As a passionate, past Subaru WRX STi owner, we gave Coast FM/Zooming with DRIVEN anchor and serial EV-skeptic Sam Wallace his dream job: to drive the latest (and greatest?) Subaru WRX. Except, this time around, unlike he and his penchant for toilet humour, the car has grown up a lot. But has it grown up too much? Is it over the hill, rather than cresting?
We sourced a 2022 Subaru WRX in traditional Prodrive rally… er, red. And a wagon. And an auto. Because this now represents, apparently, what the WRX-buying public now wants. It also gets a 2.4-litre engine in place of the traditional 2.0 boxer, but at what cost? Especially given the STI model is no more, and the remnants of STi badging and gauges and an STI-tuned magic is all that remains. Is Subaru right? Is Sam mistaken and longing for his youf days and his long locks and pre-three-children appeal?
Is the GT wagon WRX auto a step or three too-far for the 40(+) year-old car enthusiast who once lived and breathed Colin McRae and Richard Burns’s antics on the east coast gravel?
Should he just accept the 1990s are long-gone? No, both he and we say, so the challenge was to find if there is some heart-pumping life still left in the WRX, as one turn-of-the-century icon to another: the search for Subaru’s WRC soul – is it still in the WRX DNA?
Donning his rally-spec beanie and, ah, some dodgy-looking but probably very trendy Tuareg-style scarf that probably cost more than we make in a month, he has opinions, he has new computer software graphics and he’s clearly showcasing his new special effects. Watch them all come together as Sam Wallace searches for WRX’s soul.
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