Jump to content
LegacyGT.com

2009 WRX Review


Recommended Posts

WRX is a compelling package. If you read the test sheet on the wrx "6500 rpm clutch drop-very violent"-That writer/tester should win the Captain Obvious award for journalists in 2008. Only two cars make any sense to me Ralliart and WRX...all other cars are WWD(Wrong Wheel Drive). I can't believe the Honda didn't win I didn't think that was possible in a C&D comparo.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

This POS placed above the Rex? Gimme a break. This reporter's next job should the new car czar so he can give Rick Wagoner bj's for the next 30 days while he blows all my tax dollars...

 

Unfortunately, the Cobalt SS is still, at its roots, a Cobalt. The sedan comes without a wing, thankfully, but otherwise there’s little dress-up from the base car except for some pretty five-spoke wheels and Recaro seats. The interior is well laid out but it’s bland, and the plastics are a testament to GM’s (hopefully) bygone lowest-bidder strategy, and they’re woefully cheap-looking. But considering how much ground Chevy has gained in such a short time with this car, we’re eagerly awaiting the next iteration. :lol:

I tell myself that an N/A Forester is just an STI without all the fluff like, power, handling, style, racing heritage, and curb appeal.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

If i were going to get a 09 WRX i would just get a 08 or 09 STI, most of the dealers around here are selling STIs for 8k off msrp which puts them at the same price as a new WRX.

 

If car and driver really doesnt like subaru then they know nothing about cars. Subaru has some of the best deals for your money, before i got this car i wasnt a subaru fan. But after shopping for like 6-8months for a new car i couldnt come up with a better deal then my legacy. Sure you can get a eco car for less but then your just a plain as the rest of the toyata, honda driving world.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Car & Driver has never liked Subaru... but that's OK because I never liked Car & Driver!
From now on, whenever I hear of a C&D review, I am going to think of their introduction to the Long Term test report on the Legacy GT: the one where they put diesel in it.

 

Imagine for a minute a mystical place free of fiscal restraints, a place where people almost never drive a car in which they have any financial interest whatsoever. Intrigued? That's every day here at Car and Driver. Think of it as your house, filled with a couple dozen teenagers anxious to get the keys for a weekend, and you get the idea, although that comparison may be too kind. Oh, but they always bring the cars back just like they got them, right? It's amazing — then again maybe not — how dents and scratches magically appear overnight, how interiors suddenly reek of pet stink and dark corners bristle with dog hairs, how windshields bear vast crack lines, how wheels bend, how stains leap out at you. Even more shocking is how many of these incidents are reported as somehow not being our fault. Hey, who did this?
If you want a review by adults, try the Road & Track "A Time for Turbos." It is a four-way comparison between the Cobalt, WRX, Mazdaspeed, and Lancer Ralliart. There are videos as well. That was the article that alerted me to the significant changes in the 09 WRX.

 

The WRX placed second to the Cobalt by a few points, with the Mazdaspeed a few points behind. Two of the writers state in side bars in the print magazine that they preferred the WRX.

 

The advantages of an AWD vehicle in the snowbelt are obvious. So neither the R&T nor C&D comparison tests are weighted the same as my real world needs. Driving a powerful, peaky turbocharged FWD sedan is not my idea of maximum winter fun.

 

If i were going to get a 09 WRX i would just get a 08 or 09 STI, most of the dealers around here are selling STIs for 8k off msrp which puts them at the same price as a new WRX.//
First, you wouldn't be buying an 09 STi because no one has them. Second, even with the huge discounts and 63 month zero percent financing, 08 STi's still cost substantially more: at least $3,000 more than an 09 WRX Premium and $6-7,000 more than a base, unless you are a chump. Third, next year you'll be able to get a screaming deal on any leftover 09 WRX's because cars depreciate the most in their first year and you will be buying a year-old car, just as folks are with the 08 STi.

