Subaru Vortex Reviews

It's almost 20 years to the day after the original Subaru WRX stormed onto the scene.

Subaru Australia is hatching a plan to add a wagon to the WRX line-up -- but the only catch is the company may be forced to use the awkward international name, Levorg, which not only sounds weird, it spells ‘grovel’ backwards.The Levorg due to be released in Japan in April is in effect identical to the WRX in terms of its core body structure and turbocharged engine, but has a wagon rear-end and a different badge.Carsguide understands that Subaru Australia is under pressure to take the global name for the Levorg, if the car were to be sold locally. However, it costs millions of marketing dollars to establish a new name, which could potentially kill the project before it begins.If Subaru Australia were given an exemption to rename and rebadge the Levorg as a WRX wagon then sales would likely be higher because the WRX has instant recognition, say industry marketing experts. “We have not announced any plans for Levorg,” said Subaru Australia boss Nick Senior. “But obviously we look at all models if they are made available to us.”Carsguide understands that a WRX wagon -- or Levorg -- would still be at least two years away from Australian showrooms. But it can’t come soon enough. The $40,000 performance-car market is dominated by hot hatches such as the Volkswagen Golf GTI, Ford Focus ST and Renault Megane RS because of their added practicality.Although hatch and wagon versions of the WRX have typically only accounted for about 15 per cent of WRX sales when they’ve been made available in Australia, buyers have clearly shifted to a hatch market. Subaru Australia says the Levorg is on its “wish list” but it was too early to speculate on whether head office in Japan would allow the use of the well-known WRX badge.This reporter is on Twitter: @JoshuaDowling

Subaru plans to introduce a limited edition BRZ to help stop a forecast sales slide. The popularity of sports coupes typically fades after the first two years on sale. Although the BRZ is still selling at a steady rate, Subaru predicts sales will peak later this year -- and the new WRX released this week could also dent sales."I think some people will come out of the BRZ (and into a WRX) because at the end of the day it’s a more practical vehicle," said Subaru Australia boss Nick Senior at the launch of the WRX in Tasmania this week (first drive impressions have been embargoed until midnight Thursday)."We’re still selling 90 (BRZs) a month at the moment, it’s holding up well, we’re not flooding the market," said Mr Senior. "But everyone over time realises when you add a couple of years (to) a two door coupe … it will settle down to a number, and (for us) that number’s certainly not going to be 90 (BRZs a month)."Probably this year’s going to be the peak and then it’ll start to settle down a little bit." To stop the sales slide Subaru Australia says it is looking at some limited edition models, but warned not to expect any extra power."There’s a couple of things the (Japanese) domestic market is doing that we’re looking at," said Mr Senior, some of which hasn’t yet been released. "The great thing about BRZ is you can have a bit of fun with it, (there are) things you can throw on it to make it look differently."Sales of the Subaru BRZ are down by 4 per cent so far this year, while sales of the Toyota 86 twin are down by 22 per cent. Despite the slide, the two-door twins are still Australia's most popular sports car. Toyota has attempted to stop the 86 coupe's sales slide by selling about 90 cars into rental companies across Australia to give potential buyers an extended test drive.This reporter is on Twitter: @JoshuaDowling

Subaru says it is close to introducing a capped-price servicing scheme across its model range by the end of this year. The Japanese carmaker is now conspicuous among the Top 10 brands for being the only one not to offer transparent pricing for routine maintenance. At the moment, Subaru customers wanting a service quote need to fill out a detailed online form or call a dealership."It’s still under consideration, we are looking at," said Subaru Australia boss Nick Senior. "One of the advantages is that we have been able to see what everyone else is doing. We’ll sit down and we’ll have a look at it. Stay tuned."Capped price servicing has been welcomed by car buyers and copied by the rest of the industry after Toyota introduced it across its 200-plus dealer network in 2008. Mitsubishi was next, offering capped price servicing from January 2010, followed by Nissan (December 2010), Ford (July 2011), Holden (April 2012), Kia (July 2012) and Hyundai (August 2012).Volkswagen’s and Suzuki’s full range has had capped price servicing since May 2013, Honda introduced it in October 2013, while Mazda finally joined the fray in January 2014. This week, Ford extended its fixed price servicing coverage to seven years and 135,000km.This reporter is on Twitter: @JoshuaDowling

