What's wrong with the 03 WRX?
 

Had my 03 WRX wagon for a few months now and have fitted 18" Prodrive wheels, Prodrive springs and PPP. I am really glad that I have bought the car but find three things annoying:

1) The gearing is all wrong. 4th does'nt work around town and 5th is a joke on A roads. I guess they want to differentiate the STi but the WRX needs 6 gears with 6th roughly equal in ratio to today's 5 and the other 5 ratios lowered:
2) The steering is too light - it needs firming up to help with spirited driving on A and B roads; and
3) It rolls too much. Are Prodrive doing a damper upgrade also?

Overall, a great car but it could be better! Anyone agree/disagree on these points?

I would agree that the steering is a little too light, but do you seriously try to drive around town in 4th gear? ... at 30mph?! ...I use 3rd, or if I want to make sure I do not speed, I use 2nd.

Totally agree with you, I drove the STI and WRX PPP. The spread of gears on the WRX was not to my liking and this alone was a big enough factor for me to ditch the idea of getting one. The standard STI may not be faster in reality, but it FEELS a hell of a lot quicker.

I'm used to driving cars with more low down torque - my V8 S4 will pull very hard from 20 mph in 4th, if not 5th. Even my old V6 S4 biturbo had a lot more pull at low revs. Still the PPP WRX flies once the engine room has woken up!

My cheque book is ready for the WR1 wagon with 4 airbags if they would like to do it!

I don't actually agree about the 5 vs. 6 gears thing - the STIs i have driven left me grabbing for a gear all the time --> whereas a well-sorted WRX (eg.mine :) with TEK3) has loads of power in all gears.......

About the light steering I also thought this was a weakness - but then I had the Anti-Lift kit fitted and this firmed up the steering feel perfectly (as well as allowing you to lay much more power down when accelerating) - give it a go, I guarantee you won't be disappointed

Where did you get the anti-lift kit done - at a Subaru dealer? How much did it cost, how long did it take etc.

I find my WRX to be great and the gearing is one of the best things, particularly as an all round car - 90% of the time you can't go "balls to the wall" so the WRX gearing is more practical, not to say economical. (Yeah yeah - you don't buy an Impreza for economy etc).

Great car, 4th gear to push it above 60 anyway - never 5th.

I thought my speedo was wrong, not happy in 4th till 33mph and 5th 45mph, every other car i have owned has been happy at 30 in 4th! (02 wrx)

Manners - 30MPH in 4th gear?!? That's a Nissan Micra is it not - or a LTI Taxi?

What's wrong with the 03 WRX - I think you will find the answer to that is very little! (IMHO)

Hold the front page, a V8 engine has more torque low down than a 2 litre turbo car? STOP THE PRESS!!!!! ;) :D Or a car with sequential turbos designed to reduce lag as less lag? Sorry for the sarcasm, but the WRX isn't even trying to be nearly the same thing.

Anyone driving around town in fourth should be shot. No jury, simple execution. The engine isn't designed to labour like that. (Or you're driving too fast around town ;) )

The steering is possibly down to the geometry being out. Try a classic and go back to the WRX. You'll be surprised how much more feel there is IMHO.

For roll, ARB stiffening may be the order of the day? I don't really know a thing about geometry, but agree that there is a lot of roll on the standard wagon. I can live with it tho. Did you find that the Prodrive spring kit made any difference?
Cheers,
Nick.

If you want to dial out 'roll' then uprate the anti-roll bars. From personal experience, I can reccomend both 'Whiteline' anti-rollbars and also their anti-lift kit. quality is very good and they will sort you out nicely.

How Fast
 

To drive in town in 4t gear you would need to doing at least 70mph, I drive in town in second gear, remember this is a car that thrives on RPM.

Thanks for the comments. A few of my replies:

-I still think that 5 lower gears and a 6th overdrive style gear for the m'way would give most people what they want;
-I settle with 3rd in town. Still the box/powerband is not as bad as my Lotus 340R which really wanted 1st on some tight corners but I could never bring myself to do it!
-I know enough about engines to understand why both S4 engines have more low down torque but why don't Subaru hide the WRX's lack of it with lower gearing like on Evo's?
-I presume that you could design a boxer 4 to be bi-turbo for low end torque? (maybe I don't know much about engines!);
-What's the story/costs of an Anti lift kit?
-Prodrive springs on an 03 WRX are a lot better but I'm still surprised by the amount of roll in slower corners - fast corners are much better BTW. I think that the ride is still very soft so I would take a stiffer set up.

I haven't found the ride too soft.

One of the reasons I chose the WRX ppp over the STI is that the 'softer' setup is better suited to our crap roads. To me it feels more 'chuckable' at higher speeds and is less likely to 'snap' on me.

Just my opinion of course! :)

Had mine from last april:-

1. gearing ,can't fault it perfect
2.steering can't fault it either
3.body roll?not an issue

stop analysing it and just enjoy it


steve

Well said - Steve - let's close this thread!

