My previous daily was a 2015 WRX, I know, not RWD, but they're a fantastic bargain (at least new, not sure what use prices are) and in the 2015+, they have a different engine than the notorious EJ that seems to be more reliable and certainly more efficient, plus it also ditches the fragile 5 speed of the earlier cars for a 6 speed. I'd routinely get about close to 8L/100km in my mostly highway commute (90-100 km/hr). I even had it on track a couple times and it handled that well, but it's really more at home as a hot street car. Lots of aftermarket support and with just a tune it can get close to 300hp and it's not too heavy at about 3300 lbs. Might be worth a look?
I don't daily it, but I just drove this car from Seattle to Pittsburgh and back in about two weeks. It was mostly flawless, the power steering is losing fluid slowly and needs a thorough going over.
It's kind of too special for me to want to put it out there every day with the terrible drivers we have around here. Plus I can't afford to lose a race car and maybe miss part of a season. The interior is definitely shedding pieces as well.
Yes, it's fantastic at autocross. Maybe too fantastic. There's no way you're going to be able to keep from doing camber plates, sway bar and suspension to see what it can really do, and then it's all downhill from there.
My plan was always to race it, so I'm embracing the whole interior falling off thing. Even if I could turn back time, I'm not sure I would daily this car. It's not... Mundane enough.
I have a E350 4matic wagon in black that is a much, much better daily. It feels safe, it is safe, it's way faster than it has a right to be, and it's much better engineered than I expected it to be.
It actually will autocross. I think it might clean up in the wet, but my problem with trying to autocross the daily driver is that the things that make it really, really fast tend to make it suck as a daily. I know, you've heard that a million times. But having something that doesn't have a huge aftermarket parts list can help keep your life from being too complicated.
