2015 Subaru WRX Review "CleverGirl"
Hey all! Welcome to my first attempt at an actual review of a car!
Before I get started I’m going to disclose the fact that the car I am reviewing is my own Subaru WRX and not only that but it is the first car I have ever owned (not the first car I have driven though). I’d like to think I’m not overly biased but I wanted to be transparent. With that said, I can also answer the question of whether the Subaru WRX makes a good first car or not!
So the car in question is a 2015 Subaru WRX, and while we’re at it the car is more or less the exact same as a 2016, 2017 and even the 2018 and later models (although I do prefer the front bumper on the 2018 WRXs). And in case you didn’t know, the WRX is essentially the slightly slower and more affordable trim level below the faster and better equipped Subaru WRX STI.
So what are some of the differences between the STI and the standard WRX? Well for one, the drivetrain in the STI is much better overall, handling and launches are going to be better, the transmission is so much better (a lot of people put STI transmissions in the WRX, I really want to put one in mine). The interior gets a few nice touches to let you know you’re in something a little more special. On the outside you get STI badges and the signature STI wing, and you also get some nicer wheels as well.
And back in the day (AKA before 2015) both the WRX and the STI used the same engine platform: the EJ platform. And essentially the only difference between the two was a half liter of displacement. The WRX was 2 liters and the STI was (and is) 2.5 liters. Nowadays things are a little different. The STI uses the EJ257, a 2.5 liter 4 cylinder boxer motor which produces 305 horsepower. The WRX has a different engine entirely, the FA20F (also known as the FA20DIT). It’s also a 4 cylinder boxer motor but this one is 2 liters and makes 268 horsepower. Another thing that is special about this new powertrain setup is that it has equal length headers rather than the usual WRX unequal length headers. There are two cool things about having equal length headers… First, having them means we get to have a twin scroll turbocharger. Second, it means the car sounds more like an Evo than a traditional Subaru.
Some of you may have a problem with that but to be honest I don’t. If you want the rumble get the STI. In my opinion I think it’s cool you get to choose the sound your car makes, if you don’t like the rumble you can get an Evo type sound, which is nice since Mitsubishi doesn’t seem interested in making Evos anymore… or any cars worthy of note to be perfectly honest.
Normally I would say Subaru is beating Mitsubishi at their own game, I mean we can’t not acknowledge the fact that the front of the car looks like an Evo (this body style has even been nicknamed the Evo Eye generation) and the car sounds like an Evo and the WRX was the Evo’s main rival. But we can’t say Subaru is beating Mitsubishi at their own game because they aren’t even playing anymore, which is a shame.
But anyways, I’m getting ahead of myself. So now you know what physically distinguishes the WRX and the STI from each other, and so now I shall tell you the difference in cost. The base WRX (a 268 horsepower, all wheel drive sports sedan) starts at 27,195 USD brand new. The WRX STI (305 horsepower, better drivetrain, transmission and fancier interior and exterior) starts at 36,595 USD brand new. That’s nearly a ten thousand dollar difference.
So which one do you pick? I would take the WRX, and I’m actually not just saying that because I have one, because I confess I actually really wanted an STI back when I was looking at cars.
Well let’s say I have a budget of 37,000 USD and I walk into a Subaru dealer. They have a base model WRX and a base model STI, with no options on either one (we're not going to be worrying about taxes or insurance costs). I would get the WRX, for a few reasons. For one, I’m not a racing driver and my car is meant to be a daily so I don’t need the better drivetrain to get the extra 5% of performance, the likelihood of me being able to take advantage of it is very low.
Secondly, with the nine grand I save I can modify the car to make it much faster than the STI. A Cobb Accessport and a OTS stage 1 tune will cost you about 675 USD and give you 315 brake horsepower, which is more than the STI's 305. Add their big SF intake system to that (which leads to even more extra power) and the total is about 995 USD. Or you can do one of the stage 2 packages which is an Accessport, a tune, a intake and also an exhaust which can cost between 2,800 USD to 3,500 USD. Or you can be much less conservative and go to Extreme Turbo Systems and get their turbo kit. This will cost you nearly five grand but it includes, a turbo (the PT5858 is the smallest turbine option), you also get an airbox, an intake kit, tubular manifold, wastegates, downpipe etc… the important thing you should know is that even at the smallest configuration you can make over 400 horsepower at the wheels!
