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The Subaru Impreza WRX (nicknamed “Rex” by loyalists) has a cult following to almost rival the Beatles (smaller and younger, but just as fanatic). New iterations or improvements often make fan clubs and enthusiasts both skeptical and nervous; you can’t mess with perfection, and the Subaru Impreza WRX is pretty close. Around since the early 1990s, the WRX and its higher-performance sister, the WRX STI, were made to take on twisty dirt roads and rally stages with their symmetrical all-wheel-drive and unique turbo boxer engine spooling off a turbo swoosh and providing ear-to-ear grins. In November of last year Subaru debuted the fifth generation 2015 WRX ($26,295) at the LA auto show, and we were quick to and hop in line to see if they’d truly made it better or simply messed up a great thing.
One of the biggest changes made in 2015 was dropping “Impreza” nomenclature, thus putting the WRX on par with Madonna, Prius and Ziploc. Our favorite hatchback style has also been dropped, sadly. The styling has changed as well, though unfortunately to look less like the sleek concept shown at the 2013 New York auto show and more like a filed-down version of the previous generation: think slightly less attractive, slightly less recognizable, slightly more pumped up Honda Civic. It hasn’t lost those calling card style cues of functional hood scoop, brake vents and planted stance — but with a narrower body, smaller lights and less aggressive front end than the previous generation, the 2015 WRX loses some of the “beautiful ugliness” of previous iterations.
Though the exterior styling ends up a little more muted than previous generations, this “maturing” characteristic is beneficial to the interior design. In the past, the WRX’s inside has always seemed like an afterthought, as if the engineers gave $29k to the engine and AWD and $1k for the rest of the car. No more. The rugged mats, soft dash, grippy flat-bottomed steering wheel, simple console, quality speakers and contrast stitching all provide a nice balance of driving purpose and comfort. The shape of the cabin makes for plenty of headroom for all and legroom for rear occupants and gives excellent visibility through the front and side windows for the driver. These upgrades make it less fan-boyish and a little more mainstream than ever before, but thankfully, as the styling has been toned down the performance has been ratcheted up.
The WRX looks like a mud addict, and, with the help of LA’s recent monsoon, we were all too willing to act as enablers down messy side roads.
Under this skin sits a new small-and-mighty 268 hp 2.0 liter turbo direct-inject boxer engine paired with the option of Subaru’s first six-speed manual gearbox or the Sport Lineartronic CVT; we, of course, opted for the manual for slick-shifting fun. Subaru also improved upon traction and handling with a torque-vectoring system and a stiffer chassis that should make drivers happy, while the rear seat gets an extra 2 inches of legroom that should make passengers happy, too. Oh yeah: there are bigger brakes for more stopping power, which is welcome on tarmac and gravel twisties alike.