Wednesday 27th August 2014

JDM Subaru range expands

Good news - WRX and STI get a boost; bad news - not to be seen outside of Japan

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In news guaranteed to trigger nostalgia in anyone who lusted after rare-groove acronym-covered Imprezas in the 1990s, Subaru has just launched two funkily named variants in Japan - the WRX S4 and the WRX STI Type S.

Was sounding promising until the CVT

The S4 has the best name, although Audi's lawyers might disagree if it ever leaves Japan. Apparently it stands for 'Sports Performance, Safety Performance, Smart Driving and Sophisticated Feel.' Yes, really. It gets a boosted version of Subaru's newer 2.0-litre 'FA' turbocharged boxer engine (the one we don't get in Europe) with power rising to 300hp from the existing 268hp. Sadly it only comes with one transmission choice - Subaru's hateful Lineartronic CVT, although it does get standard torque vectoring.

The Type S is being pitched as the most focused iteration of the current STI yet. It comes with the 2.0-litre engine that Subaru still uses in Japan but with power and torque boosted to 308hp and 311lb ft over the 300hp and 300lb ft of the export spec 2.5-litre STI we get in Europe. It also gets LED headlights and unique 18-inch gold alloys.

Makes you want to fire up Gran Turismo, doesn't it...

 

 

[rtz62]

Should be offered with a free ball in the boot;
to remind the proud new owner of what Subaru have dropped....

[Ved]

rtz62 said:

Should be offered with a free ball in the boot;
to remind the proud new owner of what Subaru have dropped....

Not seeing your logic here. It's JDM, what have they done wrong here exactly?

[soad]

aticle said:

Makes you want to fire up Gran Turismo, doesn't it...

Yes, it does. And it's not the weekend yet!

[Ali_T]

So the new engine easily copes with 300bhp? You can bet it'll be in the STI in the next couple of years with significantly more, and hopefully pistons made of metallic elements as opposed to cheese.

[GC8]

Iain Litchfield will probably have one soon.

[rtz62]

Ved said:

rtz62 said:

Should be offered with a free ball in the boot;
to remind the proud new owner of what Subaru have dropped....

Not seeing your logic here. It's JDM, what have they done wrong here exactly?

Exactly. It's JDM, nothing there to reignite interest in the UK market.
Also, I've owned a 'Classic' Turbo, a WR1 and (although different maker) a Misusushi Evo RS Sprint; these are cars that actually made me 'want' one, whereas this.... sorry, it leaves me cold.
Good job we don't all like the same things, as the saying goes......

[Gecko1978]

so its got 308bhp versues 300bhp...ok I am sure that will make a huge difference....

[J4CKO]

The Japanese have dropped the ball a bit with performance cars, when a bloody Golf out Imprezas an Impreza.

Mitsubishi ?

Toyota, do they make anything else remotely interesting these days ?

The BRZ is nice and meant to be great but doesn't seem to be grabbing many sales.

The GTR is epic but its 80 plus grand.

Lexus, business as usual, bargey hybridness and pajillion quid hypercar, isf intersting.

Honda, hybrid CRZ thing, er, what else

Mazda keeping their end up with the MX5 but the RX8 is dead and nothing replaced it, the odd boosted mundane Hatch/saloon.


Might be missing some stuff but it seems pretty forgettable.

[Clivey]

Aren't these selling like hotcakes in the US, where fuel economy / CO2 is less of a priority?

[civicduty]

Coming soon to an importer near you.

[Hellbound]

Type S you say?


Does that not open the door for a Type R further down the line? I hope so....in coupe guise too!

Either way, those 2.0 STI cars need to find their way over here...preferably by the container load.

[Malachimon]

Whys that a bad thing? It looks like the blandest subaru ever

[oversteerer]

I thought that Pistonheads was an enthusiasts site. Come on guys?? The new WRX handles far better than the previous generation, has better emissions / fuel economy and costs around £25k in Australia and the US. If Subaru UK sold it here at that price it would be a hit, as it was at the start of this century. If all we want from our “Performance” cars is good fuel economy and emissions, we might as well let our mums write our posts for us. The WRX still has some of the same character and communicative 4WD chassis that we fell in love with when it arrived in 1992.

[stuart-b]

oversteerer said:

I thought that Pistonheads was an enthusiasts site. Come on guys?? The new WRX handles far better than the previous generation, has better emissions / fuel economy and costs around £25k in Australia and the US. If Subaru UK sold it here at that price it would be a hit, as it was at the start of this century. If all we want from our “Performance” cars is good fuel economy and emissions, we might as well let our mums write our posts for us. The WRX still has some of the same character and communicative 4WD chassis that we fell in love with when it arrived in 1992.

I think what they are saying is that Skoda, VW, Seat, Merc, Audi and BMW have moved on so much (and some good value models there..) that it has made most Japanese offerings irrelevant.

[bobberz]

stuart-b said:

oversteerer said:

I thought that Pistonheads was an enthusiasts site. Come on guys?? The new WRX handles far better than the previous generation, has better emissions / fuel economy and costs around £25k in Australia and the US. If Subaru UK sold it here at that price it would be a hit, as it was at the start of this century. If all we want from our “Performance” cars is good fuel economy and emissions, we might as well let our mums write our posts for us. The WRX still has some of the same character and communicative 4WD chassis that we fell in love with when it arrived in 1992.