I've never owned a car that could'nt be improved and surely the purpose of a forum like this is to share experiences and, hopefully, influence new cars in the future?

Anyway this thread seems to show that there's lots of different answers to the same questions - it must be pig difficult for manufacturers' to spec cars.

Filled in my Subaru feedback form recently - I would'nt like the job of extracting some sort of consensus from those!

WRX 03
 

No it's fine!

Body Roll - I have talked to Powerstation about the bodyroll and they merely recommend the Whiteline ARB's with the Eibach Progressive Springs - I think they quoted me £480 all in with fitting and geometry re-set to my liking. I think the standard ride is excellent on rough roads but could easily be about 15% stiffer and an inch lower would help the bodyroll ..... oh why is the wedding eating all my cash .....
Car is very neutral now that the suspension has been re-set, and I even get a bit of tail slip under full power on wet roads:):D

Steering feel - my car came out of the factory with no negative camber on the front wheels at all - and so understeered like a pig. I got them to re-set the geometry and I would say there was about 20% more weight (set to about -1.4 Degrees) and about the same jump in steering feel.

Gearing - I came from a Civic Type R which had the most perfect ratios (except for 6th which could easily have been a little longer, but was designed to get it to peak power and max speed). I am considering an STi based mostly on the gaps between 3rd, 4th and 5th being too long. Sometimes 4th means the turbo is not into it's max thrust (4,500 rpm to 6,200rpm), when 3rd means you have about a second before it needs to be slotted back into 4th again :(

Flexibility - I found just changing my Backbox to the Prodrive one gave me a huge power and torque boost, particularly that 2-3,000rpm zone and again from 5-6,000rpm.
This is bourne out by my first run at G-Force, where I got 259bhp and 245lb/ft of Torque ..... from a near bog standard car!
If you want to, you can wind it right up to the cut out at 7,200 rpm and it no longer feels as if it has hit a brick wall.

Overall - one of the best packages - of course it should really have bigger brakes, 6 gears and about 280bhp from the factory - but us brits just don't complain enough .......

Powerstation also fitted my Anti-Lift Kit and Whiteline 24mm ARB. I left this on the stiffest setting, which has been fine so far.

Can't remember how much it was --> about £300 at a guess. These, combined with Powerflex Rear solid droplinks, Eibach springset and laser wheel alignmnent (which were already fitted) have made a great difference to the handling of my MY02

Now understeer is very rare (oversteer sometimes!), and all that annoying bodyroll on corners has disappeared......

Nothing WRX 03 is a fantastic car and I love mine to bits!!

Just a few mods

PPP
PFF7 Alloys With 18 Pirelli Neros
Prodrive Quick Shift
Prodrive Gear Knob
ALU Gear Shift Surround
Prodrive Spring Kit
WRX 03 Euro Bucket Seats(NON AIRBAG)
Alpine ICE
PG Front & Rear Component Speakers
Subaru Side Kick Plates
WRX Floor Matts
Color Coded Side Skirts & Front Grill Surround
Blue Front Grill Badge
ScoobyWorld F & R Rally Slag Flaps
Godspeed 335 Brake Kit with Braided Lines & Ferodo 2500 Pads
Godspeed 290 Rear Brake Kit with Ferodo 2500 Pads
Whiteine 22mm ARB
Whiteline Solid Drop Links
Whiteline ALK
Powerstation GEO

I am Having great fun the car now goes and stops and handles quiet well!!!!

Regards

John

John,

You missed the "scoobynet sticker" and "Nodding dog" from the list of mods. They're worth at least 5bhp ;)

Regarding the roll in slow corners, I believe this is due to the variable rate dampers that the 03 has got. I notice it to a certain extent on the standard springs - if the improved springs make things better than I will be looking at fitting those, and having the ARBs done at the same time.

Do the uprated ARBs stiffen the ride at all? I'm getting old (family man now ;) ) and don't really want a jarring ride...

Cheers,
Nick.

Nick

As an old man of 42 the ARB does not effect the ride quality it makes it better in my opion as the car stays flatter in bends and entering rounabouts, Thus keeping cars passengers from moving about in their seats every body is happy!!

If I was allowed to keep only one or Two mods it would be the ARB and springs, The Prodrive springs are firmer around town but not bone jarring and do eliminate a lot of body roll inherant in the standard car.

ps forgot load liner & dyna mated F& R doors

Regards

John

The one disapointing feature in the 03 WRX is the front bucket seats...these are a joke as they are no way bucket seats as they do not 'hug you' at all, compared to the orignal bucket seats and they are not all that comfortable on long Journeys. i supose it is the side airbags that stop subaru putting in the proper bucket seats, rather than the sport bucket seats found in the 03 wrx! You should have the option to have side airbags or not, so you can have the proper bucket seats e.g.
http://wrx.soon2b.net/images/STIR-005/int.JPG
http://www.wrxlinks.com/articles/images/sti4.jpg

It is only the 03 STi that get better seats - the blue and black seats with a kind of suede feel to them. these are proper/better seats that grip you/ hug you!

...hope you get the idea!