On this episode of Ignition
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MotorTranscript
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)