Subaru WRX 30,000 sale milestone

By Alborz Fallah | November 23rd, 2009

Subaru’s hero car the Impreza WRX has passed 30,000 sales in Australia.

The WRX is a turbocharged Symmetrical All Wheel Drive model from the Impreza family also known as “Rex”. Launched in March 1994 it changed the Australian automotive market and the perception of what a fast car should have under the bonnet. 15 years on it still sells for the same price – $39,990.

Given its credentials it didn’t take long before it had a cult following with buyers enjoying the raw performance and grip. When it was launched it had a similar effect as the Nissan GT-R with performance cars retailing for significantly higher prices unable to compete with the value for money.

“The dawn of Impreza WRX is an amazing milestone in our history,” said Subaru Australia Managing Director, Nick Senior.

“Just like the Subaru Forester and Outback, it effectively established a new class of vehicle, one that many have now followed.

“It paved the way for the low-volume and even more potent WRX STI versions, that have become the closest thing to a professional rally car at an accessible price.”

“It’s amazing to see that the Impreza WRX price today is the same as what we offered at launch, yet there’s so much more specification, so in many ways the current car is even better value.”

The Impreza WRX is still a favorite in Australia selling around 150 cars a month.

“WRX has seen many competitors come and go in the last 15 years, but its intrinsic engineering, quality and sheer fun have made it a true survivor with a distinct place in Australia’s automotive history,” said Mr Senior.

“I have lost count of the number of supposed competitors built up as Rex challengers, but they couldn’t cut the mustard, particularly the front wheel drive and rear wheel drive pretenders who soon got lost in the dust.”

From 1996-2005 the Impreza WRX STI took Subaru to 10 consecutive Australian Rally Drivers’ Championships, and eight Manufactures’ Championships.

First seen at the 1993 Sydney Motor Show, the Imprezza WRX came with a 2.0 litre turbocharged four cylinder Boxer engine which produced 155kW at 6000rpm and 270Nm of torque at 4800rpm.

The currant Impreza WRX has a 2.5 litre turbocharged engine which produces 195kW at 6000rpm and 343Nm of torque at 4000rpm.

With technological improvements the WRX is not only more powerful it is also more fuel efficient with lower emissions.

Other changes now include:

0-100 km/h 5.3 seconds (6.5 in 1994)
17-inch wheels (15-inch in 1994)
Framed doors, for added rigidity and security
Dual front, side and curtain airbags
Electronic Throttle Control
VDC electronic stability control
Five-star ANCAP safety rating

Impreza WRX is a multiple award winner, including:

1998 – Impreza WRX: MOTOR Bang for your Bucks winner?1999 – Impreza WRX: MOTOR Bang for your Bucks winner?2000 – Impreza (including WRX): Wheels Car of the Year?2001 – Impreza WRX: Australia’s Best Car in the Sports Car Under $56,000 category?2002 – Impreza WRX STI: MOTOR Bang for your Bucks winner?2003 – Impreza WRX: Australia’s Best Sports Car Under $57,000 – an honour jointly shared with the Mazda RX8.?2004 – Impreza WRX: Australia’s Best Sports Car Under $57,000?2005 – Impreza WRX STI: MOTOR Bang for your Bucks winner?2009 – Impreza WRX: MOTOR Bang for your Bucks winner

RdS

wow.. 30,000 rexies?? more than i would’ve guessed.
good on subaru for keeping an affordable turbo awd on the market.
Simon

And gone from very handsome to very ordinary. Cheap interior is a no cost (only) option.
If it looked better and had a feel of quality I’d have bought one yesterday.

Philthy

The car has always been about lots of performance for not much money. There’s plenty of other cars around that are prettier and have nicer interiors, but not many that would match a rex through the twisties. Congrats Subaru Oz. Keep em coming!
Jamison

Well if Subaru made the interior NICE and spent a lot more money on TOOLING (due to more complicated body styling) then you add in the 4WD and performance.

Then you’d be looking at a 80~100K car.

Would you buy a Subaru for that price?

http://www.caradvice.com.au George Skentzos

The CarAdvice team alone has contributed two to that total!
Jake

Congratulations to Subaru for destroying cult car.

