This is the unhappy result of a series of “unintended acceleration” incidents with automatic transmissions in the 70’s, and the decline of manual transmissions so that special pedal geometries for the latter are no longer practical from an industrial engineering point of view. Finally, like most post-1975 cars, the brake and accelerator pedals are placed at different levels and too far apart for heel-and-toe downshifts while braking. Fortunately it’s a close ratio transmission so you won’t cause much trouble by getting 4th instead of 6th. Furthermore, the movement of the shifter is a little unnatural in the top two gears with a deliberate sideways push necessary to get 6th when shifting up from 3rd, instead of 4th, and if you’re trying to downshift to 5th, the synchromesh wants to give you 3rd. ![]() I understand why this is: it’s a “smart” manual transmission that won’t let you start the engine till you’ve floored the clutch, and the indicator evidently takes its signal from the same source so it can’t show you anything till the transmission “knows” it’s in gear. Worse, the indicator doesn’t show anything until you let in the clutch, when it’s too late to correct having selected the wrong gate. (On the other hand it’s good there are many adjustments, unlike the sports cars of the 60’s). The manufacturer gave us a dashboard indicator to tell you that, but it’s low on the panel where it’s partly obscured by the steering wheel hub unless you adjust the tilt wheel and seat height carefully. The transmission has 6 forward speeds, which means it’s often not obvious with the optional “short-throw” shifter what gear it’s in. Some things are better but others aren’t as good as in the old days. The all weather tires should be a factory option for those who don’t have space to store the summer tires. Hard to imagine how summer-only tires could be better. There are high performance, all season tires these days, and that’s what it’s riding on now. To their credit, the dealer suggested I buy all season tires because this would have to be my only car, a daily driver, I can’t afford a sports car that I would take out only on nice days with another car getting the groceries. A similar odd decision from the designers is to deliver the car with summer-only high performance tires. ![]() For a GT, I question whether this is necessary. Now let’s mention ride…another 60’s cliché comes unbidden to my computer: “if you run over a coin, you can tell if it’s a dime or a quarter.” The ride is tightly snubbed and very hard. (You might be pulled over because you’re going 80 in a 35 mile zone but that’s your own fault). Its cabin is fairly quiet and you won’t be pulled over because the exhaust is making such a racket that you’re making cows miscarry. The seats are firmly bolstered the designers obviously thought hard cornering would be happening a lot of the time, and so it should! The WRX is a Gran Turismo, though, not a sports car, as befits something with 4 doors and a useful back seat. When we consider that this “old fashioned” performance comes in a 4-door sedan with comfortable accommodations (at least in front) for a tall driver, yet, unlike BMW sedans at the time I bought mine, you can get it with a manual transmission, I hardly think the basic design could be improved. ![]() “Corners as if on rails…steering direct and linear up to speeds where I don’t want to find out if it understeers, oversteers, or just slides sideways at the limit…glued to the pavement.” There’s no body roll, no squeal from the tires, and acceleration even in top gear is pleasantly lively through 55, without ever exceeding 3,000 on the tachometer. ![]() Nevertheless, its capabilities are obviously huge, triggering a flood of cliches from the sports cars of the 60’s-70’s. So, I didn’t experience the full performance of the car at first. I’ve been observing 3,000, because the WRX is turbocharged and boost comes on strongly a little above 3,000 so that stopping the acceleration precisely at 4,000 is a challenge. Back to the WRX, I hadn’t passed the break-in period at the time I started writing (see below), and the manual advises short shifting at 4000 until that point. If you’re old enough to remember the age before pollution controls and safety features, you won’t argue with me when I cite the 1971 Ferrari 365 GTB/4 as a 10 (“Relaxed at 140, undemanding at 150…controllable at 193…but acceleration tends to fall off after 155,” according to the contemporary Road & Track article). Fun Things to do around Reynolds' Subaru & BoatsĪmong performance cars, on a scale from 1 to 10, today’s WRX holds its head up proudly at a solid 9.
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