By AARON COLE
Managing Editor, MediaOne of Utah
ASPEN, COLO. — Let’s get one thing clear; I am not the Sultan of Brunei.
The lavish backdrop of Aspen, Colo. is Subaru’s chosen environment to plop down a handful of journalists and unveil the 2011 Subaru WRX. I’m fantastically uncomfortable talking about affordability in these circumstances. Have you seen the Maserati parked outside?
All things considered, the sermon of frugality is well spoken here. Heads of Subaru America have gathered us here to introduce Subaru’s newest fun — and sensible — Impreza. The 2011 Subaru Impreza WRX offers every bit of the fun that its more expensive, more potent brother offers. The only thing missing from the WRX is insanity, which has been replaced by brick-force reasonability.
In fact in nearly every way, the new 2011 WRX is a clone of the turbocharged, psychopath 2011 Subaru Impreza STI — same quad exhaust in the rear end; same wider, grippier stance; same four- and five-door models available. The same — but only different.
Have the executives at Fuji Heavy Industry, Subaru’s parent company, ran one too many rally races and scrambled their senses? Nevermind that, is it possible that Subaru has created a car that will cannibalize sales of their mentally unstable Impreza STI? Well, yes and no.
First, there are the specifications and numbers to get out of the way.
The 2011 Impreza WRX is largely the same car as last year, speaking in skeletal terms. The same turbocharged, intercooled 2.5-liter four-cylinder boxer engine survived from last year. The horsepower has stayed static at 265 horsepower as well, and the WRX propels forward with 244 ft.-lbs of torque as well. The same symmetrical all-wheel drive system and manual five-speed transmission comes packed on this year’s WRX too. The engine specs are too carried over from the 2009 redesign.
Yawn, now that we have the nerdy numbers that out of the way on to the new fittings for the WRX.
Unlike previous years, the 2011 WRX has fancy new clothes that Subaru is eager to show off this year. Parked next to the brawnier 2011 Impreza STI the less expensive, less powerful WRX is virtually identical. This is intentional say Suburu’s big cheese, because the typical WRX owner is someone who covets an STI, but just isn’t in the applicable tax bracket to afford one.
And the similarities are striking. The WRX comes with the same engine as the STI — the STI is tuned to 305 horsepower instead, 40 more than the WRX — and is now equipped with the same high wing as Subaru’s rally rocket STI sedan. The WRX even features the most of the same underpinnings engineers are lauding as a dramatic suspension upgrade over last year.
Indeed, much about the WRX is the same — the same from last year and the same as it’s more expensive brother STI. I was given a WRX for an afternoon drive throughout the mountains in Aspen, immediately after driving an STI in the morning and there are a few quite interesting differences that make the WRX actually a better choice over the STI.
Immediately noticeable from the STI is the delayed boost from the turbochargers fitted to the four-cylinder engine under the hood. Power in lower revs is smoother and saner than the STI, yet around 4,000 rpm, boost kicks in propelling the WRX forward in a less-than-jarring manner.
What that means for daily drivers is smooth acceleration forward, with enough juice under the hood to pass on the highway or climb up mountain passes.
Also, according to the lead test engineer sitting next to me for all eight hours of testing Subaru’s new offerings, the WRX has been tuned to handle more — for less. The suspension won’t jar your fillings loose or crush eggs on bumpy roads back from the grocery store, and the five-speed manual transmission means you won’t have to throw your way through countless gears getting into top gear while traveling down the highway. It may not have the road-to-driver connection that the STI has, but most buyers won’t likely put a WRX’s feet to the fire during its lifetime.
And back to the WRX’s suspension. Subaru engineers were adamant in Aspen that the upgrades would be stop-traffic, bone-jarringly apparent on the track, but where the WRX lives, the street, would it make much of a difference? Actually, to my surprise, it does.
The WRX is undeniably stiffer in the back than past Imprezas and setting into a turn at highway speeds the Subaru angles itself out and the symmetrical all-wheel drive grips it throughout. The WRX is fantastically entertaining to drive while keeping its feet planted firmly on reasonable ground.
Moving inward, the way the WRX looks and feels when driving means Subaru gets some wiggle room on the creature comforts. Most who have driven a Subaru know that inside a Subaru Impreza’s four sport doors is a different story altogether. Leather seats, special WRX stitching and an upgraded stereo and satellite navigation are welcome upgrades over last year, but the WRX is luxuriously utilitarian inside.
Its fair to say, though, that the way the WRX is built to travel down the road it’s likely that the interior will fade into the background — exactly what you’d want it to do.
And what does all the STI-inspired performance, fat fenders, wings, wider track and race-bred suspension cost? The WRX starts at under $25,000, an incredible value for the money, which most of the under-25 demographic can afford.
After all, even here in Aspen, not everyone is the Sultan of Brunei.
Aaron Cole is a syndicated auto columnist and managing editor of MediaOne of Utah, and has driven hundreds of new cars — but only briefly. By most accounts he is wrong and has proudly been banned on Internet message boards. Send complaints, compliments or supplemental income to aaron.m.cole@gmail.com
