A legendary vehicle from its creation in 1992, the Subaru Impreza WRX has been on most import tuner enthusiasts’ short lists for hot boxes since its old-school days eons ago – and thanks, in part, to its appearance in video games that well preceded its arrival in the United States.
The WRX gained its elite status thanks to the late Scottish driving ace Colin McRae, but in recent years its mystique was somewhat dented by performance that didn’t quite live up to previous standards.
With 40 more ponies under its scooped hood for 2009, we set out to see if this latest WRX offers the blistering performance at a low price point that we’ve come to expect from Subaru .
What is it?
A turbocharged version of the Impreza all-wheel-drive vehicle, it is reminiscent of their World Rally Cup car and manages to pack an incredible amount of power and performance into a buzz-bomb style platform rather than one that is bigger and heavier.
For 2009, the WRX gains 41 horsepower and 18 lb-ft. of torque compared to the outgoing model – itself introduced just one year ago.
What’s it up against?
Obvious competition includes the similar-in-concept Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution, which has been the WRX’s arch rival for as long as we can remember.
More recent rivals include the Mazda Mazdaspeed3 and we’ll even toss the Volkswagen GTI into the mix.
Any breakthroughs?
Other than the ability to extract 265 horsepower from a four-cylinder, horizontally opposed boxer engine, not too much will shock you here.
What the WRX offers is impressive cohesion. Mind you, it’s not Lexus -quiet, but that is not its purpose. This is just a ride that is made to get up and go – and supply great handling to boot!
How does it look?
Order the five-door hatchback variant and you’ll find that the WRX is consistent with the other two-box designs out there, including the Mazda speed3, and VW GTI. Order the three-box sedan design and then you get a car that, well, looks like a sedan. Our test vehicle was resplendent in ticket-me-red.
The hatchback is very handsome in a fluid-like form that is hard to describe, but you’ll instantly know it when you see it.
Starting up front with an aggressively subtle spoiler and fog lamp assembly, the WRX appears extremely mild-mannered except for the huge functional hood scoop up top – immediately, you’ll realize that something’s going on under hood.
Gone is the unfortunate horse-collar design from the grille, in favor of the new wing-like corporate face of the Subaru line. A character line that is reminiscent of recent BMW models runs the length of the side panels for a balanced look that adds interest to the side, as does the ground effects pieces on the rockers.
The tail wraps up nicely with a backlight spoiler, an implied under-bumper diffuser and LED taillights, although we would favor a return to standard red, white and amber lenses instead of the now passé look of JDM-style clear lenses.
From an aesthetic point of view, we love the 17-inch smoke grey alloys, which in addition to looking good, help to hide the brake dust.
And inside?
Subaru’s little buzz-bomb features great seating with good bolstering in front to keep you in place during the aggressive maneuvers that are sure to come from being behind the wheel of this little rocket. The back seat falls short in the bolster department, but does offer adequate legroom for average around-town jaunts. Depending on the length of your legs and your patience, it might not be the same for longer excursions. The rear seats do fold down in a 60/40 split to offer more cargo hauling capability.
From the driver’s position all the necessary gauges and instruments are visible. A binnacle housing temperature and fuel gauges, tachometer and speedometer are visible through the chunky three-spoke steering wheel.
Brushed aluminum-like pieces accent the dashboard and continue along the doors, and help to break up the all black treatment throughout the cabin. A standard-non-navigation equipped audio system with 10 speakers and Satellite capability holds sway at the top of the center stack, over the automatic climate control system, which is unusual in a car of this segment.
A word about satellite radio – and this is not just directed at Subaru: Quit teasing us. There is no reason to deliver a car with XM or Sirius turned off.
The interior does a fairly good job of isolating the road and engine noise of the boxer engine, except when you want it to go loud.
But does it go?
It does get loud when squeezed, which is the beauty of the Subaru 2.5-liter Boxer engine. Horizontally opposed, the engine with the intercooler on top has been modified to deliver the 265 horsepower and 244 lb-ft of torque we hyped up earlier. Credit the larger turbo with increased boost, and a larger diameter exhaust with low-density catalyst for the improvement in power. Along the way, EPA mileage estimates have also increased by one-mpg to 19 city and 25 highway, respectively.
The short-throw five-speed shifter imparts a satisfying clunk-clunk feeling. It’s one of the best we have recently tested. Want the six-speed manual? You’ll have to plunk down a bunch of Benjamins to step up to the WRX STi version.
The WRX’s suspension, all-new with the 2008 revision of the car, features a double-wishbone rear setup. Subaru has improved on it once again, by increasing the diameter of the front and rear stabilizer bars by 1 mm from 20 to 21 mm in front and 15 to 16 mm at the rear. Subie also snatched upper strut mounts from the STi and that up followed by making the spring rates in front 43-percent stiffer, while toughening up the rear to the tune of 42-percent stiffer, which also helped keep the symmetrical all-wheel-drive firmly planted.
A torquey little monster, this WRX five-door, while looking nothing like the sedan that gained popularity until the model changeover in 2008, is the real deal.
A blast to hang the tail out slightly before the rear tires engage, it has the ability to get the hairs on the arm standing straight up – and that’s just on the wife or girlfriend. Its handling is almost completely centered, the result of the AWD and the new lower center-of-gravity displayed by setting the boxer powerplant lower in the engine compartment. With all four corners firmly planted, and the electronic limited slip differential doing its part, we found quick lane changes easily accomplished. The steering is well dampened due to its speed dependent power assist, which helped the WRX feel more like it was riding on a rail than any car we have tested since the Mini Cooper.
Why you would buy it?
You are an adrenaline junkie, and love to feel it coursing through your veins as you control the WRX at the edge of sanity and good sense.
Why you wouldn’t?
You like to drive home with the interior light on inside the car at night because you are afraid of the dark.
2009 Subaru Impreza WRX 5-Door base price, $24,995. As tested, $25,690.
Destination, $695.
Words and photos by Mark Elias.
