Just went to sit in a BRAND NEW 2008 WRX!!! I used to hate the styling of the car, but you really gotta see it in person before making conclusions about it. I asked the dealership if I could take it for a drive and they said it has to go through some background checks and it will be ready to test drive TOMORROW (no joke).

It was at Stevens Creek Subaru (I know they are not the best dealership in the world, but its worth a test drive). The total price was about $26,000 without the Navi and other amenities (I think it was the bare bones version); I personally think that the price is on the expensive side, but thats just me.

 

it is kinda expensive, aren't the wrx's supposed to be priced around 23K or at least they use to be

 

So youre going to test drive it I assume? Let us know what you think, and if youre allowed, TAKE PICS!

 

26k isn't bad as long as it has is fairly loaded (without the extra stuff like navi, sunroof, ect.). I think they're supposed to start around 25k, same as the past couple years. I think the TR version was about a grand less. But your right, I just read the new car&driver with one in it and its looking better for some reason. The one in the mag did'nt have a spoiler though. It also said in the article that the engine is basically from the legacy, but boost has been dropped a little to arrive at the 224hp. I still don't know why they could'nt have upped it a little, I mean even the new taurus now has 260hp. I don't think it would be that hard to turn up the boost a little, would it? I'm thinking this may be my new car again. I have a feeling the new ralliart will cost a little more when it comes out...

 

http://www.caranddriver.com/roadtest...preza-wrx.html

 

That engine bay pic has made me certain that I'll never buy this or a future WRX model again. That tiny intercooler, what looks like a *plastic* intake manifold and a bunch of other crappy underhood decisions makes me certain that Subaru has given up on performance as the focus of their designs.

 

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
aaaaaaaaggggggggrrrrreeeeeee

 

That's the same set up in the Legacy GT. The plastic manifold won't get heat soaked and the intercooler has a thicker core than the current WRX. Both are good things.

 

I don't mind so much as long as the car doesn't get heavier (within reason). Usually new car models jump 150-300 lbs in weight every generation.

It seems almost a crime to have Navi in a Subaru.

 

My girlfriend has been holding off on buying a car until she test drove the new wrx. This last sunday we went to Downtown Subaru in oakland. Test drove a wrx and left with a 07 legacy gt. After going and driving the 08 Wrx i have lost almost all faith in subaru. Im still holding out on the hope that the Sti is not a ford focus clone.

Although the wrx seems fast, the interior is isolated from the driving experience. For a car with such a heritage it is amiss. Cheap interior plastic is all that surrounds. Seats are comfortable but you feel as if you can slide out during heavy cornering. Handling is muted but ride quality is stiff. Many writeups ive seen have called this car more "civilized"; dulled down would be another way to describe it.

Keep in mind that this my opinion. Im sure alot of people will like this car but drive any of the previous years models and youll know what i am talking about.

 

Plastic is an insulator, it holds heat. Aluminum sheds heat faster. Go get a plastic cup and an aluminum can (empty) and put them in the sun for 30 minutes, then put them in the fridge for 60 seconds and tell me which gets colder faster. I've got an STI intercooler, and my intake temps (measured by an actual sensor fed to my ECUtek dash unit) go from 126 degrees F at the stoplight to 100 (or less) while driving in less than 20 seconds; no heat soak there. You can also make something much thinner in aluminum than plastic, due to the strength, which equals more heat shedding. A plastic intercooler is just shaving cost, it has nothing to do with performance. AND it looks like a ghetto Mazda intercooler. Frankly, a Mazdaspeed Mazda 3 is looking better all the time, except for the FWD.

I'll be interested to see any tuning results (which I don't expect for quite some time) but with that chintzy intercooler and a plastic intake manifold, I don't expect interesting results out of an all-stock (ECU-reflash-only) build.

 

Now I just sound like a cranky old man ranting about the good 'ol days (which were only five years ago!) but what sold me on my '02 WRX was the raw, gritty, seat-of-your-pants experience -- it was the first non-Euro car I drove that actually had a feel for the road and communicated driver feedback and handling limits well. My previous performance driving experience was in 911s and BMW E30 and 320i models, and the WRX still blew me away. To find that it has just become a Legacy or another numb, boring highway cruiser is vastly disappointing. I was already unhappy with the '07 WRX, which I felt benefitted almost nothing from the additional .5-liter in the motor (just heavier with more nose push in corners).

I think I'll stick to my original game plan, which was to buy a near- or stock 06 STI when my 02 WRX tranny dies and just tune that for the next five years. Or maybe go back to BMWs; I hear the new 1-series is coming to the US, and RWD to boot.

 

If you're going to get technical about the material of the end tanks on an intercooler...don't you want it to be an insulator? I do...I mean, I don't want the cold air inside getting warm, and I don't want the heat of the engine bay getting in to it either...the actual core is still Al, of course, for heat exchange purposes.

 

i drove it

i got jiggy with it

WAAAAAAAAAAAAY BETTER stock than my 03 wrx whne getting jiggy with it 3


over steer no under steer

 

I second this plan. There is something about a plastic manifold that just doesn't seem right. It looks as if subaru is strying from the driving experience and looking for a broader appeal of the car by changing it