The Subaru WRX, originally launched in 1992 as a replacement for the Leone, features flat-four boxer engines and a patented symmetrical AWD drivetrain. It gained fame through rally success, notably with Colin McRae, and has evolved with various performance models, including the STi and limited editions like the 22B. The latest WRX models continue to enhance performance and technology, introducing updates to infotainment and safety systems.

1. • STARTED IN 1992
• LAUNCHED AS A REPLKACEMENT FOR LEONE
• FLAT FOUR BOXER ENGINES RANGING FROM 1.5 TO 2.5 LITERS
• THE TURBO CHARGED MODELS ARE KNOWN AS WRX
• SYMETRICAL AWD IS THE PATENTED DRIVETRAIN
• WAS DRIVEN BY COLIN MCRARE

2.  Already popular as a sort of sure-footed
Japanese Volvo, Subaru's Loyale was
reasonably dependable and about as
agricultural as you could get this side of
a combine harvester. When its Impreza
replacement launched in 1992 (1993 in the
North American market), the new, curvier
compact sold strongly. For those
in the Japanese home market, life was extra
good as a turbocharged, all-wheel-drive option
was on sale. With twin viscous differentials and
a rubbery
five-speed manual handling 237 horsepower
from a forced-induction pancake-four (as
compared to 215hp 5.0 Fox-body Mustangs
overseas), the WRX was built to
hoon from the get-go. JDM availability also
included the Type RA: a stripped-out race-spec
car with manual windows, no a/c, closer ratio
gearboxes and no
ABS.
1992 WRX

3.  With Scottish Subaru saint Colin McRae at
the wheel, the 300-hp Group A rally
racer was smaller, nimbler and lighter than
the moderately successful Legacy RS it
replaced. Sliding sideways, spitting fire and
gravel like some
Scandinavian elder god, the 555 did
reasonably well in its inaugural year, but
really captured public imagination in 1995
with McRae taking the WRC
driver's championship. The brilliant but
mercurial Scotsman would give Subaru three
manufacturer championships before leaving
to race for Citroën and Ford.
Following his tragic death in a helicopter
crash in 2007, over one thousand grieving
WRX owners would gather to spell out his
name using their cars on the
main straight at Prodrive's test track.

4.  Aside from Rally Blue and Gold, the fastest
Subies wear pink. Cherry blossom is a very
symbolic color in Japanese culture, tied to the
samurai code and
thought to represent the fleeting briefness of the
warrior's life; it's also the signature color of in-
house skunkworks Subaru Tecnica International
– or
to put it in its official Mister-Sparkle-sounding
name, Subaru Tekunika Intanashonaru
Kabushika-gaisaha. These first STI is were
WRXs taken directly
from the production line and modified with
performance goodies ranging from carbon-fibre
strut tower bars to forged pistons and uprated
intercooling. Power
jumped to 250hp with a much lower torque peak
for quicker response. As with all WRXs, there
was plenty of room for back-alley tuners to
unlock even more
power.

5.  Right since the first cars rolled off the
line, the WRX has been available as a
compact hatchback for practical folks
who need to haul cargo as well as
haul ass. The GC-chassis Impreza
wagons are interesting not just for their
ability to fit the family, but also for their
loot-carrying capabilities. The UK
was already in love with the WRX, so
too were the Australians – but while the
Brits loved the Scooby for its
motorsports heritage, some Aussies
liked the
car for the reasons that probably got
their ancestors transported in the first
place. WRXs were easy to steal, tough
enough to smash through a storefront,
and fast enough to leave police Holdens
and Falcons in the dust.

6.  This WRX was built to celebrate both
McCrae's WRC
manufacturer title hat-trick and Subaru's
40th anniversary, this widebody two-
door Impreza is an instant rebuttal to
anyone who thinks Subaru
can't build good-looking cars. Powered
by a hand-assembled 2.2L stroker (as
compared to 2.0L contemporary
WRXs), the 22B's modest 276hp rating
belies its
stonking roll-on torque characteristics,
especially in higher-speed passing
maneuvers. Basically a WRC race car
for the street, the original Japan-only
run
of 400 sold out in a reported thirty
minutes; a further 24 cars would be
produced for overseas markets (but
sadly not North America).

