2017 SUBARU WRX vs 'Bugeye' 2003 WRX Review and Rally Test ONE TRACK MIND EP. 4
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00:00Today, I'm going to compare these two, a 2017 WRX and a second generation WRX.
00:29This is a comparison that I'm very interested in because I want to see how far Subaru has
00:39come with this car, and perhaps, how some of the improvements have maybe made it a bit
00:44worse.
00:45I'm going to test both of these cars on the road, and then for the sake of nostalgia,
00:49I'm going to take the Bug-Eye onto a local rally cross-course, which you saw a sample
00:54of at the beginning, to really delve into what it's all about.
00:58But first, I want to start with this, the latest WRX.
01:02It was redesigned completely in 2015, and right off the bat, I think it looks great.
01:08The redesign extends to the interior, which lends great visibility to the driver, and
01:12is very spacious.
01:14So much so, that the owner of this particular one is 6'7".
01:19The front looks a bit like a Mitsubishi Evo, but I think I don't care.
01:23You start at the front, and pan to the back, and...
01:25Aww!
01:26They forgot to style the side of the car!
01:30Must have been a Monday.
01:32Anyway.
01:33Let's kick off the road review by talking about a change to the engine that sets this
01:37one apart from previous generation WRXs.
01:42This one has a twin-scroll turbocharger, okay?
01:46Which is a big advantage, because if you've ever driven in any of the older WRXs or STIs,
01:52you'll know that they... you kind of have to chase the engine up to get some real torque
01:57out of it.
01:58Right?
01:59But this produces its peak torque at 2,000 RPM.
02:03So we've got 268 horsepower, and 258 pound-feet of torque, which moves you pretty effectively.
02:12Yeah.
02:13The punch in third gear is tons of fun, like a legitimate push-you-back-in-the-seat feel.
02:19Now, obviously this car is much faster than the WRX that I'm comparing it to, but the
02:24thing that makes the most difference is where the torque is available.
02:27With the twin-scroll turbocharger, you have access to peak torque at 2,000 RPM, which
02:32means that the drivability of the car is greatly increased.
02:35But before I continue talking about the things that I like about this car, I'm going to get
02:39a few things out of the way, starting with this.
02:43So for some reason, Subaru decided to do away with the limited-slip differential.
02:49That's right.
02:50This WRX does not have a limited-slip differential in the rear.
02:54That's a big bummer.
02:56That really is for me.
02:58The fact that the older WRX, I think it's 08, they stopped putting it in, it's kind
03:02of like a special extra thing.
03:04That's like good sports car stuff.
03:06That's good race car stuff, right?
03:08So what we have here is something that Subaru calls active torque vectoring, to try and
03:13sort out the open-diff wheel spin that you always get.
03:17Now, so essentially what happens is it detects a wheel is slipping, or when you're going
03:21around a corner, it will break the inside wheel.
03:24What that does is it tightens the line, and it allows more torque to go to the outside
03:27wheel, simply just because of the mechanics of an open differential.
03:31Okay, so it's not actually sending more power to the wheel that has less grip.
03:37What it's doing is it's just allowing more torque to go to the other wheel by breaking
03:41the wheel that's spinning.
03:43That's annoying, because that's not actually active torque vectoring.
03:46That's just a bunch of electronic garbage.
03:48That's exactly the same as what happens in my mom's Subaru Outback, okay?
03:56Same thing.
03:57Okay, now that rant is out of the way, it works really well, I'll be honest.
04:02I'm having a hard time finding a problem with it.
04:04When you're just driving around, and you're on a wet surface, like in Canada here, you
04:08don't really notice the systems cutting in.
04:15It's only when you're on a really loose surface, and you stand on the gas, that you start to
04:21feel the brakes being applied to separate wheels, right?
04:26You kind of hear an err, and you feel the car tighten up around the line, which prevents
04:31you from crashing, but it also kind of prevents you from having fun, right?