They demonstrated this by putting their shop car on a dyno. All it had was the turbo kit with a PT5862, their intercooler kit(which costs an extra 730 USD), their exhaust system (which costs 1,139 USD) and a cobb accessport (which costs 675 USD). The result? 422 horsepower and 397 for torque. I’ll also disclose that the turbo kit would cost about 4,963 USD with the turbo they used. So add that all together and you’ve spent about 7,507 USD which is still less than what you save by not buying an STI, and not only that but you get to be so much faster and with money to spare.
And last but not least, my other reason for picking the WRX over the STI is the new engine platform. The EJ has been around since the late 1980s so it’s high time we play around with something new. Yes, the EJ all around has more modding support but that’s only because it is older than me. And besides, the new FA20 powered WRX has only been around for a few years and people are already starting to find ways to squeeze lots of power out of it.
In case you didn’t know there’s a Mikey Botti tuned 2015 WRX that is putting down 643 wheel horsepower and has clocked in a quarter mile time of 10.39 at 139.46 miles per hour. Pretty cool right? To me it’s more exciting and interesting to be messing around with this new setup that has a different sound and still hasn’t been fully figured out. I’m not saying the EJ platform isn’t cool, in fact I love the rumble of the unequal length headers, but I’m more interested in seeing what I can do with the new stuff.
But enough about choosing the WRX over the STI, let’s talk more about what you get to experience once you have the car.
On the outside, as we have already established, the front end looks like an Evo, which as I said before has earned the car the nickname of Evo Eye… but I much prefer the alternative Raptor Eye (which is why I call my car CleverGirl). The rest of the car's body lines are okay but I feel like the rear of the car doesn’t quite match up with the aggressiveness of the front. To me it almost has a sort of ‘bubble butt’ kind of look to it. I feel like they could’ve made it a little sharper. However, I will say this is an advantage the STI has over the WRX because the wing seems to mostly solve this issue, so if you’ve got a WRX and don’t like the rear look so much... an STI wing or just about any wing should help with fixing the weird look the back has.
The wheels aren’t super special but they’re rather nice looking. They're 17 inch dark gray pieces with 15 spokes. On the inside you’ve got the plastic carbon fiber and (depending on the options you got) you can have a built in GPS and electric/heated seats. The seats are cloth so they’re generally comfortable all year ‘round but they can be more annoying to clean than leather.
And if you’re somehow not satisfied with the trunk space you don’t have to worry, because the rear seats can be folded forward to give you nearly twice as much storage space.
The gauge cluster is pretty nice, especially at night with the red glow it makes. It has a digital display that lets you know what gear you’re in, how your fuel efficiency is at any given time, how many and miles are on the car. And if you don’t like reading an analog speedometer there is also a digital speed readout you can use instead. The gear lever also makes a nice clunk sound whenever you move it into a new position as well.
Another nice sound you get when changing gears is what I like to call a good “snap crackle pop”. Whenever you rev the engine the exhaust will crackle and pop, this also can happen when you put your foot down and make aggressive upshifts. The best way (and your clutch doesn’t recommend this) to get the most pops and crackles is to accelerate hard in first or second and then slam in the clutch in mid to high RPMs and it will make some entertaining noises, although it’s probably better for your car’s health if you stick to neutral revving or shifting during pulls. Although just a heads up the car does have pretty bad rev hang and if you make a mistake it can be a little awkward if anyone is watching. This can be fixed with a simple tune though.
My favourite part of the interior is the steering wheel, the shape of it looks and feels so good in my hands, it feels tight and responsive but not super heavy or light. You’ve got a bunch of buttons on it for controlling the radio (volume, channel etc), you can turn on cruise control with the push of a button and if you’ve got a phone paired with the car using bluetooth you can also answer phone calls without your hands ever leaving the wheel. However, when answering a call like this there tends to be an issue with the person on the other end not hearing you clearly (sometimes it works perfectly fine). I don’t know whether that’s because of where the audio input is or the fact that there’s a lot of wind and road noise when the car is moving (because there isn’t much sound insulation).
You have also got a display in the middle of the dash with various different settings that can tell you your average fuel consumption, how much boost you’re making, how much throttle you’re using or just what song you’re listening to. This is also where the car’s backup camera is displayed as well. And while this isn’t a highlight, the car has a reverse gear lockout, which means you have to pull up a tab on the gear lever so that the gearbox can even allow you to go into reverse (which is a nice safety measure).
As I said before in stock form the car makes 268 horsepower. It has a 0 - 60 of 5.4 or 5.5 seconds and a quarter mile time of about 13.8 seconds at 99.8 miles per hour. Knowing this can be really fun because if you’re ever alone on a straight road and want to do a pull from a standstill you can estimate when you’ve gone a quarter of a mile based on when you hit a hundred miles an hour (I am speaking theoretically of course).
