Frugal interior

Now there are other things Subaru does not do quite as well. Interiors, for example.

When you sit in the WRX, you look around and think: This is adequate. The seats are comfortable and offer excellent bolsters. The steering wheel, which now includes audio controls as standard, is round, and that's as exciting as it gets.

My test vehicle included a big navigation screen at the top of the center stack that felt like something a couple of teenagers in San Jose installed. There's a plastic frugality throughout the cabin that leaves the interior feeling unfinished or, worse, unsophisticated. It's all very comfortable and adequate.

Sure, there are some of the features you'd expect, such as the aluminum pedals and the big tachometer on the instrument cluster, but the interior still feels lacking, especially when you weigh it with its $26,000 price tag for a compact car. For the same price you can opt for the WRX five-door, which provides a lot more room for carrying things and people.

    See also:

    Recommended brake fluid
    Refer to “Fluids”. Never use different brands of brake fluid together. Also, avoid mixing DOT 3 and DOT 4 brake fluids even if they are the same brand. ...

    Two separate circuits
    Your vehicle has two separate circuit brake systems. Each circuit works diagonally across the vehicle. If one circuit of the brake system should fail, the other half of the system still works. If one ...

    Preset buttons
    How to preset channels 1. Press the “SAT” button to select SAT1, SAT2 and SAT3 reception. 2. Select the desired channel. 3. Press one of the preset buttons for more than 1.5 seconds to store the ch ...