I think what they are saying is that Skoda, VW, Seat, Merc, Audi and BMW have moved on so much (and some good value models there..) that it has made most Japanese offerings irrelevant.

It's a shame, isn't it, to see how the Japanese manufacturers seem to have stagnated? When I was growing up, we had the Supra, the MR-2, the 300ZX Twin Turbo, the Miata (which was still lightweight), the 3000GT VR-4, the FD3 RX-7 "efini", and the NSX. Now, what do we have? The Toyobaru, a couple supercars with prices out-of-reach for the common man, a bloated, middle-aged version of the Miata, the tired 370Z, and a couple 4WD pseudo-rally cars making the same amount of power as they did in 2002.

Honda has made us wait so long for a new NSX that when it finally does come out, it'll be irrelevant. Honda had a great opportunity, there: build the world's first hybrid supercar. Considering Honda made the first, mass-produced, hybrid, it would've made sense. It also would be the sort of thing we'd expect the Japanese to do, given their history of gizmo-laden, tech-fest cars like the 3000GT and GT-R. Now, in a post-918/P1/LaF world, what new could the NSX bring to the table? The first was legendary because it was so far advanced it made Ferrari second guess their products. It was a game-changer, it moved the supercar world on. With the new NSX, it'll just be a case of "been there, done that".

Also interesting to note is how far the Koreans have come in such a short span of time. (Speaking from an American perspective) it took the Japanese nearly 30 years to become accepted as serious competitors in the US market and nearly another decade before their first luxury product (Lexus) started to be taken seriously as a key player in the luxury automotive marketplace. Hyundai came to the US market three years after Lexus and, barely two decades on, has gone from selling cheap and dull (yet reliable and with an unprecedented warranty) econoboxes to lower-income families, to being a key player in the (hotly-contested) mid-size segment and selling a luxury car (the Equus) that can cost in-excess of $70 grand. A decade ago, I'm pretty sure the most expensive Hyundai came in at under $20,000.

[GravelBen]

stuart-b said:

I think what they are saying is that Skoda, VW, Seat, Merc, Audi and BMW have moved on so much (and some good value models there..) that it has made most Japanese offerings irrelevant.

I seem to remember a review of the new STI that was suggesting the same thing in comparison with the Golf R (which apparently has nicer plastic or something) ... right up until they actually drove the Impreza on some interesting roads.

Turns out the Golf may be better for cruising and posing (if you're in a place where its more fashionable), but if you want a drivers car then its the VW thats more irrelevant.

Edited by GravelBen on Thursday 28th August 07:27

[neil1jnr]

stuart-b said:

oversteerer said:

I thought that Pistonheads was an enthusiasts site. Come on guys?? The new WRX handles far better than the previous generation, has better emissions / fuel economy and costs around £25k in Australia and the US. If Subaru UK sold it here at that price it would be a hit, as it was at the start of this century. If all we want from our “Performance” cars is good fuel economy and emissions, we might as well let our mums write our posts for us. The WRX still has some of the same character and communicative 4WD chassis that we fell in love with when it arrived in 1992.

I think what they are saying is that Skoda, VW, Seat, Merc, Audi and BMW have moved on so much (and some good value models there..) that it has made most Japanese offerings irrelevant.

Both got good points. I agree the germans have moved on an awful lot in the last 10 years or so, and subaru haven't... or moved back a bit? I think the hawkeye WRX STI Type UK had 320ish bhp?

Anyway, the impreza is still cheaper (I assume AND do they still sell them?) and a better performer than it's german rivals (Golf R, Audi S3), so it just comes down to what you prefer. I prefer the Impreza because I have a soft spot for them and I am just not convinced with the haldex system. Subaru only lacks interior quality but that is irrelevant for me, why pay more for 'better' plastics????

[GravelBen]

bobberz said:

Now, what do we have? The Toyobaru, a couple supercars with prices out-of-reach for the common man, a bloated, middle-aged version of the Miata, the tired 370Z, and a couple 4WD pseudo-rally cars making the same amount of power as they did in 2002.

But do the European or American manufacturers have anything more interesting?

I don't know that I'd call the MX5 bloated either, at 1167kg its still lighter than most other new cars.

[matpilch]

can I just say, on the back of a weekend in a diesel&CVT Outback, that the 'box was rather quite nice and worked really well, nothing of the sort of horror stories I've read
would I want one in a 300bhp Impreza is another matter, obviously

[flatso]

matpilch said:

can I just say, on the back of a weekend in a diesel&CVT Outback, that the 'box was rather quite nice and worked really well, nothing of the sort of horror stories I've read
would I want one in a 300bhp Impreza is another matter, obviously

I also testdrova a Diesel Outback with the CVT and after all the bad critique I was actually positively surprised.
That being said, why oh why do all these manufacturers insist on completly eliminating the manual box. I love shifting, take pride in my shifting skills and for me it is an integral part of the sporty driving experience. For the time being I am not even remotely considering buying a non manual sports car.The least they can do is offer the box as an option...can't be that hard!