Subaru Levorg vs Subaru WRX

What's the difference?

The Levorg STI Sport is a niche car that flies so close to true greatness. It’s a bucket load of fun… but not fun enough for the true enthusiast. A practicality, equipment and safety hero… but too brutal to be cross-shopped with an SUV… It’s an awesome car that’s just too narrow in its appeal to find a large audience. One thing is for sure – it will be interesting to see what Subaru does next with the Levorg badge.

Over three decades the WRX has matured into a more grown-up, refined performance package.

It’s fast with excellent dynamics, yet comfortable. Safety’s top-shelf, it’s well screwed together and the value equation stacks up. Rear seat headroom could be better and service costs are on the high side for the category. But I just love the way this car puts you in control.

I love the Levorg’s design. It’s slick, low and mean, and also unmistakably Subaru. It also plants itself right next to the WRX in the brand’s stable with that utterly ridiculous and unnecessary bonnet scoop, which does actually lead to a massive intercooler and thus is at least, functional.

The entire front of this car borrows so much from the boy-racer camp it’s just exciting to look at and, like any hot wagon should be, it’s party in the front and business in the back, with a paired-back rear end and side profile which says it’s ready for the family haul during the week.

The only giveaways from the rear are the chunky dual exhaust pipes and the almost aftermarket-style alloys which in our test car’s case were body-coloured.

Just like its WRX sedan brother though, the Levorg’s exterior design does lag a little behind the brand’s all-new Impreza and Forester ranges with it’s last-gen fittings exposing it’s last-gen underpinnings (rumor has it a new Levorg is on the horizon…).

The Levorg’s interior is as plush as it is chunky, with nice soft leather-trimmed bits placed along the doorcards and transmission column, as well as on the thick, purposeful steering wheel. Again, pundits who have helmed a WRX in the last few years will be familiar with all the fittings in here.

There’s little to give away the fact that the Levorg is older than the rest of Subaru’s range, it’s a modern dash design. It also suffers from Subaru’s obsession with screens as you have a TFT screen in the dash cluster, a information display in the binnacle atop the dashboard and a 7.0-inch multimedia touchscreen embedded in the centre stack. It’s just too much information from too many angles.

I will say I love the design of the analog instrument cluster, with its red highlights and the multimedia screen is definitely one of the better ones, with an easy-to-use interface and flawless phone mirroring (for Apple CarPlay at least).

It’s a symmetrical, cosy and aesthetically pleasing place to be.

For a while there in the mid- to late teens it felt like Subaru was pulling the wraps off a ‘VIZIV’-themed concept car design roughly once every five minutes.

Future-focused SUVs, crossovers and wagons, as well as 2017’s Performance Concept, a muscular four-door that clearly had an influence on the look and feel of this car.

From its sinister headlights and all-business hood scoop to the pumped-up flared guards with black 18-inch alloys filling them, the WRX’s intent is clear.

And at the back the professional-grade theme continues with dual twin exhaust tips, boot lid lip spoiler and what looks like a multi-vane diffuser that’s actually more cosmetic than functional.

That said, a low-key technical design feature is the integration of air outlets on the trailing edges of the front wheel arch flares and the outer edges of the rear bumper.

This is to release air pressure from the wheel arches, forming external vortices to minimise body sway and drift caused by wind turbulence.

Inside, the cabin treatment is a fairly busy mix of sharpish angles and shallow curves, the dash dominated by an 11.6-inch, portrait-oriented multimedia screen with a separate instrument pod for the driver next to it.

The colour palette is mid-grey to black with dark metallic highlights here and there, with alloy covers on all three pedals as well as patches of faux carbon on the doors and steering wheel.

Sports front seats look and feel good and the overall standard of fit and finish is high.

Why buy a wagon? Well, for a start, you’ll be getting generally much better boot space than a hatchback or a small SUV (with the handling appeal of a car), but I’m willing to bet if you’ve read this far, you already knew that.

The Levorg’s boot, for example, offers up 489-litres (VDA) with the second row up or 1413L with the seats down. For a bit of perspective, that’s a good 47-litres more (with the seats up) than a mid-size Mazda CX-5.

It’s a big, flat practical space, too with tie-down hooks, and under the boot floor, there is a space-saver spare wheel.

