The 2022 Subaru WRX Is A Rowdy & More Powerful All-Weather Sport Sedan 

Yes, the cladding is horrible on the new WRX, but the drive is still fantastic and if Subaru can keep the price around $28k for the base model to about $37k for the fully loaded GT version, this will be a bargain player in a segment full of FWD competitors. Let us know if you agree below!

The cladding actually WORKS and is completely necessary, when driving off road or in inclement weather! I had a white 21 STI that could have benefitted from the cladding. If your limited to street diving then it LOOKS different.

I think the car actually looks great! At first I didn't like it but in this red color it's fantastic.

As a guy who’s actually owned 3 WRXs I like it. Seems like a perfect daily. Even the plastic cladding is perfectly fine. Fenders wont rust and the bumper won’t scratch as easy. I view it as more of a rally car than a street car.

I have owned '05 and '11 WRX wagons. I currently have a '21 Ascent, and the new WRX has brought on more tuning for the platform and gives me desire to refine/improve the overall dynamics and make it more "road-ready". It's a lot quicker than any of the reviews lead me to believe.

The taillights look like they're off of a Civic from 2 generations ago

I love the cladding because I drive on a ton of dirt and gravel roads. Also get 26.5 mpg on 95% mountain roads. I love this car!

Not gonna lie, I love the way it looks in red with the cladding. It's definitely growing on me.

"Their focus group likes the cladding" Why does the focus group always get it wrong? I can't imagine any WRX owners were surveyed and said they prefer the cheap looking wheel arches...

Your passenger mouthing "What the F..." during your first 0-60 launch had me cracking up

On road clutch dumps are always harsh on these things. You can get away with it in gravel and dirt but the road requires more RPM and more time on the clutch in order to smooth out and avoid a bad bog

No matter how great this will drive, the look is what will ruin it and steer me away from purchasing one. I want to love looking at whichever car I own, and all that flat black cladding cheapens the look up incredibly.

I think Subaru will have inadvertently created a new industry specializing in replacing the body panels for this car...

Overall shape reminds me of a Corolla. The rear lights remind me of an older gen Civic. The plastic cladding reminds me of newer Mazdas. Only thing that makes me think WRX is the hood scoop.

Love your reviews. Most journalists are way deep into track performance and most buyers are never going to hit the track. Only thing that I would suggest is to ALWAYS do 0-60 runs alone, extra 200lb does affect the performance

man if only the cladding and rear end were less aggressive this would be a solid wrx generation

I ordered one in black and it looks mean af. I actually love the cladding especially on the black wrx. Lots of Subarus start rusting out near the wheel wells and bottom door because of the way they are driven. Cladding adds lots of protection and soon people will be popping off the cladding and putting body kits on and what not. So stoked for mine to come in.

Just when I start to think, you know the cladding isn’t as bad as I thought. Then you get around to the rear and it’s f**king disgusting. The tail lights plus the cladding it’s literally disgusting 🤢

I like the unpainted cladding, the rear diffuser is great, styling is great.

Every new wrx is supposedly uglier than the last gen. As a 11 ltd owner, I really like this new model. To bad Subaru was too conservative on the tune. But the engine is a tuner friendly engine and can be a beast once in the right hands like Cobb. The interior looks great and the cladding doesn't bother me. I'm not a fan of the rear lights but like all wrx models, it will sell. Can't wait to see the sti.

I love the growl from that engine

0-60 in 5.7s is highly respectable as the type R which is the benchmark of a great sports sedan has a 0-60 in 5.6s. And this is the base model not meant to compete toe to toe with the Type R. Just imagine what the STI variant will do? I do think that it will compete with the Golf R and possibly the AMG a45 series

I'm sure it's an awesome car but for 30 grand plus I would like to have a fully painted vehicle.

maybe an aftermarket manufacturer can make a huge diffuser to replace the rear cladding and maybe this thing will look bearable

I'm more disturbed by the rear taillight than the cladding, personally. Darker tones like dark grey or dark blue actually made the cladding much more blended in. You cannot do much to hide that tail lights without spending money. Besides that, i actually think this car has pretty gorgeous lines, love the muscular wide rear sides.

The wheel opening moldings don't look as bad as I thought, but the rear bumper is horrific. As you said, it's too much mold in color down there, which looks and feels like a cost savings move or they were really trying to make it appear rugged...but this isn't a crosstrek. Also, I hate that the rear bumper looks like a "shelf"...it just looks out of place. And the rear lamps+trunks and overall rear design is a big miss for me.

