The 2002 Subaru Impreza WRX

Photos...

Here's a few photos of my 2002 WRX (purchased new in March 2001). Click to enlarge.

New Tires!

I really like my new Pirelli P-Zero Nero tires. They're actually rated as "mud & snow" tires but they grip very well on dry pavement, much better than the OEM tires I replaced ever did, yet perfectly comfortable to ride on. Isn't techonlogy wonderful? The tires are mounted on my OEM 16" rims. Check out the P-Zero Nero reviews at TireRack.com... they're good and led me to buy these tires. That site also lets you visualize how different rims look on a WRX of any color.

Too Many Repairs

For whatever reason, my WRX has needed quite a few repairs. I'm definitely concerned about reliability. Consumer Reports has rated the car only "average" as far as frequency of repairs... comparable to many American cars and well below other Subarus. Here's a list of what I've had to have fixed:

• Anti-lock brake system - Engaged prematurely (during normal braking), needed complete repair during first year of ownerhip
• Brakes - Needed brake job at 12K miles
• Clutch and flywheel - Had to be replaced within two years of ownership (20K miles)
• Air conditioner condenser - Failed after two years, had to be replaced; part took 34 days to arrive! (Check out various WRX forums and you'll find others who have had issues relating to air conditioning and a service bulletin regarding problems that may have been fixed after MY02. Sorry I don't have any details any more).
• Driver's side power window - Failed, stuck in open position
• Left front wheel bearings had to be replaced (40K miles)

Unfortunately, all of these problems except the wheel bearing problem occurred during the first two years or so of owning the car. I've had the car over 4 years now and I don't drive it hard. If I wanted so many problems I could've bought a GM car!

Also, at 40K+ miles, I'm getting an occasional squeak from the brake pedal and a frequent "flap" or "click" noise when I let up the clutch pedal and it hits the top of its range of motion. But neither of these problems impact pedal action in any way.

The little plastic piece that holds the driver's side floor mat in position came out of its hole in the rug of the car. I can put it back in with some effort, but it comes out again a few weeks later. So I've given up on it and frequently have to adjust the position of the floor mat.

Major Complaint - Parts and Customer Service

On top of all the repair issues I've had, Subaru has been terrible about providing parts. It's bad enough that the clutch/flywheel repair needed a part that took about 10 days to arrive (the dealer always estimates "between 3 and 10 days"). But the air conditioner condenser required 34 days to arrive at the dealer. I had to make do without A/C for all of July 2003. No one was able to give me an estimate of when it would arrive, other than "3 to 10 days". When I called Subaru of America customer service, they said they'd investigate and call me back. A week later they still hadn't called me. I called customer service again and was told my part had arrived three days earlier! (the dealer - Fitzgerald Subaru in Kensington, Maryland - also failed to notify me). All in all, not a good experience.

Then in 2005 I had the wheel bearing repair done by my own favorite shop. Afterwards I learned that wheel bearing repairs are covered under the drivetrain warranty (drivetrain coverage is longer than for other parts). Subaru of America said that they might cover the repair as a goodwill gesture, if I would just send in all my receipts. So I spent some time gathering information, collecting receipts and writing a cover lettter. I sent it all off to a person named "Hope" at Subaru of America. Then she rejected my request, saying Subaru couldn't cover the repair because the few dollars' worth of seals and bearings weren't original Subaru parts and the repair wasn't made the way Subaru would make it. So much for goodwill.

In my letter about the wheel bearing repair I also recounted my earlier problems with parts delays and customer service. For that I got a "we apologize for the inconvenience", but still nothing towards the wheel bearing repair.

So be warned: Have all warranty repairs made by Subaru. Don't expect fast parts. And don't expect much goodwill.

Crash Tests

The only downside is that the tested Impreza included certain frontal protection changes that were only implemented after 9/01. My WRX predates these changes.

