Gavin Williams drives the new Subaru WRX, and remembers why he loved them in the first place.

Growing up I wanted to design cars. Then I realized I was rubbish at maths and anything other than a side-on angle was beyond my illustrative skills. Instead of being bitter, I am now actually relieved because their job is getting tougher by the year. They have to keep the engineers, the safety guys, the marketers, the board and ultimately their artistic souls happy. And then it gets trickier if the car is an absolute icon. And make no mistake, the WRX (The Impreza name has been dropped making this its own model line) is truly iconic. Bursting onto the scene and making its name in the World Rally Championship in the 90s, the street going versions became the go to cars to whip just about anything out there, if not in a straight line, then certainly in the corners with its mind-bending grip from the ubiquitous rally-bred All Wheel Drive system.

Most cars wouldn’t be in this photo. They’d be over to the right in the trees. Upside down.

There was a misstep a few years ago when Subaru decided to get rid of the boot on the WRX, offering only a hatch, which truth be told looked a bit like an overweight Daewoo Llanos. It still went like hell, but the Subaru myth was built around the sedan with ever increasing sizes of rear spoilers towering over it. There was understandably wailing and gnashing of teeth from every Scooby fan club on earth. They felt betrayed. First Subaru left the WRC during the global economic crisis and now this.

These have never been pretty cars, but the sheer purposefulness of their design, the boxer engine and yes those gold mags represented everything a WRX should be, and I’m very happy to report they sifted through the hate mail, listened then went back to the sedan shape. Although slightly more ungainly looking than the classic Impreza WRX, it has all of the cues that made the original such a pin-up street fighting hero.

I recently drove the latest incarnation, and despite the fact that I own a Subaru and love what the brand stands for tried to be as objective as possible. Let’s start with the looks. No-one who owns a WRX can quite explain just what it is they like stylistically. I mean, it’s essentially a compact Japanese sedan. But perhaps that’s exactly where the fascination lies. Although, even with all those skirts, flared arches, intakes and signature bonnet scoop this rather mundane car will absolutely give just about anything on the road a bloody nose at the lights and even more so on the twisty stuff.

The example I drove was in the striking “Lightning Red” finish (pictured), not the classic deep Galaxy Blue that made it famous (again, along with those gold mags). There are certainly clues as to what this car is capable of, but not glaringly obvious ones, unless you look really carefully or are a Subaru acolyte. The intercooler scoop on the bonnet remains and there are slits just behind the front wheels, which are for improved brake cooling, or just to look awesome, it doesn’t really matter.
Like any Subaru, what matters is how it performs. How it drives. How it feels and responds. The strange thing about firing up the WRX is you also get slightly duped into thinking this isn’t going to be anything special, because the cockpit is rather functional and the door closes with a rather tinny clunk. As you fire up the Boxer engine though, that familiar whine is heard and as you get going you suddenly feel like you’re in a different beast. The car is so rigid and simply begging to be let off the leash. It’s a strange, beautiful feeling. I switched the engine into S# mode, which immediately shows you the new power band the Scooby will be adhering to. But remember S# mode is only available once the car’s engine and oil is up to temperature, which should give you some sort of indication of how bonkers things are about to get. So you floor it and the 8-speed CVT Lineartronic gearbox seems to take a breath and then unleash the 197kW through all four of the wheels with minimum drama, but maximum effect. It’s not often you get that punch to the stomach, followed by plastered on grin and the WRX does it somehow differently to other cars.

The older models had a very mechanical feel to them especially through the driveshaft, whereas this feels more digital, more tech, more Japanese than the ones that have gone before. It feels like there’s a lot going on unseen to get you to 100 in 6.3 seconds. But as I mentioned earlier, acceleration is only one trick this car has up its sleeve, the WRX has always handled like pretty much nothing else on earth. In addition to the symmetrical All Wheel Drive system (which essentially sends power to the wheel or wheels with the most grip) there is Active Torque Vectoring which augments the AWD to keep the car on your intended line, giving you incredible steering feedback and input as soon as the laws of gravity start to play havoc.

Yawn. Another hairpin. This sort of road is like a highway to the WRX.

The WRX is so extraordinarily fun to push, that it actually makes you feel like you’re a wonderful driver, which is something a lot of cars fail to do. Because the car is brimming with confidence in its own ability, by proxy so are you. At R469 000 (R449 000 for the manual) it’s far from cheap, but considering the Golf R is quite a bit more this still retains some of its underdog status.

Look, you either love these cars or hate them, and there are lots of people out there who would rather spend that sort of money on yet another Merc, Audi or BMW, but for sheer street cred and utter joy you will always have Subaru WRXs, and as a result, you will always have Subaru fans ready to praise them as a very special piece of motoring history. Long may it last. And just wait until you drive the WRX STi, its supercar-level older brother.

This interior could only come from Japan. It has a boost gauge!