The interior is improved similarly. The last WRX I drove in 2011 had a cabin passionately lined with economy-grade plastic paneling and felt and sounded empty and hollow. In the new car, there’s soft-plastic in the usual places for a richer cabin feel, the doors close with a solid ‘thunk’, and if you assertively flick a sun-visor out of the way, there’s no longer a three-second hollow twang after it hits the roof liner. A more substantial feel to the doors and handles and console, and the same abundant storage for smaller items nearby as the last model, round things out.
  2015 Subaru WRX Sport Tech 6MT gauges & centre stack. Click image to enlarge |
Beneath that interior, the latest AWD system has been enhanced too. It now works in sync with the brakes in a new feature called Active Torque Vectoring, which slightly drags the brakes on the inside wheels to help the WRX lock more tightly onto its intended line. From the driver’s seat hammering it out of a corner, the action of this new system is experienced as a solid tucking-in of the WRX on its line. Where the old system felt absolutely locked in with a bit of understeer when pushed, the new one exhibits a mischievous squirm-slide without braking traction as it scrambles to go even more precisely where it’s pointed. It’s a little more playful and fun.
And the limits are, as usual, very very high. The WRX sticks, and if you turn up the throttle, steering or velocity, it just sticks more. Instrumented testing saw 0-100 km/h runs in about 5.4 seconds, which it felt like the WRX could achieve while being pointed through cone slalom.
So for its latest go-around, WRX is a better car in a multitude of measurable ways.
  2015 Subaru WRX Sport Tech 6MT. Click image to enlarge |
Still, your writer missed a few elements that made former WRX testers feel that little bit special. Since the WRX delivers as close to a world-class performance sedan experience as the average Canadian will get their hands on anywhere near its price, it has a duty to be unique, conversation-starting and full of interesting touches. To reward its driver. To incite some envy from its driver’s friends and fellow car buffs. To maintain that mystique and curiosity about the AWD turbo rally car that can embarrass many a pricier machine in the hands of the right driver.
And some of those touches haven’t made it into the new machine. Notably, your writer missed the giant centre-mounted tachometer in the last model, which helped set the cabin’s tone as a performance weapon and add some of that special flare. Now, the instrument cluster is just normal. It’s about the same one you’d find in an Outback, but with red backlighting instead of white.
The racy-looking sports seats are gone too. The new ones are comfortable and supportive and nice and won’t see your kidneys smash into the door panels if you rip some bends, but like the instrument cluster, they aren’t as exceptional, nor do they as instantly identify the WRX as a rally-rocket in disguise.
At Cruise Night, surrounded by numerous owners of former WRX models, I was repeatedly told the wheels wouldn’t look out of place on a Civic, and that the overall styling, quad-pipes and hood-scoop aside, looks more tame and less daring and more and generic and mainstream than the last-gen machine, too.
And maybe that’s the point. Heck, you can even get it with a CVT transmission in your WRX these days. (Which you won’t, because you value your manhood and other people’s opinion of you, and you don’t want to make young car enthusiasts cry when they closely investigate your WRX in the parking lot at Costco). But more mainstream may lead to more units sold, since Subaru has struggled with a consumer perception that they’re a sort of special niche brand.
New pricing will help sell more cars too – as the new WRX comes in thousands cheaper than it did a few years ago. You can get your 268 hp, AWD, six-speed-stick WRX from $30,000 now.
End of the day, some might wish for a touch more visual flare and character from the cabin or styling, though most fans and owners should find the WRX has advanced in all the areas where it needed to, a few where it didn’t need to, and now adds up to an even more compelling package. Importantly, it’s still a hell of a machine to drive.
Pricing: 2015 Subaru WRX
Base price: $32,495 (WRX Sport Tech 6MT)
Freight: $1,650
AC Fee: $100
As Tested: $34,245
Competitors
Honda Civic Si
Mazdaspeed 3
Volkswagen GLI / GTI
Crash Test Results:
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA): 5/5 Star
Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS): Top Safety Pick
