.0-litre turbocharged boxer engine that pokes out 197kW of power and 350Nm of torque, hooked up to either a six-speed manual transmission of a continuously variable transmission with either six or eight-speed manual shift modes.
The manual car will knock off the 0 to 100 sprint in 6.0 seconds, while the CVT-equipped variant will do it in 6.3 seconds.
The basic WRX comes standard with a reversing camera, Bluetooth audio and phone connectivity, a six-speaker, single CD audio system with an auxiliary jack and USB port, climate control air con, cruise control, a leather steering wheel with audio and cruise control buttons, a 4.3-inch colour LCD display with boost pressure gauge, self-levelling LED headlights, rear privacy glass, a sports body kit and 17-inch alloy wheels.
The WRX Premium tops the range and adds automatic headlights, an electric sunroof, leather trim, an eight-way power adjustable driver’s seat, keyless entry and start, satellite navigation, an eight-speaker Harmon-Kardon sound system and rain-sensing wipers to the basic spec.
The manual WRX costs $48,990, while the CVT-equipped version is $49,990. The WRX Premium is $53,990 for the manual and $54,990 for the CVT.
What’s it like?
Strange at first. Then it gets impressive. Then it becomes utterly addictive.
The first car we drove on the local launch was a Premium model with a CVT. A transmission we at OVERSTEER have never hidden our hatred for.
Moving off, the WRX is almost eerily quiet, with only tyre noise being the main auditory ingredient in the cabin. Give it a bit more throttle and a distant snarl will appear, but it is never even close to the raucous mechanical boxer bellow of the old car.
The upside of this, however, is you don’t hear what slurring nonsense the CVT is putting the strong, flexible feeling engine through. Or so you think.
As it turns out, the CVT actually works remarkably well with the powerful engine. It does the whole “fake gearshift” thing that Subaru introduced on the Outback diesel a while ago and the engine just revs so quickly and positively that the CVT is actually an incredibly slick and – gasp – well-matched option to it.
Get out of town and really climb up it and the WRX is eye-wateringly quick. Overseas reports claim that it is fractionally slower to 100km/h than the old car, and this feels about right. What that statement doesn’t tell you though is the utterly relentless acceleration through the mid and upper ranges.
The WRX is decently quick off the line, but becomes truly impressive once up and running. The acceleration is simply relentless and right where you expect it to start running out of breath, it simply keeps pulling harder than ever.
In the CVT-equipped car, this is quite a remarkable experience, as it simply goes faster and faster and faster with no gear shifts to break the sensation up. It is getting very close to being enough to get us to actually like a CVT…
As good as the acceleration is, chuck the WRX into a corner and it is simply on another level. The grip is almost endless, with a progressive howling of the tyres announcing when you are getting close to the limit of their abilities. The WRX, however, feels like it could go well beyond the limitations of the rubber.
A later switch to the manual car proved it to be just as impressive and relentless in its performance, and even more fun through the winding bits, with a nice positive shift action to the six-speed manual and a good feel to the clutch.
What’s good about it?
The acceleration, the handling and, surprisingly, the ride. Firm, yet never unyielding, the WRX still manages to present a civilise, comfortable ride, despite its prodigious handling abilities.
The interior is a much-improved place to be over the previous model, with soft touch plastics dominating that hard stuff and a quality feel all round.
What’s not so good?
It is remarkably quiet, even when you are really thrashing it. A bit more noise certainly wouldn’t go amiss, even for Subaru’s intended audience.
First impressions?
A massively accomplished car at a remarkably good price, the Subaru WRX is still a Bang-for-your-Buck champion. It’s just that you get a far more civilised package for your money now, as well as the searing performance.
Massive fun, good looking, blisteringly quick and well equipped, the WRX is now capable of being a lot more things to a lot more people. The manual is still probably the enthusiastic driver’s choice, but we will be buggered if the damn CVT isn’t actually that far off the “fun” mark either.
The manual mode (either six or eight speeds, depending on whether you are in Sport or Sport Sharp mode) is slick and fast, while the continuous variability of it is actually, well, rather good. We actually seem to have finally discovered a car in which we could happily live with the CVT… check for airborne porcine creatures and the possibility that satan has broken out his winter woolies…
Whether the dickheads will stop buying it is far from certain, but the WRX is now a far more complete car, while still offering the same old wonderful ability to make passengers clench absolutely everything.
Models/prices
WRX (manual) – $48,990
WRX (CVT) – $49,990
WRX Premium (manual) – $53,990
WRX Premium (CVT) – $54,990
Powertrain
2.0-litre horizontally-opposed four-cylinder petrol turbo producing 197kW/350Nm; six-speed manual transmission or continuously variable transmission; all-wheel drive
Fuel consumption: 9.2l/100km (manual), 8.6L/100km (CVT)
CO2 emissions: 213g/km (manual), 199g/km (CVT)
Safety
ANCAP/EuroNCAP rating: 5 Star
Air bags: 7
Stability control: yes
Lap/diagonal belts: 5
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