Just to have it all in one place, there are some good and some bad aspects to the new  US version WRX over the previous generations and the new Japanese model WRX.

1) The US car was delivered with 16x6.5 rims that do not fit the the popular Subaru 4-pot brake caliper. You can rest assured that this was not an accident. The 16x6.5 wheels and those God awful 205-55/16 RE92 Bridgestone tires effectively de-tune the existing chassis. It is also true Prodrive and STI were stuck with several hundred sets of 17x7 wheels as the world wide 2002 WRX became available with 17x7 wheels from the factory. It also kept the list price down. But even the Japanese standard WRX got 16x7. Go figure, this is the single largest criticism of the car. Expect 17x7 standard or low cost option at some future date.

2) Better handling. The chassis has been designed with more caster in the front suspension and revised rear roll centers modeled after the 1999 Prodrive build WRC (World Rally Championship) car. The transitions are smoother and easier to control in the new car. This covers anything from a butter smooth turn-in to over-cooking and having to pitch the car sideways and recover to getting the power down off a corner.  This is particularly true of the wider track 4-door model. Put 17 or 18 inch rims with Pirelli PZero, Bridgestone S-03, Michelin MMX or even our excellent wet biased Toyo Proxes T1-s and the stock suspension will be good for a great majority of drivers. This chassis deserves a great, stiff performance tire.

3) Heavier by some 250 pounds, bigger, quieter, stiffer. The new WRX has lost the raw edge of the original. A better road car as a result. It now has the chassis integrity of its closest competitors, such as the Audi S4 or BMW M3. While a Spartan and admittedly plastic interior, it remains both ergonomically fit and finished with good attention to detail. It is still one of the easiest cars in the world to work on.

4) The gear ratios of the world car are dismal.  Perhaps needed for Germany (and England) where the freeway speeds are much higher and perhaps needed to get the US engine to low RPM for the EPA mileage tests, it is functionally a 2 speed transmission in the US, where a 90+ mph third gear is just criminal, pun intended. See Transmission The Australia importer has demanded Japanese gearing for 2003. I estimate it will take making the six speed standard to cure our problems with emissions mileage regulations.

5) The engine suffers from the necessities of being made to meet US emissions regulation AND having to run on 91/93 octane fuel.  The octane issue is critical. (see Engine). The export version EJ205 is not the fire breathing monster street racers would think it could be. I am hearing of as many blown WRX engines as I did RS2.5 turbo conversions. Mostly the result of miss-informed amateurs messing with turbochargers, NOT a reflection of any design or manufacturing defects. If we had 96 octane gas we could have a 280hp WRX, no problem, but beyond that it it is very hard pressed to breath and will break pistons anyway. However there are simple and effective tuning opportunities for this engine.

6) Raceline was purchased by Speedline and the 15s7 RL-7, popular for snow tires, is not available at this time. The new, gold only, Speedline 15x7 clears the 298mm four pots caliper, but does not clear the US caliper. This was an accident and an oversight that may or may not be corrected. You can grind about 1mm off the casting parting line on the outside radius of the calipers to fit these wheels on a stock WRX.