I know too many people who run catless downpipes, test pipes and gutted catalytic converters on daily drivers to feel very good about the current state of responsible aftermarket support. I don’t see a lot of WRXs at track days or autocross, but there’s a big enough market out there to support several companies making…

If you bought a new STI and built it to do what this car does, it would cost you a heck of a lot more than $36k. For the price of this car, you get a few years of warranty and plenty of fun outrunning most of the cars in street class at your local autocross.

The fact that the car is maxed out shouldn’t surprise…

Subaru replaced my throwout bearing, no questions asked. I do take care of my car and don’t have any modifications, but I would definitely take it into the dealer. From what I was told, throwout bearings are a common complain with the new bodystyle.

Under normal, daily use the open center diffs are fine. I’ve seen one really bad failure from autocross in a 2015 WRX. Part of it may have been from excessive rear wheel spin due to a larger rear-sway bar, but it blew itself up hard. Polluted the transmission and required a new transmission after Subaru tried fixing…

No surprises here, my 2015 Crosstrek burned through 2 quarts of oil by the time I hit 2,500 miles. I religiously checked my oil at each fill-up and was still appalled at what I saw.

Thanks for the info. I've mostly kept to Hondas for autocross/PDX/TT, but would love to give a Celica a shot. The 7th generation is a much better platform than the comparable Homda, but parts and upgrades can be an issue. Any links to the procedure you outlined above?

I miss my 2001 Celica GTS. Outstanding car, better than my previous Integra GSR. About 85 percent of the Type R without the LSD and aggression. As people have mentioned, these cars are uber competitive in autocross after all of these years.

These cars are quite tough and outside of climbing over rocks, they will outperform most 90s 4x4s with a few exceptions (think Vehicross).

Great list, I would say the first few years of the second generation MR2 are some of the most dangerous cars on the road because they are so accessible. Go in hot in a turn, let go of the throttle (even a little) and around you’ll go. Toyota did fix this in the later years of that body style, but the MR2 definitely…

I’m meticulous with maintenance, stuck to the very strict break-in period and have stuck to 3,500 mile oil changes with Motul 5W30.

WRX. Seriously, love my car, but hate the scene.

I’m fairly sure my car makes 9 out of 10 of these during autocross.

Honda CVTs are quite nice, much better than what I’ve sampled from Nissan and Subaru. If you ever get a chance, drive the CRZ with a CVT, it’s the best way to enjoy the car. The CVT just stays in the motor’s powerband.

I haven’t driven a new Civic, but may consider swapping over to a new SI depending on what Honda…

What did you get instead? I went to a 2015 WRX and while I miss the ground clearance on rare occasions (damn gravel roads), the WRX is just so good at so many things that I have zero regrets. I mostly autocross and the 15 WRX is a beast in DS. Funny, some guy has been autocrossing a Crosstrek at my local club and it…

I owned a Crosstrek for a year. It was my first new car, but I’ve owned tons of cars before including two Subaru WRXs, 4 4Runners, 5 Tacomas and a few Integras, Civics and other cars. Here’s what you should know: