2009 Subaru Impreza WRX First Steer
December 3, 2008 by David Twomey
2009 Subaru Impreza WRX Sedan First Steer
Subaru says it’s sharpened the claws of its iconic ‘Rex’ with the launch of the MY2009 Impreza WRX sedan, and while the figures are certainly impressive, does it have the bite to take on its newly created rival the Mitsubishi Lancer Ralliart?
-David Twomey
The full assessment of that question will have to wait until we can fully test the two cars back-to-back but the initial impressions are that while the latest WRX, at least in sedan form because that’s all we’ve driven, has a sharper feel and is certainly quicker than the MY2008 model it just doesn’t seem to have the sharp edge of the Lancer Ralliart.
There’s little doubt that at this point the arguments will begin but it needs to be said immediately that this latest iteration of the WRX is, in some respects a very definite attempt by Subaru Australia to get the car back to something closer to the WRX of old, and an acknowledgement by Subaru that it may have gone too far in softening the car with the release of the all-new Impreza range last year.
If you doubt that then in Subaru’s own words it has “put the boot in for Model Year 2009, adding power, torque and a raft of other aggressive ingredients.”
The newly released sedan variants, available in WRX and RS, although we have only driven the WRX version, share the same turbocharged technical advances.
The 2.5-litre turbocharged engine now produces 195 Kilowatts of power at 6000rpm and 343 Newtonmetres of torque at 4000rpm.
While Impreza WRX is meaner, it’s also greener – lower fuel consumption and emissions result from the engineering refinement.
Fuel consumption is improved in the combined cycle from 10.7L/100km to 10.4L/100km, while carbon-dioxide emissions are down from 252g/km to 247g/km.
There’s also numerous other changes to the ride and handling of the latest WRX that are designed to give it a sharper feel and more responsive handling.
Let’s deal with the engine improvements first and there is no doubt that the more powerful WRX is a faster accelerating car, Subaru has gone to considerable effort to produce figures showing just how much quicker it is over its own 2008 car.
Quote [Nik]: “Hey Wheelnut, US markets have a version of a Subaru utility, it’s called the Baja. Don’t Google it, you’ll die of disgust.”
I know Nik I’ve seen photographs of it and it’s awful compared to the old Brumby ute.. which I still see every now and again on the roads still after 10 or more years
Mind you the yanks have an uncanny knack of taking a nice looking car and making it look hideous – look what they did to the VE COmmodore with the G8?
Wheelnut, obviously looks are a subjective matter, but in my opinion the Pontiac G8 is the best looking version of the VE. Then comes the SS. HSVs are too tacky, too “supercheapauto” for my taste…
Tomas79: You think the G8 is better looking than the VE Commodre… well it appears that you do have a sense of humour after all… but then again you’d have to to drive a Landcruiser/Prado and think that it’s a Classic and will be a Collectable.
And if you think that the HSV looks a bit “Supercheap Auto” then that would mean the Aurion [including the TRD] is a bit “$2 Shop”
wheelnut,
we all know the reason tomas prefers the look of the G8.
he always says the furtherest thing from holden is the best.
unfortunately the G8 isnt too far away from the commodore (looks wise)
if tomas thinks the HSV’s look tacky, then perhaps he better look at the TRD range, or better still any toyota that sports a body kit.
Toyota cant even design a total front spoiler, nor a rear bar.
If you notice, you will see that they merely stick flares onto the front and rear bars. It seems dollars rule over having to wear tacky body kits.
Holden always seem to come up with a well proportioned front bar. Anyone who calls their kits tacky is in denial
even stone flectors on XF Falcons look less tacky than a TRD body kit
Stevo the Devo, why would anyone want to pay an extra 5K to get the boat-like handling, poor resale and taxi looks of an XR6 Turbo? Im not a huge fan of the latest Rex, but I’d sure take it over any of the local performance offerings
I also have done a quote 30yrs NT, TIO, AAMI….800-900
rating 1
But I know for a fact that If I lived in Sydney or Melbourne and depending on which suburb it would double or triple.
And your right Ford XR6 Turbo are cheaper to insure why cause there not classed as a sports car. $600 last time I looked. cheap to get lots of HP compared to a wrx too.
But let it be a Holden or a Ford build quality has to be questioned though it has been better, I still would never fork out money for either. I’ll go VW insead
Subaru usually learn from there mistakes and with mitsubishi up there ass with the ralliart, they still have a upper hand cause of the Twin Clutch-SST gearbox, is not everyone cup of tea, A manual version may sway people.
Just have to sit tight and wait and see. Doesn’t take much to make a WRX look better, get rid of that tinny exhaust and fill those holes out back nice big chrome tips, dump it a bit and you have nice sounding car and get mags and your done.
Well call me a minority but I think the HSV styling is god-awful. Smashed up crab front, tacky wheel arches and uninspiring rear-end.
Crappy..
Looks like a Subaru badged Toyota….
