2022 Subaru WRX

The rally car faithful has reason to rejoice. The new Subie WRX just bowed, and there are, thankfully, almost no surprises. The biggest news is the arrival of a long-awaited and much-needed new engine. The former and long-in-the-tooth 2.0-liter turbo-four gets replaced by a 2.4-liter boxer turbo with 271 horses and 258 lb-ft of torque, up from the previous 268 horses. The 258 lb-ft of torque remains the same, but the curve is broader so on-demand power should be available at a wider range. The six-speed manual remains, thank goodness, but you can now opt for the “Subaru Performance Transmission”, a CVT that Subaru swears by. Fingers crossed. The plus side of that equation is the fact that CVT outfitted models benefit from the excellent EyeSight safety suite. There’s also a high-performance model (aside from the upcoming WRX STI) known as the GT, which only gets the CVT but also comes with added performance bits, special wheels, and some sweet Recaro seats. In terms of the WRX’s styling, it’s evolutionary but sportier in its execution, and we quite like it. No pricing has been provided, but it should go on sale later this year as a 2022 model. Time to dust off the racing shoes.