A constellation of five stars has been bestowed on the new Toyota Corolla sedan, Subaru's new pocket-rocket WRX and Peugeot's 5008 people mover. The Australasian New Car Assessment Program ranking adds to a growing list of more than 250 five-star new-car choices.But the 5008 wears its cluster despite scoring a "marginal" pedestrian impact result. The seven-seat family wagon, released here late last year, was scored using Euro NCAP results. Last year, ANCAP's minimum pedestrian impact requirement for a five-star rank was "marginal"; it has since been increased to "good."The wagon scored an overall mark of 36.41/37 using 2013 European results, with a safety features list that includes dual front, front-side and curtain airbags (through all three rows), with anti-lock brakes, stability control among the features.The crash test report said the passenger compartment held its shape and all doors remained closed during the crash test but that "after the crash the driver's door could be opened with high manual effort".Following belatedly in the tracks of its hatchback sibling, the Corolla sedan scored 34.88 out of 37. ANCAP praises it for "good structural protection and offers a reversing camera as standard," as well as dual front, driver's knee, front-side and curtain airbags, anti-lock brakes and stability control.Whiplash protection was ranked good but pedestrian protection scored only an acceptable ranking during the tests, which showed "the passenger compartment held its shape well in the frontal offset test" and that "all doors remained closed during the crash and after the crash all doors could be opened with normal effort."Subaru kept its range's five-star status intact with its new WRX performance sedan, which trumped the Toyota with better pedestrian protection. The WRX is among only a handful of cars that rank as "good" for pedestrian protection (the 2014 minimum for a five-star result is "acceptable").Subaru has fitted the new WRX with dual front, front-side, curtain and driver's knee airbag, as well as anti-lock brakes and stability control - the sedan scored well during impact testing, retaining door function and passenger cell integrity for an overall score of 35.85 out of 37.ANCAP chairman Lauchlan McIntosh calls for yet higher levels of standard safety kit. "Unfortunately none of the models in today's release is equipped with autonomous emergency braking - an important safety feature that is now common on popular vehicles in Europe and the US," he says. 

Many still believe it's also the case with cars - drive from the rear and change direction through the front, weighed down by the power plant.

Take a remote-control version of the new Subaru WRX STI and ... oh, about eleventy thousand paddle pop sticks tightly woven into an exploding strip. Which one is going to win that race? The stick bomb is powered by the tension released when you remove one stick from the construction, unleashing a domino fall of wooden wonderfulness.The Subaru in real life is powered by 2.5-litre four-cylinder boxer engine, developing 225kW of power and 407Nm of torque, and getting that to the all-wheel drive system via a six-speed manual transmission. And in real life it would probably beat the stick bomb.But RC model in this video is powered just by a charged battery -- and it's neck-and-neck for what turns out to be one of the most engaging car stunts we've seen. Both face off on a circuit that involves speedy straights, (miniature) G-force inducing corners and some tricky side-by-side action.The video took about three days to create – with the team reportedly working nearly around the clock – and then film with an arsenal of static cameras and 25 GoPros, creating a ‘bullet time’ sequence in the middle of the footage. To see how it was done, have a look at Subaru's making of video here. This reporter is on Twitter: @KarlaPincott Watch the desktop version of the Subaru WRX STI vs stickbomb video here.  

ANCAP has announced that the new Toyota Corolla sedan, Peugeot 5008 people mover and the soon-to-be launched Subaru WRX performance sedan have all earned its top five star safety rating.The recently-launched 2014 Corolla sedan matches the five star rating of its hatch counterpart, earned after its arrival in October 2012.Whilst qualifying for five stars, the Corolla sedan’s 34.88/37 overall score didn’t quite match the hatch’s 35.25, but ANCAP praised its good structural protection and range-wide standard reversing camera.The seven-seat Peugeot 5008’s rating comes 10 months after its arrival on the Australian market, and its performance across all tests earned it a 36.41 overall score.ANCAP noted the 5008’s standard reversing camera, advanced seatbelt reminders for all occupants, and head-protecting curtain airbags that cover all three rows of seating.    The upcoming Subaru WRX matched the five star rating of its Impreza basis, but the performance model’s 35.85 overall score trumped the Impreza’s 35.33 earned shortly before its arrival in February 2012.ANCAP described the WRX’s driver protection in the side impact crash test and head protection in the side pole test as good, while driver and passenger chest and leg protection in the frontal offset crash test were deemed acceptable.The independent vehicle safety advocate also praised the WRX’s attention to pedestrian protection, being one of the few current models to achieve the top ‘Good’ ranking, where only ‘Acceptable’ is required to achieve five stars overall."In recent years we've seen manufacturers achieve vastly improved results with the majority of major brands now building to 5 star standards. What we want to see now is manufacturers which strive beyond the requirements - offering even higher levels of structural and active safety to consumers," ANCAP Chairman, Lauchlan McIntosh says.“Unfortunately none of the models in today's release are equipped with autonomous emergency braking - an important safety feature that is now common on popular vehicles in Europe and the USA.”This reporter is on Twitter: @Mal_Flynn 

