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From my post dated May 13th, 2008:

It’s just that when something’s called a WRX it should mean something other than ‘flat-4 turbocharged’. Perhaps we’d all like the car better if the name were Impreza. (Come to think of it, the car makes the most sense as an Outback Sport – you can forgive a squishy suspension in something that is labeled Outback).

From a fantastic write-up (I’d suggest you all read) on the new Impreza by evo’s Peter Tomalin, dated July 2008:

Problem is, the WRX badge brings with it a lot of expectations that this Impreza can’t quite fulfil. Which isn’t the same as saying it’s a bad car. It’s just not quite the car you might have been hoping it was. If they’d called it a ‘Sport’ or a ‘GX’ or something, we’d have given it a much easier time.

When a manufacturers lets their marketers tell the engineers what to do, the outcome stands to go poorly. This is especially true in an engineering led company with a unique vehicle genome like Subaru…

This quote echoes what most who are familiar with what made the WRX an icon are saying:

What I’m really hoping for is a driving experience that takes all the great bits of the old WRX – the beautifully judged ride/handling balance, the torque-laden, uniquely characterful engine – and builds on them. Within 500 yards of my first drive home, that hope is seriously dented. When I turn in to the first corner the nose feels soft and slow to react. When it does start to tuck in, there’s virtually no feel from the road, no sense of connection between steering rack and tyres and tarmac. Several weeks on, I’m still feeling underwhelmed by the WRX’s chassis. The ride’s consistently terrific, and traction out of corners is great whether the tarmac’s dry, damp or streaming wet. But the dearth of feedback, exaggerated roll and predisposition to understeer are a disappointment. – Peter Tomalin, evo

I wanted to like this Impreza… I’m a fan of 5 doors about this size and was relived to see Subaru had kept the car from gaining weight as it gained size. Even the move towards less lag and more torqe makes sense for all but those who will mod the engine anyway.

All the last gen of Impreza needed was a nicer interior and more room – the rear suspension should have helped with the later and given how little they spent on a new powertrain you’d think the interior could have been brought to the level of the current Legacy.

Yes, it now rides with the aplomb of E46 Xi but with a chintzy interior and a fair amount of wind and road noise that comes across as a bit of an anomaly.

Not that the Impreza is a bad car – in its class only the Rabbit and the Mazda 3 trump it dynamically. It’s just that when something’s called a WRX it should mean something other than ‘flat-4 turbocharged’. Perhaps we’d all like the car better if the name were Impreza. (Come to think of it, the car makes the most sense as an Outback Sport – you can forgive a squishy suspension in something that is labeled Outback).

In this piece on the new TT (worth a read in its own right) one of my favorite new journalists explains the differences between three kinds of cars. So next time someone says one car is ‘better’ than another, ask them to clarify which kind of car they gravitate towards…

The Driver’s Car – It’s hard to explain unless you’ve driven one, but there are cars in this world that are just as fun to drive at 15 mph through a school zone as they are to blast down back roads. They are cars like the first-generation Mazda Miata, the original VW GTI, and the BMW E30 M3. They are cars that read the road surface to your fingertips with all the subtlety of a megaphone, that demand all of your attention all of the time. They don’t necessarily need to be that capable (and by modern standards, those that I’ve mentioned aren’t); they just need to be communicative and involving.

The Atari Car – Cars to which I refer as “Atari Cars” are a modern phenomenon. They are cars that feel like a video game. Atari Cars are immensely capable – they can often out-perform supercars without even breaking a sweat. And that lack of sweat defines them – they shrug off insane speeds and laugh at corners. Nothing unsettles their suspension. They’re so good that the driver has no idea how fast he’s actually driving. These are cars like Audi’s very own RS4, a Mercedes E63 AMG, Bentley Continental GT, and, to a lesser extent, cars like the Subaru WRX STi.

The Sports Car – A sports car (in the World According to Me) is that rare car that combines the communication of a Driver’s Car with the capability of an Atari Car. The quintessential sports car that comes to mind is the Porsche 911. It, like other sports cars (the Ferrari F430 and Lotus Elise come to mind), is among the world’s most capable machines, and yet remains so communicative and interactive that its owners take the long way to the grocery store.

You’ve likely seen the rumours about the next Impreza, for example that it will be a five door hatch only, that it will adopt a multillink rear suspension, etc. But the one sentence that has me most concerned was one I saw on Autoexpress’ site:

engineers have worked to keep prices down.

Very rarely has that resulted in a better car for the consumer. Stay tuned.