I literally just bought a 2019 Crystal White WRX from my local Subaru dealership and I have no regrets. I absolutely love the car. Maybe later in the future it will be better, but the 15-21 chassis looks amazing 🤩

The more I see it, whether it’s different colors or angles, I start liking it more and more. Especially for someone like me who is very active in the outdoor world whether it’s hauling kayaks, camping gear cross country, etc but doesn’t want to switch to an SUV. You have my attention again Subaru.

No matter how much I try to like the exterior, I just can't accept it 😭 They ruined such a great opportunity!

Am I the only one who thinks this is actually good looking vehicle?

Rob's face when Sofyan is destroying the transmission 🤣

I can almost guarantee that after these hit the roads and people see them folks will start shutting up about the looks and buying them. It happens with EVERY GENERATION since 2002

That rear bumper coupled with the fact that the WRX comes available with a CVT is a serious foreshadowing of the mess the car industry has become….

This reminds me of the Pontiac Aztec!!

(2013 WRX base model sedan owner stage 2) When I purchased my car a loud and vocal minority was screaming online about the hatch back, it looked nothing like the concept car, and it was ugly ect. They predicted it was the death of the WRX and no one would buy it. This was later proven to be not the case and the hatch was very popular. WRX was made to be modified so the hp/tq numbers and exhaust sound mean nothing to enthusiast. For ~$1500 (not including labor) you can get an after market exhaust, down pipe, and access port which will add ~60hp and permanent exhaust drone. As far plastic body parts, most of my car is painted plastic front and rear bumpers. I have cracked or cut them, either drifting in the snow or to fit a front mount intercooler, over the years to me it makes sense to replace them with "cheaper to replace" unpainted parts considering the people in the market for these types of cars. Also the factory paint job from Subaru is garbage and I wish I had plastic around the wheel wells because that is where most of the paint chips have occurred and its starting to rust. If you buy a Subaru I would recommend having clear bra paint protection applied the second you drive it off the lot. Also it's common for WRX owner's to add larger rims and lower the car. As a result they "roll" the fenders to accommodate the new wider/larger diameter rims. I am not sure how the plastic wheel wells will effect this. I am guessing either a company will offer after market plastic wheels wells for larger rims or most likely ppl will just cut them or let them rub. The most important question is how will the new engine and transmission handle tuning (ie. ringland). IMO a wrx is about maximizing performance, reliability and affordability. Its the modern day muscle car for cold weather. In summary, I don't think the WRX is a good looking car if I had to pick the best looking body style I would say the Hawkeye was the appealing of the lot. I don't really like the looks of this new version, but it wouldn't stop me from buy it if I was in the market for a new cheap sporty car you can daily drive. As a side note Toyota is coming out with the Corolla GR hot hatch which might be a better option.

Great review. I pick mine up next week! Manual premium!

A Christmas Story: SUBARU: "Just in time for the holidays, welcome to our press preview of the new WRX. We hope you'll love it!" SOFYAN: " I hate the styling" SUBARU: "Our focus groups/marketing department LOVED the cladding." SOFYAN: "0-60 time 6.57 seconds. It's kind of sluggish..." ROB: "I think I can do better...5.9 seconds" CLUTCH: "Something smells funny in here!" ROB: "I think I can do better...5.67 seconds!" DRIVELINE: "Holy Mother of GOD!!" CLUTCH: "I'm melllltttiiing!!!" SUBARU: "Take those guys off our Christmas list..." Great job, boys!!! Merry Christmas...

These new options are looking really nice for people who want a practical daily driver. I currently am dailying a v6 mustang but when the time comes to get a new ride, the wrx and si are looking really nice. I also love the kia stinger, but not having a standard transmission takes a big hit on points for me. I'd have to try both the si and the wrx to see what I like better, but they both look great! Also, as someone who enjoys driving stick, I honestly don't care at all about if it has rev matching or not because it's a lot more fun to do it myself

Glad you let Rob try the 0-60 run.... You need to daily a manual for 6 months.

Without even going 10 seconds into this review, I gave it a thumbs down (just because it was the 2022 WRX). However, after about a few mins in, I realized this was a REALLY good quality (and fair) review, so I flipped that to a thumbs up. Guess I'm new to Redline reviews and didn't know what I was in for. Those launches, though... Those were.. horrendous, if I'm being honest... Phenomenal presentation though! I appreciate the high quality audio/ visual presentation and editing. Should really get someone who launches cars well on the next one, though (especially if a review will be coming for the STI).

Close to 40k for a CVT with Toyota Camry performance? nah I’m good. I’d rather spend 5k more and get the new golf R with proven performance way nicer interior and exterior or even a little more for a 3 series, Acura TLX type S or Audi S3.