04:35So it makes the car go around the angle that you want in the corner very, very effectively,
04:41but it doesn't actually let you play around and have fun like the bug-eye does.
04:45The other issue is called rev-hang.
04:47What rev-hang is, is a programmed-in emissions idea to keep the throttle body open a little
04:52bit longer than necessary when you're trying to shift from gear to gear.
04:56So listen carefully to how long I have to wait before I can shift in a second.
05:01Okay, so 5,000 RPM, there.
05:07That's my shift in a second.
05:09That's how long I have to wait for the revs to fall far enough that I can catch the next
05:13gear and not have a lurch, right?
05:16That's stupid.
05:17That's stupid.
05:18I'm not a fan of that at all.
05:20If I had this car, I would tune that out immediately.
05:24Either way, let's go find a back road and try and have some fun with it.
05:28I've got all the systems turned off as much as I could possibly turn off, and I believe
05:33that that gets rid of that brake torque vectoring that is built into the system.
05:38So let's see what it feels like.
05:42Okay.
05:45Yeah, there's still that Subaru all-wheel drive just clawing through.
05:51Yeah.
05:57So much traction.
05:59Oh, my God.
06:00This is a snow-covered gravel road, and it just pulls like I'm on pavement.
06:05It's unbelievable.
06:11Yeah, okay, I can tell that the diff is open with all the systems.
06:14They're not interrupting.
06:15It feels a lot like my little Subaru Impreza 2.5, but it's not a bad thing.
06:19The Subaru all-wheel drive system is still so good.
06:23A little bit of understeer there.
06:25Just fix it with the throttle, and it just pulls you right through.
06:29Yep.
06:30It's still a Subaru.
06:31It's still a WRX.
06:32It still can do that same Subaru pulling you out of the corner all-wheel drive thing, which
06:40I love.
06:45So for the first time in a long time, I'm going to admit that this has a nice interior.
06:50This is the base model WRX, right?
06:52This is what I would do if I was going to get one of these because the base now comes
06:55with a backup camera, heated seats, obviously power windows and all that stuff, right?
07:00None of the other stuff that you don't need.
07:02No sunroof, right?
07:03So I can fit a helmet in here if I wanted to take it to an autocross or something, right?
07:06This is the one that I would have.
07:08Okay, so the inside of this car is actually quite nice for a base model.
07:12The steering wheel is lovely.
07:13I actually really, really like the design.
07:15The shape fits my hands.
07:16Seats are comfortable, not quite as bolstered as I'd like them to be.
07:19The dashboard is good.
07:20For the first time ever, Subaru has a decent infotainment system.
07:23This touchscreen is actually pretty decent.
07:25And this little screen up front, really crisp digital quality.
07:28It has a boost gauge, which looks really good and reacts quickly.
07:31And I can toggle through other information about the car, including kind of like all-wheel
07:35drive and what's going on with each wheel.
07:43Downshifts are okay.
07:44They're not super easy, actually.
07:46It's difficult to catch the revs exactly.
07:50While I obviously wasn't a huge fan of the shifting in this car, I did like the suspension setup.
07:54It's very well composed, quite flat through the corners.
07:57And I did find the ride to be a little stiff, but overall wasn't actually that bad.
08:02This is a fantastic package.
08:04I would be completely smitten to drive this car every single day.
08:08If I was going to get a car for some rallycross or for some real motorsport,
08:13I think that I would either get an STI or I would get an older WRX.
08:17This wouldn't be the thing.
08:18But for driving every day, especially if you've got snow where you live,
08:22this is a fantastic option.
08:24Because all one big package, this is still just a lovely car.
08:28And it's a lot more refined than previous generation WRXs.
08:31This is way quieter in here.
08:33Good engine note. Seats are comfortable.
08:36The equipment works well.
08:39It's a great car. It really is.
08:47Okay, the BugEye WRX.
08:50This is probably my favorite generation of WRX.
08:53It's a car that you look at and you hate at first because it's hideous.
08:57But then you realize immediately after it's not hideous and it looks amazing.
