A collective groan went out from the car-loving world when Subaru announced that its WRX would be getting a CVT. This is the first two-pedal WRX since 2008, an autobox reprieve we knew couldn’t last. But a CVT? Beulah, fetch my pitchfork and torch.
And then we drove it. And we started to think: If you buy the WRX with an automatic, then you deserve this transmission.
Subaru has programmed this CVT to mimic a six- or eight-speed auto by operating in stair steps rather than one fluid sweep of ratio change. Slip the shifter into drive and the WRX will clip through its programmed ratios quickly. Driven casually, the transmission does a convincing impersonation of a conventional automatic. But the harder you drive, the more its façade fades and the CVT annoys.
Tromp the gas while rolling and prepare to wait. Your command for speed goes to committee as the engine revs up and the transmission dusts the furniture. By the time the transmission finds that lower ratio, the gap you were going for has been filled by a Corolla.
At the test track, this CVT-equipped WRX lagged the stick version, the quarter-mile taking 14.3 seconds at 99 mph, or 0.7 second and 3 mph behind the manual. Unable to launch the auto WRX as hard as the manual, we saw the zero-to-60 time stretch from 4.8 seconds to 5.5 seconds. When you brake-torque the automatic, the engine revs up to 2500 rpm and the transmission goes into a sort of maximum-acceleration mode, whereby it drops the shifting charade and acts like the CVT that it is. Once you’re off, the engine reaches 6400 rpm in the lowest ratio and remains there as speed rises, until it dips to a steady 6200 rpm beyond 60 mph.
Aside from the transmission, the rest of the WRX, from its supportive seats to its Dunlop Sport Maxx RT tires, is just like the manual. The steering remains accurate and full of feel, and the chassis handles speed securely, with high and exploitable limits. The brakes don’t grab hard in normal use, but when you pound on them they’ll stop the WRX from 70 mph in a short 156 feet.
Keep in mind: This powerful, four-wheel-drive, great-handling, small sports sedan is also available with a manual transmission.
Subaru does allow you to shift for yourself using column paddles, which can mitigate the transmission’s delays. But if you’re willing to work this hard, you might as well save the $3400 and get the stick. Automatic buyers also will have to step up to the Premium trim level, as the auto isn’t available in the base WRX.
When you don’t shift it yourself, three selectable transmission modes try to complement your driving habits. Intelligent or I mode is for a laid-back fuel-economy run. In S or sport, the CVT holds revs longer and the top “gear” is shorter. S# (say “sport sharp”) mode will downshift and keep engine revs elevated for better power delivery. If the road you’re on has more doglegs than Westminster, keep it in S#. But even then, you’ll wait after you hit the gas as the turbo and the CVT conspire to exaggerate each other’s lagginess.
S# is the CVT at its best, but the hashtag goes in front, Subaru. Like this: #buythemanual #fakingit #thewaitingisthehardestpart #tompetty.