Up Close With the 2022 Subaru WRX: Different Enough?

We’ve had to wait five model years for the new Subaru Global Platform to finally birth a WRX for the U.S. market — the Impreza has used this platform since the 2017 model year — but Subaru describes the relationship between the two as less intertwined of late. Todd Hill, a spokesperson for the automaker, told me at the 2021 Los Angeles Auto Show that Subaru began differentiating the WRX more heavily starting with its last redesign for the 2015 model year, and the 2022 model is the most differentiated yet.

Related: More 2021 L.A. Auto Show Coverage

“It’s not the same car with a different motor,” Hill said. Differentiation “under the skin and within the structure” is on par with a completely different model, he claimed, akin to an Impreza versus a Forester.

As a refresher, I went over and checked out an Impreza Sport across the Subaru display. At least from a static perspective, Hill has a point: The redesigned WRX is notably different. The interior features a taller dashboard with more stacked layers on the passenger-side dashboard than in the Impreza, plus a unique center console that’s more akin to the one in the Outback and Legacy. The console adds some stitched padding where your knees land, plus reoriented cupholders and a large, portrait-oriented touchscreen.

The standard display measures 11.6 inches diagonally, which matches the portrait-oriented units in the Outback and Legacy; it’s also considerably larger than the Impreza’s screens (6.5 or 8 inches, depending on trim level). Android smartphone users will likely find the layout disappointing, as we’ve found the 11.6-inch display in other Subaru models restricts Android Auto’s landscape orientation to a small upper patch. Apple CarPlay once did that, too, but Subaru secured an update more recently for CarPlay to work in a portrait orientation. If all of that lives on in the WRX, your take on the supersized screen may depend on the smartphone you use.

Bound to disappoint enthusiasts is Subaru’s decision to pair the add-ons from the WRX’s GT trim — which include Recaro seats, adaptive shock absorbers and high-performance summer tires — exclusively with the automatic transmission, not the available six-speed manual. But Hill said Subaru could always change that: “If people ask [for the GT with the manual], some of the development becomes worthwhile.”

Like before, that automatic is a continuously variable unit, which we’ve driven in concert with the WRX’s powertrain (a turbo 2.4-liter four-cylinder) in the larger Outback and Ascent. The turbo 2.4-liter and CVT is an acceptable pairing in those other cars if you need more power while already in motion, but short of lead-footing your way around, it suffers plenty of rubber-band nonlinearity from a stop. Such is the scourge of CVTs, with the notable exception of Toyota’s trick unit with a physical 1st gear.

We’ll see how the pairing works with slightly different power outputs on a car that’s doubtless lighter. Hill said the CVT got a “significant amount of attention and enhancement,” especially among the sportier of the WRX’s selectable driving modes. Relative to the sportiest drive mode in the outgoing CVT-equipped WRX, the 2022 model simulates shifts between gear ratios much faster, he added.

As they say, the proof is in the pudding. We hope to get behind the wheel of the new WRX soon; it goes on sale in early 2022. Oh, and what about the higher-performance WRX STI? Subaru officials were tight-lipped, but they indicated no plans to put the STI to pasture. Stay tuned.

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