The 2002 WRX at NAIAS 2001

 

After 4 restless hours of sleep, my first goal the morning of the show was to eat enough to last a good part of the day and to find a double latte before our meeting time of 8:30 EST (5:30 PST mind you).  Both of these missions were accomplished and it was even a Starbuck’s latte.  I rejoined the SIPP crew at the hotel lobby, we hopped on the Detroit People Mover, an el-train much more functional than Seattle's one stop mono-rail, and headed to the Cobo Center for the show.

We entered the show wearing our new Subaru badge holders and preview passes.  Heading to the Subie booth the first thing that caught my attention was an RS-clone in the Mazda section – a bright yellow car called the MP3, which I’m pretty sure stood for “Mazda Protégé 3”.   No time to stop though, that would have to wait,  we had a WRX to look at.   The first sign of the Subaru floor space was a 2002 ProDrive rally car that they had on display that you could spot a few hundred yards away.  SubieGal let out a scream and ran to the hallowed automobile.  Soon we were all at the base paying homage and gawking in awe like monkeys around the monolith. 

The 2002 Rally Car from ProDrive

The Subaru space was very well laid out.   Big Subaru lights hung from the ceiling, delineating their space, and big screens played Crocodile Dundee and his Outback driving across the tundra.  The outer ring of cars included the Outback family - standard, VDO, and L.L. Bean; the Forrester, and a Legacy Limited.  The inner ring was all WRX – a black WRX wagon, a while WRX with 17” wheels, a rally blue WRX with spoiler, and a completely unassembled WRX on display with the engine cut away.  We snapped photos, scoped the car from every angle, got in the rear seat, got in the driver’s seat, opened the hood and trunk, and basically did all we could do without starting the car or taking it apart. 

 The WRX at center stage, note the 17" BBS wheels

Here’s my take on the car after examination and without driving it.

EXTERIOR: The car looks better in person that it did in pictures.  The Subaru people kept telling us that on Wednesday night but we didn’t believe it.  The car with the 17” BBS wheels really looks good.  The stock 16” wheels with the split spokes don’t cut it for me, I like the 99 RS wheels the best of all the 16” wheels so far.  The bad news – those BBS wheels are not going to be cheap.  The dreaded RE92s are back as standard rubber, oh well, someone must want to buy these off WRX and RS owners. 

The lights are alright in person also, they don’t look so Neon-ish.  Everyone agreed that the ProDrive lights would be a much sought after accessory.  The hood lines are great when you sit in the car and look over the hood, the hood just disappears from view past the scoop so it looks like you see more road than with the RS. 

I'm not especially fond of the rear-end of the car still.  The spoiler looked better in person than I’d expected but I like the old coupe RS style spoiler better still.  Aftermarket big wings will be a plus, the ProDrive wing would be very cool.   The dual exhaust is very nice - reminds me of my Stromung.

 

Two views of the spoiler

The four-door sedan doesn’t turn me on personally.  My back seat is gone for 7-8 months of the year anyway and I like coupes.  This is just me or people like me though.  The lack of a sunroof though would be a real bummer.   After having a Miata so long I just always have my sunroof open and it would take some getting used to not having one at all.  The car is reinforced there so the body is stiffer and safer in a rollover so I can see that they didn't just pull it to save costs, they made the car handle better and safer.   

The hood is aluminum and weighs nothing which was pretty cool.  The hood scoop is totally functional and we were told no more “look fast” scoops and vents.

The wagon is pretty hot.  It doesn't have the same body styling and is more rounded.  I can actually see the wagon selling pretty well, it is a good cross vehicle with lots of attitude.

INTERIOR: The seats are very well designed and will wipe out Mike Shield’s STi seat import business.  If these seats were in the RS I’d have never replaced them.  And, they are height adjustable which is a big win. 

The dash is well laid out but I was surprised to see dark dials instead of white faced dials – another aftermarket opportunity.    The car had aftermarket pedals that I doubt are stock since they would be very slippery in places like Seattle.  The carbon dash kit looked great.  The gauge pack was on this WRX, it has the boost gauge for the tubro there and looks nice in place.  

The car comes with a stereo with 6 speakers, including real door speakers, and a 6-disc in dash changer.  All of this would be a waste, I’d tear it out and replace it I’m sure and so would many others. 

 

GUTS:  The engine compartment was very clean and well designed.  The intake looked great and functional.  The Subaru rep, Mike Whelan, went into all the details which are best found at www.imprezars.com.  Most impressive to me is the fact that we didn't get a "crippled" WRX in North America, in fact we got more HP than Europe!  I think everyone was expecting the opposite and that showed us that SOA is pushing and standing behind the performance market in NA.

 

The engine - in and out  

The chassis looks very solid and well designed and a 20mm sway bar is stock which I guess doesn’t raise hell with the firmer body and the change in wheel balance on the car.  It is a much stiffer chassis than the current RS platform which makes for better cornering and less need for expensive aftermarket updates.  

Bottom line, would I plunk down $24,000 for one now?  I'd have to answer honestly "No" to this question and did answer that way to the Subaru people.  But here's my reasoning:

1. I want to stay in STS class at least another 1-2 years and the WRX isn't in STS class.  

2.  I've got a fair amount of money wrapped up in my RS right now with aftermarket parts and want to drive it a few more years to get the fun out of the cost.  I already sold one project car, the Miata, right after I finished working on it. 

3. I'd buy the WRX and strip it to put STi parts on it anyway.  If they indeed release an STi version in 2-3 years then I could be in the market because the first two conditions will have expired. 

We had a walk-through and Q&A session with Mike Whelan from Subaru that is best reviewed on www.imprezars.com, I didn’t have my PalmPC with me like Larry did.  We took some more group shots, were given cool WRX posters, and then split up to see the rest of the show.   Here's the Subie team...

Our hosts - Sam, Tim, Tom, Mike, and Annica

On to the Rest of the Show....

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