The rear taillights are in line with the new GR86 taillights. I definitely thought "lava" about a second before you said "magma inspired" lol. I'm excited for the upcoming STi.

Love seeing Rob joining you on the tests. His launching & shifting makes him even hotter 🥰 👋 Rob!

As an original owner of a 2002 bug eye wrx in rally blue .....this vehicle is warp years ahead.....would not mind getting one for sure.....

I have a 2018 wrx and love the car. That said: To me, it looks like a crosstrek that had the hatch chopped off. I hate all of the cladding... was the focus group that said they liked the cladding paid off or high? All of Reddit and just about every WRX owner I've talked to H A T E S it with a passion. The rear is by far the worst part of the car. The tail lights are dull and uninspired, and there's excessive amounts of cladding. With the amount of cladding, why didnt they just make the whole car cladding? /s

That focus group was full of blind people

I can’t believe they went through with this design

And the best thing and what I like the most about this car is, it’s readily available and NO dealer markups😎

Outclassed by all the competition before even one is sold.

In a few years Subaru will remove or body color match the fender cladding and fix the rear protruding bumper for the next model redesign. As it stands now not bad as far as I'm concerned. I'm still waiting for the STI though.

People should stop complaining about the Impreza engine and just get this car. The Impreza is for people on a budget that want an all wheel drive hatchback but don’t have tons of money to spend on cars like this.

Best looking design since 2007.

I owned a 2020 WRX for about a year and, while it was a reasonably fun car to drive, it's also very unrefined and rough around the edges compared to its competition. Its clutch and gearbox are honestly pretty annoying to drive in comparison to the Si, which I also have owned in the past. Subaru really needs to work on refining the WRX's driving experience, but I suspect they know that most WRX buyers are 20 something dudes without much experience with other vehicles that won't necessarily realize how rough this car is. However, as a 50 something dude with lots of experience with other vehicles, for me, the WRX just isn't the one. There are far better choices in this segment.

If the cladding over the tyres were removed I'd like it more. The rear lights make the entire rear end look weird

Thanks well done. I want one. I had one in 2001 and enjoyed it. IMO the looks are unique much improved from the earlier models. Living in NH the all wheel drive is a must. It seems like the WRX is just enough of all the stuff I want in a car I am buying mainly for fun.

Thanks a lot for showing the fix a flat kit! I skimmed through tons of other videos and I couldn't find any others that showed it until this one.

I’m more impressed with the BRZ over the WRX. It’s as if Subaru held back on this generation, the body cladding at the side doesn’t bother me as much as the rear end. Come on Subaru, get it together..

Hopefully the Sti will come without the cladding

The Black Plastic Cladding Store: We’ve got a huge sale. How much do you want? Subaru: I’ll take your entire stock.

Rob's "what the f*ck" at 15:09 was pretty funny...

Missing a wing

The high RPM clutch dumps send a tremendous amount of shock through the drivetrain and I'd wonder how long the car would last without something major being destroyed. If you drive it aggressively without abusing it (a rolling start vs dumping the clutch) it isn't very fast yet still uses almost as much fuel as a Mustang GT. Unless you have to have AWD, I don't see the point of getting this vs. a Civic SI, Mazda 3 turbo, etc.

Kia Stinger 2.5 GT Line is 300HP, 311 torque and with AWD is rated 29 MPG highway. More cargo space as a liftback car too.

Sofian is the only reviewer with the balls to say that Subaru messed up with the cladding

This weighs more than my Tiguan suv lol 😂. Stage 2 with 285 bhp 325 lb ft ready to troll on some new Rex owner

I think sales are going to be miserable. I see a redesign in a year or 2

I don’t mind the cladding at all!! The car amaizing !!! Way better than previous gen!!

The intros and music for Redline Reviews are always spot on and engaging. Well done, again.

I hate to say it because I've been waiting on the new WRX, but I'm going with stinger gt line over the WRX 😖

I like the new exterior, looks like it means business. I’m interested to take one for a drive. It really doesn’t need rev match. I’d rather fewer electronics. In fact I’d like a much smaller screen in place of legit buttons. It’s a more driving focus feature. Add awd which is great for winter. It’s really growing on me.

Its perfect just what I was hoping they would do in the mt of Central Pennsylvania it will be rugged enough to rip around on and off road in even bad weather.Like a true rally car great job already spoke to my subie dealer time to put my money down! Yehaaaaaa!!!

This paint job compliments the cars design...