Philthy

Please do tell how making a car faster, safer, more fuel efficient and 30% cheaper (taking into account inflation) has destroyed it?

Hung Low

Perhaps looks has something to do with it? There are more alternatives that are nicer all round propositions inside and out?
Perhaps also because the new 2.5 is a weakish motor (pistons) that needs big $$ for mild improvements unlike the original.
A SS or XR6 turbo is similar priced but offer more poke with more potential?
The original WRX was the performance king at its time, people and the market have moved on.

MrQuick

Yeah the looks have something to do with the whole assumption that its no longer a cult car, but then again, the WRX was never particularly a good looking car in the first place, and looks was never what it was about. However i gotta say, that s204 STi(second from the bottom) looks pretty nice.

The motor is fine now, Subaru finally fixed that problem, but it wasn’t the motor that was weak, it’s the emissions regulations and ecu tuning that was killing the engines. If anyone is still worried, its easy to get around by chipping it, which means an even lower chance of your engine blowing up, but at the cost of your engine warranty, kind of a double edged sword.

The big problem with the WRX is its driveline/suspension. It’s just utterly atrocious, the whole susension atleast needs polyurethane bushes in order to make it handle remotely decently. They aren’t that costly, they’re just really time consuming to replace. Then if you want to make the car handle anything like the older ones used to, you need to spend some serious cash to get new dampers/springs/anti-rollbars.

And thats how you kill a cult car.

Hung Low

Even with the best ecu tune, adding extra boost is no good for the new pistons. They are inherently weaker lightweight items.
They are fine in a standard car but any more than an additional 4psi of boost and the chances of a damaged piston are pretty high.
They also changed to an open liner block, which is responsible for all the head gasket sealing problems which on a boxer engine is big $$ to fix. Once again under big power mods not the ideal blocks to have without grouting the bore liners.
At least the gearboxes are stronger than the glass ones of the early models!

MrQuick

The ecu tune isn’t necessary to add more boost, the problem here is the emissions regulations.

Subaru wanted to use the same engine they have been using for the last couple of years, however new regulations meant that in order to meet emissions standards, the engine needed to be modified, and whats the fastest and most cut price method of reaching these standards, leaning out the fuel mixture.

If you look at both the WRX, STi and the EVO, they are running really lean. This means standards are met, but the exhaust gasses are a lot hotter. Couple this with the inherent design flaw in the exhaust manifold (cylinder 3) of the 2.5l block, the heat ends up effecting the pistons, and generally the whole block.

Tuners don’t give a damn about emissions, and they’ve all realised that you can change the mix so that it runs richer, and heyhey, you get more power, and then you can boost it and you get even more power.

That ecu tune to preserve the engine isn’t necessarily for power and you don’t have to increase boost, but you’d be nuts not to if you spend the time tuning the ecu.

But at the end of the day you do have a point, the new pistons are worse, the block itself flexes and distorts and the cylinder bores become kind of oval when you torque the block fasteners up, why Subaru, why?

It’s kind of disappointing that we don’t get the 2 litre engine that the Japanese market STi gets, anyone know why?

And about the gearboxes, that 5-speed in the WRX isn’t that great, though gotta say it is improving.

Hung Low

Makes perfect sense, cheers!

Jake

Are you serious? They turned an icon car into worst looking hatch that you can currently buy…and the sedan is even worse….I had a 2 wrx’s in the past….awesome cars….but this one is a disgrace from outside and inside too…wake up Subaru…make proper Wrx next time.

motogp fan

holy crap subaru make some ugly cars!

Tim

Do I care? Nope. Because in my eyes it looks great and goes better than 95% of cars on the road. On a track, destroyes reputations of Audis, Porsches, Merc’s. Sometimes its not all about the looks and luxury mate.

Joe

Dear haters,

I hope you keep buying your vehicles which are in your opinion, superior in every way. Good on you.

I’ll keep buying WRX’s, as will the 29,998 other people (I account for 2, as 2 out of our 3 Subaru’s are WRXs) who have bought them over the past 15 years.

I wonder how many of you haters and experts have actually driven or owned a Subaru? My guess is not many, if any..

