News
Posted Friday, December 23, 2022 at 9:58pm
Neither I nor any of my MotorTrend cohorts involved in planning our long-term test-fleet coverage discussed this ahead of time, but one way or another, stewardship of the 2022 Subaru WRX Limited that just landed in our garage fell my way. “One way or another,” because I don’t recall how we decided I should oversee its yearlong MT stay, but it feels supremely natural if not outright preordained. Read More →
Posted Tuesday, December 20, 2022 at 9:57pm
Inflation is a fact of life, and cars are central to the phenomenon. Besides the obvious boost in prices, we see it in performance and capability too. Remember when 228 horsepower was a big deal, the stuff of V-8 Mustangs and Porsche 911s? Now 600 horsepower almost seems normal, and with it comes a spiral of more: more weight, more money, more digital nannies to keep it all on the road. That’s why the Subaru… Read More →
Posted Tuesday, December 20, 2022 at 9:55pm
Ever since the Mitsubishi Lancer Evo was discontinued, the Subaru WRX has enjoyed being the sole street-legal rally car available in the United States. Has the once cutting-edge Subaru grown complacent due to a lack of competition? It’s time to find out because the iconic all-wheel-drive turbocharged WRX finally has a challenger: the 2023 Toyota GR Corolla. Read More →
Posted Tuesday, December 20, 2022 at 9:51pm
Christopher Columbus and Florent Peronnet are very much on the same page when it comes to America. More than five centuries down the road since the Italian explorer caught site of the east coast, 2C Compétition’s team manager can sympathise with Columbus’ thinking. Peronnet spent this year working with Hoonigan Racing, preparing the Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC that Ken Block used to win or finish second on every one of the six ARA rounds he… Read More →
Posted Tuesday, December 6, 2022 at 9:48pm
The year 2008 marked the internet’s first peek inside the wild interworkings of the brain of rally-star and DC Shoes co-founder Ken Block. As deeply as his viral Gymkhana videos left their primordial tire marks on abandoned runways, so too grew the insanity of the stunts. Doing donuts around a Segway rider with a 2006 Subaru WRX STI would eventually progress into hanging 1400 hp worth of Hoonicorn Mustang beyond the last few parts of… Read More →
Posted Tuesday, December 6, 2022 at 9:40pm
One of the biggest downsides of modern motorsport is the extremely tight regulations that prevent manufacturers from flexing their muscles and showing what they can really do when given a blank sheet of paper. Another is that racing (and rallying) is hugely expensive. But in recent times we’ve seen a remedy for both of those issues in the shape of Hoonigan’s popular Gymkhana series. Brands get more marketing reach at a lower cost, and with… Read More →
Posted Monday, December 5, 2022 at 10:55pm
2022 Nemadji Trail Rally Peter Lapinski Read More →
Posted Monday, December 5, 2022 at 9:31pm
Subaru is opening a new chapter in the US with the market launch of the all-electric Solterra model (a cousin of the Toyota bZ4X). In November the company delivered the first 94 Subaru Solterra to customers and those are the first ever all-electric cars for the Japanese brand in the US. It will be really interesting to see whether the Solterra will reach a noticeable sales volume or not. Last month, the company sold a… Read More →
Posted Monday, December 5, 2022 at 9:28pm
This was a given. Redesigned for the 2022 model year and already carrying around a 10Best trophy, the new Subaru BRZ was a shoo-in for a long-term visit, especially now that it’s imbued with more power and refinement than the 2013 BRZ we last subjected to a 40,000-mile test. This is 2839 pounds of affordable rear-wheel-drive fun. Meat-and-potatoes driving enjoyment. Why’d we pick the BRZ over its also-fresh Toyota GR86 counterpart? That’s a tougher call,… Read More →
Posted Sunday, December 4, 2022 at 9:25pm
All-wheel drive has sort of always been the Subaru Crosstrek’s thing. I mean that’s the whole point of buying something called the Crosstrek, right? And, with a starting price of $24,870, it’s affordable enough that customers don’t complain about all-wheel drive being standard, even in climates where two-wheel drive will do. However, in Japan, there’s now an even cheaper, front-wheel drive version of the new third-generation Crosstrek. Read More →