 

The price of the STi is certainly justified by the hardware: big Brembos, DCCD, the six speed, SI-drive, and 305hp even if you ignore the Alcantara seats. If you think the price of the STi is high, just look into the cost of putting a torsen rear differential, geared center differential, Brembos, etc, etc. on a WRX and you'll see the price is quite reasonable for what you get, even with the "normal" $6-10,000 delta over the WRX.

 

I drove the WRX and STi back-to-back on both the highway and back roads. Then I drove them back-to-back again after my WRX spun a bearing and they were offfering an even better deal if I swapped to an STi (they had 4-5 in stock). I took a Gold Plus warranty and kept the WRX. The STi isn't punishing: it was just a bit stiffer than I wanted to drive for 20-30,000 miles a year. Replacing that 245/40r18 rubber and buying snows was going to cost $$$: I already had a second set of rims for the 17" WRX. The lower mileage concerned me as well, although it's hard to tell if the real-world #'s are really worse than the WRX, since folks tend to use what they got. And the number of STi badges is absurd: I think there are 17 total "STi's" or something like that. I don't like the shiny seat material of the WRX seats, but that's about my biggest complaint. Just turned about 1,600 miles on my 09 WRX.

 

The current deal is a fantastic deal if you really want an 08 STi. But Subaru has already introduced the 330S in Europe (325hp) and announced the 380S. So depending on how often you turn over cars and what you really want, the made performance enthusiast may be better served to wait.

 

So far, everyone who has driven or ridden in the WRX has had the same response when you nail it at around 3,000 rpm in second: "Holy Sh#t!"

Who Dares Wins

スバル

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yes, which is why im planning to wait, to see what the 2010 models sell for. And the dealers aroudn ehre as i said are sellign STIs with no nav and without the gold rism for as low as 28995 and the STIs with gold rims and nav for 30995. The WRX is going for 28995 i believe, the same price as the STIs which is why i said they are the same price. I have foudn a couple 09 STIs online, maybe the dealers had it wrong and they were 08s, but a couple dealers over the phone even claimed the had 09s.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yes, which is why im planning to wait, to see what the 2010 models sell for. And the dealers aroudn ehre as i said are sellign STIs with no nav and without the gold rism for as low as 28995 and the STIs with gold rims and nav for 30995. The WRX is going for 28995 i believe, the same price as the STIs which is why i said they are the same price. I have foudn a couple 09 STIs online, maybe the dealers had it wrong and they were 08s, but a couple dealers over the phone even claimed the had 09s.
Thats MSRP. I paid less than $27K. And thats for the Premium, the plain-ole WRX is MSRP $24,995 plus delivery. No one I've seen has paid much under $30K out-the-door.

 

Your profile doesn't say where you are. But no dealers in this area I checked have 09 STis. Nor has anyone posted a pic in the new car thread on NASIOC. But it's reasonable to assume they'll show up once the dealers have finished dumping the 08 STis.

 

VVG - subaru never bring those upped HP STI cars to the states, so waiting wouldn't do anything.
Who knows but you may be wright. They didn't bring the WRX until 2002, and the STi until later.

 

Don't get me started about SOA and their model choices. In Europe you can buy a 6 speed Legacy SpecB 3.0R wagon. In Australia you can buy the 3.0R or turbo model. Here, you can't even buy a Legacy wagon anymore, period! So the Legacy SpecB 3.6 wagon probably isn't ever going to happen, either....

Who Dares Wins

スバル

Link to comment
Share on other sites

haah the Mazdaspeed 3 has won everything since it came out... I dont get it... useless powerband since it steers all over and is a battle to control. I drove it, useless.

 

Totally agree! FWD + peaky turbo power?! Reminds me of the early '90's Ford Probe GT/Mazda MX-6 turbo twins- The cars were fast BUT had the worst torque steer ever!! Absolutely useless.