In fact, I hope you just keep on regurgitating what you’ve read on the net as your faux-informed opinions, because it gets funnier and funnier each time I read them and it gives me a few chuckles. In fact, same goes for every single Car Advice article.. keep on doing it, it makes my day.

Regards,

An extremely happy multiple Subaru owner.

Baddass

I agree. If you can find another car as fun to drive through the twisties than a Rex or Evo, at a lower price, I’ll eat my hat.

Devil’s Advocate

Well, start eating Baddass. I will even let you use a little chilli or the like the take the blandness away! Seeing as you mentioned “fun” and not “faster”, I know of at least one car that is cheaper than an evo and extremely fun to drive in the twisties. It also takes driving/handling back to good old fashioned light weight and pure chassis balance instead of relying on technology. The car, a Mazda MX-5. Sure, it is not the fastest car in a straight line, but show it a few corners and it is surprising how many more fancied cars would be shown a clean set of heels whilst putting a huge smile on your dial at the same time. As well as being fun to drive, it is also extremely rewarding as it is all you making it go fast around the corners (if you turn off TC/DSC ) and not a bank of computers/gyros etc. It is one of the most fun cars to drive under $100,000. I am also sure there are some other cars out there within that price range that are a ball of fun to drive, however I don’t want to comment on a car that I have never driven before.

Of course, this is only personal opinion, just like yours. However it is also the personal opinion of hundreds of thousands of people the world over, including many car websites like Topgear and the like etc.

I will say one thing though. For the money, there aren’t many cars faster point to point on a twisty, dirty/damp road etc than a WRX/EVO, but there are cars out there that can be just as or even more fun to drive that aren’t ridiculously expensive. You don’t have to be the fastest to have the most fun. Sometimes it can actually be the opposite!!

Baddass

I agree, well said. I had not even considered the MX-5, which is as we all know a brilliant car.

Nin

I’ve had the privilege on owning both a WRX and an MX-5, They are completely two different cars with different fun factors. For the price the two are excellent but very different. The Transmission and the Make of the MX-5 i feel are better, but it lacks the power, especially when someone is in the passengers sit. Whereas the WRX is just moves when you need it to. But atleast with the WRX you can take more mates out with you to ‘enjoy’ the ride.

davie

Well said.

Its much easier to tear something down. especially if you are completely uninformed like many here are.

How about a new rule, dont diss a car unless you have owned it…

… …

The WRX has had a halo effect on the whole subaru range. I bought a boring non turbo LX impreza after riding in my mates WRX. I thought the base car was great and couldn’t afford the turbo at the time.

Jake02

davie says:
“How about a new rule, dont diss a car unless you have owned it…”

Too right! Or at least driven!

John

Congrats Subi, thanks to you we have a great performance car for less coin. I’m more of an Evo person myself but competition is good!

More cylinders doesn’t mean faster, in fact I prefer these types of cars to Holdens and Fords.
Jake02

Wow, 30,000! And rightly so. Rexes are some of the most fantastic cars on the market. Relatively cheap, well equipped and it goes like a bullet. What more could you want (apart from some quality interior parts and maybe better exterior aggression – doesn’t matter though because it’s so fast!) ??? My old car – a 2000 Liberty wagon – handled absolutely fantastically. So nimble and it felt relatively fast, but very far from it. I know for a fact that Rexes are the same, except fast. Keep it up Subaru!

Hung Low, is there any car you LIKE!?
Phill

Good one Subaru,but make the next one faster,watching the 09 12hr and seeing that the STI couldn’t keep up with the Evos(WRXs natural enemy) is a sad sight.
spellbound

Looking back now the areo grill [04] actually looks cool now , best of the lot , and they drive like stink .

Have to respect them after having a liberty 3.0r b spec handled very nicely .

Big downside is bad economy .
davie

When the wrx first came out I think it retailed around 40k which was a performance bargain.

16 years later, its still around 40K.

What has happened to the price of a SS commodore in the same time?
http://www.caradvice.com.au OSU811

as much as people bag the current shape, it is one of the most successful in sales,
with long waiting lists at most dealers,,