Suby salesman calls me at work and said come on over
and check out the WRX you inquired about...So me and
2 work mates jump in the Max and head over there at
11am....We get out of the Max and attacked the car,
one jumping in the pilot seat...I pop the hood release
and the 3rd guy starts looking under the car before the
North American Sales rep come out to greet us !!!!

Very knowlegable Gentleman (didn't get his name) asked
if we had any questions...We all 3 say...."test drive ?"
The rep says no way (only one in the state of Colorado
until late March or earley April....but said he would give
us a ride if we wanted....we said sure !!!...Took us on
about a 4 mile test drive....First impressions with 4
adults in the car is this thing is QUICK....redline is
7000rpms and he pushed it a few times up to around 80mph.

Nice soild chassis and very little turbo whine....it will
kill my 97 SE 5sp......MSRP for the 4 dr sedan 5 speed
is $23,995 (loaded)...but then the sales guy (not the rep) said he has already taken 4 firm orders for $1000 over MSRP.

I told him I would be back in April when they have several
on the lot and we would talk MSRP at that time.

Overall impressions....Would love to have one !!!
Can't think of another car that does 0-60mph in 6.1 secs
with AWD, limited slip rearend, limited slip viscous center differental, AC, 6 disc CD player for a MSRP of $23,995.00
sold in the US....!!!!!!!!!!

Tmeyers-Colorado
97 Maxima SE 5sp

 

That car sounds like a blast, and lots of mods sure to come! The WRX uses the same springs and dampers as the current Impreza.

 

What is the size of the WRX? Smaller than the Max I suppose.

 

Tyhe WRX is a very cool car...its on my list!

But, $1000 over MSRP? Thats a rip! There are already a few dealers taking orders at $400-$600 over INVOICE (dealer cost). The Most anyone should pay is MSRP. There will be too many of these cars produced to pay a penny more than that.

 

compared to the maxima the impreza is pretty small in size. we have a 2.5 RS coupe in our household and the thing fits like a glove. its a very sport feel to it. the seats have enormous side bolsters. the shifts are very crisp and tight. the steering is dead on and weighted nicely. with only 165hp the impreza 2.5 RS still feels fast and has a brassy tune to its boxer 4 cyl engine. the AWD works nicely (especially when accelerating and doing a 90 degree turn from a stop). it also seems to encourage adding throttle at mid corner because the front wheels pull tenaciously.
i think about selling my 97 gxe 5sp in for the new WRX especially since its a great value. it sort of reminds me of the old MR2 turbo, but this car is clearly an all around performer with a better price. there are a few things i'd like to see improved on the new WRX: first if you thought the max had spotty build quality, the subaru is probably a little worse. our center console on the 2.5 already squeaks like a cricket. small bumps create another slight squeak out of the rear quarter. this car only has about 2,500 miles mind you. secondly, i know the new WRX has vastly improved the torsional rigidity. the current 2.5 is slightly soft. it is noticable when entering driveway curbs.
the maxima is still such a great car and the extra space, nice lowend torque and superior fuel mileage, not to mention its faster than the impreza 2.5 RS keeps me hesistant until subaru improves some of their specs. but man, that WRX version looks like a bargain with 227hp and AWD!

 

http://www.imprezawrx.com

check it out....nice screen savers to download also

 

I like the WRX Wagon. Utility and performance in one car! The wagon has more headroom front and rear, and slightly more rear legroom. My only gripe with the WRX wagon is that it lacks the extended wheel flares of the WRX sedan.

In the brochure they show the WRX with the optional 17" BBS wheels. They look great but would be a b!tch to clean. Did the WRX you were shown have the 17" wheels? After going through the website and brochure it doesn't look like the WRX has a sunroof or a power antenna. Did the WRX you look at have these features?

A good friend of mine has an older impreza wagon and I can't notice any squeks or rattles. Then again I don't drive it everyday. Even though his car has 14" with puny tires on it, the car still rails through corners. I can't image what the WRX will be like in the twisties.

$1,000 over MSRP is steep. But look at what all the other European all-wheel drive wagons cost. Audi, BMW, and Volvo wagons start at 30k! With the possible exception of the turbo volvo the WRX will tear the others up! The WRX is a bargin at MSRP. It wouldn't surprise me if Subaru increased the prices next year.

 

Those cars car quick as hell.. I almost purchased one but the dealer didn't want to budge on his price..$23,488 was alittle more then what I wanted to spend on a car.. All and all its a great car. Wish they were more flexible on the price. But from what the Sales rep told me the reason for the price being up there is because Impreza's aren't that popular in the states.

