2022 Subaru WRX vs 2024 Toyota Supra

What's the difference?

The new-generation Subaru WRX is a more accomplished, complete and mature car than ever before. If all of that sounds good to you, you’re going to love it - but I’m also totally going to understand if that would put you off, because it isn’t necessarily the same sort of car we’ve come to expect it should be.

But as the latest example of the breed, the WRX - especially as a sedan - is an engaging, fun car to drive. I just think the wagon would ultimately prove a lot easier to live with.

Note: CarsGuide attended this event as a guest of the manufacturer, with accommodation and meals provided.

The Toyota GR Supra GT is a superb sports car that’s relatively easy to live with in the city even with the manual gearbox and incredibly fun to drive out where the roads are free from traffic.

Not only is the GT great for the price compared to rivals but it’s the pick of the Supra range.   

You are going to make up your own mind about the look of the Rex. Let me just say this - don’t judge it by the pictures. It looks a lot more, er, agreeable in person. 

I’ll admit it - I was a bit uncertain about whether I would like it. I saw the pictures online and thought it looked a bit awkward. Those squinty headlights, the hexagonal wheel arches, the tapered rear quarter panels and small tail-lights… All of that makes it a bit hard to pick a “good” angle of the car. 

But in person it is a more cohesive piece of automotive design than it might appear at first glance. And look, the choice by Subaru to fit the WRX with the more aggressive looking lower body kit/rugged plastic finishes to the sedan, rather than the wagon, might seem weird to you.

But the brand insists the decision was made because the WRX sedan is more aimed at those who want the more angry look, while the wagon is more aimed at parents and family buyers.

Now, look, I’m a parent, and a potential buyer of a WRX wagon, and I’m frustrated Subaru doesn’t have a wagon with that lower body effect package. It looks narrower and less purposeful on the road as a result, and there’s even more reason for that - the wagon is narrower in the body, with skinnier front and rear guards.

You might be fine with the look of the wagon, compared to the sedan. But I think it would have benefited from less of the Levorg look, and more of the real Rexxy raucousness the sedan gets.

Now, Subaru has said it might consider customer feedback if there’s enough customer demand for a more macho wagon. And hey, the brand has a history of listening to customers and making the cars more appealing as the generation evolves - think about the third-gen WRX which launched with a narrow body but soon fattened up to look meaner…

Other notes on the design: the WRX wagon has different wheels, which are fitted with narrower, less aggressive tyres - it runs Yokohama Blue Earth GT tyres in 225/45/18 size, while the sedan, in keeping with its more intentful bent, runs far superior Dunlop SP Sport Maxx 245/40/18 tread. As a result, the wagon has a narrower front track (1550mm vs 1560mm) and rear track (1545mm vs 1570mm).

I’d love to see a more hardcore looking WRX wagon. Tell me if you agree or disagree in the comments below.

For context, here are the dimensions of the new WRX in sedan and wagon body styles:

Perhaps it’s just me but I think the Supra looks exactly how it should look - like a Hot Wheels car.

Seriously, how good does the back view look? I love the spoiler that angles up like a crazy ski jump and the tail-lights integrated underneath it.

I love the huge rear hunches swollen like they’ve been stung by an enormous wasp. Check out the roof - see how it’s curved? And that bonnet with the vent above the wheel arches, I love the styling of every millimetre of this car.

But my neighbour doesn’t. I pulled up and said, “How good does this look?” And he gave me this stare like I was bonkers.

I don’t know, maybe you and I have the same excellent taste, but if there’s anything I hate it's anything that’s boring.

To me the BMW Z4 ‘twin’ is getting very close to the boring end in the styling department. 

Talking of BMW, the Supra's interior is very BMW from the indicators stalks to the media system and climate control set-up.

It’s a modern and minimalist cabin… if only there wasn’t a cupholder right where my elbow goes. That’s a good place to stop and talk about the Supra GT’s practicality. 

