'08 WRX Review

[CGMDan]

Alright kids, here's my review of the '08 WRX.
I was an instructor/driver at the Subaru event in LA, so you could say I spent a bit of time in and driving the car. Since everyone has seen exterior pics of the car, all I'll say is I think it looks better in person. And yes I do like the hatch better than the sedan. The interior is definately more bland, but in some ways I like it better than current, and in others I hate it. The center stack seems a bit more refined/luxury, and the huge center tach is nice, but it does seem more "plasticy" than the current layout. And whats with no cupholders in the back.

Coming from an '05 STI, the suspension is pretty soft. (Myles, where are you!!) I could feel the car bouncing when people would get in and out. Not just the weight of someone getting in but compression AND rebound. There was quite a bit of body lean, but a set of springs and sways can take care of that. Thru the corners it handles pretty well. Under accelleration there is mild understeer, but it's not bad. When particpants would go thru a corner too fast and get on the gas it would push pretty good, but I would chalk that up to the driver not the car. It would happen on ANY car let alone an AWD. When us drivers would take it thru the high speed sweeper it would push a bit, but if you lifted or brushed the brakes you could get it to tighten up nicely. While trailbraking it was pretty easy to rotate the car, so you autoX'ers will be happy. BUT, let the RPMs drop below 2500 and your not going anywhere.

Now, a note for those of you who attended the event, we were told not to drop it into first coming out of the corners when giving hot laps. Mainly to save wear and tear on the cars. With that being said, a few times I did put it in first coming out of the hairpin and noticed the car really felt like a FWD car. I would get quite a bit of front wheelspin, and then it finally send the power to the rear. I don't know if it's the functionality of the WRX AWD, but it's never felt that way in my STI given the same conditions. We did have traction control off during the hot lap portion.

Power delivery is very smooth. The turbo kicks in about 2500 rpm, but you just notice a smooth surge in power (think modern VTEC, not a kick in the back like an STI.)

Brakes weren't bad, but being 2-pots up front, they could get rather overwhelmed with sticky tires.
Yes the tires (RE92s) sucked, and we wore the outside treadblocks off. The tires would also roll to the point that some of the lettering was worn off of the side. But the track surface was so abrasive that ANY tire would have ended up the same. There was one blowout, but we don't know the exact cause. There was a pothole on the backside of the hot lap portion that we would try to avoid, so it could have been that. There was no damage done to the car.

Overall I liked the WRX, but not having driven an '04-'07 WRX, I can't make a direct comparison. I think they're good cars, but like any stock cars there's room for improvement. I would buy one for the GF and I wouldn't complain about driving it, but I wouldn't get rid of the STI.

[Kevin]

Thanks CGMDan, great review!

Any thoughts on the current gearing?

[Parker]

great review...can't wait to hear more

[RFFG]

Great review!

[CGMDan]

Thanks CGMDan, great review!

Any thoughts on the current gearing?

Couldn't tell you. The course we had was a 1st and 2nd gear only. I would have loved to take it on the street.

[CGMDan]

Here's a post from Myles at RCE on his street drive. I don't think he'll mind me putting this here.

From Myles....
I had the opportunity to spend 24 minutes in a 2008 WRX today. In those 24 minutes I found my favorite back road and my test loop of highway and closing radius exit ramps. I'll try to give my impression of the ride,handling, and braking. First some background on me what I base my opinions on.

40 yrs old, 9 year race instructor, started autocrossing in PCA in 1984, raced in Nasa, Scca, IMSA Panoz Series, and work for marketing companies that hire pro drivers for ride and drives for BMW etc. Point is I spend alot of time behind the wheel of alot of different cars. Not the fastest, but not slow either.

My cars owned in recent history:

1986 Porsche 944 Turbo racecar
2002 Porsche Boxster S ( wife)
2001 Lexus IS300(wife)
2001 2.5 RS
2003 WRX( bugeyes)
2004 STI
2005 LG GT LTD(wife)
2006 LG GT SPEC-B (wife)
1997 OBS (beater)
1998 OBS (Project Grocery Getter)


Seating position: capable of going lower (much) and combined with the steering wheel that telescopes makes for an initial good impression for driving. And yes you get an instant Legacy feeling as you release the clutch and the enagagement feels solid.

