I take delivery of a 2013 WRX 5-door Thursday

[XRedJar]

Cool....thanks guys

[XRedJar]

Lol...guess it would help to have replied with quotes.....epic fail for me.

[Romdizzle]

And honestly if you want this thing to be a tank, you dont need to tune it. Save your money like i am and upgrade to an STI if you want a faster ride.

^ -1. WRX is actually faster in the 1/4 mile and 0-60 because the STi is heavier. The STi's stock turbo is bigger but not by that much. STi offers better handling from upgraded suspension parts and Brembo brakes. Also offers more control over handling from differential controls.

I've had my '11 OBP hatch for almost a year and 23,000 miles and she runs just as well as the night I drove her off the lot. I've got aftermarket wheels and tires on now but had the stockers on for about 17,000 miles with one rotation in that time. I drive pretty hard at times and there is very minimal wear on the tires. AWD really helps evenly distribute the load on each wheel/tire and increases longevity of the tires.

Weaknesses? Transmission. The transmission is fine for the every day and occasionally "spirited driver", but if you're really looking to make a lot more power, it'd be best to do something with the transmission. I'm still fairly new to Subaru and boost but my roommate, who's been a Subaru owner for a while, says they have glass trannies.

Mileage? Stock, I was getting about 28-30 highway and 17-20 city.

Best tune option. The best thing would be to go with a pro tune. I'm looking to get one eventually but right now I'm running a Cobb AP. I think it's well worth it. It doesn't offer the best options but does offer noticeable power gains. You can also mess with launch control, flat-foot shift setting, monitor dozens of things and tune for increased gas mileage. The best thing about it is you can change things around whenever you want.

Special treatment? Yes. Go fast!

Good luck with the car and welcome!

[B REX]

^ -1. WRX is actually faster in the 1/4 mile and 0-60 because the STi is heavier. The STi's stock turbo is bigger but not by that much. STi offers better handling from upgraded suspension parts and Brembo brakes. Also offers more control over handling from differential controls.

I've had my '11 OBP hatch for almost a year and 23,000 miles and she runs just as well as the night I drove her off the lot. I've got aftermarket wheels and tires on now but had the stockers on for about 17,000 miles with one rotation in that time. I drive pretty hard at times and there is very minimal wear on the tires. AWD really helps evenly distribute the load on each wheel/tire and increases longevity of the tires.

Weaknesses? Transmission. The transmission is fine for the every day and occasionally "spirited driver", but if you're really looking to make a lot more power, it'd be best to do something with the transmission. I'm still fairly new to Subaru and boost but my roommate, who's been a Subaru owner for a while, says they have glass trannies.

Mileage? Stock, I was getting about 28-30 highway and 17-20 city.

Best tune option. The best thing would be to go with a pro tune. I'm looking to get one eventually but right now I'm running a Cobb AP. I think it's well worth it. It doesn't offer the best options but does offer noticeable power gains. You can also mess with launch control, flat-foot shift setting, monitor dozens of things and tune for increased gas mileage. The best thing about it is you can change things around whenever you want.

Special treatment? Yes. Go fast!

Good luck with the car and welcome!

Yeah but im talking about the 2014+ models. You really think subaru is going to let the wrx continue to out-accelerate the sti? Yeah okay...

[nsibanez]

Yes we have weaker trannies.One of my co workers who works the used car department doing the inspections before they go up for sale told me the last two owners both blew the tranny. But I think that's if you constantly launch it.
So as lomng as you're not driving like a little kid all the time every red light you get to, you'll be alright..

Not saying don;t have fun, even ol' Ray still shows his inner kid....no homo

[maus]

Yeah but im talking about the 2014+ models. You really think subaru is going to let the wrx continue to out-accelerate the sti? Yeah okay...

The hell are you talking about?

[nsibanez]

The hell are you talking about?

+1

[impretzel]

Welcome! big s2k fan here. hopefully i can still pick up a NFR ap1 later when the funds permit. what color was yours?

about 20-24 mpg on my sti, its about the same for the wrx i think

[Romdizzle]

+1

^ +1.

Yeah but im talking about the 2014+ models. You really think subaru is going to let the wrx continue to out-accelerate the sti? Yeah okay...