Obviously with a proper station wagon as part of the range now, it’s a much more practical WRX than we’ve ever seen before. But that doesn’t mean the sedan is impractical - rather, both are really quite well packaged and thought out for the most part.

Let’s start at the back, with the boot space. Cargo volume for the wagon is 492 litres with seats up and 902L with the back seats folded down (and 1430L to the ceiling). The cargo capacity of the sedan is 411L (RS and tS) to 414L (base model).

Hopefully we’ll get a chance to see how they fare with the CarsGuide luggage and / or a pram soon, but the boot openings for both versions are big and the load lips easy enough to contend with. All models have a space-saver spare wheel, too.

Back seat space is good for anyone who isn’t much taller than me. I’m 182cm (6’0”) and found my head was almost brushing the ceiling in the sedan, but I had a bit more head room in the wagon. Leg room with the driver’s seat set for me was good, and the toe room was only just adequate (I’ve got pretty big feet). 

Storage in the back is okay, with map pockets, bottle holders in the doors, and a flip-down armrest with cup holders. 

Parents will appreciate the ISOFIX child seat anchor points in the outboard seats, three top-tether hooks, and adjustable air-vents in all grades - so long as you buy an automatic model (manual versions miss out on rear directional air vents). The top two variants also have heated outboard seats and rear USB ports to keep occupants of all ages happy.

Up front the space is good, with a roomy feeling cabin courtesy of big windows and thin windscreen pillars.

The dashboard is dominated by that large 11.6-inch touchscreen, and it looks typically bold and colourful from Subaru. It’s mostly a really usable screen, with some hard buttons for the dual-zone temperature settings, demister, and volume and tuning knobs as well. The button that’s missing that I found myself cursing was air-con recirculation - it’s instead two touchscreen presses away.

There’s the requisite smartphone mirroring tech with wired Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, and the top models have sat nav. The top two specs also have a CD player hidden in the centre console bin, which is odd - but maybe the customer who appreciates built-in nav also likes CDs still… what was I saying about this car appealing to an older demographic…?

Storage is okay up front, with bottle holders in the doors, cup holders between the seats, that centre console bin, and a good glovebox. But a lack of wireless smartphone charging is a disappointment, and the section in front of the gear selector is too small for most smartphones.

The good news is that if you’re tall like me (189cm) and mainly legs then you’ll have more than enough legroom and headroom because the footwells are impossibly deep and the seats can be lowered to what feels like ground level.

Actually, you are almost at ground height in this car so the bad news if you’re as tall as me you’ll probably have to crawl out of the car on all fours.

The cabin of the Supra doesn’t do the storage space thing well. Sure there are two cupholders but their location is the same place my elbow frequents while changing gears and resting.

The wireless phone charging area is good and easy to access, but the door pockets are as thin as post box slots so if it’s letters you’re storing there you’re in luck.

If it’s anything thicker than that you’ll be left looking around for a place to put your purse or wallet and end up throwing it in the phone charger space if the passenger seat is taken.

You could always ask your co-pilot to hold onto your things which reminds me to tell you that the Supra is a two-seater only. There are no back seats, and there’s no option to have back seats.

If you’re looking for a sports car with rear seats (although space will be limited) for the same money then there’s the Audi A4 45 TFSI and at an even lower price is the Ford Mustang GT.

If you look over your left shoulder while in the driver’s seat of the Supra GT you’ll see into the boot -  there’s no wall separating the cabin from the cargo area. This is handy for throwing a school bag in as I did for my son on the morning drop off, but also means your items may make an unexpected visit to the cockpit if you stop suddenly.

The boot is large for a sports car at 296 litres (VDA) and it managed to fit our large CarsGuide suitcase with space to spare as you can see in the images.

The Toyota GR Supra GT with the manual gearbox lists for $87,380 and you’ll pay the same price for the same car with the automatic transmission. 

Yes, almost $90K might sound like a lot of money for a Toyota (unless it’s a LandCruiser) but it’s actually a bargain considering the GTS grade above costs $10K more and has the same engine plus pretty much the same features apart from a fancier stereo, head-up display and 19-inch alloys (rather than the 18s on this GT).

