A question for the techno's, I beleive that all WRX wagon are rated at between 220 & 240 PS, were as saloons are rated from 220 right up to the latest at 280PS. Does anyone know what the difference in engine spec that keeps say a MY96 Wagon at 220/240, but a MY96 saloon that is rated at 260PS?. Can the wagon be easialy be brought up to the same spec as the saloon? Is every thing else the same, like suspension settings and brakes.

Cheers Steve

Does no one know this about the engine specs???

Steve:

Just to add flame to the fire, AFAIK you can get an STi Wagon which has the same engine as the STi saloon, ie; 280PS.

On a personal note I'm still trying to suss out the exact spec of my MY94 WRX Wagon as it's meant to be 220PS (215/217 bhp) but it's got a HKS SuperDrager full system and a HKS mega airflow filter/induction kit.

Steve,

Try the FAQ section on

Cheers Yex, the FAQ of the SIDC page is best info for standard specs of engine, but what I'm trying to establish is how subaru keep the wagon bhp down (in relative turns!) compared with the saloons, and if a wagon can easialy be brought upto saloon spec, in terms of straight BHP. I can't believe it's too hard, or that the wagon bodysheel can't handle that sort of power, because as Markus points out the STi version has an eye popping 280+ hp.

Steve

A simplified answer is given below:

The WRX engine's have had their internals
improved and strengthened as they get newer.
This has also involved the turbo getting smaller (due to rallying rule changes).

STi versions have uprated engine components, turbo, suspension and other items in all their various versions.

The ECU accounts for a large amount of the change between different variations of the same engine type (STi versions excepted).

It is feasible to swap the ECU from a MY96 saloon into a MY94 wagon as they are similar but 97-98 models are different, as are MY99/00.

A better option would be to get a Link ECU (approx £1000 fitted) which is mapped to the particular car. Although this is expensive, the results are excellent and you should be able to recover most of the cost when you sell the car - see

Earlier WRX 5-doors (probably pre-97)
had a smaller turbo (TD04 - same as the smaller turbo in later 4 door models)
(boosting to 11psi/0.76bar approx)

Probably had a slightly different ECU also

And also had slightly lower gearing than the 4-door

Suspension and brakes are the same
(although its conceivable that the 5 door rear suspension may be different if its expected to carry larger loads, but unlikely as you can't get that much more heavy stuff in)

Beyond that, I'm still trying to find out

Stephen
MY94 WRX 5-door (220PS, TD04 turbo, 11psi boost)

Thanks for those respones, this is all irrelevant now, as my order for a low milage dark metalic blue 96 saloon has just been successful in Japan. We've waited about 8 weeks for a nice one to come through, now we've got another 6 weeks to wait for it to arrive, can't wait. As it had been so long, we was looking at the possability of a wagon as a chap on this bbs had one for sale, low milage and dark metalic blue, so I was thinking if it was possable to bring it up to the same spec as a saloon, it would be worth looking at, but we've now got the saloon coming, and I'm getting very inpatient to get my hands on it.

Cheers

Steve.