09:04All right, so it's definitely down on power from the 2017 WRX.
09:10We've got 227 horsepower and 217 pound-feet of torque.
09:14This is about 300 pounds lighter, though, than the new WRX,
09:18which isn't that much of a weight difference.
09:21It doesn't feel as fast, that's for sure.
09:23And you don't have access to torque as early.
09:25But it's a little bit more rewarding to run out the gears.
09:27And there's no such thing as rev hang in this because there's no...
09:30In 2003, there was no emissions issue. No one cared.
09:33So you end up with a car that can shift quickly and aggressively.
09:36Speaking of the shifter, it's terrible, I'll be honest.
09:39Subaru transmissions, since the all-wheel drive system, everything's connected.
09:42You get a lot of wear and tear and stress.
09:45And it shows its age, it really does.
09:46I can feel the transmission housing kind of rocking back and forth in the tunnel
09:51on my hands on the gear stick.
09:53And shifting gears kind of feels like you're sticking a broom handle into a basket of rocks.
09:59It's not exactly the smoothest shifter.
10:01The throws are nice and short, but it's not smooth.
10:08This is a fun car.
10:11Now, we do have a limited-slip differential in the back of this car.
10:16The fact that it has an LSD as opposed to the 2017
10:21just kind of makes me feel like the people who designed it
10:24were more interested in pleasing the enthusiast
10:27and less interested in pleasing the guy that wants to say,
10:30oh, I drive a WRX.
10:38Yeah.
10:40It's rewarding to run all the way to the red line in every gear.
10:46This is an engaging car.
10:48And it's stock. It's an all-stock bug-eyed WRX.
10:52These are so hard to find.
10:54Every Subaru bro has done this up pipe and that down pipe
10:58and that side pipe and these Y pipes and that L pipe and this X pipe.
11:02And everything's messed with and probably installed improperly.
11:06And you've got blow-off valves coming out of your ears
11:09and weird horns stuck in the hood.
11:11It just makes it so that you go, that guy beat that car up.
11:14It's rare to experience what this car was meant to be from the factory.
11:18Because everyone's modded these things, right?
11:20Because it's easy to get a ton of horsepower out of them.
11:23So finding one in totally stock form.
11:26The owner is lucky.
11:28OK, we're going to go down the same back road that we took the 2017 WRX down.
11:33And I don't have to turn off the traction control because there isn't any.
11:40Oh, it rotates so quickly, right?
11:43It just wants to let the back go.
11:49Yeah, it just limit oversteers. Wonderful.
11:52And then when you apply power,
11:54it does the old Subaru claw-you-out-of-the-corner thing.
12:00And second gear.
12:02It's still a pretty responsive car.
12:04It's not like the...
12:07Oh, and see, the boost comes on
12:09and all of a sudden you go more sideways than you planned.
12:12That just makes it more exciting.
12:14It's a little bit unruly.
12:16But the cool thing about Subarus is that
12:18it's a full-on, when in doubt, flat-out situation.
12:21Because you just stand on the gas
12:24and it just pulls you out of the corner.
12:26The car responds very, very well
12:28to steering inputs on a loose surface.
12:31OK, which...
12:33I don't know, that just kind of makes it
12:36feel very alive, right?
12:38Now, don't get me wrong, the new WRX does the same thing.
12:41But this one kind of has a little bit more of an unfiltered feel to it.
12:45It's very pure, right?
12:47With just the all-wheel drive, no traction control,
12:49nothing interfering, and a limited slip differential,
12:52it kind of ticks all of my boxes
12:54for what a pure all-wheel drive car should be, right?
12:58This car feels like motorsport.
13:01The new WRX feels like a really nice car, OK?
13:08Getting out of the new WRX and getting into the Bugout
13:11is like taking a restored building
13:15and chiseling away at the exterior
13:17and all the stuff that they've done to it
13:19to bring it up to the modern world
13:21to see the underlying framework
13:23and the structure of what it's meant to be.
13:25To see the original stone, the original wood beams.