Also, if you didn’t know already the Supra is a BMW/Toyota joint venture model aligned with the BMW Z4, and if you want the Beemer version with the same engine as the Supra GT you’ll pay $139,800 for it.

So see, it’s a bargain in comparison.

The standard features list of the GT has pretty much everything you need. There’s a proximity key, LED headlights with adaptive high beam, active cruise control, sat nav, wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, a 10-speaker stereo, wireless phone charger, heated and power adjustable seats, shifting paddles and sports pedals. 

Great features, but let down only by a small 8.8-inch screen for your media and nav. Still, that absolutely shouldn’t be a deal-breaker for you.

The rivals? Well, clearly the BMW Z4 which is way more expensive, but also there is the Nissan Z which costs between $70-$80K and is also a hoot to drive.

Add the Ford Mustang GT to your research list, as well. It’s not as agile as the Supra but it’s quick, fun and sounds better to my ears. 

Gone is the old 2.0-litre engine of the previous WRX, and in its place is a 2.4-litre turbo-petrol four-cylinder ‘Boxer’ horizontally-opposed motor, with a power bump for this generation.

It now pushes out 202kW of power (at 5600rpm) and 350Nm of torque (from 2000-5200rpm), which represents a modest 5kW increase and the torque figure is dead on what it used to be.

You might be scratching your head at that, thinking Subaru has somehow made a mistake. The engine has 20 per cent greater displacement, but yet no significant difference in terms of the outputs? 

I questioned the brand’s boss and engineers about this, and they said “you don’t drive a spec sheet”. That is to say, the usability and drivability of the new engine is where you notice the more linear delivery of the torque, so admittedly, it’s not a wow-factor moment … until you drive the car.

There is a choice of a six-speed manual gearbox (sedan only), or a continuously variable transmission if you choose the wagon or one of the auto variants. Subaru insists it’s not like the CVTs of old, and in fact insists upon calling this gearbox the Subaru Performance Transmission. It has paddle shifters and throttle blipping, and eight ‘ratios’ available, with stepped ‘shifts’ as you accelerate decelerate.

It still sends power to all four wheels using Subaru’s symmetrical all-wheel drive system - manual versions come with a locking centre diff and viscous limited slip diff, where CVT models run a variable torque distribution system.

If you’re wondering, the 0-100km/h time for the manual is 6.0 seconds (identical to the last WRX) and the auto is 6.1 seconds (was 6.3). The auto figure is for both sedan and wagon.

You’re looking at a Supra that could be the peak of its model evolution because since the generation’s arrival in 2019 Toyota has increased the power of the 3.0-litre turbo-petrol in-line six-cylinder from 250kW to 285kW (torque remains the same at 500Nm) and introduced a six-speed manual. 

This 3.0-litre six-cylinder turbo-petrol is the only engine you can have with the Supra, there are no four cylinders or V8s - now there’s an idea. 

Toyota says the 0-100km/h time for the GR Supra with the manual gearbox is 4.4 seconds and 4.1 seconds for the automatic which comes with a ‘launch control’ feature.

Of course, all Supras are rear-wheel drive.

What price do you pay for WRX levels of performance when it comes to the pump? That’ll depend on the transmission you choose.

The automatic versions are better on the official combined cycle, with a stated figure of 8.5 litres per 100 kilometres. Choose the manual sedan and that figure jumps to 9.9L/100km.

On the test loop for the launch - which was hardly what I’d call “regular roads with a normal driving manner” - I saw 13.4L/100km indicated on the dashboard of the manual sedan, and an impressive 9.8L/100km for the auto wagon.

All models have a thirst for the good stuff, though, with 95RON premium unleaded required.

Fuel tank size is decent at 63 litres, so even if you’re driving it pretty hard you should be able to get more than 450km to a tank. 

Toyota says the 3.0-litre six-cylinder straight-six turbo-petrol engine in the Supra GT paired with the six speed manual gearbox should use 8.9L/100km after a combination of open and urban roads.