Now to answer the bonus question. As I disclosed earlier, this is my first car and I have had it since May 25th of 2017. So has it served me well? Is it a good first car? Well for starters, I learned how to drive manual in the 2015 WRX and the clutch was so easy and forgiving I was able to get it moving without stalling on my first try (although I did stall when I encountered my first stop sign). Shifting is very simple and it helps to have the gauges tell you what gear you’re in (especially when you are first starting out). I also taught myself how to rev match and even do heel and toe in this car, which does go to show how learnable and forgiving it is.
The car is peppy but the throttle is predictable so it’s unlikely you’ll surprise yourself as long as you’re conservative and stay calm. The brakes grab nicely which is a good layer of protection, you need good brakes in any car but especially a sporty one.
If you’re a college student like me who has to move fairly often or go on long drives to visit people, the trunk space, foldable rear seats and the fact it’s a sedan makes hauling stuff very easy. When you want to drive with friends the seats are comfortable and the stereo system is great.
The car gets good gas mileage (assuming you’re driving efficiently) which can be helpful because it does require premium fuel. The traction control can keep things from getting out of hand and the all wheel drive make the car handle fantastically. However, if you get a WRX... do not put bad tires on it. I have Michelin pilot sport a/s 3+ and they have lasted forever and work fantastic, the ride quality is super good and the car launches and handles great. The difference good tires can have is so huge that one type of tire can make the car feel like a low budget honda civic and another tire can make the car feel like a sixty thousand dollar xDrive BMW.
So with all that in mind, does this car make a good first car if it’s within your budget? It absolutely does. As a young car enthusiast you get to enjoy a great drivetrain, good beginner horsepower, a fun modding platform and you get to enjoy the rest of life safely along the way.
So the WRX gets my stamp of approval, and I hope it gets yours too! I hope you enjoyed the review and will be sticking around for more!
Future review preview: Next time I shall be reviewing a 400+ horsepower Dinan tuned 2016 BMW 340i xDrive so stick around for that!
If you want to get your car reviewed then click this link! It doesn’t matter where you are or what you drive! I welcome all submissions! - https://goo.gl/forms/S5uv28upQVOT23qh2
Before I get started I’m going to disclose the fact that the car I am reviewing is my own Subaru WRX and not only that but it is the first car I have ever owned (not the first car I have driven though). I’d like to think I’m not overly biased but I wanted to be transparent. With that said, I can also answer the question of whether the Subaru WRX makes a good first car or not!
So the car in question is a 2015 Subaru WRX, and while we’re at it the car is more or less the exact same as a 2016, 2017 and even the 2018 and later models (although I do prefer the front bumper on the 2018 WRXs). And in case you didn’t know, the WRX is essentially the slightly slower and more affordable trim level below the faster and better equipped Subaru WRX STI.
So what are some of the differences between the STI and the standard WRX? Well for one, the drivetrain in the STI is much better overall, handling and launches are going to be better, the transmission is so much better (a lot of people put STI transmissions in the WRX, I really want to put one in mine). The interior gets a few nice touches to let you know you’re in something a little more special. On the outside you get STI badges and the signature STI wing, and you also get some nicer wheels as well.
And back in the day (AKA before 2015) both the WRX and the STI used the same engine platform: the EJ platform. And essentially the only difference between the two was a half liter of displacement. The WRX was 2 liters and the STI was (and is) 2.5 liters. Nowadays things are a little different. The STI uses the EJ257, a 2.5 liter 4 cylinder boxer motor which produces 305 horsepower. The WRX has a different engine entirely, the FA20F (also known as the FA20DIT). It’s also a 4 cylinder boxer motor but this one is 2 liters and makes 268 horsepower. Another thing that is special about this new powertrain setup is that it has equal length headers rather than the usual WRX unequal length headers. There are two cool things about having equal length headers… First, having them means we get to have a twin scroll turbocharger. Second, it means the car sounds more like an Evo than a traditional Subaru.
Some of you may have a problem with that but to be honest I don’t. If you want the rumble get the STI. In my opinion I think it’s cool you get to choose the sound your car makes, if you don’t like the rumble you can get an Evo type sound, which is nice since Mitsubishi doesn’t seem interested in making Evos anymore… or any cars worthy of note to be perfectly honest.
