Grassroots Motorsports

Subscribe get a full year for only $19.95 Sample get a free issue—no strings attached

Maybe progress isn’t so bad after all Mar 7, 2008

In just a short period of time--a week, to be exact--we have put more than 750 miles on our WRX. Since the car is still in the break-in period we have kept the revs below 4000 rpm.

Some initial impressions:

• Despite the refinement and cries of selling out from some of the die-hards, it still feels, acts and tastes like a Subaru.
  
• The new shifter position and feel are better than before--just wonderful.
  
• Framed windows are nice.
  
• Not quite as aggressive as last year's model.
  
• Sorry to see the aluminum calipers go, but brakes feel good.
  
• Speaking of brakes, they initially shuddered like a you-know-what. Properly bedding them in seems to have cured everything.
  
• Excellent visibility for important things in life, like making left-hand turns into traffic.
  
• Seats are comfortable on long hauls.
  
• Thanks, Subaru, for keeping the tach centered.
  
• Steering wheel audio controls are nice.
  
• Even though max horsepower didn’t really change, the extra power down low is nice and very much noticed. The car doesn’t fall on its face at low engines speeds like past models did. 

 WRX-Evolution Apr 4, 2008

The WRX made its competition debut last weekend--okay, it was an autocross school, but the same stresses apply. In fact, we made a few dozen runs over the course of two days so the car got a serious workout.

We ran the car during the Evolution Performance Driving School in Fort Myers, Fla. The only mods were a set of shaved 225/45R17 Nitto NT01 tires mounted on 17x7.5-inch Rota SDR wheels leftover from a past tire test.

Things we learned:

• There was plenty of body roll, but the car was still quite composed and easy to control.
  
• There’s more low-down power than our old ‘07 WRX.
  
• The new shifter position is nice.
  
• The car needs more negative camber up front. We corded an outside-front tire. (The surface was super-abrasive, however, and others did the same.)
  
• Final tire pressures were in the 45 psi range.
  
• Thanks to camber gain, the rear tires cleared the fender lips.
  
• We turned the same times with and without the stability control engaged.
  
• We should have used our CG-Lock, as a few times we almost slid out of our seat.
  
• Brake modulation, even with the stock pads, was nice.
  
• Typical Stock-class mods--shocks, front bar and an alignment--should make a huge difference. Do we head there or take a stab at E Street Prepared? 

Fresh Breath Never Felt So Good Jan 19, 2009

Over the last 6000 miles or so, we've been enjoying our 2008 Subaru WRX project car as a daily driver. It's proven to be a comfortable and practical street car, but many of our initial complaints about the new WRX hold true. Several of those concerns were addressed with revisions in the 2009 model car, but where does that leave the brave souls who jumped into owning these early cars?

The silver lining to this cloud is that the EJ25 engine used in the WRX was essentially unchanged from those used in the last few years. That means making some more power from the factory engine is well-charted territory. We recently upgraded the WRX's intake with a K&N Typhoon intake system.

We've always had good luck with K&N products, especially with turbocharged cars like our WRX. Still, it's never a bad idea to take some measurements. We didn't have a four-wheel dyno available, so we used one of the downloadable iPhone accelerometer applications called "Dynolicious" to measure 0-60 acceleration before and after installation.

The bone-stock car delivered consistent, if not record-shattering 6.25-second zero-to-60 runs. We left the traction control system activated, and launched at a clutch-friendly 3000 rpm using a quick clutch slip rather than an abusive clutch dump. We could have pushed for faster times, but not without being mechanical sadists.

Installation for the K&N intake was pretty easy; removing two screws, two clamps, and two bolts allowed us to pull the stock intake. Once it was assembled, the K&N simply went into its place. Assembling the K&N was almost as simple; the instructions included with the kit were well written and easy to understand.

After installing the new intake, we drove the car about 15 miles to allow the ECU to adjust to the new, free-breathing intake tract. We noticed a slight change in the intake noises almost immediately; we could hear the whistle of the turbo spooling up and a faint "chuff" upon closing the throttle. These sounds were pleasantly subtle; loud enough to notice, but not so loud that they drew attention from outside the car.

From the seat of the pants, it felt like the K&N system was doing its job. However, we weren't ready to simply take the performance claims at face value. After another half-dozen runs using the Dynolicious software and the same launch technique, we saw our zero-to-60 times drop about two-tenths of a second to the low six-second range, with our fastest zero-to-60 run measuring 6.03 seconds.

In the end, we can't say that we were surprised by the K&N Typhoon's performance. Good engineering made the installation a breeze and delivered solid performance gains. We'd be especially interested to see how the gains could be further improved with a plug-in performance tuner like the Cobb AccessPort.  

So long, Subaru Sep 1, 2009

After a year of living with our latest Subaru project car, it was time to say goodbye as the car returns to its corporate parents. Despite some initial concerns over the revised styling over the GD-series Subarus, we grew to love the smooth lines of the latest version of the WRX. After installing the Vorshlag / AST coilovers for the handling story in the May 2009 issue of the magazine we grew to love the handling, too.

The 2008 model WRX was criticized by some for being underpowered, but we didn't think it was that bad. In fact, the only driveline modification we made to our car was the addition of a K&N Typhoon intake system. Given more time, we'd probably have gone to an aftermarket exhaust and some sort of ECU tuning for a bit more power.

Fortunately for patient consumers, 2009 model cars received a revised engine configuration that boosted the WRX to around 265 horsepowe. If we were to do it all over again it would make good sense to start with the later car. Unfortunately, neither are classed favorably for SCCA Autocrossing when compared with earlier models of the WRX equipped with the 2.0 liter engine.

Next time, we're eager to try the full-strength STI model.