Moving to the second row, passengers will get decent, but not stellar rear legroom as well as good headroom, but where the Levorg shines is the sculpted rear outboard seats which are comfortable to sit in.

The door trims continue the soft-touch surfaces, and have a single 500ml-sized bottle holder on each side.

The middle passenger sadly loses out on legroom due to the large raised tunnel for AWD running gear underneath, and there are no vents, with rear passenger amenities limited to dual USB power outlets and a drop-down centre armrest.

Front occupants score 500ml bottle holders in each door card, a big glove box, a decently-sized centre console box, dual-cupholders in the transmission tunnel and a huge binnacle under the climate controls, where a 12-volt, dual USB and AUX ports exist.

Visibility out of the Levorg is excellent thanks to big rear vision mirrors, a deceptively tall windscreen and the naturally wide aperture of a wagon rear window.

Ergonomics are pretty good for front passengers too, with sporty, supportive seats and dial controls in all the right places (fan speed, temperature, volume, and tuning).

What you will miss out on over Subaru’s SUV range is the easy entry and exit that comes with a taller ride height. You’ll really need to drop yourself into the Levorg’s low-set seats.

At just under 4.7m long, a little over 1.8m wide and close to 1.5m tall, with a roughly 2.7m wheelbase the WRX stands as a ‘big’ small sedan.

At 183cm I’ve got more than enough breathing room in the front, the away slope of the dash enhancing the feeling of space.

For storage, there’s lots, including a centre console box between the seats, two cupholders and some oddments trays in the centre console, door pockets with room for decent size bottles and a medium glove box

And in the back, sitting behind the driver’s seat set to my position, there’s good foot room, ample legroom, but sitting straight I experienced a bonce-to-roof interface in terms of headroom. No adjustable ventilation, either. Thumbs down.

Storage options include door bins with room for bottles, a single map pocket (on the back of the front passenger seat) and two cupholders in the fold down centre armrest.

Power and connectivity runs to a 12V socket in the front as well as USB-A and -C sockets for charging and/or media.

Plus two USB charge ports (again -A and -C) in the back, the latter a model year 2024 spec upgrade.

The WRX’s boot offers 411 litres of storage space, which is enough to accommodate our three-piece luggage set, but remember, the aperture isn’t as accommodating as a hatch or SUV’s. The 60/40 split-folding rear seats improve flexibility, though. 

A space-saver spare sits under the floor and braked trailer towing capacity is a handy 1200kg.

The Subaru WRX RS weighs in at $52,990, before on-road costs, and the RS Sport with CVT auto is a fraction below 55 and a half thousand dollars.

There are some tasty alternatives around that price band, including the Toyota GR Yaris ($51,390), Mazda MX-5 GT RS ($51,640) and Mini Cooper S Clubman Classic ($53,250).

But maybe the most telling competition is closer to home with the less powerful but even purer Subaru BRZ tS ‘2+2’ manual coupe undercutting its WRX RS sibling by more than four grand at $48,690, before on-road costs.

Either way, aside from the standard performance and safety tech we’ll get to shortly, this car boasts an impressive features list including dual-zone climate control air, eight-way power-adjustable and heated sports front seats, heated outboard rear seats, interior ambient lighting, synthetic suede seat trim, built-in sat-nav and an 11.6-inch portrait-oriented multimedia screen (with voice command).

There’s also 10-speaker Harman Kardon audio (with digital radio and 265mm subwoofer), wireless Android Auto and Apple CarPlay, keyless entry and start, a leather-trimmed steering wheel, adaptive cruise control, a sunroof, exterior LED lighting all around, ‘Steering Responsive Headlights’, rear privacy glass and 18-inch alloy wheels. 

Relative to its asking price and closest competitors this WRX RS delivers plenty of bang for the buck when it comes to performance and value.

This section starts out sounding actually very good. Powering the two most expensive Levorg spec levels is a 2.0-litre turbo boxer engine, producing a strong-sounding 197kW/350Nm, power outputs that once would have been in V6 territory.

Where the enthusiast audience is let down though is the rather pedestrian continuously variable transmission (CVT) auto which the engine is mated to.

There’s no option of a manual here, nor is there a more performance-oriented dual-clutch, even in our top-spec car.

All Levorgs use Subaru’s own all-wheel drive system which includes torque vectoring on 2.0-litre variants.