Normally I would say Subaru is beating Mitsubishi at their own game, I mean we can’t not acknowledge the fact that the front of the car looks like an Evo (this body style has even been nicknamed the Evo Eye generation) and the car sounds like an Evo and the WRX was the Evo’s main rival. But we can’t say Subaru is beating Mitsubishi at their own game because they aren’t even playing anymore, which is a shame.
But anyways, I’m getting ahead of myself. So now you know what physically distinguishes the WRX and the STI from each other, and so now I shall tell you the difference in cost. The base WRX (a 268 horsepower, all wheel drive sports sedan) starts at 27,195 USD brand new. The WRX STI (305 horsepower, better drivetrain, transmission and fancier interior and exterior) starts at 36,595 USD brand new. That’s nearly a ten thousand dollar difference.
So which one do you pick? I would take the WRX, and I’m actually not just saying that because I have one, because I confess I actually really wanted an STI back when I was looking at cars.
Well let’s say I have a budget of 37,000 USD and I walk into a Subaru dealer. They have a base model WRX and a base model STI, with no options on either one (we're not going to be worrying about taxes or insurance costs). I would get the WRX, for a few reasons. For one, I’m not a racing driver and my car is meant to be a daily so I don’t need the better drivetrain to get the extra 5% of performance, the likelihood of me being able to take advantage of it is very low.
Secondly, with the nine grand I save I can modify the car to make it much faster than the STI. A Cobb Accessport and a OTS stage 1 tune will cost you about 675 USD and give you 315 brake horsepower, which is more than the STI's 305. Add their big SF intake system to that (which leads to even more extra power) and the total is about 995 USD. Or you can do one of the stage 2 packages which is an Accessport, a tune, a intake and also an exhaust which can cost between 2,800 USD to 3,500 USD. Or you can be much less conservative and go to Extreme Turbo Systems and get their turbo kit. This will cost you nearly five grand but it includes, a turbo (the PT5858 is the smallest turbine option), you also get an airbox, an intake kit, tubular manifold, wastegates, downpipe etc… the important thing you should know is that even at the smallest configuration you can make over 400 horsepower at the wheels!
They demonstrated this by putting their shop car on a dyno. All it had was the turbo kit with a PT5862, their intercooler kit(which costs an extra 730 USD), their exhaust system (which costs 1,139 USD) and a cobb accessport (which costs 675 USD). The result? 422 horsepower and 397 for torque. I’ll also disclose that the turbo kit would cost about 4,963 USD with the turbo they used. So add that all together and you’ve spent about 7,507 USD which is still less than what you save by not buying an STI, and not only that but you get to be so much faster and with money to spare.
And last but not least, my other reason for picking the WRX over the STI is the new engine platform. The EJ has been around since the late 1980s so it’s high time we play around with something new. Yes, the EJ all around has more modding support but that’s only because it is older than me. And besides, the new FA20 powered WRX has only been around for a few years and people are already starting to find ways to squeeze lots of power out of it.
In case you didn’t know there’s a Mikey Botti tuned 2015 WRX that is putting down 643 wheel horsepower and has clocked in a quarter mile time of 10.39 at 139.46 miles per hour. Pretty cool right? To me it’s more exciting and interesting to be messing around with this new setup that has a different sound and still hasn’t been fully figured out. I’m not saying the EJ platform isn’t cool, in fact I love the rumble of the unequal length headers, but I’m more interested in seeing what I can do with the new stuff.
But enough about choosing the WRX over the STI, let’s talk more about what you get to experience once you have the car.
On the outside, as we have already established, the front end looks like an Evo, which as I said before has earned the car the nickname of Evo Eye… but I much prefer the alternative Raptor Eye (which is why I call my car CleverGirl). The rest of the car's body lines are okay but I feel like the rear of the car doesn’t quite match up with the aggressiveness of the front. To me it almost has a sort of ‘bubble butt’ kind of look to it. I feel like they could’ve made it a little sharper. However, I will say this is an advantage the STI has over the WRX because the wing seems to mostly solve this issue, so if you’ve got a WRX and don’t like the rear look so much... an STI wing or just about any wing should help with fixing the weird look the back has.
The wheels aren’t super special but they’re rather nice looking. They're 17 inch dark gray pieces with 15 spokes. On the inside you’ve got the plastic carbon fiber and (depending on the options you got) you can have a built in GPS and electric/heated seats. The seats are cloth so they’re generally comfortable all year ‘round but they can be more annoying to clean than leather.
And if you’re somehow not satisfied with the trunk space you don’t have to worry, because the rear seats can be folded forward to give you nearly twice as much storage space.
