1994-2002 [Subscribe to Daily Digest] |
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My wife is looking to replace her old Toyota with a heavier car that will
do a good job in Cleveland winters. I have a '00 9-3 base and since
getting it my wife has been eyeing the old body style 900 convertible.
While we're tempted, we thought we'd take our time looking at options...
Along comes Subaru with the ad for the WRX. What red-blooded 20-somthing
male doesn't see that and drool? Rally car blasting through curves,
impressive engine specs, all-wheel drive. I thought for sure we had a
a winner. Big power, 5 speed, turbo. How can you go wrong?
Well, I contacted Subaru of America (very nice and helpful, actually) to
get a vendor discount. The discount is not available on that model
for 60-90 days due to demand, which is good. Now I can get a guilt free
test drive and walk away without pressure. Being an auto plant controls
vendor is good sometimes...
Anyway, the test drive. The seats are stiff, but very grippy. The
car is rather small and not the most attractive thing on the planet.
The interior is typical Japanese, cheap and boring. I think Subaru
and Toyota use the same IP component vendors... The shifter is very nice,
smooth and accurate. But none of that matters, I was there for the
powertrain test. Being a Saab guy I expect power on demand, turbo rush,
power across the rev band, and awesome pickup once moving. In this
respect the WRX was a HUGE disappointment! Turbo lag was the problem of
the day. Worse yet, the turbo guage you see in the advert is an OPTION!
In the Saab you know the fun starts when the needle goes right. It sure
would have been nice to know when the WRX was going to kick in. The
ride in the WRX was stiff, which is probably good for rallying, but would
get old fast on a daily commute. I don't know if AWD saps the power or
what, but the WRX made me feel I had to really rev the thing to get it
going. I'm told the S2000 has a similar problem, but even more extreme.
All in all, my wife and I walked away totally unimpressed. I think we'll
give a used A4 a try (in 1.8T and 6-cyl), but we'll probably go back
to our plan of a Classic 900 ragtop.
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