Subaru has finally brought its Impreza WRX to market here in the U.S. And it’s about time. The all-wheel-drive WRX isn’t just your everyday turbocharged subcompact sedan — under its hood beats the heart of a high-performance car with roots in Subaru’s World Rally Championship experience.

Subaru, the Japanese automaker best known for Crocodile Dundee hawking its family-oriented Legacy Outback wagons and Forester wagon/sport-utility hybrid, recently debuted its spirited 2002 Impreza WRX sedan — and an impressive introduction it turned out to be.

Designed for the tough World Rally Championship circuit, the WRX is a rugged, all-wheel-drive performance car that’s not only lots of fun to drive on winding two lane blacktops, but can also sprint right on down the freeway with the best of them.

Under the hood sits a 227-horsepower turbocharged and intercooled 2.0-liter 4-cylinder powerplant that delivers a maximum of 217 lb-ft of torque at 4000 rpm. Our electric blue test car, which was actually a pre-production version with a VIN that translated into the 27th WRX made, came with a 5-speed manual gearbox. Under a number of challenging circumstances, the engine never really broke a sweat, especially when the turbo kicked in, offering plenty of power for passing on both tight two-lane roads as well as the open highway.

The WRX offers excellent handling with a performance-tuned chassis that makes this 3000-plus-pound sedan pretty unflappable in most aggressive driving situations. Steering is crisp and very responsive. Subaru, which is best known for its all-wheel-drive configuration, favored the WRX a real arrogant type of personality when pushed towards its limits.

Interiorwise, the WRX has lots of sporty touches, like a Momo steering wheel as standard equipment. Momo is a well-known supplier of sport steering wheels to racing teams. The brake, accelerator and clutch pedals are all fitted with silver-colored, alloy pedal covers with rubber grips on them, for a sporty look as well.

The front bucket seats are very supportive for those aggressive driving maneuvers when needed. On a trip to Chehalis and back, the WRX provided a comfortable ride — more so than many other cars this size. Visibility from the driver’s seat is excellent as well, with a low hood to see over and window pillars that are fairly unobtrusive. Personally, I like to sit up tall behind the wheel for the best visibility, and there’s a manual driver seat height adjuster lets you lift or lower yourself by pumping it up or down.

All three rear seats have 3-point belts, but I wouldn’t want to be the third adult belted in back there — even with 33 inches of rear-seat legroom, which is on par with other subcompact sedans — it’s a tight squeeze for three adults.

The trunk of the WRX is very usable with a wide opening and lots of room for a car this size.
The WRX offers 4-wheel disk brakes with large rotors for strong stopping power. The standard tires are 16-inch, but Subaru has plans to offer 17-inch tires as a dealer accessory item.

Daytime running lights and side airbags are standard on the WRX. This is also the first Impreza with front seat belt pretensioners with force limiters to better control airbag deployment in a crash.

For a high-performance sports sedan, the WRX attracted remarkably little attention — even though my test period was several weeks before the car actually showed up in dealer showrooms. This car isn’t flashy in a sports sedan sort of way, even with its noticeable — and functional — air scoop on the hood. Rather it’s typically understated in Subaru style, looking more like an all-purpose small car with big, round headlights rather than the wolf in sheep’s clothing it really is.

Whines: Subaru recommends spendy 91 octane fuel for the WRX. It’s a little on the noisy side — engine and tire noise are high on certain road surfaces. You can also hear the engine work a lot of the time — but that’s part of the rally experience, so some buyers may not find this a problem. There’s no standard turbo gauge, but Subaru says one will be offered as part of the WRX accessories at dealerships.

Applause: Serious turbocharged power married to handling that makes the WRX stick to the road like glue. Simply put, this car is a blast to drive. And, if you’re into owning a somewhat unique car, with only 10,000 WRX sales expected per year, you won’t see a lot of these either.

Bottom Line: Pricing for the WRX is in the mid $20s — a bit pricey if you’re just looking for a basic small car to get you from Point A to Point B. But if you want to have some real fun getting there in a car that can blow away some higher-priced, big-name sports sedans in the process, the WRX may be just the ride you’re looking for.