Jack's Review

The Subaru WRX is a great car. Here's my synopsis:

Strengths

• Excellent acceleration
• Very solid, well-behaved, tight ride with little body lean, and not jittery or "rattly" at all. It reminds me of a BMW with sport suspension. Adjusting tire pressure allows you to choose between a more subdued ride and real road-hugging grip (I like 34 PSI). But the car is never soft and simply handles great.
• All-wheel drive means no wheel spin unless you really want it. Simply a superb car in the rain, even dashing through sitting water on the highway. It's good in snow also.
• Good ergonomics, easy dashboard.
• Love that shade of blue.
• Very smooth turbo kick-in. Even though there's some lag, you don't get a feeling of discontinuity during acceleration.
• Shifter is precise (in spite of what Consumer Reports says); clutch is great.
• Brakes are strong, and the four channel antilock feature works quite well.
• Good turning radius, small, easy to park.
• Surprisingly good family car, with four doors, ample back seat (better than an '01 Audi A4, certainly), and side impact airbags.
• Excellent IIHS crash test results.
• Lots of head room.
• Easy to blow away kids in their Civic Si's who think they're hot stuff.
• Price!

Weaknesses (mostly nits)

• There is some turbo lag. It's not "offensive", as one reviewer put it, but I'll always prefer more displacement in place of turbo-charging.
• Low torque at lower RPM, or before the turbo kicks in, means no flying out of right turns in 2nd gear, unless you fly into them. I wouldn't recommend downshifting into 1st either to get extra power. Sure there's some torque at the low end due to valve technology, etc., but it's no muscle car in that range.
• On all Subarus I've driven, the air conditioning is great but if you turn on the A.C. and set the temperature at say 3/4 cold, the car seems to just blow 100% cold air for 30 seconds, then uncooled air for 10 seconds, and so on. My Hondas instead put out a constant-temperature stream of slightly less cool air, which is much better. The Subaru approach leaves you too warm, then too cold, then too warm... unless you redirect all the air to the defroster and then it's not so bad. A nit, really.
• The original OEM tires don't grip so well in hard turns. It's not the car but the tires. My new Pirellis are much better!
• The car will get stuck in 8" or 9" of wet snow. I know, I've tried it. The problem is ground clearance. Buy an SUV if it's a problem.
• At my height (5'8") I can't see the speedometer unless I put the seat way down and the steering wheel way up.
• Reflected sunlight off the hood scoop and rear spoiler can be quite bright. I keep an old shirt handy to lay on the dashboard to block the reflection.
• Windshield wipers are too slow on the fastest setting. Otherwise the wipers are fine.
• It's not really a weakness, but the engine does get very hot and stays warm for hours after you stop driving. Even the trunk heats up from the exhaust.
• Without any sound system upgrades, the sound system sounds cheap. If you get the upgraded speakers and subwoofer (which has its own built-in amp) it sounds decent, but I chose instead to get Infiniti speakers at Circuit City. Then the problem was that the factory radio/CD player couldn't drive them and it still sounded crappy. Part of it is that the speaker housings are all small (less than 5"). I got an Alpine amp and the best small speakers you can get to really improve the sound, but it's not exactly cheap. Both the radio and speaker housings limit you, even with an amp. The factory upgraded speakers (with subwoofer) seem well-mated to the radio, so on a budget I'd go that route.
• My wife can't drive a stick-shift (or is that a plus?)
• There aren't too many decent cup-holders, pockets for CDs, etc.
• Repair and customer service issues (see above)

Upgrades

• Alpine amp, four new Infiniti speakers.
• Two matching blue child seats
• Pirelli tires

Email

Hey, drop me an email to let me know you found this website, or to let me know what you think!

I'm Jack at .

Links

Reviews/Articles

• Consumer Reports review
• Motor Week review of the car
• Edmunds review of the WRX
• Car and Driver review
• Canadian Driver write-up
• Velocity Automotive Journal write-up (see good pictures)
• Sprechen Sie WRX?

Fan Sites

• ImprezaWRXSti.com Nice WRX Sti Site
• New-Impreza.com Lots of info on the 2002 Impreza (a bit dated now)
• Impreza Site -
  • 2002 Specs
  • 2002 Pictures + videos

Subaru

• Subaru's U.S. WRX page - feature lists, lots of nice pictures, screen saver, etc.
• Subaru of America
• Subaru Australia

Dealers

• Thanks to Craig Faunce at Herb Gordon Subaru, Silver Spring, MD for being of great assistance.

Early 2002 WRX Brochure Scans

Scans of the original MY2002 sales brochure.

WRXtras

This site is not associated with Subaru of America or any Subaru dealer.