What car when the WRX underwhelms?

Datsun310Guy said:

In reply to MrFancypants :

What are the car critics saying about the 2022 Civic Si?

A dealer by me has a white one. $32,500 plus tax/title. I'm curious how good these are.  Just curious. 

Every review I've seen has been positive. Good handling, good shift action, sharp engine. Apparently turbo lag isn't terribly prominent, and compared to a laggy WRX it probably nearly feels naturally aspirated. Engine output number stated by Honda says it's less powerful than the outgoing car, but dyno tests show that it's a fair bit more powerful. The real limited slip differential is fun with a punchy engine, in spite of being FWD. Nice looking interior with great seats, apparently Honda took actual care in selecting buttons and knobs that are satisfying to use.

Complaints I've seen are that there's a bit of rev hang between 1st and 2nd gear, but not so much at higher gears. Generally most really love the interior space up front, but there's some obvious cost cutting in the back seats. A lot of people are sad at the lack of fog lights and heated seats.

I like enough of what I've seen about it that I'd go have a look at one if I were in the market. 

I liked the first gen WRX/STI a lot. My friend sold his modded STI (which I loved) and picked up an Evo IX MR SE that was lightly modded (turboback, Swift springs on the stock Bilsteins, etc.) I drove the car fully expecting to hate the twitchy steering, the laggy motor, etc. and ended up falling in love with it. Still the best car I've ever driven. I loved the steering and how the AWD system put down power, and was amazed that it was still making power beyond 5K RPM.  The power band was a huge improvement over my friend's STI that was out of breath at 4K RPM.

It's not easy or cheap to find one that hasn't been thrashed, but they are amazing machines.

The low mount turbo in the FA engined WRX is not very laggy in comparison to, say, an EJ20 engined WRX if you were trying to punch it down low.

MrFancypants said:

This might be a controversial thing to say... but I felt the same way about the 2002 WRX I bought new. Overall I did like the car, but it wasn't what I was expecting. The 2004 STI I bought later... that was what I expected, but it also gave me a greater appreciation for how the regular WRX isn't painful to be in after a few hours.

If I had a WRX and wanted a replacement, right now I'd have a hard look at the 2022 Civic Si. At this point it's really hard to find newer, nicer sedans than that with manual gearboxes. M3? GLI?

I don't think that's controversial at all. I've recently become part owner of an 05 wrx, and after ten minutes in it I understood why there's none left in stock form anymore. Good potential but in need of a few major upgrades to really be good.

As a Miata person whose wife has owned both a WRX and a Focus RS, I suspect the turbo lag is what's meant by not eager.  The turbo lag (or just the fact that it takes forever to spool) on the 2013 WRX was frustrating at best. I haven't driven the 2.0l, but accelerating though the gears was the experience of waiting forever for the turbo to spool followed by oh-my-god power when it did, then immediately needing to shift gears and repeat. I always felt like the car should have had a 4 speed. We replaced the WRX with a Focus RS and the twin scroll turbo in that car fixes all that. It starts making boost at 1800rpm and just keeps going. It just feels like a huge engine.

The downside to the RS is it's so boy-racer.  The interior looks like a scene from the fast and furious, the seats are less comfortable than the Ultrashields in my track car, the fake engine noise generator makes it sound like a flat 4, and the adjustable suspension has 2 settings: too stiff and way too stiff. But the wife loves it, and it's definitely eager. 

Some interesting suggestions here, update as of this morning: what he'd really like to have, is a Holden Ute :D

dannyp84 said:

In reply to BoxheadTim :

I will almost certainly take you up on that, has the ownership experience not been happy enough to keep it beyond the lease?

Ownership experience in general has been pretty good other than some battery drain issues when it's not used for a long time.

The main reason other than even me preferring to keep an Alfa with a warranty - is that my work requirements are changing. I used to travel almost every week for work, so even just with the regular miles to the airport and back, it made sense to have a new leased car and essentially have the travel pay for it. That's not been the case for a while now and it doesn't look like I'll go back to road warrior status, so I can make do with a mix of less expensive vehicles and forego the modern daily.

Not-very-regular posts about the ownership experience start around page 5 of this thread: https://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/grm/tetering-on-the-abyss-alert-giulia-ti-talk-me-down/135302/page5/