Subaru Cars
JDM · 19 models
Boxer engines, all-wheel drive, and a rally pedigree that turned the WRX into a household name.
JDMSubaru built its identity around two things: the horizontally opposed boxer engine and standard all-wheel drive. Those choices were unusual when made in the 1970s and remain unusual today, and they define everything Subaru sells. The boxer layout puts the cylinders flat and opposed, which lowers the center of gravity. Combined with symmetric all-wheel drive, the result is a chassis with inherent balance. The WRX and WRX STI made Subaru a performance brand. The Impreza WRX (and its hotter STI variants) won the World Rally Championship in 1995, 1996, and 1997 with Colin McRae and again in 2003 with Petter Solberg. The road cars carried the rally DNA: turbocharged 2-liter or 2.5-liter EJ flat-four, all-wheel drive, manual gearbox, and a stiff chassis with adjustable damping in the STI versions. The blue paint with gold BBS wheels became one of the most recognizable color combinations in performance car history. The BRZ is the modern outlier. Co-developed with Toyota (which sells it as the GR86 and previously the 86), the BRZ uses a naturally aspirated boxer four and rear-wheel drive only, both unusual for Subaru. It is the lightest and most analog modern sports car at its price point. Outside performance, the Outback, Forester, and Crosstrek built Subaru a reputation in markets with poor weather and rough roads. The cars are not glamorous, but they work, and that has driven steady sales in the Pacific Northwest, Vermont, the UK, and similar climates. On WhipJury, Subaru submissions are dominated by WRXs, STIs, BRZs, and lifted Outbacks and Foresters. Rally-prepped builds tend to do well in the arena, as do clean OEM-plus daily examples.
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The boxer engine
The horizontally opposed flat-four arrangement places cylinders in two banks lying flat, with pistons moving toward and away from each other. The result is a low engine height (lowering the car center of gravity), inherent primary balance (the opposing pistons cancel each other out), and a distinctive uneven exhaust note caused by the unequal-length stock headers. Aftermarket equal-length headers smooth the sound out.
The downsides are width (the engine is wider than a comparable inline four), poor heat management on cylinder four (the rear cylinder runs hot and can develop ringland or head gasket issues over time on EJ-series engines), and high parts cost relative to inline fours. Subaru moved to the FA and FB series boxers in the 2010s, addressing some of the EJ thermal issues.
The WRX/STI lineage
GC8 (1992-2000). The original. Available globally except North America until the 2002 model year. Won three consecutive WRC titles in McRae and Burns era.
GD/GG (2002-2007). Bug-eye, blob-eye, hawk-eye nicknames track the headlight design across the run. The 2004 STI was the first STI sold in North America. EJ207 and EJ257 power, depending on market.
GE/GH/GR/GV (2008-2014). Bigger, more refined, but the STI is still a hardcore car with a 2.5-liter EJ257 and a six-speed manual. The hatchback STI of this era is a cult favorite.
VA (2015-2021). Last STI. EJ257 still under the hood despite being more than a decade old at this point. Subaru exited WRC after this generation.
VB (2022-present). WRX continues but no STI variant has been announced. The FA24 boxer replaces the long-running EJ.
BRZ and the analog sports car
The BRZ uses an FA20 or FA24 naturally aspirated boxer in the front, drives the rear wheels through a six-speed manual or automatic, and weighs under 2,800 pounds. The chassis is shared with the Toyota 86/GR86 but tuned slightly differently. It is one of the few new cars sold today with no turbocharger, no all-wheel drive, no electronic damping, and a properly weighted manual gearbox. The car has a strong following on WhipJury for exactly those reasons.
Subaru on WhipJury
Subaru submissions are heavy on STI and WRX builds, especially GD and GR generations. Lifted Outbacks and Foresters with mild overland setups are a growing subset. BRZs do well in head-to-head duels because the community appreciates their analog character. Drift-prepped BRZs with LS swaps are a known meme but still find votes.