7.  After teasing the U.S. market with a
turbocharged showcar called the 2.5RX in the
late '90s (and never giving us anything hotter
than the faux-rally-bling,
normally-aspirated 2.5RS), Subaru finally
decided we were ready. As two-tone automatic
Legacy wagons moved sluggishly-yet-
tenaciously across the snow-bound
mid-west, America was about to learn about a
new kind of Subaru—goodbye Peter Paul and
Mary, hello Petter Solberg. The first cars to
reach our
shores were the so-called Bugeyes; dubbed the
"New Age" Impreza by Subaru, the world had
already taken some time to digest the
permanently-surprised Subie,
and it had performed reasonably well in the
WRC. The right car at the right time, the 227hp
rattly-interior rocket posted up performance
times within a
hair of high-performance Teutonic iron like the
BMW 3-series and Audi S4, something Subaru's
advertising made a great deal of noise about.

8.  Students of Japanese motoring history might be able to
tell you a thing or two about the unofficial "Gentleman's
Agreement" that once governed the
horsepower levels on Nipponese roads. Nominally set at
280hp in 1990, manufacturers quietly agreed not to sell
high-horsepower machinery to the public in
an effort to keep the crowded public roads safe; Subaru
got around these restrictions with repeated special
models: the GC-chassis S201 (300hp), the
Bugeyed S202 (320hp), and the S203, the second-best-
looking Impreza ever built. While American fans were
still exclaiming over the riotous 2004 STi, Subaru had a
completely different motor available in its home market.
We got a 2.5L torque-lump, they got a 2.0L screamer – in
the S203, it spun to 8000rpm with a
upgraded ball-bearing turbo pulling strongly all the way
to 320hp. A reduced ride height has the S203 hunkered
down over forged aluminum 18" BBS alloys;
uprated spring rates and beefed-up sway-bars eliminate
any typical Subaru body-roll. Inside, grey Alcantara
takes the place of the cartoonish blue found in
USDM cars, and subtle carbon-fibre accents are found
on the exterior. Just 555 cars were produced – an obvious
nod to the past.

9.  Mechanically its just like ant other STI.
In my opinion this was the best looking
WRX
 hawkeye

10.  Good as they are, WRXs often have
foibles: numb steering, butter-churn
shifting, woeful turbo-lag, fuel-
economy like a big-block V8, nose-
heavy understeer,
interiors by Fisher-Price. Up through
2007, the charm of the car outweighed
the drawbacks. Come 2008 and here's
the updated Impreza with the looks of a
running shoe and the personality of a
tasseled loafer. Subaru perhaps thought
to pitch their car to an older audience
and made a sort of wallowy
marshmallow of a car—good low-end
response, but hardly a rally fighter.
Quickly addressed in the following year
with the upgraded WRX 265, the good
news
here is that Subaru's Lego-like parts
interchangeability allows owners to fix
what the factory got wrong.

11.  Subaru replaced their big-winged STi sedan with a
humpy, hunchy, blister-fendered hatchback in the
2008 model year. It looks terrible, which is just
great,
all snorting hood-scoop and 'roided-out bodywork.
Unfortunately, the GF-chassis is not quite as sharp
as the previous generations, at least not until you
start tweaking it. As a name to brand on the back of
a special edition, Cosworth is about as good as it
gets. This 395-hp Brit-built barbarian had a
limited run of just 75 cars. It's not just a straightline
car, but the speed is worth mentioning: 0-60 in
about 3.5 seconds, through the quarter-mile in
12.75. With specially-tuned Bilstein shocks and
Eibach springs, it's a hot-hatch made for the
winding B-roads of the British Midlands, and their
rutted,
rumpled pavement. Six-piston, 355mm brakes are
there to help keep you from turning the local
livestock into sheep-dip. Subaru has since
announced the WRX's
imminent departure from the UK market. This
counts as going out with a bang.

12.  Revealed at last year's SEMA show, there's not
too much that's actually special about either of
these limited-edition WRX or STi sedans.
Basically, it's
five hundred bucks extra for knowing you've got
the orange-est WRX around. Big whoop. Even
so, the bang you get for your buck with either
car is impressive
– 265 horsies in the WRX, 305 for the STi, and
grippy all-weather performance for both. Plus
they're both useful four-door sedans with
reasonable trunks
and available roof rails, at home on the track or
the road up the ski-hill.
 We wait excitedly to see what the next chapter
will bring in the turbo-Subaru's story. For now,
call your high-school geometry teacher up and
tell her how
wrong she was: the shortest distance between
two points isn't a straight line; it's a WRX.

13.  The latest WRX performance sedans
have only been on sale for about a year,
but already the automaker is giving the
fast four-doors some upgrades. The
changes all center around the WRX and
WRX STI’s infotainment and safety
rosters, with every model now getting
Subaru’s latest Starlink infotainment
system with a 6.2-inch touch screen, a
backup camera, and Bluetooth.