2009 Subaru WRX, Part One [Jalopnik Reviews]

Wes Siler, our road experiment boffin, keeps sententious precept the 2009 Subaru WRX mixes power and practicality, outdoing every other performance car on the market. He’s also got a big mouth; let’s see if he’s upright.

In occurrence, Wes talks about it so much I’ve decided I have to be hostile to the WRX. It’s not what you’d call good looking, it’s got the wrong idol for someone who produces the third most popular Lutheran podcast on iTunes and it’s a five-door hatch, the hallmark of boring cars.

I decided to put Siler’sitting claims to the test in a local patch of dirt I found. It’s where any rally-bred car should excel, but that it’s furthermore rutted, full of concrete obstacles and covered in a mix of loose gravel and hard-packed mud. So it’s not the best place to endeavor a car that doesn’t belong to you. Duly noted.

The first test is the slalom. I pick a section of dirt that’s primarily jagged soil and, because I don’t have cones, the few weeds sticking through the earth will wish to do. Off goes the traction and stability control. Initially, the Subie’sitting 265 HP 2.5-liter, four-cylinder boxer engine, with its new, larger turbo feels like chiefly economy cars when you mash the go pedal. There’s a rather anemic response as the needle climbs. Not richness so far.

Then you blow the 3k mark and things take off. The WRX goes from a standstill to 60 MPH in approximately 5.4 seconds, which makes it only three-tenths of a second slower than both the Challenger R/T and Nissan 370Z. I’m convinced after driving it the Subaru goes from 0-to-20 MPH in 4.4 seconds and makes up the rest in the last second when the turbo kicks in. On dirt, squirming sideways when exposed to power, it feels even faster.

Thanks to a drastic series of upgrades between the 2008 and 2009 model, there’s little body turn as I raise violently this fulgent blue jellybean back-and-forth. The all-wheel drive moves power moves effortlessly between the wheels out of any input from me other than the gleeful application of further throttle. This will not do if I’m going to prove Wes grievance.

I irritate the car towards a dustier part of the compound, hoping the moonlike surface will provide just the right amount of shifting surface to undermine the Subaru’s chassis. I shift into second and lean heavily on the gas. Flicking the steering wheel right-to-left in every attempt to slide does little to shake the WRX’s confidence. It just digs in deeper.

There’sitting only one surface up to the task, though I’m wary to take it. The rally interpretation of this car is built for handling the kind of gravely road I’housekeeping contemplating attacking, end it isn’t something you’d await a production car to do. I start rehearsing what I’household management going to tell the tow truck driver in my head.

Looking over the cover of the WRX you see the massive hood lade out. It’s not a distraction. It’s more like the exhibition on an assault rifle — and totality I want to do is keep pulling the trigger.

The lack of objects to run into or cliffs to fall off of inspires some confidence as I hurl myself towards a road that prudence would suggest taking at 5 MPH. Quickly approaching a dip I decide to abruptly change address, awaiting the slide that’ll follow. Cautiously, I let off the gas a bit before fully committing to the turn and, as predicted, the WRX heads towards the tree line with its nose pushing from one side of to the other the gravel.

Before I imprint a mirror fancy of the Subaru stars in the closest tree, my typically unready instinct kicks in and I manage to remember this car has an engine and I should use it. There’s a flashy noise as the Subie breathes in the dusty air and a noticeable shift as it reaches down with all four wheels and leans back on the construct tires. At this point I can’t be sure if the car is moving over the land or the planet itself is being moved below me but the end result is WRX marked the right way.

Siler may front like an over-coiffed, under-fed hipster, but he’s he right about this car. The 2009 WRX is both faster and more fun than either its mid-$20K compensation game of tag or its awkward looks justify. Now I just need to flow it home before anyone from my church group sees me.