New competitors
Of course, 5-speed manual transmissions are becoming pretty outdated for sporty drivers. As effective as it may be, the Impreza's would really gain from an additional gear, especially when you look at the new competitors. For instance, the Mitsubishi Lancer Ralliart will soon be available with the Evolution's twin-clutch Sport Shift Transmission. Talk about sophisticated! Even with the optional autobox (which has only 4 gears!), the WRX will have a real hard time keeping up with this hot Japanese newcomer.

Drivers can enjoy the excellent front bucket seats of the new WRX.

Drivers can at least enjoy the excellent front bucket seats of the new WRX. Appropriately bolstered, they offer great support for the back and thighs, which is especially handy when attacking tortuous roads (you know, the place where the WRX shines the brightest...).

Spirited driving
Let's face it: the driving experience is what draws consumers to the WRX. While the new styling got mixed reviews, the engine is a proven winner. The 2.5-liter, 4-cylinder turbocharged boxer was revised to generate more low- and mid-range torque. About 50-kg lighter, this mill now produces 224 horsepower and 226 lb-ft of torque, good enough for 0-100 kph accelerations in 6.6 seconds (same as last year).

Premium gasoline is required to achieve such performance, however. At the end of my 2,000-km winter road test, the white-colored Impreza I was driving netted an average fuel consumption of 11.5 L/100 km. In "normal" driving conditions (read: in the summer and with moderate use of the throttle), this figure could easily drop by 1 L/100 km.

Anyway, when you pick a car based on the fact that it's 3-second faster than a naturally-aspirated variant from 0 to 100, just how important is fuel economy?

Intrusive stability control
Braking performance is linear and quite convincing. Also, the ABS is never intrusive. On the other hand, that's not the case of Subaru's Vehicle Dynamics Control (VDC), especially during winter driving. Standard on the Impreza WRX, it's so quick to step in once a wheel starts to lose grip that the driver isn't so sure if he or she is driving an AWD car equipped with winter tires.

Braking performance is linear and quite convincing.