German Car Zone

Less Attitude, More Space


So you want the big news with the 2008 Subaru Impreza WRX? It makes the same power but is lighter, roomier and still rips to 60 mph in just 5.9 seconds.

This is a rare combination. These days, every new model weighs more than the one before, and manufacturers keep adding power to compensate. Subaru has done exactly the opposite. Through the same clever engineering that brought the WRX to the U.S. in the first place, the Japanese carmaker has minimized the weight of this more spacious, all-wheel-drive WRX to retain its head-snapping acceleration.

But it's not all roses. The new WRX is marginally slower in the quarter-mile than the car it replaces — 14.5 seconds at 94.4 mph vs. 14.3 seconds at 95.5 mph. The chassis setup is also noticeably softer and there's no shortage of body roll.

On paper, it sounds as if the WRX really hasn't changed, but the WRX we loved for its finger-in-the-air attitude is gone, replaced by a WRX with its finger on the pulse of the mainstream market.

Stretch It Out

Probably the most notable change to the WRX is a 3.7-inch-longer wheelbase. Just two body styles are available — a sedan and a five-door hatchback. Subaru expects the sedan to make up 80 percent of WRX sales. The overall length of the five-door hatch has been reduced by 2.0 inches (to 172.8 inches), while the length of the sedan has increased 4.5 inches (to 180.3 inches). This means the five-door has shorter overhangs — a key trait for responsive handling. We're told that both the world- and U.S.-spec rally cars as well as the WRX STI version due early next year will all use the five-door body.

There's a new double-wishbone rear suspension to replace the struts used in the rear of the old car. In addition to adding camber control during cornering, the new suspension packages more efficiently and creates more passenger and cargo space in both body styles.

The 2.5-liter flat-4 power plant has only minor revisions for 2008. Some of the overall weight savings have come from a lightweight intercooler (which also flows more efficiently), and a new, lighter plastic intake manifold. The exhaust system is also lighter. Subaru's Active Valve Control System and swirl valves in the intake manifold remain.

Power delivery is improved, as peak power of 224 horsepower comes 400 rpm earlier at 5,200 rpm, while peak torque of 226 pound-feet arrives 800 rpm earlier at 2,800 rpm. Peak boost is 11.9 psi. The five-speed transmission has less aggressive ratios in 1st through 3rd gears, but the final drive is shorter: 3.90:1 instead of the former 3.70:1.

The majority of the weight savings comes from a redesigned body structure, which is 45 pounds lighter yet retains the same rigidity as the previous car. Subaru engineers tell us the suspension pickup points have been beefed up to improve ride control. Our five-door test car weighs 3,167 pounds, only about 4 pounds heavier than the last Mazdaspeed 3 we had on our scales. And the Mazdaspeed 3 doesn't offer all-wheel drive.


Full Test: 2008 Subaru Impreza WRX

This is one ugly car inside and especially out, IMO. Edmunds didn't even take as many pictures of it as they normally do for a roadtest!

M

"Now we feel less like we're driving a rally car and more like we're driving a Camry."

Just pitiful Subaru. Much like Honda in the late 90s, you've taken 5 years of enthusiast devotion and crapped all over it.

It's sad. In the same time that it's taken Subaru to flip-flop 3 times on their design motif Hyundai has been able to go from a budget laughingstock to a halfway respectable economy brand. Subaru suffers from a managerial dynasty that is paralyzed from the waist down. They don't know how to build on their core strengths and they have meddled in the styling of their vehicles to the point of aesthetic oblivion.

Hello Lancer Evo! You've got my vote this round.

On the contrary, I have to say that this is one of the most inspired and pragmatic decisions Subaru have made in ages. Take a niche market, limited appeal tar-shredder and, along with all of its dynamic virtues and unique technology and make it more accessible from a mainstream appeal point of view.

This WRX isn't an STI. Nor is it a Lancer EVO competitor; Mitsubishi have never had a true competitor to the WRX. When it comes to toe-to-toe competition, it's WRX STI vs. EVO.

This new Impreza is aimed at a different target audience. Subaru are hoping to provide a dynamic alternative to the GTIs, A3's, SEAT Leons and other upmarket hatches at a small price premium (you are of course paying for the premier all-wheel drive solution in this end of the market).

This isn't nearly as ugly as any one of the 3 iterations of the out-going generation. This car has a softer, less aggressive demeanour because it's meant to appeal to a whole new level of potential Subaru customers: those that recognise the technology and the satisfaction of ownership but don't care to be portrayed as social reprobates.

I believe that this new Impreza will look much, much better in the metal and I have this on good authority from my associates at Subaru.

The future of the high-performance road-rally car is in the hatchback shape. Saloon-shaped rally cars are long a thing of the past; only Subaru and Mitsubishi clinging (unsuccessfully) to a less than perfect saloon configuration.

Subaru needs to build on the WRC involvement - it's the whole reason they're there: to market the brand. They couldn't possibly have moved to a hatchback shaped WRC car and left the "enthusiasts" with a sedan in STI guise.

As for that Lancer Evolution X? Take away the rather cheap-looking, over-styled, less than faithfully executed nose and all you've got is a generic three-box design (with another big wing on the boot) that looks progressively portlier and more slab-sided than its lithe predecessors. We know the STI is going to be a five door hatch and we know that it's going to look pretty trick with wider arches, revised rear-diffuser, quad exhausts, revised grill and so on... then we can judge Impreza against Lancer. And, I wager, it'll be the STI that looks the fresher, more right-for-the-moment design. That's why Mitsu have shown the EVO X concept in sportback guise... they've read the writing on the wall too. The problem is, will the production version make its transition from concept unscathed? Only time will tell.

The rally-based saloon is dead. Long live the hyper-hatches: R32, S3, 130i, STI etc...

As a sidenote, this is the only WRX that my wife has ever considered and said, "yeah - I could drive that..."

LINK

Well they could have made a proper WRX WRC inspired hatch.

Like in the good old days of the 1980s Group B/supercars/"killer bees". Mid-rear engined, light, nasty wings/aero appendixes, with the fancy AWD systems of today, carbon brakes, and TC, that's F1 TC (big difference; not these save the life production non-sense TC).