2022 Subaru WRX GT Is a Mature WRX

After decades of spitting fire and spraying gravel on the world’s rally stages, or at least looking the part on the street, the Subaru WRX has earned a few gray hairs. Now in its fifth generation after a redesign for the 2022 model year, Subaru’s proto-rally car has reached middle age, donned a suit of body-cladded office wear, and attained a new level of sophistication. Nowhere is this clearer than in the WRX’s range-topping, automatic-only GT version.

Now, the WRX has been available with an automatic transmission for years, and the latest model’s CVT unit with eight simulated ratios is an $1850 to $2250 option on all trim levels, including the $30,600 base car. Subaru still lashes a six-speed manual to the 271-hp turbocharged 2.4-liter flat-four as standard. The new fully equipped GT model, however, is exclusively a two-pedal affair that will set you back $43,390. For a WRX. That’s $5220 more than the starting point of the old 310-hp STI model, the likes of which won’t be returning for this generation (that nameplate may be revived for a future performance EV based on a different platform). To be fair, Volkswagen GTIs can be optioned past $40K, so the affordable sport compact is somewhat of a nebulous concept nowadays.

The Subaru Global Platform feels stiff and nicely balanced, and the WRX’s crisp steering delivers the direct turn-in response you’ll want when barreling down goat paths at highly questionable speeds. This is a car designed to be chucked around corners with minimal effort, its standard all-wheel-drive system helping it find purchase on just about any surface. The reasonable 72 decibels of wind and tire noise we recorded inside the GT’s cabin at 70 mph is average for a sport compact. While its 28-mpg result on our 75-mph highway route is less competitive, it is 3 mpg better than the automatic’s EPA estimate and the same as the manual Limited model we previously tested achieved.

Perhaps the greatest draw of an automatic WRX is the additional equipment it unlocks over the manual. Opt for the CVT and you gain the ability to tweak the drivetrain’s responses through Intelligent, Sport, and Sport # settings. The GT goes a step further by adding overarching drive modes (Comfort, Normal, Sport, Sport+, and Individual), which via the 11.6-inch center touchscreen let you configure your preferred mix of drivetrain feistiness, steering weight, front-to-rear torque balance of the all-wheel-drive system, and ride stiffness from the GT-exclusive adaptive dampers. Also included: a 504-watt, 11-speaker stereo, body-hugging Recaro sport seats with microsuede upholstery and red contrast stitching, and Subaru’s raft of EyeSight driver assist tech, which isn’t available with the manual.

All that kit helped inflate our test car’s curb weight to 3552 pounds, some 151 pounds more than the aforementioned manual version. Yet despite being the most polished of WRXs, the GT is also the quicker of the two in the real world. Though the CVT-equipped car needed almost a second longer to reach 30 mph, its 5.4-second 60-mph time is 0.1 second quicker, largely due to the manual needing two shifts to reach that mark. The GT’s rolling acceleration from 5 to 60 mph, 30 to 50 mph, and 50 to 70 mph also is significantly quicker. Only at higher speeds does the stick shift stretch its legs, tripping the quarter-mile lights in 13.9 seconds to the GT’s 14.1, though both are traveling 101 mph.

With both models rolling on similar 18-inch Dunlop SP Sport Maxx summer tires, the GT’s other go-fast metrics are what you’d expect from a car saddled with additional mass. Its 0.93 g of skidpad grip is down 0.02 g to the manual Limited’s, and its stops from 70 and 100 mph—159 and 326 feet, respectively—are both a few feet longer. In the greater sport-compact arena, the performance of today’s WRX makes it a close match for the lighter 241-hp GTI, yet it falls behind racier rivals that approach or surpass the 300-hp mark, such as the Honda Civic Type R, Hyundai Elantra N, Toyota GR Corolla, and VW Golf R.

Yet with the GT, the WRX feels more content than ever to do its own thing. Dial its drive settings back to tame and it cruises in mature comfort, if with only marginally better ride compliance than the well-tuned standard car provides. And save for the CVT’s inherent mushiness when tipping into the throttle, particularly at stop-and-go speeds, its stepped ratios mostly eliminate engine droning. A CVT will never be as fun as a stick—this autobox “upshifts” on its own at redline in every scenario outside of attacking the drag strip, where its quickest runs kept the needle pinned at 6100 rpm—but it does help lend the GT the sort of bandwidth found in some premium sport sedans.

But from the fluttering of its aluminum hood on the highway to its lack of a heated steering wheel and rear climate-control vents, the WRX quickly reminds you of its economy-car roots. We’d wager most Subaru sedan shoppers tempted by the GT’s feature count will be happier spending considerably less on a 260-hp turbocharged Legacy. While updates have made the latest WRX’s automatic transmission a compelling option for drivers more concerned with convenience than engagement, this pricey GT model leaves us longing for the simpler times of the WRX’s youth.