Tested: 2022 Subaru WRX GT Is a Mature WRX

After many years of spitting hearth and spraying gravel on the world’s rally phases, or at the least trying the half on the road, the Subaru WRX has earned just a few grey hairs. Now in its fifth era after a redesign for the 2022 mannequin yr, Subaru’s proto-rally automobile has reached center age, donned a swimsuit of body-cladded workplace put on, and attained a brand new stage of sophistication. Nowhere is that this clearer than within the WRX’s range-topping, automatic-only GT model.

Now, the WRX has been obtainable with an automated transmission for years, and the most recent mannequin’s CVT unit with eight simulated ratios is an $1850 to $2250 possibility on all trim ranges, together with the $30,600 base automobile. Subaru nonetheless lashes a six-speed handbook to the 271-hp turbocharged 2.4-liter flat-four as normal. The new absolutely geared up GT mannequin, nonetheless, is completely a two-pedal affair that may set you again $43,390. For a WRX. That’s $5220 greater than the start line of the previous 310-hp STI mannequin, the likes of which gained’t be returning for this era (that nameplate could also be revived for a future efficiency EV based mostly on a distinct platform). To be honest, Volkswagen GTIs may be optioned previous $40K, so the reasonably priced sport compact is considerably of a nebulous idea these days.

The Subaru Global Platform feels stiff and properly balanced, and the WRX’s crisp steering delivers the direct turn-in response you may need when barreling down goat paths at extremely questionable speeds. This is a automobile designed to be chucked round corners with minimal effort, its normal all-wheel-drive system serving to it discover buy on nearly any floor. The cheap 72 decibels of wind and tire noise we recorded contained in the GT’s cabin at 70 mph is common for a sport compact. While its 28-mpg outcome on our 75-mph freeway route is much less aggressive, it’s 3 mpg higher than the automated’s EPA estimate and the identical because the handbook Limited mannequin we beforehand examined achieved.

Perhaps the best draw of an automated WRX is the extra gear it unlocks over the handbook. Opt for the CVT and also you acquire the power to tweak the drivetrain’s responses by way of Intelligent, Sport, and Sport # settings. The GT goes a step additional by including overarching drive modes (Comfort, Normal, Sport, Sport+, and Individual), which by way of the 11.6-inch middle touchscreen allow you to configure your most well-liked mixture of drivetrain feistiness, steering weight, front-to-rear torque stability of the all-wheel-drive system, and trip stiffness from the GT-exclusive adaptive dampers. Also included: a 504-watt, 11-speaker stereo, body-hugging Recaro sport seats with microsuede upholstery and crimson distinction stitching, and Subaru’s raft of EyeSight driver help tech, which is not obtainable with the handbook.

All that equipment helped inflate our take a look at automobile’s curb weight to 3552 kilos, some 151 kilos greater than the aforementioned handbook model. Yet regardless of being essentially the most polished of WRXs, the GT can also be the faster of the 2 in the true world. Though the CVT-equipped automobile wanted virtually a second longer to achieve 30 mph, its 5.4-second 60-mph time is 0.1 second faster, largely as a result of handbook needing two shifts to achieve that mark. The GT’s rolling acceleration from 5 to 60 mph, 30 to 50 mph, and 50 to 70 mph is also considerably faster. Only at greater speeds does the stick shift stretch its legs, tripping the quarter-mile lights in 13.9 seconds to the GT’s 14.1, although each are touring 101 mph.

With each fashions rolling on related 18-inch Dunlop SP Sport Maxx summer season tires, the GT’s different go-fast metrics are what you’d anticipate from a automobile saddled with further mass. Its 0.93 g of skidpad grip is down 0.02 g to the handbook Limited’s, and its stops from 70 and 100 mph—159 and 326 toes, respectively—are each just a few toes longer. In the better sport-compact area, the efficiency of in the present day’s WRX makes it an in depth match for the lighter 241-hp GTI, but it falls behind racier rivals that method or surpass the 300-hp mark, such because the Honda Civic Type R, Hyundai Elantra N, Toyota GR Corolla, and VW Golf R.

Yet with the GT, the WRX feels extra content material than ever to do its personal factor. Dial its drive settings again to tame and it cruises in mature consolation, if with solely marginally higher trip compliance than the well-tuned normal automobile supplies. And save for the CVT’s inherent mushiness when tipping into the throttle, notably at stop-and-go speeds, its stepped ratios largely remove engine droning. A CVT won’t ever be as enjoyable as a stick—this autobox “upshifts” by itself at redline in each state of affairs exterior of attacking the drag strip, the place its quickest runs stored the needle pinned at 6100 rpm—however it does assist lend the GT the type of bandwidth present in some premium sport sedans.

But from the fluttering of its aluminum hood on the freeway to its lack of a heated steering wheel and rear climate-control vents, the WRX rapidly reminds you of its economy-car roots. We’d wager most Subaru sedan consumers tempted by the GT’s function rely will probably be happier spending significantly much less on a 260-hp turbocharged Legacy. While updates have made the most recent WRX’s automated transmission a compelling possibility for drivers extra involved with comfort than engagement, this dear GT mannequin leaves us eager for the less complicated instances of the WRX’s youth.