Subaru Impreza WRX: Subaru pulls a quick one-eighty

摘要

Changes in the automotive world tend to happen at a snail's pace. It often takes years for manufacturers to recognize and correct the problems that cause would-be customers to walk out of the dealership empty-handed. Not so at Subaru, which pulled the handbrake on its new-for-2008 Impreza WRX, flicked the steering wheel, and executed the quickest one-eighty this side of a rally stage. Last year's WRX was known in Japan as the S-GT. Subaru thought the market for an enthusiast WRX had evaporated, so it designed the S-GT to be a cushy grand tourer. Subaru of America must have convinced its parent company otherwise, because last year's WRX gets a few extra interior goodies, loses it manual transmission, and wallows its way out of North American dealerships with a "2.5GT" badge on it.