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| 2015 Subaru WRX Review, Specs, Price, Pictures |
Every time I drive a Subaru WRX, I wish one of my parents had taken some weird, top-secret spy job that would have forced us to relocate to Finland when I was a kid. I could have learned the art of rally-style car control as a young lad, and in my adult life, sought out a dangerous/rewarding/awesome career as a professional WRC driver.
Never was that more clear than on the launch program for the new 2015 WRX, where Subaru pointed us down a long, somewhat treacherous stretch of road in the tree-lined mountains of northern California. Quick elevation changes were met with blind turns and washed-out shoulders, not to mention rogue bits of snow, ice and gravel that lined the apexes of nearly every turn. Here, I couldnt stop grinning, my co-driver and I switching between second and third gears, with precise steering inputs and judicious braking keeping us safely on the road and not plummeting nose-first into the trees. And the WRX simply devoured each inch of pavement with a ferocious poise that made me remember why I have loved this car so darn much.
The WRX has never been a particularly pretty thing, and the new model does nothing to break that trend, despite its decidedly hot concept car roots. Then again, you dont have to look at the sheet metal while youre driving (Ive used this same logic with prior versions of the car), and even Subarus executives know that people arent buying this thing for its glamor.
Specs
Make it big, and make it boxy; thats the ethos of the new WRXs styling, at least at the front end where the air intakes have never looked quite so massive, or the fenders quite so pronounced. Subaru says the deep front air dam and grille arent the only pieces swapped out to make it so: the WRX has its own hood, fenders, bumpers, and lighting to distinguish it from the Impreza. Key details include the more deeply set (and functional) hood scoop, LED low beam headlights on upgraded models, and new 17-inch wheels, standard. Somehow, with all that in place, it all still reads dully not nearly as compelling as the extravagant mechanicals that lie beneath the skin.
Subaru says its done a lot to further differentiate the new WRX from its Impreza roots (including removing "Impreza" from its name), and while theres proof in the pudding, that doesnt come through at first glance. The WRX is a touch larger than a stock Impreza 0.2 inches have been added to the wheelbase, 0.6 to overall length, 0.4 to height and, most importantly, 2.2 to width. Nearly all of the sheetmetal has been changed in creating the car, with only the glass, roof and decklid carrying over from the Impreza. Given the amount of money and effort expended, its fair to say were disappointed that there isnt more visual separation between the Rex and its pedestrian Impreza cousins.
Other 2015 model year updates include newly designed, dark-finished 17-inch wheels, now with a five-lug pattern that matches the rollers of the current STI. (This was something owners had been clamoring for, apparently. Also, where are the WRC-spec gold wheels). Elsewhere, Subaru has incorporated LED headlamps (on top-trim models) and LED taillamps. Still, the end result is a car that looks. like a hot Impreza. That said, nobody will mistake it for anything but a WRX on the road especially in its signature WR Blue.
A vast majority of the WRXs driving excitement comes down to the new 2.0-liter boxer four-cylinder engine, which is, essentially, a reworked version of whats found in the 2014 Forester XT. Here in the WRX, it produces 268 horsepower at 5,600 rpm and 258 pound-feet of torque between 2,000 and 5,200 rpm – gains of only 3 hp and 14 lb-ft versus its predecessor. That engine is tasked with carrying an additional 59 pounds of heft compared to the 2014 model, with the base curb weight for the manual transmission model I tested coming in at 3,267 pounds. Because of this, Subaru estimates a 0-60 time of 5.4 seconds with the six-speed – a few ticks slower than the outgoing model. That said, Subaru fully admits that the 5.4-second time is extremely conservative, and my seat-of-the-pants observation agrees.
Performance
A vast majority of the WRXs driving excitement comes down to the new 2.0-liter boxer four-cylinder engine, which is, essentially, a reworked version of whats found in the 2014 Forester XT. Here in the WRX, it produces 268 horsepower at 5,600 rpm and 258 pound-feet of torque between 2,000 and 5,200 rpm gains of only 3 hp and 14 lb-ft versus its predecessor. That engine is tasked with carrying an additional 59 pounds of heft compared to the 2014 model, with the base curb weight for the manual transmission model I tested coming in at 3,267 pounds. Because of this, Subaru estimates a 0-60 time of 5.4 seconds with the six speed a few ticks slower than the outgoing model. That said, Subaru fully admits that the 5.4 second time is extremely conservative, and my seat of the-pants observation agrees.
The CVT helps with fuel economy, too, though that wont be outwardly apparent. Official EPA numbers are forthcoming, but Subaru expects the CVT model to be rated at 19/25/21 miles per gallon (city/highway/combined). Thats not great, but heres why: Thats the car as tested in Sport mode, which Subaru expects the WRX will be driven in the majority of the time. The company states that in Intelligent mode, those numbers rise to 23/30/25, but since the car wont likely achieve that most of the time, they decided they had better go with the more attainable numbers. The 6MT car will net 21/28/24 mpg, which is respectable, considering how much fun it is.
Braking performance has also improved for 2015, with the WRX now using 12.4 inch ventilated front rotors with dual-piston calipers, up from the 11.6 inch diameter units of its predecessor. The 11.3 inch solid rear rotors with single-piston calipers carry over from the old WRX. In street use, I was never left wanting for more brake performance, but improved pedal feel would have been appreciated. Theres a disappointingly sizable moment of vagueness when you hit the stop pedal, and you have to dig your toes deeper into the footwell to get the sort of stopping performance required during spirited runs. As for fade, none was apparent, even after hours of caning the Subie around some of the best roads northern California has to offer.
