Given it’s the last of its kind, how much of a full noise blast across the fossil fuel finish line are fans in for?

IN anything between seven to just a handful years (should Clean Car penalties become too harsh for fans to bear), an incredible era will be over … the last WRX to fully feed on petrol will depart, forever gone.

How will it be remembered? Here’s a car that continues to trade on performance with practical bent, delivering pedigree at reasonable rather than unrealistic price. At $59,990 through to $64,990, the new family still delivers on those promises.

But there’s much change, including a truly big twist that might be as challenging for long-time fans to swallow as when the trademark exhaust burble departed (back in 2005, the result of the firing order and exhaust header design being changed).

WRX stands for World Rally (e)Xperimental. The car was, quite literally, born in 1992 for rallying, primarily at the sport’s highest level. Fitness for competition duty has been built into every one since. Except, it seems, the one that’s just landed.

Fuji is already putting its affairs in order with one big decision having already been made. With no Subaru Technical International flagship special this time, insofar as the rally stuff goes, it’s switched from participant to spectator.

That it will ride into history purely as a road car seems a shame, given it adopts Subaru’s stiffer and sharper Subaru Global Platform, takes the latest 2.4-litre turbo boxer engine that, with 202kW/350Nm, remains the most powerful mill this specific type has had and, in entry form, keeps a manual gearbox. All this well-suits pro sports involvement.

The car availing again in the choice of two body styles - a sedan and a wagon – doesn’t influence either way. In the past, the booted car always had preference, on grounds of it having superior structural rigidity.

WRX being physically larger isn’t crucial; look at how much Mitsubishi Evos grew. It being more luxurious ditto. Inclusion of a large portrait touchscreen might impede. It’s not what you need on a special stage, but so many vital systems operate through it.

But STI has moved on, fully immersed now in developing an electric car. Because of that, it hasn’t dedicated to past task of developing those special performance bits that make a WRX truly wild.

This will confuse, because top-end WRXs have a badge suggesting the special ops team is still in play. TS is shorthand for ‘tuned by STi.’ But let’s be clear: The car isn’t. At least, not as it used to be. This is a styling enhancement, brought about by using body kit addenda STI still fabricates. Subaru NZ is looking to create a package that will use even more.

Before moving on, let’s take a moment to consider the (bad pun) legacy being parked up. David Richards, whose Prodrive outfit oversaw that hugely productive 18-year world rallying phase, always reckoned WRX utterly altered Subaru in more ways than just giving it excuse to create a trophy room.

Life on the stage altered the brand’s status within the car industry; it went from being an oddball outsider to an outfit attracting the best engineers, if not the best designers. With exception of the astounding 22B coupe, the car hardly ever looked handsome – not least during the whole bug-eyed, to blob-eyed to hawk-eyed era - but wow, was it effective; not just on the world stage, but nationally too – 13 NZ titles, the most recent (and you’d imagine, the last) in 2019, to Ben Hunt. Like Ferraris, WRXs became cars recognised by a specific colour. Actually, two. Blue body, gold wheels. That scheme’s gone, too.

Regardless that it’s hung up the helmet, it’s still an icon, right?

Seriously, even that seemed in doubt after day one of our drive; a run from Christchurch to the Hermitage hotel, at the foot of Aorangi Mt Cook.

We had the entire range - WRX 2.4T sedan Premium and WRX 2.4T tS, WRX GT wagon Premium and WRX GT wagon tS – to play with over two days. But the body types weren’t mixing. So, day one with the GT wagon, day two in the sedan.

Clocking distance of 340 kilometres (coincidentally, the maximum distance the FIA allows for a world rally event) gave plenty of time to work out the load-all.

What you’re getting here is effectively the new Levorg, which in turn was pitched as a replacement for the famously sporting Legacy GT-B. The Levorg failed in that mission. The GT wagon is better positioned to match up the original hero on practical grounds – it has decent boot space and is a smart-looking car - but on this day it struggled to hit its marks when it came to driver interaction.

All day it was resistant to establishing emotional connection. It just felt remote to my advances. Was it me? Maybe. Yet that my driving partner couldn’t work it out, either, suggests maybe not.

I went to bed with a troubled mind. Surely tomorrow had to be a better day?

Good news. It was. In spades. The sedan is simply such a different car it’s almost hard to reconcile it and the wagon have common parentage and parts-share. Sharper at the helm, more decisive in corners, through which it could it carry more pace. Not wholly feral – those great days are gone – but certainly much keener for fun.

One factor became clear on every winding section, not least from Wanaka to Arrowtown via the Crown Range. The wagon never lacks for traction, but the sedan has more grip. And, because of that roadholding advantage, it thus positions far more accurately. The Crown Range had felt its first snow of the season 24 hours before this drive, and while that was gone, the entire distance was covered in a thin skein of grit. Other traffic was treading warily. The sedan was unconcerned; it never slipped up. Not the once.

On arrival to Millbrook Resort, our final destination, I was back in a very good frame of mind. If you are a driver, this car is still very much the one. And though it presents in its finest in manual format, it also shines with the Lineartronic constantly variable transmission, again with eight predetermined steps and set to be the choice of most because it’s easy to live with.

Also, only Lineartronics achieve the Eyesight driver assistance and accidence avoidance that bundles together potentially life-saving tech like Autonomous Emergency Braking, lane-keep assist, lane-departure warning/prevention and adaptive cruise control. Go Lineartronic and, for tS, there are adaptive dampers and multiple drive modes.

Back to the core question: What makes sedan better?

