MORE SPEED, MORE FUN
Subaru achieves an automotive rarity by making the new WRX a more enjoyable vehicle
The rain came down in windblown sheets. Green leaves and branches peppered the ground, knocked loose by the wind and marble-sized rain drops. It was perfect weather if you were a turtle — or a Subaru.
The WRX is labelled a “sports car,” along with rivals that include the Ford Mustang, Volkswagen Golf GTI, and Honda Civic Si. It lags in fuel economy, has questionable styling, and there is no two-door or hatchback body style offered. But I'd like to see the other cars try out this road, which is somewhere north of Parham, Ont.
Broken and pockmarked pavement gave way to gravel, and the road is dotted with milky brown puddles and barely wide enough for one-and-a-half cars, so you have to watch out for blind corners and mind the yumps.
Under the Subaru's bescooped hood sits a boxer four-cylinder engine that makes 271 horsepower and 258 lb-ft of torque. I wonder how much water that scoop is inhaling as I floor it through an open stretch of road and the boost gauge climbs.
Gone is the famous “boxer rumble,” which was a result of the unequal lengths of exhaust tubing leading from the ports to the turbo. This new WRX has equallength headers and sounds — like a normal four cylinder. It makes more power this way and does so with more efficiency, but at a cost of a little bit of Subaru soul.
Not that it matters much on this road. Stab the gas and there's still some time to build suspense before the boost loads in and slingshots you down the road for just long enough to grab the next gear and do it all over again. It's intoxicating.
The new WRX rides on a chassis that is slightly longer, for increased rear legroom and more shoulder room front and rear. The seats have been redesigned to reduce pressure points on the body while static and while cornering.
An 11.6-inch infotainment touch screen is optional (a seven-inch unit is standard) and Android Auto and Apple Carplay are standard.
There are also improvements in the optional continuously variable transmission (CVT), called the “Subaru Performance Transmission.” The CVT comes with steering wheel-mounted paddles to shift it up and down through simulated gears. Interestingly, only the Cvt-equipped WRX has variable torque distribution between the front and rear wheels.
It's a fine transmission for duty in vehicles such as the Outback, but in a performance setting the flaws are readily apparent. It can't launch as hard as the manual, it can't engine brake as much, and response time suffers, even in its sporty mode. The WRX with a manual transmission has a take rate of between 75 and 80 per cent, depending on trim and year, which is one of the highest manual take rates I have ever heard of in 2022.
I'm glad the one I'm in has a stick shift when the car gets light over a crest on the rainy gravel road. In my mind, I am rally and racing driver Walter Röhrl.
In reality, I am traversing this road at approximately 45 kilometres an hour. But the WRX lets you live out all your rally-car dreams. It has a real mechanical handbrake, should you choose to engage in high-school parking-lot shenanigans.
Subaru has increased the suspension travel by five per cent in the front and 20 per cent in the rear to increase back-road confidence while yielding a smoother ride. Though the grip on pavement is unyielding, the WRX can be rotated on loose surfaces if you desire. But more than being fun, it gives an additional degree of security, knowing I could swerve out of the way of a preoccupied turtle if I needed to and not end up like a turtle on its lid myself.
In the right environment, the new WRX is more fun to drive than the previous model. It's common for new cars to be faster than the ones they replace but rare for them to become more enjoyable. The WRX has achieved that and it won over the biggest gravel-road fans around: WRX owners.
Along with the usual gaggle of automotive writers, Subaru decided to bring two ardent Subaru fans to the media launch. Adam Barichello and Mark Burlo both own blue WRXS of different generations and both love their cars.
But after driving a 2022 WRX for a full day in the rain on pavement and gravel, both came away impressed enough to say they would trade in their beloved Hawkeye and fourth generation WRXS for a new one if they had the chance.