Yahoo Autos Subaru WRX Buyers Are Overwhelmingly Choosing a Manual Transmission
The Subaru WRX already had a high manual take rate, and now more customers than ever are choosing the stick when buying this sport compact.
Some 83 percent of WRXs sold come with three pedals, Subaru confirmed to Car and Driver.
Even if you're holding out for a reborn STI, this high percentage means the six-speed WRX is going to be around for a while.
At the launch of the latest Subaru WRX variant, the tS, there was plenty of time to mourn the absence of a full STI model for the U.S. market, particularly on the long hill up to Turn 1 at Sonoma Raceway. The fifth-generation WRX offers more chassis than engine, and that's made clear by acceleration figures that are almost identical to those of the original rally hooligan that arrived in the U.S. for the 2002 model year. However, if 271 horsepower of turbocharged flat-four is all Subaru is going to mete out for now, enthusiasts are at least making the most of it by flogging that four with a proper stick.
As first mentioned by Kelley Blue Book in a review of the tS and confirmed to C/D by Subaru, so far this year there's been a 83 percent take rate of the six-speed manual transmission. That makes the WRX the new vehicle champion for manual transmissions. Porsche tells C/D that the 911 GT3 (for the last model year of the 992.1) had a 46 percent manual take rate, while 75 percent of 911 GT3 Touring package buyers opted for the manual. Even affordable sports cars like Toyota's GR86 and Mazda's Miata can't touch the WRX's three-pedal supremacy, with Mazda telling C/D the Miata has had about a 60 percent manual take rate throughout the current ND-generation car's life span.
Of course, part of that high stick-shift take rate is the lack of appeal in the alternative. With something like a Hyundai Elantra N, buyers have a choice of a manual or an excellent seven-speed dual-clutch gearbox, with paddle shifters mounted on the steering wheel. If you're a fan of watching Hyundai's N division touring cars beat up on the competition, then selecting the dual-clutch gearbox is still the enthusiast move. In the WRX, however...
The automatic is the Subaru continuously variable transmission. It's not actually any slower than the six-speed manual, posting 0-to-60-mph and quarter-mile times that are 0.1 second better and 0.2 second worse, respectively, and Subaru's engineers have programmed in eight artificial ratios to give the feel of a conventional automatic. It's no bad thing to have the option, and with CVTs found in every other volume-selling Subaru from Crosstrek to Ascent, it would perhaps be foolish for Subaru to be throwing R&D dollars at a dual-clutch option just for the WRX. That money could be better spent figuring how to squeeze at least 100 more horses out of that 2.4 flat-four for a reborn STI.
Until that STI comes along, praise be that the WRX buyers are still voting with their wallets for a car that still retains some of its old-school appeal. For about the same price as a Civic Si, the base WRX gives you 70 more horsepower, all-wheel drive for tackling gravel, and a six-speed manual that's still actually cheaper than the automatic.
Sure, there are sport-compact offerings higher up the food chain, ones that are a bit sharper for track-day duties. But with other everyday enthusiast favorites like the 2025 VW GTI ditching the manual, it's nice to see that WRX buyers are probably going to keep the stick shift alive by putting their money down.
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