A WRX owner since '02. REALLY wanted this model to work for me but Subaru left a lump of coal under the tree instead of a new bicycle. To much plastic with a 3 hp gain on a totally new model, no thanks. Remind me not to let Rob borrow my car. Have to say that was a solid launch

it's a no for me. The rear and the wheel wells kill it

That line at 6:04 aged like milk out in the heat

Oh nah he didn’t call those Hawkeye headlights 😂

So the brz is now the fastest subie? Car and driver got 5.4 second 0-60 in that thing.

That’s a pretty quick 0-60 time. It could give an 4WD F-150 crew cab with the Power Boost V6 a run for its money. It even has slightly better mpg - on the highway anyway.

I’m just watching the birds fight @10:04 lol

Wow, I think you have the most comprehensible reviews. Thank you.

16:27 I respectfully disagree. The way I understand it, all the way up to the previous generation, the WRX (and STi) were all about AWD putting power down with an aggressive launch... obviously times have caught up to them but I specifically remember reviews on the 2004 Golf R (R32?) that had sentences like, "yeah this thing is quick, but if you see a WRX or STi go hide in the corner.) The funny thing is I see a lot of people, for whatever reason, not caring so much about the details of 0-60 any more. I mean yeah we want quick cars, but since a Camry can do sub 6, etc... people are now focusing on other stuff. Just my observations. Thanks for the review! I have a 2021 WRX Stage 1 and I dig it. Subscribed.

Other than the power bump I really don’t see anything positive about the updates. They seem to have made every other aspect of this car worse from the terrible cladding to the dreadful infotainment.

Your reviews are always A+ Top Notch! I love watching your content! Thanks!

Subaru went to this engine so it is shared with the rest of the Subaru lineup. For one lower volume car having the 2.0L engine was nice but made no sense for Subaru which is a small company. Why is the horsepower lower than its use in other Subaru cars? That is because Subaru decided since their car offers more than 30 more horsepower than its nearest competitor, the Honda Civic Type R and Hyundai Type N, there was no need to give it the full boost (only 12 psi). If people want to boost the engine themselves that is possible with this car. The price according to Subaru is within $1000 of the old car, so the pricing is very competitive as well for an AWD performance car, if that is what you want.

My stock 2017 Forester XT is quicker off the line lol. It's got to be quicker than that with another driver?

Just like everyone else, I think they missed the mark on the looks of the car, and even the overall numbers. But the biggest pro is always going to be AWD. No matter what, at the end of the day if you want AWD performance this car will be on your list

Turn signal is halogen but back up light is LED. Nice.

I own and love an 18 50th anniversary wrx. They killed this car with that rear. Reminds me of when I owned a 12 civic si.

This new WRX is going to do a great job at putting more people into a Hyundai N-Line or Honda Si.

Honestly, this is a great review I loved it...but when I look at this car all I see is just another car, there is nothing that takes my breath away like a WRX normally would. Sadly I really wanted a WRX but now I am going to have to pass on this😒 I don't know maybe a Civic Si?

cladding is not horrible. makes it look agressive and looks good

Dang that passenger could barely handle the launch! Glasses flew right off and his face told the story

Sofyan! Ya cant clutch dump these at low rpm :P Great review though! Its a shame they chose this kind of styling as its definitely an incomplete look....also its interesting how this is going vs the Si which has the same power for a BRZ these days. Granted its a 4 door.

This redesign just doesn't make sense to me. All the plastic cladding looks idiotic and the power/torque numbers are insulting, considering the larger engine...and fuel economy went down too boot. What the hell is Subaru thinking? Hard pass on this WRX.

So how the hell does this have less mpgs when Subaru has already said fuel economy is improved over last gen? Wtffff

The wrx would definitely look nicer if it had no cladding, or was wrapped. The interior looks nice though. And the tunability is very attractive

The older Sti model has 310hp, was really hoping they would boost it up to at least 350hp. It is disappointing that, in order to get any respectable HP out of this car, you have to do at least 10k of upgrades (20k if you're serious about HP) and void the warranty.

I actually like it, the 1st modifications would be paint and body to paint the parts of the bumper's the factory forgot to paint. But otherwise it looks good, I'm not a fan of the tail lights when off but they look good on. That's something I've done with previous vehicles in the past and it's not as expensive as you may think.

I can live with the cladding, no issue, people have to see that in different places it will be good, drive on rough roads or even a very salty winter road that can damage the paint. I do understand people that wants to keep it on pavement in areas like Florida... But remember this is a rally car, try going on a gravel road high speed with a civic SI and see the damage it can do to the car. This car has a unique niche now that the Evo is gone.

Come on Stephan clutch heavy steering light it’s a pure sports car be real