Oni the hood top cut to put an intake…
Esp the rear….Toyota…”WRX”? Gotta be kidding me
All of you snap out of it and buy a M3 :)
My 2006 WRX is insured for $860 which is more than the XR6 Turbo I had insured for $580, but that I traded in for the WRX after wanting a better sports car. I’m 28.
The 2006 BF 1700kg Garrett turbocharged boat would go hard in a strait line but way to softy sprung in the corners… it also definitely needs the brake upgrade they offer as 1700kg is a huge amount of weight to pull up.
The nimble 06 WRX I own… owns the XR6 Turbo I owned. :)
I feel sorry for 08 WRX owners but as the 09 is so much better, though I’m glad the 09 is a giant leap forward. Still boring to look at though.
Well done Subaru, now fix the looks. ;)
some people here think changing the shape of the car is easy..
sorry no… its actually the most expensive to change… well apart from interior parts etc.
Mechanically… all vehicles have SAE standards so many parts are common… bolts nuts etc… gears.. rods u get it.
the body shell? the shape of the car?.. for every new model this is where 85% of the cost comes from… as the tools to make them are new… interior parts (dash etc) as well as electronics can be “re-used” mainly the electronic bits minus maybe the surface parts…
but the bumper, fenders, rear half of the car (body shell), the lamps etc… all HUGE cost.
Subaru is not gonna spend an extra 10 million to change the shape… although little cosmetics like bumper, grille, lamps (difficult to change due to cost) can be changed with extra cost but the shell cannot…
If Subaru will change any it’ll be for the next model… not facelift…. maybe 2012~2013…
I never said it was going to be easy.
Subaru really need to muscle up the exterior of the Impreza WRX now there out of the WRC or they will lose even more sales to Mitsubishi or elsewhere. Not that the Ralliart is a better car because it’s not, but it sure looks better. Subaru need to return to the street appeal of WRX’s now the hatch has no rally or street appeal. Don’t get me wrong but the 08-09 shape WRX (even the sedan… definitely the sedan) needs to man up! They need to embrace their identity and not listen to outsiders until it’s totally accepted. Also the STI has to stomp on the competition hard to make some noise that there back and mean business.
If they sell out on the Impreza… Mitsubishi have won and nobody who loves Subaru for what they do wants that! The liberty cannot replace the IMPREZA!
Impreza is their identity!!!
I just traded my 05 WRX for a Black 09 Sedan and I couldnt be happier!
0-100 in 5.31 secs in a car that rides sooo smooth yet still has fantastic handling is nothing short of amazing and for $39990 you tell me a better PERFORMANCE bargain?????
All the people that crap on about it looking like a kia… pffft…. what a load……. Agreed it doesnt look as aggresive as an 06 but ive been there and done that and I grown up and so has the WRX.
Everyone bagged the S*&t out of the MY06 pignose and Bugeye versions after they came out and now everyone likes them so its no different.
I think this car is superb on paper. The problem is still the styling. It really doesn’t say anything!
The performance is fantastic and on this side of 40G it’s cheap. But that styling! It’s not something that one could easily be proud of. The interior needs a major work over too. Still cheap and nasty. Until they sort this, it will always be second to golf gti in my books.
As for XR6. Great car and I dig like the looks but running costs aren’t going to be cheaper. The WRX beat it in the handling department every day ending in y. That said the XR6 seems more practical with heaps of space. I guess what ever angle you take there will be compromises. As most people have said, I just can’t get past the finish of this car.
Folks,
I just traded in a BA MkII XR8 with 234 rear wheel kW’s for an MY09 sedan.
The Ford was OK over 3500RPM but took a month of Sundays to get there, but even with $5K of go faster stuff on it isn’t half the car the Subaru is (and worth sweet FA as a trade). I’ve owned 11 go-bloody-fast Fords which I made go even bloody faster by spending huge wads of cash on them, a couple of Clubsports (unrefined shit-boxes: never again) and some early 4 bangers I worked to the max. A standard MY09 is so much better up to 200km/h than anything I’ve piloted (and I drive BLOODY hard, but as safe as possible and/or points allow): which is considerably hard at times. I liked the Ralliart until I saw the service cost at 100,000km…..$3000!!!!!! Look it up yourself. That fancy box COSTS: as do all fancy boxes :-)
Add the same $5K average I spend on my toys, with a cheque to MRT to bolt 35kW’s (at the hubs) on, and for my money I can’t see better. As far as looks go, the car has the arse end of a bear looking downstream waiting to catch a salmon. The front is ok. The leather seats are comfy, love the glass and sunroof/stereo. Seating position is better for going hard than a Ford XR8. Having experience with the build quality of the Fords, I’d say the Japs are still better than us at building cars, but the gap is getting less each year.
Insurance in WA (43 y/o), in a cyclonic affected zone, is $127 month with 65% no claim bonus through SGIO. If I lived south, where there was no cyclones it would drop a couple of hundred per year.