People tend to overcomplicate cars – in the end most of what’s true is true because you can’t break the laws of physics.

Case in point: BMW and Subaru SUVs handle better because the engineers insist on a low engine placement (the Porsche Cayenne has a high mounted engine so has to resort to a complicated suspension to regain lost ground). And the Jaguar XK rides handles and accelerates better than competitors because it is 400 lbs lighter than the Mercedes SL 550 and 500 lbs lighter than BMW 6-Series.

Maybe marketers and designers should be required to take high school physics.

We wish, though, that the five-speed manual were more precise and that Subaru would offer stability control. source:automobile

Many of you may have observed that GM has a serious problem when it comes to managining its brands. This is especially true of companies it buys into. Wheras companies adopted by Ford tend to improve in quality (e.g. Volvo, Jaguar), GM tends to run the brands into the ground by forcing them to use existing components.

The result: the Trailblazer based Saab 9-7x and WRX based 9-2x. (Some have argued that Subaru and Saab have more in common than youd think – after all both companies have histories rooted in eccentric cars built by aircraft engineers. But while the 9-2x outhandles any Saab in history, you have to question why the 9-7x wasn’t based on the Tribeca. Perhaps a 9-2 based on a shortened version of the Legacy platform would have fared better in the marketplace…)

Anyone who’s driven a Subaru (or Porsche 911 or Boxster) can appreciate the way the flat engine enhances both ride and handling response, while the equal length halfshafts of the Symmetrical AWD layout benefits steering feel. Despite all this, Motor Trend’s Mike Connor reports in the Jan. ‘06 issue that GM’s descision to liquidate its 20% share in Subaru was in reponse to Subaru’s insistence that these singular distinctions be retained in future products.

One Motown analyst… slammed Fuji’s conviction that the boxer engines are an integral part of Subaru’s brand character, saing few U.S. Subaru buyers knw or care about what’s under the hood of their cars. Julst like all those Oldsmobile buyers who didn’t know or care when GM fitted their cars with Chevy engines…

We wonder if those at GM who were so insistent in platform sharing ever drove a Subaru. (If they did, perhaps GM would move towards flat-fours and sixes and away from overpowered, clumsy handling front wheel drivers).

When we heard the Elise was coming to the U.S. we got excited. But news that revsions would first be made concerned us; would we miss out on the car that made the name an icon as was the case with the original WRX, 3.0L M3, early Miatas etc.?

The news that Toyota would be supplying the engine came as a shock, but then again there was little to recommend the Rover sourced unit that had been used previously. Our main concern was that the ride/handling compromise and alertness of steering would be ruined by the larger wheel and tire complement. In their April 04 issue, evo assured us that we hadn’t missed anything…

“the most impressive ride and handling compromise since launch, the Elise is better than ever.”

(We welcome comments from anyone who has had the good fortune to drive both versions back to back as we have yet to drive a car we prefer on 17s over 16s – particularly a lightweight one).

In our eagerness to report on the mechanical changes to the Subaru line for ‘06, we failed to convey what gives us pause when considering the actual purchase of one (aside from the unavailability of stability control). In this write-up, Autocar’s Jaime Corstophine reminded us of one vintage Subaru characteristic that’s been lost:

something’s missing from the typical Impreza experience. The signature off-beat engine rumble is noticeably muted; a casualty of new equal-length manifolds fitted for better economy and emissions.

and the one that remains and keeps us from seeing the Impreza (or the Saab 9-2x for that matter) as a long-term satisfier…

when the driving is done cracks soon appear in its appeal… despite this latest update, the rest of the car is dated and outclassed. The cabin design, packaging, materials and finish are simply not good enough for a car at this price. The Impreza architecture is now five years old and the game has moved on. For Subaru, 2007 – when the all-new model is expected – can’t come soon enough.

Along with large wheels, front wheel drive, small windows, vague steering, seating placed in crumple zones and unidirectional tires we’ve always hoped the SUV was a trend that would someday go the way of the dodo.

While we don’t agree with their choice of contenders, we think this list of rankings from a recent Motor Trend comparison points to a trend in comparison tests performed over the years between wagons and SUVs: wagons are more pleasurable to drive. That this test ranks a wagon based on the dynamically mediocre Volvo S60 ahead of SUVs based on the nimble and connected Legacy and CTS says a lot, as does the fact that the test didn’t include any of the more trucky body on frame designs that litter our roads.

And until the laws of physics come crashing down or Ferrari or Maclaren make an SUV, we’d bet that will continue to be the case…