   2015 Subaru WRX Sport Tech 6MT. Click image to enlarge |
Review by Justin Pritchard, Photos by Chris Koski
Hang onto your privates! When you give the new Subaru WRX a bootful of gas, its new little beastie of an engine alters its valve timing to inhale great big huffs of pressurized air from the sneaky little turbo, which itself urgently spools up the boost as if it’s its last day on earth. The turbo’s new dual-scroll design increases performance by recovering more energy from the exhaust stream to drive more than 20 psi worth of compressed and intercooled air into the cylinders. Yee haa!
And you smirk like an overgrown man-child in the process, because the WRX flings itself along into a fit of gobbling up pavement, slamming you into your seat, and clawing at the ground beneath for all-wheel traction. All the while, the cabin is flooded with overlapping layers of sound from the fluttering boxer-engine exhaust pulses, meshing gears and turbocharger whining, until you grab the next gear from the new six-speed stick and repeat the process.
So, it might be the new WRX, but the experience is hugely familiar when you hammer down.
It’s still familiar on rough roads, too. Driven thusly, drivers can expect the same sense that someone at Subaru drove the WRX on the sort of roads we common folk see in the real world, and set up the suspension to feel tough and robust for ride quality’s sake. Even on the crater fields that pass as roads in Sudbury, the WRX rides with solid and well-damped density. It’s comfortable on rough stuff – a little busy yes – but it never feels like a flimsy shopping cart full of empty soup cans being pushed across a gravel parking lot.
WRX is still easy to drive gently too, once you get the hang of the clutch and shifter. This new six-speed setup isn’t forgiving and will take a little getting used to for most – though it’s gratifying once nailed, and features perfect pedal placement and throttle-response friskiness for heel-and-toe shifting. The clutch has decent bite and doesn’t feel like it’s made of Cheese Whiz. The throw is a little long and the action a little notchy, though the overall sensation of smashing gears in the WRX is manly and precise.
So, in all, as it’s been for years, the latest WRX maintains its market presence as a bonkers, battle-ready sport sedan that makes noises from your favourite video racing game, is real-road friendly, and is affordable for common folks. Hell, it even smells like every other WRX (or WRX STI or Impreza) that your writer’s ever driven. So, if you’re coming out of an older WRX, or you’re a long-time-fan and first-time buyer, you’ll feel right at home in the new machine.
  2015 Subaru WRX Sport Tech 6MT dashboard. Click image to enlarge |
With one turbo, three pedals, four-wheel drive and four doors (a five-door was available but has disappeared this year) WRX has long been Canada’s unofficial performance car. WRX owners belong to a fiercely loyal community both online and at the local Cruise Night. They have a wave. Their beloved superhero sedan has boy-racer factor balanced nicely against everyday practicality, strong aftermarket support and more.
Plus, as about the only AWD competitor in its class, it’s ready for track-day, the highway, a snow-day, or a jaunt up a mountain with a roof-rack full of skis in the middle of a blizzard without missing a beat. And, it has a hood scoop and quad-pipe exhaust, which is badass. Plus, and this is the important part, you can probably buy one.
And Subaru says that now’s the time to do it, if you’re so inclined. Improvements this year promise to take the WRX up a few notches without compromising the character it’s built on, or the attributes that make it unique and special.
 2015 Subaru WRX Sport Tech 6MT. Click image to enlarge |
Mostly.
The new 2.0L direct-injection engine revs higher, hits harder, winds out more eagerly, and pulls more urgently and smoothly than the old 2.5. There’s more pull everywhere, especially at low revs, where the new twin-scroll turbo, direct injection and trick variable valve timing system team up for synergistic results. The exhaust tone at start-up is deep and rich with bass, and during throttle lift, a deep “BOOOOF” overlaps all of the other WRX sound effects as the engine cuts fuel momentarily and sends a shock-wave from the exhaust. Even with the six-speed box, highway revs at speed land north of 2,500 — right where the turbo is frothing at the mouth to do its thing at the slightest roll on the throttle. Passing happens with minimal lag, and no downshifting required.
And, despite those higher-than-expected highway revs, a reduction in displacement and the addition of the latest in high-tech fuel saving make this WRX better on fuel too. A look back at my notes saw mileage on past WRX test drives landing at 10 or 11 L/100 km. The new one did 9.6 L/100 km overall — and that’s with a bit more ‘on paper’ horsepower, and a considerably more responsive performance experience.
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