 

The 09 WRX should have placed higher for it's AWD and fastest 0-60 times alone! As for the Cobalt- It might be nice to drive, but I wouldn't be caught dead in one- It's a glorified rental car IMHO.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

yeah, my old rental company i worked for had 500 or so lol, i was in the back seat of a base cobalt when one of my co-workers rolled it taking a turn at 50mph that i wouldnt have taken going faster than 30 lol. Going to the hospital on your birthday sucks
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Totally agree! FWD + peaky turbo power?! Reminds me of the early '90's Ford Probe GT/Mazda MX-6 turbo twins- The cars were fast BUT had the worst torque steer ever!! Absolutely useless.

 

The 09 WRX should have placed higher for it's AWD and fastest 0-60 times alone! As for the Cobalt- It might be nice to drive, but I wouldn't be caught dead in one- It's a glorified rental car IMHO.

 

Yup.

 

I had a 93 Probe GT V6, and it wasn't as bad as the previous turbocharged I4 GTs, in the 1st gen bodystyle, but it's only downfall was it's FWD. If it had been RWD, I might still have one.

 

I dunno about the WORST torque steer... My mother had a 1990 Lebaron GTC Turbo coupe, with a VNT Turbo. It actually makes almost as much power as a stock Legacy GT or healthy WRX. Being an overgrown K-car, it wasn't that heavy., but no LSD and unequal driveshafts...

 

...It would rip your arms off and beat you with them, if you had a tight grip on the steering wheel.

 

It is kind of sad that decent cars don't come so well equipped, and affordable cars all look and feel like warmed over waste, in terms of design and materials, and not really a lot of real competent drivetrain.

 

The WRX at least has the drivetrain, and the interior isn't Legacy-good, but probably better than Cobalt's playskool interior, if GM is still up to it's good ol' form.

 

Cobalt SS, Neon SRT, whatever. Even the Solstice/Sky have their interior issues, albeit better driveline layouts.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The STI before 08 had a pretty childish interior IMO aswell. The legacy looked and felt 10 times better interior wise.

 

If you cared about the interior when you was driving the STi then you had the wrong car - or wasn't driving hard enough. :)

453747.png
Link to comment
Share on other sites

//

The WRX at least has the drivetrain, and the interior isn't Legacy-good, but probably better than Cobalt's playskool interior, if GM is still up to it's good ol' form.//

I'm planning to get a Katzkin premium leather seat kit put into the WRX - about $1,350 installed. The seats are shaped well, just don't like the fabric. I'm waiting for swatches to pick some kind of suede finish like the Alcantara, so I won't slide around. I also want to match the STi blue, since it seems to go well with WR Blue.

 

There are a few bells and whistles the Legacy has the WRX doesn't, but the Premium package has most of the same things: heated seats, 10 speaker 6 disc radio, etc. Keys for me were the telescoping steering wheel and additional headroom compared to the Legacy series.

Who Dares Wins

スバル

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Keys for me were the telescoping steering wheel and additional headroom compared to the Legacy series.

 

Unfortunately that headroom comes with a hunchback looking roof on the outside. Still can't get used to the shape of the Imprezas.

 

And Legacy has the telescoping wheel, as well... from 2007 or 2008.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Unfortunately that headroom comes with a hunchback looking roof on the outside. Still can't get used to the shape of the Imprezas.
0-60 5.1s. 1/4 mi 13.8 @101.0. I can't see the roof from inside...:lol:

 

It says on subarus website that msrp for the wrx premium is 27,500, so thats 1500 less than the STIs. And thats 27,500 is without adding options. Im located in WI BTW
Word on NASIOC is that most of the 08 STis are now sold.

 

 

http://dervish.smugmug.com/photos/435439475_GnMzZ-XL.jpg

Who Dares Wins

スバル

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Don't think many people cross-shop a Legacy and a WRX.

 

I was putzing around my stealership yesterday hoping to drive an '09 rex but none to be found. They've been turning the trucks away until they unload remaining 08's. I haven't read any of your posts about your purchase, but did you get consessions during the sale or is there still a premium on the 09's.

I tell myself that an N/A Forester is just an STI without all the fluff like, power, handling, style, racing heritage, and curb appeal.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.



×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

Terms of Use