Bani new car shopping: Subaru Impreza WRX Wagon

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Bani new car shopping: Subaru Impreza WRX Wagon

Post by bani »

I'm shopping for a new car. To help sort out the decision I'm putting down my test drive notes 'on paper'.

2006 Subaru Impreza WRX Wagon

Trim tested

WRX Wagon

First impressions:

Butt ugly. But solidly constructed. But then nobody buys a subaru for looks, right?

Interior

Cheap cheap cheap. Incredibly cheap materials everywhere, though everything is solidly put together and nothing feels really flimsy. Sort of like if fisher-price designed the interior of a sports car using interlocking black plastic pieces. You can tell it's cheap, but you can also tell it's not going to fall to pieces either. You can beat on this quite a bit and it's going to stay together.

Just about the only things on the dash that doesn't scream cheapness is the excellent leather wrapped steering wheel, and the excellent instrument cluster with brightly lit needles and markings.

Decent ergonomics overall, dials and gauges are placed right where you expect them to be, and there's few frivolous extras to distract a driver.

However the dashboard digital clock is very hard to read in broad daylight, and the A/C light is completely impossible to see in broad daylight.

Front seating are excellent comfortable sport seats with generous side bolsters. Make no mistake, you will need them -- this car can generate considerable lateral G's.

Rear seating is tight but not cramped. Rear seats are a bit on the firm side but not uncomfortable. Scalloped areas in the back of the front row seats give rear passengers adequate leg and knee room.

Exterior

A cross of 1970s station wagon and 1990s musclecar. A functional hood scoop feeds the top mounted intercooler, giving the car a visual appearance just a shade below a boy racer. That is, if you view it from the front.

From the rear quarters it takes on the appearance of an unassuming non-performance wagon.

In other words, "almost understated, butt ugly", depending on what angle you're viewing the car from.

Road Test

All right, this is more like it!

From the very moment the car starts moving, you can tell the WRX is a real driver's car.

The 2.5L turbocharged boxer engine is a little pokey in the low revs, but once the turbocharger spools up you get a nice sudden rush of power and the car proceeds to tear your head off if you're not paying attention.

Or rather, it would tear your head off if you didn't have the integrated headrests in the sport seats.

And the WRX does make a nice sound indeed. The horizontally-opposed piston engine gives a mean growl unique to H4 boxer engines, and the turbo gives a nice whine. A pleasant combination that never gets boring.

Once the turbo is spun up, you have torque available in spades and overtaking even in 5th gear is no problem for the WRX.

Which is a bit weird, because the car really feels like it could use a 6th gear. Hello Subaru?

In terms of gearbox, the manual shifter is precise and flicks into all gears cleanly and without any fuss. The clutch has excellent throw and is easily feathered with a progressive and smooth engagement point. None of this on-off clutch nonsense in the A3 or Mazdaspeed6. Moving from a dead stop is always easy. This is how a manual transmission should be.

The steering wheel is nicely weighted and precise, with excellent communication of the road to the driver. Steering is sharp and precise, and the car is fairly nimble with a small turning circle making it trivial to park in tight quarters. On highways the wheels sometimes grab grooves in the road requiring sudden slight steering corrections, which can be a minor annoyance.

Handling is a tad sloppy, with considerable body roll in tight turns, and it is even possible to get rear wheel liftoff like a cheap 80s hatchback -- although the subaru full-time AWD ensures this is never a steering problem. Understeer when it occurs is mild and easily controllable and the car handles fairly neutrally, as one would expect from a true AWD car.

And about that AWD. Unlike part-time haldex imitation "awd' setups with computer controlled clutches which are really FWD most of the time, the subaru AWD is true mechanical full-time AWD.

And thanks to the subaru AWD you always have loads of grip, even in the wet. The WRX can easily make one feel like a driving hero, always managing to put down power evenly from a dead stop without smoking tires like a FWD car would. It would be easy to be lulled into the false sense that your car has more capability than it really does. A quick stomp on the brakes quickly reminds one that "ok, i have loads of traction, but AWD does not defy the laws of physics thankyouverymuch".

In terms of traction, the WRX is definitely no Subaru STI. The grip is nowhere near the insane - nay, cartooney levels of traction found in the STI. And the roly poly WRX chassis leaning every which way in the bends reminds you of how incredibly flat the STI corners at speed.

The tradeoff is that the ride is the WRX is considerably less harsh than the STI, so you won't be needing a weekly visit to the osteopath. The road noise is intrusive, though less annoying than the STI.

Not that you'd really care, the hum of that delicious boxer engine and turbo keeps you deliriously grinning. The WRX and the STI are two of the few cars that manage to make me smile when driving them.

However the WRX is a true daily driver, miles more comfortable than the STI.

And about $9,000 cheaper.

Conclusion

If the STI is 200% of the car I ever wanted, the WRX is easily 150%.

I just wish subaru wasn't so stingy on the interior.
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Fusen
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Post by Fusen »

we all know you wanted the subaru all along, racing around the countryside being your own codriver reading out the road layout above

it'll be like your very own rally
Not all things are true :(
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Post by Nail »

get the wagon, buy a Recaro seat, job done
Improvise, Adapt, Overcome
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bani
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