Yes, almost every used subaru WRX is a russian roulette game due to who likes to buy them and who and why sells them.
Anything wrong with 2016-2019ish Subaru WRX?
- Thread starter 92saturnsl2
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Patman
Staff member
You have a better chance with the newer ones though as they are generally not the ones that teenagers and 20 somethings can afford.
I get that but subaru boxer in particular dont suffer fools. They add boost and power and warp the block itself. Followed by changing head gaskets every oil change. Want to fix it? Engine out and thousands in machine work.
Huh?
The Subaru boxer aluminum block can get warped so bad it will bust head gaskets which will leak.
The only way to fix itnis to pull the engine and machine the block and even then it's not a guarantee
The only way to fix itnis to pull the engine and machine the block and even then it's not a guarantee
Is this common in normal use or in overheating conditions?
Neither. When you chip the car and add a bunch of HP. It can twist the block.
edyvw
$50 site donor 2025
They are very rare on track where I go. It us one of the toughest track in the country bcs. altitude, but sometimes i don’t see single Subaru for weeks. That tells you everything you need to know how strong vehicle is.
If you want to know which cars have stout engine and transmission, go to local track.
I assume you're referring to VW / german cars that populate the track? What if one never visits a track? I'm pretty certain that won't interest the wife.
I lived in Colo Spgs. for most of my life, how does 6K altitude make it the toughest track in the country? N/A suffer terribly, supercharged engines also, and a turbo engine is highly dependent on tune. The latter can still provide the same power at the expense of higher RPM at the turbo to try and provide the same boost pressure; in most cases the life of the turbo suffers.
What am I missing that makes a Subaru inferior at high elevations or sea level for that matter, assuming it's used as a daily driver, stock car?
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This thread is making me bugeye'd!
If you overheat any car you can cause some serious damage. Subaru is at no more risk than any other make.
WRX is not a real common track car, but that's not a relevant measure of anything. We're talking daily drivers here.
If you overheat any car you can cause some serious damage. Subaru is at no more risk than any other make.
WRX is not a real common track car, but that's not a relevant measure of anything. We're talking daily drivers here.
edyvw
$50 site donor 2025
My point is that if you want to find out what vehicle has stout engines and transmissions, go to track. People who go on track don't buy vehicles that can be pushed over the edge fast. Yes, there are people who come to the track with Porsche or Ferrari, but I am talking about your average enthusiast. STrenght of engine/transmission and how much money it takes to prepare vehicle for the track.
As for what makes my track (High Plains Raceway, an hour east of Denver), one of the toughest is air density. No heat in TX or AZ is as bad as 5k altitude. I have seen people from Phoenix here on track having issues with limp mode bcs. heat, while they run without problems in AZ summers on track. If you have a small issue with cooling, if the cooling system is not adequate, altitude will show all the weaknesses, whether bcs. air density or bcs. atmospheric pressure, or lack of it (let's say you have a problem with the hose; it will give up much easier at altitude than at sea level). I am not talking about power. But, a drop in power definitely makes engines work harder on the track because weight stays the same.
My take is to get GTI. It is 10X a vehicle that WRX is.
Patman
Staff member
No way I buy a used WRX, unless you can trace ownership back to a single responsible person. What's the chance of that?
edyvw
$50 site donor 2025
I was thinking just from a price standpoint here.
But yes, I would go R.
If you wait long enough, mine will be available from my estate after I pass. By that time it will be the last all-stock, adult-owned rust free WRX in existence. No dubious "boy racer" mods.
My kid had the current model BRZ, and every time it was started up from cold, it sounded like rocks in a coffee can. The other day we took my Civic to the store, start up in the garage, where noise is contained, and my kid note of how quiet the engine is. Drastically quieter than the Subaru he said.
I had good luck with my 2016, but I bought new and only had it for 3 years and 39,000 miles, and I left it stock. But I did take it out to the mountains and beat on it a bit.
Fun car. I liked it.
I hated the rev hang.
Brakes sucked. Only adequate for in-town use. Rotors would warp with any sporty backroad driving.
Fun car. I liked it.
I hated the rev hang.
Brakes sucked. Only adequate for in-town use. Rotors would warp with any sporty backroad driving.
By rev hang, are you talking about the artificial "rev matching" employed on some newer cars? I've never experienced it as the last manual vehicles I drove were before nannies / electronic throttle control became common.
No. This is different.
Some later-model cars with manual transmissions and drive-by-wire throttle have tuning/programming that artificially holds the throttle open when shifting, for emissions reduction.
Apparently, when the throttle is slammed shut, as when a shift in a manual transmission car occurs, oxides of nitrogen (NOx) are produced in the combustion chamber. But by holding the throttle open a bit longer (artificially, because the driver has already commanded it closed by removing his foot from the accelerator pedal), more thorough combustion occurs, acting to burn off these NOx and reduce emissions.
Later WRXs had better tuning and the rev hang was all but removed. But it was pretty bad with the 2015-2016 models. I'm not sure what year they finally got rid of it, or whether the latest models are still crippled by it.
It can be tuned out with a COBB Accessport aftermarket tuning device.
It was most noticeable while driving around town. When I was out thrashing backroads, I didn't really notice it. But when it occurred, it made smooth shifting harder.
Thank God, my Elantra N doesn't suffer from it.
Many thanks for the explanation, make perfect sense. I believe emissions regulations is what partially killed the manual transmission, for reasons described above. Certifying another drivetrain type costs a ton of money, and then some engineering team was forced to cobble up programming to pass the benchmark. You can probably make that case to the bean counters with a WRX, Mustang, Camaro, etc. but I bet on an Accord, Camry and other ordinary vehicles, it falls on deaf ears.
I'll pay close attention and look for any annoying behavior when we go out and test drive one.
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