13:28This is the original stone and the original wood beams, right?
13:32It feels more pure.
13:35It feels more stripped out.
13:38If I was going to drive one of these every single day,
13:41just because of the convenience and the comfort,
13:44I'd probably go with the new one.
13:46But if I was going to convince myself
13:48to take my car onto a rallycross course,
13:51this is the one that I would have.
13:57So as promised, I did just that.
14:05So we're going to take this thing out
14:07and see what it's like on a proper loose surface.
14:09Today we are with Racelab, Crazy Leo,
14:12in Ontario at Rockton Fairgrounds,
14:14and we're going to see how this car reacts
14:17and what it's like to get a little bit of the nostalgia
14:20of what this car is all about.
14:23The first thing you realize about driving this car on a rally course
14:26is that the seating position is fantastic.
14:29I absolutely love...
14:31Whoa, sideways already. Look at that.
14:35All right.
14:37Loose surface is totally different than what I'm used to,
14:40which is track driving, obviously.
14:42Reactions have to be quicker.
14:44Braking, braking, braking.
14:46Turn the car in.
14:48Slide it around.
14:50See, the thing is, every time you do a lap in one of these cars,
14:52the surface is a little bit different.
14:54I'm not used to that being a thing that I have to worry about.
14:58Car in. On the power.
15:07You'll tell in a second.
15:09Flick the car in.
15:11Power out.
15:13Yep.
15:15Car in.
15:17Flick the car in.
15:19Power out.
15:21Yep.
15:23Car in.
15:25Yep.
15:27Car in.
15:29I'm no rally driver, but this thing makes this easy.
15:31I'll be honest.
15:35Oh, God.
15:37I've got to get myself a rally car.
15:39That's what I need.
15:41The problem is, these are really hard to find.
15:47Second gear, power on.
15:49Flat out.
15:51Sideways.
15:57It just feels like you're floating.
15:59The all-wheel drive just pulls you through.
16:03Wonderful.
16:05Just wonderful.
16:07God, these are good.
16:11I need one of these.
16:13End of story. I need one.
16:17I ran a few more laps before I let the owner have his car back,
16:19and I savored every minute of it.
16:21I didn't think that I would get hooked to loose-surface driving that easily,
16:23but I did.
16:25If you have a car that you prefer to drive
16:27instead of wash,
16:29then get it out here.
16:31If not, Crazy Leo offers his own
16:33Subarus on proper mud tires
16:35for you to learn with.
16:37This type of driving requires quick reflexes
16:39and a certain amount of fearlessness.
16:41I loved getting to experience the WRX
16:43on this course.
16:45It has fast steering, and the car responds well
16:47to driver input.
16:49The turbo lag made it a bit of a handful sometimes,
16:51but that really added to the experience.
16:53It felt really fast on this course,
16:55which could be due in part to the fact
16:57that anything feels fast
16:59when you are surrounded by trees.
17:01I learned as much as I could
17:03in the short time that I had
17:05with this car on the course,
17:07but more seat time is needed
17:09to get a good handle on a type of driving
17:11such as this.
17:13Crazy Leo's Driving School Race Lab
17:15put on a great course that was well-organized
17:17and well-maintained.
17:19And, I was lucky enough
17:21to get to watch Crazy Leo take a few lucky guests
17:23around the course in a proper
17:25race-prepped rally car,
17:27so I could see what it was supposed to look like.
17:37The Buggye WRX came out of this day
17:39with a few new dents,
17:41but they felt more like badges of honor
17:43than any damage.
17:45That's the advantage of owning an older Subaru like this.
17:47No, it's not as refined
17:49or as fast as the new WRX,
17:51but it feels like it wants to be driven hard.
17:53And when you mess up and slide into a barrier,
17:55it just shrugs its shoulders
17:57and says,
17:59Guess you'll turn in earlier next time, eh?
18:03By the end of the day,
18:05I liked this old Subaru so much
18:07that I immediately started looking
18:09for a used one for myself.
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