The gauge cluster is pretty nice, especially at night with the red glow it makes. It has a digital display that lets you know what gear you’re in, how your fuel efficiency is at any given time, how many and miles are on the car. And if you don’t like reading an analog speedometer there is also a digital speed readout you can use instead. The gear lever also makes a nice clunk sound whenever you move it into a new position as well.
Another nice sound you get when changing gears is what I like to call a good “snap crackle pop”. Whenever you rev the engine the exhaust will crackle and pop, this also can happen when you put your foot down and make aggressive upshifts. The best way (and your clutch doesn’t recommend this) to get the most pops and crackles is to accelerate hard in first or second and then slam in the clutch in mid to high RPMs and it will make some entertaining noises, although it’s probably better for your car’s health if you stick to neutral revving or shifting during pulls. Although just a heads up the car does have pretty bad rev hang and if you make a mistake it can be a little awkward if anyone is watching. This can be fixed with a simple tune though.
My favourite part of the interior is the steering wheel, the shape of it looks and feels so good in my hands, it feels tight and responsive but not super heavy or light. You’ve got a bunch of buttons on it for controlling the radio (volume, channel etc), you can turn on cruise control with the push of a button and if you’ve got a phone paired with the car using bluetooth you can also answer phone calls without your hands ever leaving the wheel. However, when answering a call like this there tends to be an issue with the person on the other end not hearing you clearly (sometimes it works perfectly fine). I don’t know whether that’s because of where the audio input is or the fact that there’s a lot of wind and road noise when the car is moving (because there isn’t much sound insulation).
You have also got a display in the middle of the dash with various different settings that can tell you your average fuel consumption, how much boost you’re making, how much throttle you’re using or just what song you’re listening to. This is also where the car’s backup camera is displayed as well. And while this isn’t a highlight, the car has a reverse gear lockout, which means you have to pull up a tab on the gear lever so that the gearbox can even allow you to go into reverse (which is a nice safety measure).
As I said before in stock form the car makes 268 horsepower. It has a 0 - 60 of 5.4 or 5.5 seconds and a quarter mile time of about 13.8 seconds at 99.8 miles per hour. Knowing this can be really fun because if you’re ever alone on a straight road and want to do a pull from a standstill you can estimate when you’ve gone a quarter of a mile based on when you hit a hundred miles an hour (I am speaking theoretically of course).
Now to answer the bonus question. As I disclosed earlier, this is my first car and I have had it since May 25th of 2017. So has it served me well? Is it a good first car? Well for starters, I learned how to drive manual in the 2015 WRX and the clutch was so easy and forgiving I was able to get it moving without stalling on my first try (although I did stall when I encountered my first stop sign). Shifting is very simple and it helps to have the gauges tell you what gear you’re in (especially when you are first starting out). I also taught myself how to rev match and even do heel and toe in this car, which does go to show how learnable and forgiving it is.
The car is peppy but the throttle is predictable so it’s unlikely you’ll surprise yourself as long as you’re conservative and stay calm. The brakes grab nicely which is a good layer of protection, you need good brakes in any car but especially a sporty one.
If you’re a college student like me who has to move fairly often or go on long drives to visit people, the trunk space, foldable rear seats and the fact it’s a sedan makes hauling stuff very easy. When you want to drive with friends the seats are comfortable and the stereo system is great.
The car gets good gas mileage (assuming you’re driving efficiently) which can be helpful because it does require premium fuel. The traction control can keep things from getting out of hand and the all wheel drive make the car handle fantastically. However, if you get a WRX... do not put bad tires on it. I have Michelin pilot sport a/s 3+ and they have lasted forever and work fantastic, the ride quality is super good and the car launches and handles great. The difference good tires can have is so huge that one type of tire can make the car feel like a low budget honda civic and another tire can make the car feel like a sixty thousand dollar xDrive BMW.
So with all that in mind, does this car make a good first car if it’s within your budget? It absolutely does. As a young car enthusiast you get to enjoy a great drivetrain, good beginner horsepower, a fun modding platform and you get to enjoy the rest of life safely along the way.
So the WRX gets my stamp of approval, and I hope it gets yours too! I hope you enjoyed the review and will be sticking around for more!
Future review preview: Next time I shall be reviewing a 400+ horsepower Dinan tuned 2016 BMW 340i xDrive so stick around for that!
If you want to get your car reviewed then click this link! It doesn’t matter where you are or what you drive! I welcome all submissions! - https://goo.gl/forms/S5uv28upQVOT23qh2
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