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A closer look at the 2015 Subaru WRX

For enthusiasts, the debut of the 2015 Subaru WRX was arguably one of the more important happenings at last week's LA Auto Show. After all, the 'Rex has been one of our perennial favorite all-weather sports cars, able to offer big thrills in any clime thanks to its turbocharged engine, manual gearbox and top-notch all-wheel-drive system.
For 2015, some big changes have been made to our favorite Subie, including the removal of the hatchback body style and availability of a continuously variable transmission. Of course, there's also the new, 2.0-liter turbocharged inline four-cylinder engine, not to mention the completely revised styling.
Lots of talking points, for sure, so West Coast Editor Michael Harley chatted with Dominick Infante, national manager of product communications for Subaru USA, who promises us that this car will be the "best-handling WRX ever." As for that CVT, Infante assures us that it was "designed for a sports car" and that the company aims to change the minds of people (like us, admittedly) who have a hard time warming up to the idea of this transmission in a package like the WRX.

2014 Subaru Forester XT

Power Doesn't Come Cheap
When Subaru first offered a turbocharged Forester XT model to US customers for the 2004 model year, the shoe-shaped second-gen model fell into a ready-made competitive set of small, V6-powered crossovers and SUVs. The XT might have been more of a raucous shopping-trip companion than, say, a Ford Escape V6, but the basics of the cars offered a clear differentiation from the naturally aspirated, four-cylinder models found just a bit downmarket. Here in 2013, the V6 breed of crossover in this size class is all but extinct, and turbocharged four-cylinders with the power to compete with the XT are not thick on the ground.
In many ways, the comparative analysis gets most interesting when you start looking around for CUVs to match up with the all-boxes-ticked Forester XT Touring that we had as a tester for a recent week. The top of the line Touring trim means that the Forester comes with features like 10-way power seats, leather, navigation, a Harmon Kardon sound system with HD radio, Bluetooth and more. In fact, our Forester also had the only option package available on the XT Touring; one that included keyless access, HID headlights and Subaru's EyeSight system (adaptive cruise, lane departure warning and pre-collision braking).

Don't expect an all-new Subaru WRX until 2020

Despite Subaru completely overhauling the Impreza for 2017, it appears the WRX will stick around on its current platform for another few years. That's the word from Motoring in Australia, who spoke with an senior engineer from Subaru about a WRX replacement. For those that can't wait, the good news is that a WRX refresh is coming for 2018, which should carry the car for another few years. It should be no surprise that a full WRX redesign is a few years off. Although the fourth generation Impreza was released in 2011, the current WRX has only been on sale since the 2015 model year. Given an average five-year cycle, we can most likely expect a redesign for 2020. It's not clear how extensive the refresh will be or if the STI will finally drop the ancient EJ-series 2.5-liter turbocharged flat four engine for the more modern FA-series 2.0-liter turbocharged flat four engine found in the regular WRX. Rumors have been swirling for years of what else a full-redesign may encompass. The current model was rumored to have an electric turbocharger that obviously never appeared. There have been other rumors of a switch to a hybrid powertrain. While that may work when the WRX finally uses the updated Impreza platform, don't expect to see hybrid power in the refreshed model. Subaru says the time it would take to engineer such a system would be too great to have it available for 2018. The new Impreza's platform is designed to fit a hybrid system, so don't rule out the possibility of a WRX hybrid. Related Video: News Source: MotoringImage Credit: AOL Design/Style Subaru Hatchback Performance Sedan subaru sti