 

The 2.5RS used to almost cost that much. And Car and Driver estimated the base price of the WRX to be around $26k. For that, you get the 'on rails' handling, 227 turbocharged hp, 0-60 in the low 6-sec range(C&D said 6.1-6.4), and a bit a bit of off road capability. I think the 2nd gen Eclipse GSX had a higher price tag, and offered less performance.

 

Before our maxima we owned a Subaru SVX Lsi. We loved the car and we liked it even more then our max. AWD, great power stock and a very unique look. Hell the interior made the max look like you were living at Kmart with its full suede and excellent seats.

Our biggest problem was that it went through 2 transmissions before 26k miles. Again, 2 transmissions, that were fully replaced by Subaru. Hell, once there was no slippage, we just put it in reverse, started backing out and nothing, just a free revving motor and no reverse. Everytime they had to replace it it would mean a month of downtime because they had to get a new tranny from japan. Thank god it was on warranty because everytime they swapped a tranny we got to see the cost. It averaged over 5k each time. Well, on our 3rd transmission, we felt it slipping again, so we immediately washed the car and went hunting for a new car. THats when we found the max.

We still miss the subaru, quality, other then the tranny was great. Hopefully we were just an isolated case.

 

i live in cherry hill, nj and the sub headquarters is here...i was driving past headquarters and right next to me i see a new WRX sedan..from what i could see it looked nice...it had exaggerated wheel flares and had a aero kit on the bottom of it..looked real nice..i don't like those new headlights tho..shoulda kept the old style...anyway, i tried to go test it out but he turned off somewhere..bastard! probably would have whipped my *** anyway..those things are gonna be fast once people start playing with them..

 

I don't know the new WRX in US is going to be like in term of build quality. but i assume it will not improve much since it's SUBARU....not kidding. My friend in Taiwan, he works for SUBARU dealers and many of his friends had that car (BTW, they sell "Rally version" of Imprezza in Taiwan, of course Turbocharged, I think they are using the damn same engine, they had that engine long time ago, probably just redesigned to fit US emission Spec..

From what i remember, that car was a crap, i mean i would say that car is only good for track and off-road racing use only...he has seen so many problems associated with the engine..brought back to the dealership...So, i would be really carful when buying this car, unless they did something to improve the build quality...btw, the new rally version of WRX is called STi..280hp.. i dont' know if they are using the same engine or not for the US market...probably does!!!

 

Think about it, a Subaru that costs 26,000 is a bargain! They've really found their niche with the AWD but it's price is starting to get into Audi territory. What's interesting about the market is that on the Euro cars adding AWD to 2wd is not that much more these days, only $700!!!!

So it seems like Europe has fought back, but if you don't have 30 grand ante to play with you can't even consider them.

The hp they got out of that boxer is amazing. Thing is I never liked the way those boxers sound when they're a few years old, like VW bugs (air-cooled). The motors sound like they're on their deathbeds, but they've got another 100,000 miles of life left. Anyway, although the car would not be for the 30 and up crowd, I think subaru is definitely on the right track. The car business is getting tough--Maxima incentives are nothing new and of course they are going on now, but every model of BMW??? The Roadsters (not M) have a 3,000 incentive to boot. So don't forget, when you go out there to buy a car you're in the driver's seat, and do be afraid to dive right into the holdback!!

 

that car is sick, i was looking at the euro edition max power(Jan 01) and they had an article on a WRX and it is a sweet looking little ride. not to mention that in europe they get pretty sick on modding... parts will kinda be pricey if you have to get them from europe.... but a hell of a ride.

 

I didn't really believe in AWD until my dad got an SVX. Subaru knows what they are doing. You can launch from a standstill, turning, at full throttle on wet pavement and never spin a wheel. It has better traction than my mom's ML320. Make my WRX a wagon, and send me an STI catalog.

 

at the mini dallas meet we had this weekend.
we got to put this weapon r intake on this guys.
nice nice.
too bad the intake didn't fit as well as it should.

actually brokenmotor and sx7r did the install.
i held the flashlight

but i like the wrx nice nice nice!

 

I have heard some stories about the SVX tranny. Subaru's excuse was that they didn't have enough experience in building a strong auto tranny for a high power car like the SVX. After all, that was the first true sport car from Subaru, IMO. The XT6....

Somehow I am planning to get the WRX Wagon. The 5 spd version for sure. 2 reasons. 1st) practice driving a manual (heck, I haven't driven a manual for years! and my wife doesn't even know how to shift that thing.) 2nd) dont want to get that you can't find the reverse shiftgate (ala Outback).

dunno about the Taiwan version. all I know (for living in Taiwan for a while and married a Taiwanese girl) is that they have all kinds of crappy cars in Taiwan.