I wont talk about power delivery because this is a S & B thread. FLAT AND LINEAR. UNEVENTFUL, but nothing good brakes and great suspension wont cure huh !!

Low speed bumps are absorbed like butter. Maybe due to the newer RE92A which seem to have a super soft side wall ( 205/45-17). I wish this car had the Legacy RE92 with the 215/45-17 that has a decent side wall. Decent because these seem done before you get started,..meaning laid down and not grippy.

Highway driving doesnt give much feel back even though the dead center feeling of steering is spot on.

Large dips and flowing type bumps are met with a very floaty type feel from the front and faster bounce from the rear. So yes the front and rear are on a different wave feel as they negotiate the rolling bumps as they should be in theory since the front is still struts and the rear is a multilink set up. But in real life I would have thought they would have done more with spring rates and valving. (Yes this car is in need of suspension upgrades). Dampers feel soft and 2.5-ish and the springs feel even softer. High speed dips feel slow and floaty. I focus on that because that aspect of this new car feels worse than any Subaru I can remember.

Cornering requires normal effort and on broken patches of concrete you can feel the front struts give tons of feedback to the steering wheel as it semi claws for grip. When pushed this actually keeps you in touch with whats going on up front. In the rear, the new suspension is settled very nicely and doing its job. The issue is that the amount of body roll feel like you are in the Yugo Cup Classic !! These cars lean ALOT IMO. Sway bars will in order for these things right off the bat.

Fast corners that tighten still require patience, this much hasnt changed. One difference is that the rear is sooo planted one has to question how will we get the new cars to turn?...yeah we can make the rear stiff and yes the new fronts ( based more on Legacy than old Impreza) will benefit from camber, but there is a vague-ness that concerns me. More time will reveal the source of this feeling.

Corner entry: good, decent turn in. Once body roll is reduced this will be alot better. Think Legacy GT turn in, but with alot more roll ( as it should with the higher stance and ride height). We measured 15.25 front and 14.75 rear hub to fender.

Mid corner: Mid corner feel like you have a 200lb safe on the roof as the car leans alot in hard corners. But the confidence comes from the feeling in the rear suspension. The rear feels SOLID. ( The STI will prob handle very well).

Corner exit: Nothing to write home about, but thats a good thing, as there is no drama and this car seems to get rid of drama by mid corner, leaving the exit for you to think about the next corner.

Braking: Pedal feels better than the last car. I could be wrong but with Legacy GT brakes and 200 less lbs( I think) this could be promising to the target market. Again the front dive of the car and the way the weight transfers makes it hard to really judge the brakes. I feel they are on par with the previous, even though the FHI red calipers from the 06-07 WRX would have had a nice flair and more track worthy than the new set up..IMO.

Overall the new car is not bad. The issue is that people will need to know and remember that Subaru's goal with this car is to reach a wider audience and not the old hard core rally wrc audience. For that they have the STi coming.

As I drove this car and imagined it being an STI, I had difficulty with the hatch issue. Looking out the front feels good, but looking out the rear had a different feeling. That feeling I havent embraced yet. Maybe 340 hp and the idea of fitting 18x9.5 wheels on the car , with nice dampers and STi sport seats from the JDM catalog will help, or maybe not. For now we can only try to warm up to the new WRX as it is here and its here to stay.

Myles Williams

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[Parker]

Myles definitely knows his stuff...great contribution.

[Stang2STI]

Very interesting and insightful reviews by both. I just finally got to see an up close look today of the regular Impreza. It looked decent for the most part but I probably won't ever warm up to the exterior since I am still not real fond of the '06-'07's as well. The interior was really nice though for being just the base impreza and there does seem to be more room in the back which is important to some of us. I know my back is starting to kill me trying to put my daughter in and out of the Recaro in the back. Thank god I don't have to do it a lot :).

[big3etr]

Nice review

[jondl]

I'm also starting to give in to the 'new' look. although.. i still can't stand the ford focus look-alike for the sedan (mainly the back).

Anyway, great review and just a tip.. it would be a lot easier to read your impressions if you used the return key imo :)

[Carz4ever]

I found both reviews interesting and informative, although I cant ever see me warming up to the exterior look it does however increase my curiosity in the New STI . I just can't wait!