Two factors: Weight – the wagon is 100kg heavier than the 1690kg sedan, and you feel it in corners, with greater body movement – and, more significantly, the tyres.

The wagon runs on 225/45 R18 Yokohama BlueEarth compounds, the sedan gets a 245/40 R18 Dunlop Sport Maxx.

The Dunlop is emphatically a sports tyre. The Yokohama? Well … from my experience, not so much. Japan made this call. There’s been no explanation as to precisely why each has its own footwear. Head office has impressed to the local agent that the tailgated car is supposed to be more of a grand tourer. Subaru NZ says if a customer wants a tyre swap, they’ll do their best to facilitate. I’d say that could make a world of change.

Back to the car itself. The exterior look basically continues the design story started with the previous line, though now with a definably wider stance. The interior has altered much more. Until now, the Outback has been the Subaru with the most stylish and sophisticated cabin. The WRX now steps up to the same standard, with appreciable improvement in quality of materials and ergonomics. I hope the next Forester is as good as this.

At 11.3 inches and arranged in portrait fashion (as per the Outback), the central touch screen is both the dominant and most alluring feature. The investment Subaru has put into this is obvious; the resolution and graphics are really high-quality. Operability is also excellent. Functionality? Generally, great, too, though there was one moment when, mid-way through a phone call with excellent reception, it momentarily quit Apple CarPlay (it also supports Android Auto).

Unlike some brands Subaru has not moved yet to wireless connectivity or recharging. Actually, they have also skipped a beat by not provisioning anywhere to put a phone. The recess directly under the USB input is the most logical place, but is too small. That’s a slip-up given the brand gets kudos for a clever design element in retaining a small strip for the HVAC settings and physical buttons for the temperature controls, even though the latter can also be adjusted via the screen as well.

A wheelbase stretched by 25mm is beneficial to interior space; a bit for the boot – 414 litres’ capacity for the sedan, 494 with the wagon – some for the interior. As always, the front seat passengers do best out, but the rear bench is okay for head and legroom when you’re tall – moreso with the wagon than the sedan. In either, even though the cabin is a bit wider, you’d struggle to get three adults across the back. The driving position is solid, with a large amount of reach and tilt adjustment from the steering wheel, which in the tS is just a touch too thick-rimmed, even for those of us with long fingers. The manual’s pedals being perfectly sized and positioned for heel and towing suggests someone on the design team couldn’t accept the no-more-motorsport edict.

You might imagine the same went for the seat design department. The driver’s chair is not exactly a Recaro lookalike, but it is nicely bolstered and comfortable. The base car makes do with manual adjustment and cloth upholstery. Electric adjustment, heating and leather-accented upholstery comes with spending $5000 more.

Though they seem on different planets in dynamic sense, the two models are close when it comes to refinement and quelling of road noise. Engine noise, too? Well, yes, if there was any. But, sadly, the aural character that was already muted previously is even more muzzled now. It’s a shame because horizontally-opposed engines do have a nice timbre. Just ask Porsche.

Even though the capacity is identical to the last car’s the internals have been revised, largely for weight saving; a total 7kg being removed. There are larger conrods, a different crankshaft, revised valve timing and a new intercooler.

Subaru talks of the manual being up to knocking off 0-100kmh in six seconds, the CVT being 0.1s behind. For reference, the last STi did it in 5.3s.

Hard out standing starts are intriguing; the engine initially feels a bit flat, then suddenly there’s a lot of oomph. The manual is the one for quick getaways, but you have to be quick with the shifts. It wants out of first after what seems just a millisecond and doesn’t tarry much longer in second, either. The box is the same unit as in the old WRX but the gears have been machined differently to reduce noise and improve the shift feel.

Now called a ‘Sport Lineartronic’, the CVT is different; it dwells for a moment then catches the wave of torque. The engine feels more muscular in the mid range and seems more eager to rev to the 6000rpm redline, but it’s easiest to dial into those traits with the manual. The CVT is good, probably the best around in respect to its decisiveness. But …

When driving the tS, you’re invariably start playing with the three-way adaptive dampers and drive modes. On top of preconfigured Comfort, Normal, Sport and Sport Plus settings, there’s an individual mode that allows drivers to separate the settings for the powertrain, steering, suspension and all-wheel-drive system.

From this experience, temptation to simply bang everything up to maximum sportiness should be resisted. You can do that with the engine, suspension, and the all-wheel-drive, but from my experience the steering is better left in its medium setting, Normal, rather than the alternate Comfort and Sport. The first removes too much feel, the second adds so much artificial weight your wrists will ache.

Pre-arrival interest in this car has been significant and Subaru says it already has more orders than it can fill this year. It’s an interesting car, much improved in some aspects, maybe less so in others.

Harking back to Richards. In a recent interview he recounted how one of the best things about WRX’s successes was seeing the pride and the change of attitude at Subaru.

“They had thought of themselves as ‘little’ Subaru, a second-stringer battling giants like Ford, Toyota and Lancia. But in an amazingly short time, they went from selling pick-ups for pig farmers to performance cars for petrolheads.”

As Richards said, a lot of really good technical stuff was fed into the road cars, and the rally imagery did a lot to sell the cars.

That’s still part of the sell for this last WRX. And yet, of course, it really isn’t.

This is a good car; if one that is running out of time … in part because, in some ways, it’s from an earlier age: the fuel burn and emissions are not, ahem, exactly class-leading. It prefers higher octanes, too, and CO2 counts are on the wrong side of Clean Car intent.

Is it going to be remembered as the best WRX? You have to wonder how it might have turned out had the development team been driven by the same spirit of competition as their forebears.