It’s the go-anywhere, rip the HOA, and hoon like a hero part of Subaru. It’s Colin McRae’s 1995 World Rally Championship, and bug-eyed blue sedans that could have been styled using Play-Doh by a six-year-old. It’s not about cute little paw stickers in the back of an Outback hauling Labradoodles around Vermont. It’s about the WRX. That’s the Subaru that’s worth loving, craving and worshipping. And it’s been reformulated for 2022 in a new extra-strength generation.
It has less to do with the Impreza than ever before. Sort of.
Built using Subaru’s Global Platform, the WRX shares most of its structure and chassis components with every other Subaru except the BRZ. That includes the 2.4-liter turbocharged flat-four engine that’s also used in the Ascent crossover. The 2.4’s turbo has an electronically controlled wastegate and bypass valves for better power production. Throw in a bunch of software tweaks and the result is a bump up in claimed output from 260 horsepower at 5600 rpm in the Ascent to 271 at 5600 rpm in the new WRX. Those additional hoofbeats come with a slight diminishment in total grunt. The Ascent’s engine is rated at 277 lb-ft of peak torque from 2000 to 4800 rpm. The 2022 WRX peaks at 258 lb-ft between 2000 and 5200 rpm.
The 2.0-liter turbo boxer engine in the outgoing WRX is rated at 268 hp at 5600 rpm with the peak 258 lb-ft between 2000 and 5200 rpm. So, the increase in power here is quite slight. And the torque figures haven’t budged. Maybe some prolonged exposure will indicate a difference in character between the old and new engines that doesn’t show up in the specifications.
Also keep in mind that the 2.5-liter turbo flat-four in the current WRX STI screams out 310 hp at 6000 rpm and thumps with 290 lb-ft between 4000 and 5200 rpm. While Subaru isn't discussing the next STI just yet, the expectation is that it will be engorged with at least as much power as the current version when it appears. And hopefully more. Much more.
With equal-length exhaust headers on this new WRX engine, it won't make that obnoxious, super-snot mega-growl that has become the hallmark of modified Subarus around the planet. The aftermarket will have to supply a solution to produce the sound so many owners want. Owners of 2015 to 2021 WRXs are no stranger to this predicament.
Behind the engine is either a Subaru-made six-speed manual transmission or, in the new WRX GT model, a step-shifting continuously variable automatic branded as the "Subaru Performance Transmission." Subaru claims the revised CVT produces upshifts as much as 30 percent quicker than its predecessor CVT with downshifts up to 50 percent quicker. Of course, this is a CVT, so these are electronically defined, virtual "gears" and not actual cogs.
All-wheel drive is, duh, still part of the program. With active torque vectoring and much else in the way of intrinsic goodness, Subaru knows its AWD stuff. It should prove dang excellent. Hopefully.
For the fiddlers out there, the powertrain's behavior can be tweaked through the "SI-Drive Performance Management System." That will be hours of fun.
There’s nothing shocking about the new WRX’s basic suspension design. There will be MacPherson struts keeping the nose off the ground and a multi-link system doing the same at the fantail. With a structure that Subaru says is, compared with the 2021 WRX, 28 percent stiffer in overall torsional rigidity and 75 percent stiffer at the suspension mounting points, plus longer suspension travel, handling should be significantly improved. Throw in a new "dual pinion" electronic power steering system beyond all that. The GT model also gets electronic dampers with a dizzying array of driver-adjustable elements.
In fact, Subaru says there are 430 different customization options available to the WRX GT driver, between the dampers, steering, all-wheel-drive settings and probably a couple of other things. Try them all.
When the New York Auto Show was skunked (again) for 2021, Subie’s plans to debut the new WRX there were trashed too. So, a new scheme was improvised by the Subaru PR brain trust. Some of us car writer types were invited out to the Club Thermal motorsports development in the 115-degree heat of Thermal, California to see the new machine and get a ride-along around the club's short road course in a pair of prototypes with rallycross driver Scott Speed.
From the right seat, the steering seemed almost weightless. And there weren’t any pedals. So, our driving impressions are severely limited.
While the new WRX shares its windshield and firewall with the Impreza, this is the first WRX that doesn’t have the same glass greenhouse and pillars as the less rambunctious car. The outgoing WRX wasn’t branded as an Impreza, but it sure looked like one. This one looks like its own thing. And it’s kind of pretty this time. That’s something new for a WRX.
Inside there’s an available 11.6-inch tablet embedded into the dash, loads of nanny tech and some nice contrast-colored stitching. It’s also roomy, with truly impressive rear seat leg room. GT models also get Recaro branded seats which are nicely Recaro-like.
The new WRX should be on sale towards the end of this year. Prices should start at just about $30,000.
John Pearley Huffman has been writing about cars since 1990 and is getting okay at it. Besides Car and Driver, his work has appeared in the New York Times and more than 100 automotive publications and websites. A graduate of UC Santa Barbara, he still lives near that campus with his wife and two children. He owns a pair of Toyota Tundras and two Siberian huskies. He used to have a Nova and a Camaro.