The WRX RS is powered by a 2.4-litre, horizontally opposed four-cylinder, turbo-intercooled petrol engine developing 202kW and 350Nm.

Some call it ‘flat’, others a ‘boxer’, but either way it’s the Rex’s mechanical calling card delivering its distinctively raucous, pulsing engine and exhaust sound.

The all-alloy unit features direct-injection and dual variable valve timing, its relatively flat design lowering the car’s centre of gravity significantly. 

And as mentioned earlier, in this case it’s connected to a six-speed manual gearbox driving all four wheels via a centre viscous limited slip differential able to distribute drive between the front and rear axles on demand. But you can have a CVT auto if you really want one in the RS Sport. 

An unfortunate side-effect of the Levorg’s slightly older 2.0-litre engine architecture is a minimum fuel requirement of mid-grade 95 RON unleaded to fill its 60-litre tank.

The Levorg STI’s claimed/combined fuel figure comes in at a not-low 8.7L/100km, against which we scored 9.6L/100km blasting around back-country roads in the Kosciuszko National Park for several days.

It’s a high fuel use figure, but at least a semi-realistic one given the type of driving we were doing. Again, with a more enthusiast audience, a few extra litres here and there won’t shake potential buyers, but there is better to be had elsewhere from lower-capacity engines.

Subaru’s official combined cycle fuel-economy figure for the WRX RS is 9.9L/100km, which is moderate for a performance sedan like this. And it emits 225g/km of CO2 in the process.

Over a week covering mainly urban and suburban driving, with some enthusiastic sessions and a hint of freeway running thrown in, we recorded an average of 10.6L/100km, which isn’t outrageous.

Worth noting the minimum fuel requirement is the pricier 95 RON premium unleaded and you’ll need 63 litres of it to fill the tank which translates to a theoretical range of around 635km and roughly 595km using our real-world number.

The Levorg is great fun to drive, but it still falls short of that stenciled red ‘STI’ badge that lives on its front and rear.

I’ll explain. There’s plenty of power on offer here, it’s just how you’re able to use it. When you’re as close to the ground as you are in the Levorg it should be engaging, with maximum driver input and minimum interference.

The trouble is the CVT takes that idea of control out of your hands. It’s rubbery and unnatural, and a bit dull when you’re pushing the otherwise-tightly tuned chassis around corners.

It’s a shame because everything else is so close to excellent. The steering is superb, direct and with just the right amount of weight to it, and when you’re enjoying the Kosciuszko National Park’s best B-roads you can really feel all the grip delivered by the torque vectoring all-wheel drive system. It’s a blast and very reminiscent of the WRX.

Setting the drive computer to 'Sport Sharp' mode tightens up throttle response and keeps the CVT revving harder. This is best enjoyed using the paddle-shifters to bring the revs up in corners and hold them for longer in the straights, allowing the Levorg to behave as closely to a normal auto as possible.

It’s the best way to drive it, but demands the right road. It’s also a little less fun because there’s no penalty for getting it wrong. Rev too hard or drop the 'gear' too low and the computer will simply switch the transmission back to auto mode.

The suspension is a lot of fun on a back road, but decidedly less so around town. In the case of the STI with its extra firm springs, it’s best described as brutal, crashing low and hard over road imperfections. It also allows far more sound into the cabin than in other Subaru products, with tyre roar picking up at freeway speeds or on coarse bitumen.

Don’t get me wrong. I enjoyed the Levorg’s drive experience more than I had even expected to, but it’s not for everyone and won’t please the die-hard enthusiast either.

In driving the first Subaru Impreza WRX when it launched here in the early 1990s, the first attempt to control its surging, decidedly non-linear acceleration felt like pulling back on the reins of a bolting horse.

Subaru was in the thick of its commitment to the World Rally Championship (WRX stands for ‘World Rally eXperimental’) and the Japanese maker had a red hot product on its hands.

Fast forward to the 2024 version and the turbo torque still arrives with something of a rush but this is an infinitely more refined performance sedan than its relatively raw ancestor.

Subaru doesn’t quote a 0-100km/h figure but expect it to come up in the high five-second bracket and with maximum torque available all the way from 2000–5200rpm (and peak power taking over at 5600rpm) there’s always plenty or urgent acceleration available.

