SUBARU WRX THE GAME CHANGER!
SUBARU’S ALL-PAW BOXER-ENGINED WRX MADE US RETHINK WHAT A PERFORMANCE CAR SHOULD BE
The 1990s was the decade of the Subaru Impreza WRX. Seldom have t hree letters created such a devoted (and informed) follow ing among the automotive cognoscenti. ‘GTS’ and ‘SS’, a long wit h t he evergreen ‘GT’ were nowhere near as brand-specific as the Subaru-only trio. But the letters are only famous because the car wearing them was a unique concoction. Subaru’s competition sedan for t he 1990s was a well-kept secret wit hin a ver y tight group of Fuji Heav y Industries executives and development engineers. One of t he criteria for t his program was t hat ever y WRX owner would be a ra lly driver, if not in actua lit y, at least
in his or her fantasy life. And in t he most gruelling arena of world championship ra lly ing, it had to be an outright winner: if it didn’t win, keep developing it, was t he catchcr y.
From the moment of conception, the WRX had to beat a ll ex isting 1.5-litre and 2.0-litre performance cars. The unique selling proposition was: light weight but rigid car, natura lly powerful turbocharged engine, sy mmetrical four-wheel drive chassis wit h v iscous coupling centre dif ferentia l, understated but unmistakably sporting st yle and a cabin t hat says: drive me.
The f irst time I gleaned an idea of t he original MY94 model’s potentia l was delivered v ia my rear-v iew mirrors. I k new t hat t his ver y car would be behind me, because a friend – one litt le interested in cars or driv ing – was follow ing me. I was in my nicely t weaked Alfa 105-Series GTV. It would in t he short-term f uture, secure a class placing in t he 1994 Targa Tasmania; how could I resist giv ing it a bootf ul in f irst and second gears? I k new t he Alfa was good for a 16-second 400m, still quick for any four-cylinder car in t hat era. Imagine my amazement when the casually driven test car (on loan for the usual week, and only just come into my custody) kept up ef fort lessly!
The WRX was not only much faster than all small-engined cars, it was not until t he April 2000 introduction of the 300kW GTS that any HSV model had been able to out-accelerate t he $40K wundercar, let a lone an STi (of which more short ly).
That original car was compromised by an interior that seemed to have been robbed of a ll lu x uries besides a lovely non-airbag Nardi wheel. The seats had t he k ind of hessian-like trim you’d find on camping chairs in an army disposa ls store. And there was tremendous turbo lag. Other wise, you could just about cr y your eyes out for such a hot litt le machine: sex y in its own provocative and inimitable fashion.
The Subaru Impreza WRX cost $39,990 and t here was a choice of sedan or hatch, bot h available only wit h manual transmission. Peak power from the t win-cam f lat four was 155kW