2015 Subaru WRX: Subies Latest Pocket Rocket Gets Put to the Test! - Ignition Ep. 102 - video Dailymotion

MotorTrend

On this episode of Ignition

Transcript

00:00 (dramatic music)

00:02 Hold on to your flat brim hats and energy drinks people,

00:10 because on this week's episode of Ignition,

00:12 we have the all new 2015 Subaru WRX.

00:17 What's new?

00:18 The engine.

00:20 Gone, but not forgotten, is the 2.5 liter Boxer 4,

00:24 replaced with a turbocharged version

00:26 of the two liter flat four found in the BRZ.

00:29 In fact, it's the very same bottom mount turbo motor

00:32 found in the Forester XT,

00:34 Motor Trend's 2014 SUV of the year.

00:37 Also new, and finally, is a six speed manual transmission.

00:42 Also new, there's no wagon.

00:45 But is this thing any good?

00:47 That's what we're gonna find out.

00:49 (dramatic music)

00:52 (dramatic music)

00:55 And here are the performance numbers.

01:07 Disappointingly, the new WRX is slower

01:13 than the car it replaces.

01:15 Even though it has more horsepower,

01:17 the fact that you have to shift to third gear

01:20 means 60 miles an hour happens in 5.5 seconds.

01:24 Quarter mile happens in 14 seconds flat

01:27 at 98.1 miles an hour.

01:29 Braking is real good.

01:31 Stops from 60 miles an hour in 106 feet.

01:34 The new WRX can almost pull a G on our skid pad.

01:38 The actual number is .96 Gs.

01:41 That's very, very good for a economy based car.

01:44 And while it's not the most entertaining car

01:48 we've ever driven around the figure eight,

01:50 the Subaru is quite quick,

01:52 completing it in 25.3 seconds.

01:55 (dramatic music)

01:58 Driving the new 2015 WRX.

02:15 And I have a ton to say about this car,

02:18 probably more than most other cars

02:19 because the last two cars I've purchased

02:22 have been Subaru WRXs.

02:24 One difference, they're both wagon.

02:26 And this one isn't, so I gotta get this out of the way.

02:29 Subaru is saying they cannot afford

02:31 to do both a sedan and a wagon.

02:33 They just, they can't.

02:34 Now, to me, if it were seven or eight years ago

02:37 and Subaru was still selling fewer cars than Mazda,

02:40 somewhere in the low 200,000,

02:42 okay, I might buy that excuse.

02:45 However, Subaru just had their best sales year ever

02:48 in the US.

02:49 They sell more cars in America than Volkswagen does.

02:53 They are a major player in terms of passenger cars

02:56 in the US, or major enough that they could do

02:59 a wagon and a sedan version.

03:01 And it's particularly crazy to me

03:04 because from what I understand it,

03:06 50% of WRX sales are wagons.

03:10 They've already like alienated half their customer base.

03:13 Now, a friend of mine at Subaru said,

03:16 you know, he gave me the standard party line

03:18 and then said, well, look, listen,

03:19 there was that thing at the Tokyo show,

03:21 the horribly named LeVorg concept,

03:25 which, a little footnote,

03:27 I bet when the Impreza was originally coming to the US,

03:29 the name they wanted was the Vegetta.

03:32 Luckily, they got talked out of it

03:34 and went with the Impreza.

03:35 But anyways, I think the Vegetta guy came up with LeVorg.

03:38 But that might actually be the WRX wagon.

03:41 So that'll be cool.

03:43 Next, finally, has a six-speed manual transmission.

03:47 Yay!

03:48 Except for one thing.

03:50 As you saw from the acceleration run,

03:52 this car is now slower to 60 miles an hour

03:55 than the vehicle it replaces.

03:56 Huh, why, what, what?

03:58 Okay, yeah, wait maybe,

04:00 but really what's going on there is

04:02 you have to shift into third gear.

04:05 The other WRX, you can make it to 60 in second.

04:08 This one, you have to shift in third.

04:10 And so instead of getting 4.7 seconds,

04:12 we're just in the mid-fives.

04:13 We should probably talk about looks,

04:16 which is always kind of a sore spot with the WRX.

04:19 And I've been saying this for a while,

04:21 but I remember when in 2001,

04:24 when I bought my first one as a 2002 model,

04:26 it was the Bug Eye.

04:27 I remember, oh man, it's so ugly,

04:29 but I know it's gonna perform really, really well.

04:32 And then the next one came out and it was uglier.

04:35 And then the 2006 refresh, uglier still.

04:39 And then 2008, looked worse.

04:42 And then somehow for 2015,

04:45 man, this thing just looks bad.

04:48 That's when the 2018 or whatever comes out,

04:50 I'll probably be saying how good this one looks.

04:52 But you know, as Subaru often says,

04:54 we don't have designers

04:55 and we pass the savings on to our customers.

04:58 Stereotypically speaking,

05:02 Subaru has something of an image problem.

05:05 Mention the brand to most people

05:06 and they start saying things like Melissa Etheridge

05:09 and sandals and granola and hippies.

05:13 So while they may not sell that many of them

05:15 compared to their more mainstream products,

05:18 vehicles like the BRZ and the WRX

05:20 are key in helping Subaru shed that image.

05:24 And believe you me, this car is an image shedder.

05:27 (upbeat rock music)

05:30 It feels very solid.

05:34 So for instance, here we are now.

05:36 This is the one straightaway in this road.

05:38 We're going about 100 miles an hour

05:40 and there's a nice jump.

05:41 (car engine roaring)

05:44 (laughing)

05:50 And we just got like two feet of air.

05:52 Oh man, this thing is such a blast.

05:55 No problem.

05:56 Car loves it.

05:56 It's a rally car, it loves jumping.

05:58 (car engine roaring)

06:01 (upbeat rock music)

06:04 And I just, I don't know, I had very low expectations.

06:18 I don't know why.

06:19 I was totally wrong.

06:20 Look, I'm biased 'cause I buy these things.

06:22 Yeah, yeah, yeah.

06:23 But you know, look, in 2008 when that WRX came out

06:25 and it was terrible, I said so.

06:27 (car engine roaring)

06:28 This WRX drives better than any other WRX.

06:32 I cannot wait to get my hands on that STI.

06:37 It's just gonna be awesome.

06:39 Until that time, if you're in the market

06:43 for a $30,000 four-door sedan

06:45 that's really, really kick butt on a mountain road,

06:49 look no further 'cause this is it.

06:52 (car engine roaring)

06:58 Hold on to your flat, was it build hats?

07:00 - Flat brim, right?

07:01 - Flat brim.

07:02 (car engine roaring)

07:04 Hold on to your flat brim hats and energy.

07:06 (mumbles)

07:07 Jesus, I'm turning into Carlos.

07:08 All right.

07:09 (grunts)

07:10 Ignition.

07:11 - Wrap it up.

07:12 - When you love this country the way I do,

07:16 the women just come to you.

07:17 - You've sealed yourself into the credits.

07:20 (laughs)

07:21 (car engine roaring)

2015 Subaru WRX: Subies Latest Pocket Rocket Gets Put to the Test! - Ignition Ep. 102

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