Subaru: Fast and functional

Subaru's WRX sedan gives sporty performance, without the discomfort. Photo / Jacqui Madelin

I'd like a performance car - but I need something more practical. And anyway, unless you're paying silly money a performance car can soon get wearing. Low-profile tyres are noisy, sporting suspension is uncomfortably hard.

But with a few compromises it is possible to have sporty performance along with everyday practicality and without hitting silly money, as this Subaru WRX sedan proves.

Yes, the cap-backwards brigade will ignore the sporting seats, the bonnet nostril and WRX badge; it's not the harder-core (and pricier) STI so it's beneath their notice. Which is good, for it's also less likely to attract other unwelcome attention, while offering more than enough driving thrills to please drivers.

Under that bonnet is a 2.5-litre horizontally opposed engine sitting low in the engine bay. Its 195kW and 343Nm may be a significant boost in power over last year's car but it has less mumbo than the 221kW/407Nm STI. Yet it's also less stressed, and uses easily obtainable 95 octane fuel instead of the pricier and hard-to-find 98.

Like all NZ-new Subarus this is a four-wheel-drive car, albeit without the STI's techie trickery as the car chooses which wheels get the power.

Fire this Subie through a demanding set of swervery and it'll leap to the challenge, that characterful engine howling, wheels gripping, car cornering flat - the engine's position imparts a low centre of gravity.

It's particularly handy on roads such as my own travel route: often rippled; often slick with damp clay and moss; and often demanding.

Yet you can also commute in it, take granny to bingo and the kids to kindy, for it's not overly firm despite harder spring rates, and changes to the steering rack, shock valves and sway bar.

Subaru says the five-speed gearbox and driveline have been fine-tuned to reduce notchiness too; certainly I had no complaints, except about the fuel consumption. Subaru claims 10.7l/100km; I was closer to 13, but then I was playing - rather than cruising or commuting - for most of my time with the car.

But good points include the roomy boot, cruise control and the iPod plugs.

The only bad news is the price, now $50,990, up $3500 since March 1 because of our exchange rate.

SUBARU WRX SEDAN

We like
Yes dear, it is practical as well as quick. Good bang-for-buck rating, too.

We don't like
Exchange-rate driven price rises likely to take everyday performance further out of reach.

Powertrain
2.5-litre turbocharged engine, 195kW at 6000rpm, 343Nm at 4000rpm, five-speed manual drives all four wheels.

Performance
0-100 not available, 10.4l/100km (claim).

Safety
Four-wheel-drive, stability and traction control, six airbags, five-star crash test rating.

What it's got
17-inch alloy wheels, cruise control.

Vital stats
4580mm long, 420-litre boot, 60-litre tank.