Considering Subaru has used the slogan "born from rally" for a while and not born from drag, I think they will continue to offer the same kind of set ups with both the WRX and STi. WRX stands for World Rally Cross and would have been WRC if it wasn't already taken. STi stands for Subaru Tecnica International and is just a company that makes performance parts for Subaru. I'm not at all saying that the STi is slow and I'm sure it would beat out the WRX at higher speeds, but it's designed for track driving, not the drag strip. Subaru recently began separating the WRX and STi labels from their Impreza lines. If they really wanted to distance the STi from the WRX they would have. In essence, the STi is a better handling WRX. Unless you have some inside info that I haven't heard, I think they'll keep things relatively the same. Subaru has enough troubles to worry about with the BRZ that they need not concern themselves with something that doesn't need fixing. Not trying to be a ****, just trying to help educate.

[XRedJar]

Welcome! big s2k fan here. hopefully i can still pick up a NFR ap1 later when the funds permit. what color was yours?

about 20-24 mpg on my sti, its about the same for the wrx i think

I'm trading my 06 BB in on the WRX. The motor is tuned with the FlashPro, and is a freak. It's putting down 234/160, which is very strong.

They are an excellent drivers car....Sure you'll enjoy.

[XRedJar]

I took delivery today and am very pleased. So now the break in begins. Going to be a long thousand miles.

[degobah77]

^

Weaknesses? Transmission. The transmission is fine for the every day and occasionally "spirited driver", but if you're really looking to make a lot more power, it'd be best to do something with the transmission. I'm still fairly new to Subaru and boost but my roommate, who's been a Subaru owner for a while, says they have glass trannies.
gas mileage. The best thing about it is you can change things around whenever you want.

Forgive me if there's a thread somewhere else about this, but I am a VERY spirited driver and am curious as to what I should be concerned about with the transmission.

I got a 2003 Jetta GLS 1.8T 5 speed up to 133,000 miles on the factory clutch and it was still going on trade-in day, so I think I am a pretty decent when it comes to clutch and tranny wear and tear. But if I am driving a glass tranny, what kind of things can I do to toughen it up or at least reduce wear and tear?

Thanks in advance! ***Just hit 990 miles, so break-in time is done and school zones here I come!

[Calvinball]

Forgive me if there's a thread somewhere else about this, but I am a VERY spirited driver and am curious as to what I should be concerned about with the transmission.

I got a 2003 Jetta GLS 1.8T 5 speed up to 133,000 miles on the factory clutch and it was still going on trade-in day, so I think I am a pretty decent when it comes to clutch and tranny wear and tear. But if I am driving a glass tranny, what kind of things can I do to toughen it up or at least reduce wear and tear?

Thanks in advance! ***Just hit 990 miles, so break-in time is done and school zones here I come!

You can be a spirited driver and have fun, just avoid hard launches and shifts. The real big thing is launches. With the awd system, traction is going to be good, so you'll hook up very easily. That means the energy/shock that normally might go into tirespin will now either go to the differentials, or the clutch, depending on how you launch it.

[degobah77]

I would spin my Jetta's front tires 50% of time, doesn't help that they were bald most of the time, but the car had zero traction anyway in anything but dry weather.

So what I take from what you're saying is that with the AWD, I can expect to launch with a solid boost with little to no chance of wheel spin most of time, so I need to learn to drive a bit differently...I'll move quicker with less throttle than I am used to.

It's clear that I don't know how to drive at all actually, but I do get by!

[Calvinball]

I would spin my Jetta's front tires 50% of time, doesn't help that they were bald most of the time, but the car had zero traction anyway in anything but dry weather.

So what I take from what you're saying is that with the AWD, I can expect to launch with a solid boost with little to no chance of wheel spin most of time, so I need to learn to drive a bit differently...I'll move quicker with less throttle than I am used to.

Well, it's tough, because these cars actually bog down pretty easily. So light throttle is not going to result in a quick take off. But you never want to dump the clutch. In a fwd or rwd car you can build up rpms and just dump the clutch, and you'll have some give in the system in the form of tire spin. If you drop the clutch with one of these cars, the tires may just hook right up, then you have a lot of force acting on your differentials.

So, if you want quick starts from stop, you have to slip the clutch, which of course wears it out more quickly (but better that than a differential)