The new 09 XR6T was better than my 05 XR8, but handled like a fat opera singer in stilletto’s, which after throwing a heavy car around for a couple of years turned me off. The brakes were crap and the cabin noise was like sitting in an ultra-light plane. And as far as a plastic looking interior goes, both cars were equally crap. But at least the seats in the MY09 sedan actually felt like you were sitting in them, not on them.
Now, when is MRT’s second stage kit arriving? Bring it on.
a) XR6’s make awsome power. and thats it. They look crap. They have that unfinished look like an 8 year old designed them. Too plain, too boring. Aussie build quality – pleease!! MY VU SS 2002 ute was the worst thing iever did if you know anything about all 5.7’s at the time. OH, and they look like cabs, and have about as good resale afterwards.
b) The rex sounds better, looks heaps better, handles better and now goes better.
c) I just traded my MY08 on an MY09… I considered a SS V8 till I realised it would cost me 10k more, but be worth 10k less just as quick.. Leaving me 20k worse off.
Please Im all up for supporting homegrown, but until its the king and is better, im sticking with what I know is better.
MY03, MY99, MY08, MY09 owner.
Also had a skyline with 450 (genuine horsepower@engine)
and a bimmer 325ci.
Rexies kick ass for the money, whack some nice 18’s on it with an exhaust and you have a beautiful car.
And no one will pull you over for a ride…
I tried the new Rex the other w/e and was somewhat very disappointed. It felt dull and boring, especially the finish with cheap plastics inside. However, great acceleration and engine braking. Seating position could be improved, ie. the pedals are way too far offset from the steering wheel. Not enough knee room from fully released clutch to steering wheel. I later drove the golf GTI. ….it won me over immediately, in both finish & drivability…But each to their own. both cars were driven on wet road surface, GTI some wheel spin but not overally worrying. WRX was great in the wet….
Kruiser,
The only time the GOLF has been even mentioned in the same breath as the WRX is with the MY08.
94-2007 and 2009+ onwards, its in a different league.
Just got my MY09 with leather and sunroof, standard xenon lights etc.. Dont know what cheap plastics your talking about? Sams crap they have in much better cars. As for being sold on the GOLF’s interior and FWD… good luck with that. I DRIVE my cars. Some like to sip late coffee’s in them.
GTI is, especially the new one, a hair style.
WRX has always been about the drive. Theyve never been pretty.
You went the Golf. Do you go to Toni and Guy Hairdresser’s (i.e. pay $100 for a mans haircut)?
I actually went to VW up at chatswood, and the were acting like snobs…. someone needs toremind them they make cars less than 50k hahahaha…
The people who sold me my new 325ci coupe ($99300 on the road with all those options :), were not half as misled!!
Sorry cant roll with you rex dissing adn VW praising. Different category of car.
Punce V Power.
Good Luck.
That and the interior of the golf is like that scottish kilt shit?
NICE!
WHy the hell would you want a ford XR6 turbo, when its RWD. RWD is shit compared to 4wd thers no arguement there.
And anyway if i was to get a ford it’l be a F6 typhoon
Insurance, Newcastle area, $42K value, 35 year old male, $846 GIO, $780 NRMA. Depends on where you live.
Just got rid of a SS after test driving one of these. The acceleration is blinding, it feels quicker being so much more responsive and lighter, and overall just loved it (why I spent so many years hating these things I don’t know). Never judge a book by its cover.
As to getting the power to the ground on the SS, you need to be skilled to get close to 6 seconds. Getting off the line without excessive wheel spin and smoke takes a lot of doing. Particularly in the wet.
As for the 09 rex sedan, don’t judge a book by its cover. Drive one and see what you think. My test drive was a wet day and was mind blowing. I have always owned Aussie cars, and hated Jap ones. One hour in one last week had me buying the WRX within 2 hours. How times change.
“Subaru’s Impreza also posted an all-time sales record in June of 1568.”
Seems that there are plenty of cashed-up buyers who dissagree with the negative comments here.
Well, maybe at 42 I am an old man then. I had the option of a 2004-05 M3 BMW or a WRX sedan. I test drove both and bought a MY09 WRX. Why, the price is hard to beat as well as good all round optioning without the cabin being filled with wasteful techno crap. I find it a true old style car you can “drive”, and does it go – oh yeah. I can also fit my teenage kids in the back comfortably when I have to allow them in it! I too thought the pictures avail on the net looked a bit “soft”, but when you see the 09 WRX in the showroom, they look much better and the finish is very good. I do agree some interior components could be made better made, but plastic is now what cars are made of. That is my biggest gripe. However, the leather seats are comfortable and I like the sunroof option. Priced well as new, they are hard to look past. I am now troubled by a wife that wants to drive it all the time. As for will they sell, I had to wait two months for delivery. Try finding one avail in Australia on a dealership floor – you wont. My insurance per annum is a sprinkle over $1000. The same as all my previous cars.