{"id":33497,"date":"2024-10-18T09:24:34","date_gmt":"2024-10-18T13:24:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/?p=33497"},"modified":"2024-10-18T09:24:34","modified_gmt":"2024-10-18T13:24:34","slug":"payne-2025-subaru-wrx-ts-is-an-all-season-pocket-rocket","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/2024\/10\/payne-2025-subaru-wrx-ts-is-an-all-season-pocket-rocket","title":{"rendered":"Payne: 2025 Subaru WRX tS is an all-season pocket rocket"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sonoma Raceway, California<\/em>\u00a0\u2014 In basketball, there are multiple position players. Shot-blocking big men. Defensive forwards. Three-point shooters. Playmaking guards. And there are all-around players who can do it all \u2014 think the Detroit Pistons’ Tayshaun Prince or Grant Hill.<\/p>\n

If compact performance sedans (aka, pocket rockets) were basketball players, they would be all-around all-stars. Performance sedans like the Subaru WRX, the perennial best-seller in the class.<\/p>\n

On Sonoma Raceway, I barreled into the tricky, uphill, Turn 1-2 complex with my right foot screwed to the floor. The 2025 WRX tS\u2019s big, gold Brembo brakes hauled me back to earth as I jinked left, then right, into the blind Turn 2 at the top of the hill \u2014 the WRX remaining remarkably neutral as I pitched it across the apex.<\/p>\n

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The 2025 Subaru WRX tS is based on the Impreza but adds torque-vectoring AWD, a 271-horse, 2.4-liter turbo-4, summer tires, and hood scoop.<\/em><\/div>\n
Subaru, Subaru<\/em><\/div>\n

On twisty California Route 128 through the Mayacamas Mountains, WRX\u2019s all-wheel-drive system clawed the road. I rarely had to shift below third gear thanks to the low-end torque from its 2.4-liter turbo-4 engine.<\/p>\n

Out of the hills onto Route 121, I set adaptive cruise control to 70 mph with the intuitive steering wheel button. Subaru\u2019s twin-camera Eyesight system wrapped me in a safety cocoon as I navigated midday traffic: ACC maintaining a gap with cars in front of me, blind-spot assist monitoring cars beside me.<\/p>\n

At a corner gas station, I loaded some groceries for the evening \u2014 barely scratching the WRX\u2019s cargo capacity that can swallow multiple suitcases while transporting four large adults.<\/p>\n

Take a bow, pocket rockets.<\/p>\n

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The 2025 Subaru WRX tS exits Turn 6 at Sonoma Raceway with AWD putting down 258 pund feet of torque. Subaru, Subaru<\/em><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

The class has never been healthier even as I still mourn the departure of the Ford Focus and Fiesta hot hatches in 2019. Pioneered by the Volkswagen GTI in 1984 (my first car), the pocket rocket class now features the GTI\u2019s Jetta GLI sibling, Honda Civic Si, Hyundai Elantra N, Mazda3 Turbo, Toyota GR Corolla and the WRX.<\/p>\n

My preference is the hot hatch \u2014 not sedan \u2014 body style, and I wish Subaru brought the hatchback version of the WRX (called the Levorg) over from Japan. Alas, Subaru marketing has determined that the Impreza (which shares the WRX\u2019s skeleton) comes exclusively as a hatch, the WRX performance variant as a sedan. Sigh.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s hard to be mad given the WRX\u2019s deep toolbox. It begins, of course, with Subaru\u2019s standard all-wheel drive, which makes it a four-season sports sedan. That means WRX will not only claw up Sonoma\u2019s steep Turn One hill \u2014 but also crawl up my steep driveway in the middle of winter. When covered with 6 inches of snow. And an inch of ice underneath.<\/p>\n

That all-season capability \u2014 and all-around value \u2014 has helped establish WRX as the perennial sales leader in class with 24,681 units sold in 2023.<\/p>\n

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The 2025 Subaru WRX tS will likely start around $44k when it goes on sale in early 2025.<\/em><\/div>\n
Henry Payne, The Detroit News<\/em><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

The Subie isn\u2019t the cheapest toy in class \u2014 that honor goes to the Civic Si at a $31,045 steal \u2014 nor is it the cheapest all-wheel-driver (Mazda3 Turbo just nips the Subie at $33,285). But WRX has a whopping 35% more horsepower than the Civic (271 vs. 200) and offers both a manual and automatic transmission where Civic only comes in stick. The Mazda3 Turbo? Only offered as an automatic.<\/p>\n