I did a week’s worth of city commuting and then a couple of hundred kilometres on country roads, but no motorways and the trip computer told me I was averaging 10.3L/100km.

Not bad for a big engine in a car tuned for performance, driven by a big kid who feels like he’s playing with somebody else’s toys.  

Premium 95 RON fuel is recommended, although 'standard' 91 is acceptable. A 52-litre fuel tank translates to a theoretical range of around 580km, dropping to approximately 500km using our real-world number.

If you’ve scrolled down past all the other sections of this review to the driving part, I understand who you are. You’re the sort of person who actually cares about how a WRX drives – and the good news is that his new generation model drives very, very well. Well, actually, that depends on what you define as a good drive.

If you are after the immature, extremely enjoyable edge-of-your-seat experience that we’ve come to expect from the WRX, then you might think this new generation model has gone soft. And in some ways it has. 

The wagon, for instance, has a different suspension tune to the sedan. And it is indeed softer – and that’s intentional. Subaru says the buyer type for the Sportswagon is one who expects a level of comfort and ease of use that isn’t necessarily high on the priority list of the customer looking at the sedan.

As such, the sedan model has a more rigid suspension setup with stiffer springs and firmer dampers to ensure that the boy/girl racer is still appeased by the drive experience. And in the sedan you do feel a lot more of the road surface below you, with a firmer, more unapologetic ride. Where as in the wagon it is more disciplined and comfortable in almost every single situation.

The difficult bit is that the wagon in top-spec guise has even more intent to its suspension, because it is offered with the adaptive chassis control system. That means that it rides as firmly as the sedan when it’s in its sportiest drive mode setting. So, if you are after a more aggressive drive and you want a station wagon version of the WRX, then unfortunately you’re going to have to opt for the top spec wagon. That’ll leave some customers upset, because the extra $10,000 may not be easy to come by.

You need to consider that the tyre package is different between the two body styles as well. Even in the top-spec version of the wagon, you get a less aggressive tyre, and that means that it doesn’t have the same level of aggression in corners and isn’t as grippy, either. The easy solution in my mind would be to select the wagon but see if I could option a set of the sedan's wheels and tyres to improve the drivability and grip in the corners.

That isn’t to say that there isn’t enough grip, just that you can feel the wagon shimmy more in tight corners than is noticeable in the sedan, which has a significantly more sticky road presence. The Dunlops do it justice. The Yokohamas? Not so much.

The steering in both models is quite light and quite darty, and while I wouldn’t say that it’s the best steering of any car in its class, it does seem to be an improvement over the existing model. The drive modes can affect the way the steering behaves, and if you do happen to choose the top spec tS version then you can individually adjust the steering (as well as the suspension, power train, air conditioning, and safety systems). Even so, in the wagon the steering is still more likely to exhibit a bit of push-on understeer in tighter, faster bends. Not as evident in the sedan.

What about the elephant in the room then – it’s a bigger engine but with not a big power increase and has zero per cent torque adjustment over the existing model.

It is a better engine than before – like I said, it lacks that whip-crack personality of the old one, and it has removed a bit of the guesswork as to when you’ll be able to get the turbo to sing the tune that you wanted to. But, it is more linear in the way that it builds speed, and while it isn’t as visceral experience (a sports exhaust option would definitely be welcome, Subaru Australia!), it is a more refined and easy car to drive fast.

The other elephant in the room (yes it’s a big room) is the CVT automatic. This isn’t a new transmission – the last WRX auto had a CVT – but this one has been significantly reworked for a more aggressive characteristic and it is noticeably better. I wouldn’t say that it’s as technically pleasing as a dual-clutch automatic, especially in spirited driving, but it is definitely well suited to the character of the new car.

The auto does have paddle shifters so you can take matters into your own hands, and Subaru boasts that the up- and down-shift response times have been significantly improved. However, I didn’t like that the paddle shifters still overruled me in some situations - I felt like it took a bit of control out of my hands (no doubt in the name of mechanical sympathy, but even so, this is a sports car, right?).

