The Subaru WRX, Impreza, and BRZ - Storm Clouds Are Gathering

I looked at Impreza recently. I didn’t like that they got rid of the sedan. I wasn’t overly impressed with the looks of the Impreza hatchback. I couldn’t even look at or test drive a BRZ bc they are not on the lots! WRX is also a little scarce on the lots. I was looking at 2023 WRX but had a hard time finding any near me. The 2024 went up in price, knocking it out of my comfort zone. So I recently found a 2022 WRX and bought it! I love it! I hope Subaru keeps these models but some changes are needed: bring back Impreza sedan, put more cars on the lots, need to have more Subaru dealers around!

Take off the cladding, and give it more power to compete with its competitors.

Several weeks ago, one of your colleagues wrote that Subaru was going to dump its sporty vehicles. In all but capital letters, you bellowed how untrue this was, don't believe him etc. Now ... Subaru has several product lines ... but only three of them are successful. This is a company that blew through its regular model update time lines, and even then, can't get its full line-up out ( hybrid ? Wilderness ? ) They'll make the Forester in the U.S. but take the
Outback back to Japan. Huh ? This is a company out of sorts. It doesn't seem to know where it's going. It may be too late for a major corporate shake-up. It may be too late to attract a buy-out. Unless Toyota will take pity on it and put it out of its confusion.

Can't keep facelifting and "refreshing" the same underpowered, boring cars over and over and expect them to set sales records. Ask Nissan. We're an all subaru family right now, eight total, but the current lineup feels like the same cars from 5-6yrs ago. Subaru is getting left behind. Won't be buying another one for a long time, unless they do some serious updating fast.

Just bought an Impreza RS
It is better than the previous 2022 Impreza Sport I had that was totalled I an accident
Would gave bought a WRX if it was a hatchback
Get rid of the plastic fenders on the WRX

First, the BRZ is the only rear wheel drive vehicle that Subaru makes. So all three f the vehicles are not all-wheel drive. Second, the reason sales suck is because the economy sucks. I just bought the new Impreza RS and said goodbye to my precious BRZ. When your interest rate is terrible no one is going to buy any car. The only reason more GR86s are being sold is simply a supply issue. When you have more of an identical thing available you tend to sell more of it.

I wouldn’t change much of anything about these cars. My 2010 Impreza has 170k miles and when it gets to the point of leaving me stranded these are literally my top three choices. Vehicles are commodities. I’m not going to get a car payment with these interest rates if I don’t need to.

I would bring back the Impreza sedan and make it a hybrid. I would also raise the ground clearance 3 inches or so. Right now, it's like you stated.....the Crosstrek is the better option of 2 very similar cars and will be moreso if it's getting a hybrid option in 2026. Subaru looks like it's almost trying to kill off the Impreza with bad choices for it and better options in their offerings.

The WRX needs a hybrid version because the gas mileage is sub-par which is probably a reason why it's not doing well.

Speaking from personal experience: I ended up with an Elantra N-Line for these reasons: still decent performance with less fuel consumption, beautiful interior and tech, Hyundai offering 8year financing (not everybody can afford higher monthly payments, they also need to advertise this in their website, people see higher monthly/bi-weekly payments and run away), and last but not least dealership salesmanship ( the guys from my dealership were far from trying to close, very dissapointing). I think Subaru has great cars but they need to get their butts off the AWD throne and try harder to get to their customers.

If Subaru brought back the WRX Hatchback option, I would go purchase one right away.
Other than the Golf TDI hatch or the R model, the WRX hatch was the nicest looking hatch out there. I for one, miss that car.

If they want people to buy their performance vehicles, they need to start actually prioritizing performance again. Going 80% in is not the same as going all in, and Subaru needs to learn that if they want people to care about their sports cars again.

The common denominator is obvious.
They are cars, a rapidly declining class of vehicle.
Lose the awful plastic cladding on the WRX and bump the HP, improve the interior on the BRZ and same thing bump the HP. Like Mazda, Subaru is a smaller manufacturer, but can learn to be better with more unique styling to succeed the two. As for the Impreza, well it’s lost its way in styling completely and looks just so generically bland.
Not certain what can help it at this point so close to the recent “refresh”.🤮

I think Subaru made a mistake leaving the hot hatch segment. I used to be a die-hard WRX fan, I had a 2014 WRX hatchback and was absolutely in love with it. The practicality of a hatchback combined with the sportiness of the WRX was the most exciting thing on the market at the time. The problem now is that the most fun affordable sports cars are the Volkswagen gtis and golf r's. There's nothing really in that segment to compete with Volkswagen at this point, and Subaru I think missed an opportunity when they switched over to their new platform not bringing the hatchback back.

The BRZ is rear wheel drive.

The WRX is short about 200 hp. Build it to handle aftermarket tuning to 600 hp and they will sell again

This is what happens when you stop making the product your market wants. Dropping the STi was a huge mistake. Even with the ridiculous ev push, they could have continued to make the STi.

Subaru has to wake up! People don't like all that plastic garbage on their vehicles. What they should do is make everything paint matched and offer the plastic stuff as a dealer add on for a minimal fee or credit for those that like it. They need more power and update the looks. That's what people want.