And that pulsing engine noise and percussive exhaust beat is still there in a no less distinctive and entertaining way. Our test car was fitted with the newly optional STi-branded exhaust ($2497, fitted) which adds to the aural impact. 

The gearshift isn’t ‘click-clack’ direct but it’s smooth and positive and the clutch is perfectly weighted. Such a pleasure to swap through the ratios, with a bit of old school heel and toe action thrown in for downshifts. Love it.

Subaru says the ‘Global Platform’ underpinning the WRX features a “full inner-frame construction” making it “14 per cent better in terms of front lateral flexing rigidity and 28 per cent stiffer torsionally” than its predecessor.

Suspension is strut front, double wishbone rear, which is a relatively sophisticated configuration allowing the WRX RS to combine impressive ride quality with excellent dynamic response.

The 245/40 Dunlop SP Sport Maxx rubber grips hard and steadfastly refuses to squeal or squirm in ‘press-on’ cornering, the AWD system defaulting to a nominal 45/55 front/rear torque split to deliver an initial rear-drive attitude with active torque vectoring helping to keep any pesky understeer in check. 

Push even harder and the system seamlessly adjusts the balance. And to top it off, the steering is great; accurate with good road feel.

Despite an alloy bonnet and front guards (even the fuel flap is resin) the WRX RS weighs in at 1482kg. That’s solid without qualifying as chonky, and it still feels nimble, responsive and balanced, helped in no small part by the boxer engine lowering the car’s overall centre of gravity.

The WRX has copped some criticism in the past about its braking performance under intense pressure. And while we didn’t hammer the RS around a race circuit we did repeatedly apply full-force to the centre pedal without any noticeable reduction in effectiveness. 

For the record, the system uses ventilated discs all around (290mm fr / 316mm rr) with dual-piston front calipers up front and singles at the rear. In everyday use the pedal is agreeably progressive.

Under the heading of general, mainly ergonomic, observations, the driver display may not be full digital but the 4.2-inch multi-information display in the centre of the instrument cluster delivers a healthy amount of relevant information clearly and simply.

At 11.2 metres the turning circle is okay, while vision for parking, supported by a high-def reversing camera is good. And applying the manual park brake is another reminder of the physical nature of this car.

The WRX is “unrated” by ANCAP (it’s maximum five-star rating timed out in 2022) but for the 2024 model year the RS manual picks up Subaru’s ‘EyeSight’ active (crash-avoidance) safety suite including features like AEB, adaptive cruise and more assists, warnings and alerts than you could poke a crash test dummy at.

Specifically, ‘Emergency Lane Keep Assist’, lane centring, ‘Lane Departure Prevention’, ‘Lane Departure Warning’, ‘Lane Sway Warning’, ‘Lead Vehicle Start Alert’, driver monitoring, rear cross-traffic alert, ‘Pre-collision Braking System’, ‘Pre-collision Brake Assist’, ‘Brake Light Recognition’, ‘Speed Sign Recognition’ and tyre pressure monitoring.

If an impact is unavoidable, there are seven airbags onboard, including full-length side curtains and a front centre bag to minimise head clash injuries in a side-on crash.

There are three top tether points and two ISOFIX anchors for child seats/baby capsules across the rear seat. 

Subaru offers a five-year/unlimited km warranty across its entire range, which is on-par with competitors, including the Octavia and Mazda6.

Like the Skoda, Subaru also offers the ability to buy service plans in three- or five-year packages at the time of purchase, doing so includes other benefits including a free service hire vehicle and three years of roadside assist.

The 2.0-litre Levorgs, including our STI cost between $319.54 and $671.85 per six-monthly 12,500km service interval for a total cost of $4,540.92 for the life of the five-year warranty.

That breaks down to an average cost of $908.18 which is actually very expensive considering the Octavia RS costs less than half that at $340 per year, and it’s a European car.

Subaru covers the WRX with a five-year, unlimited kilometre warranty, which is still the norm in the mainstream market, although more than a few brands are stepping up to seven years.

The main service interval is 12 months/15,000km, also on par with the market and (five-year/75,000km) capped-price servicing is available.

Average is just under $535 per workshop visit, which is on the high side but maybe to be expected for a highly-tuned car like this.

That said, Roadside Assist is complimentary for 12 months, which is a nice sweetener.