The manual version remains a pick for those who really want to drive their WRX as a WRX ought to be driven. It’s the most engaging of the drivetrain options, and the shift action has been improved over the last model to offer a quicker feel between the gates, and the clutch action is nicely weighted as well. It is a serious shame that Subaru has missed the opportunity to sell a manual Sportswagon version of the WRX, and I sincerely hope that the brand rethinks that strategy at some point in the future. I know that for potential customers like myself, that would make the car even more appealing as a station wagon.

So, in summary, the fifth generation WRX is a more mature and high-tech drive experience than ever before. That comes at the expense of the larrikin nature of the earlier versions – but it isn’t necessarily a bad thing if you ask me.

Ah, but what about living daily with a manual? As a car enthusiast most of the cars I’ve owned have been manuals and I’ve rarely cursed them because I love to drive.

But there were times when they were a pain, such as in traffic, or in traffic on steep streets and in traffic in shopping centres. Did I mention in traffic, also?

But on the nice roads with bends and dips, hills and sweeping corners, hairpins and twisty parts in places without traffic, then all is forgiven. 

And so it goes with the manual version of the Supra. 

Making life easier in the Supra GT is a clutch pedal without much travel so you don’t feel as though you’re at the gym doing a one-sided leg press.

I found the shifts themselves, while short, to be less than smooth. At first, I thought that the clunky changes might have been because the gearbox hadn’t been run in yet, but the odometer was saying 7500km, so this could just be the nature of the gearbox and after a few days I became used to it.

The rev-matching feature of this gearbox is a nice touch, especially on those sporty drives when you change into a gear and you’re thrown straight back into the power band again.

Superb balance, great steering with a nose which points exactly where you want it to and that magnificently smooth turbo-petrol in-line six posting all its meaty grunt to the rear wheels just behind your shoulders makes for a sports car that’s fun, talented and quick.

Good brakes (348mm ventilated rotors with four piston calipers at the front and 330mm discs with single piston calipers at the rear) and grippy Michelin Pilot Supersport tyres (255/40 fr - 275/40 rr) complete a great package. 

A ride that’s still comfortable over bad Sydney roads and surprisingly good visibility made the Supra easy to live with in the city, from parking to school drop offs.

Yes, used it each day for the school run with my older child and the grocery shopping. 

The GR Supra GT has not been crash tested by ANCAP, but its BMW Z4 twin scored a maximum five stars when it was tested by the European equivalent Euro NCAP.

Still, the Supra has seven airbags, there’s AEB with pedestrian and cyclist detection, lane keeping assistance and blind spot warning, plus front and rear parking sensors. There are seven airbags on board.

There’s no spare wheel, but there is a tyre inflation kit which should get you out of trouble.

Subaru offers a five year/unlimited kilometre warranty covering the car, but just be aware that if you drive your car on the track, you might void that. Subaru says it has no plans to follow the lead of Hyundai N to cover track driving, but insists the brand will back its customers. 

Either way, the warranty cover is par for the course these days, and roadside assistance is included for one year from purchase. Other rivals offer years more coverage.

What has improved for this generation of WRX is the servicing situation.

There is capped price servicing for five years or 75,000km, meaning the intervals are finally set at 12 months/15,000km - no longer the pesky six-month/10,000km maintenance schedule of the previous model.

It depends on whether you choose manual or auto as to what price you’ll pay for maintenance, but there’s not a whole lot in it. The six-speed manual versions average $487 per annum over the five-year capped price period, while the auto versions are a little more affordable to maintain, at an annual average of $473.

Toyota covers the GR Supra GT with its five-year, unlimited kilometre warranty. Servicing is required every 12 months or 15,000km and is capped at $415 per service.

The warranty is the industry standard in terms of time and kilometre length, and the capped service prices are very reasonable - a lot more affordable than a car with a prestige badge on the bonnet, too.