You'll see some cues from Subaru's Legacy/Liberty concept in the face of the Viziv 2 crossover show car unveiled in Geneva, but there's also a strong resemblance in parts to the Tribeca it will replace.The Viziv name is a contraction of the phrase "vision for innovation" and like the previous Viziv concepts that precede it, the Geneva car is intended to give us a clearer view of what's coming down the line for the brand.And while some of this won't make it into production -- particularly the suicide and scissor door treatment, and the imposing LED front and rear foglight treatment -- the proportions are  realistic and the interior looks largely ready to go.The Viziv 2 is powered by a similar diesel-electric Hybrid SI-Drive system to its 2013 predecessor, but with a 1.6-litre engine replacing the previous 2.0-litre four-cylinder. However, there's the same set-up on the electric side, with three motors -- one helping power the engine and charge up the lithium-ion battery pack, and the other two sending extra drive to each of the rear wheels as needed with torque vectoring to aid cornering.A continuously-variable automatic transmission feeds Subaru's all-wheel drive system, and the Viziv 2 can perform on electric power alone from start-up and during low-demand urban running. Subaru says the SI-Drive technology integrates with the Eyesight safety system's cameras to monitor the road ahead and adjust the engine output to give optimum efficiency.While it's unlikely we'll see the drivetrain in this form in future production vehicles, it's probable that aspects will feed into the technology for coming crossovers.This reporter is on Twitter: @KarlaPincott 

Australians might not have bought a record number of new cars last year after all -- the 1.136 million result has been called into question after a conspicuously sharp drop in the first two months of this year.Official sales figures for February released today show the market has slowed dramatically -- by 3.8 per cent -- after a record finish to 2014.There are rampant accusations across the industry that a number of mainstream brands counted thousands of cars as “sold” in order to meet internal sales targets -- even though the cars never actually left dealerships or holding yards.“The market is completely out of control, cars are being jammed into dealers when there aren’t any customers for them, the sales figures are absolutely not a true reflection of what’s happening out there,” said a senior car industry source and veteran of the trade.The practice of counting unsold cars has become so rife most brands have their own nickname for it: “cyber cars” because they are sold only in cyberspace, or “called cars” meaning they have been counted as sold by the dealer but yet to be sold to a customer.Some dealers keen to snap up generous manufacturer bonuses for buying in bulk often get caught with the cars for months before they are sold to an actual customer.The car sale is not counted twice but it means the official VFACTS figures may not accurately reflect the number of cars sold in a given month, say concerned industry insiders.The phantom cars are also marketed as “undriven demonstrators”, meaning that the warranty period has started even though the car is yet to be registered.An extensive mystery-shopper survey of new-car dealerships by News Corp Australia last month found a number of dealers offered significant discounts on brand-new cars if we were prepared to lose the first few months of the new-car warranty.“We have reported the car as sold in order to get our monthly bonus, that’s why we can sell this car cheaper,” said one Parramatta Road dealer of a Top 10 brand, who supplied both prices on the back of his business card. “If you want a new car without the warranty started, the full warranty, it will cost more.”The revelations cast doubt over the bonafides of last year’s record result of 1,136,227 car sales. Some executives believe the market was inflated by as much as 10 per cent, or more than 100,000 sales.The car industry autonomously collects and publishes the information -- each car brand supplies their own figures, which do not need to be verified -- because it would take months to extract the data from the registration authorities in each state and territory.The chief executive of the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries, Tony Weber, insists the official sales figures are an accurate reflection of market conditions and denies the practice of counting unsold cars is widespread.“We had a record year last year and we’ve seen a drop in the first two months of this year,” said Mr Weber. “I believe the slowing of the market has got to do with nervousness in the economy.”Some of the mainstream brands that have posted conspicuous drops in sales in the first two months of this year include Nissan (down 43 per cent), Honda (down 33 per cent) and Mitsubishi (down 15 per cent).Industry insiders say some brands are suffering a “hangover” after pushing too many cars into dealerships last year. There are claims that one popular brand (that typically sells less than 6000 cars a month) has 22,000 cars in holding yards across Australia and a further 8000 unsold cars in dealer stock.“They’re full, and they’re now trying to digest all the cars they just bought. It’s going to take some of them months to clear and get back on track,” said the senior car company executive.The oversupply of new cars means buyers will continue to have the upper hand as long as the competition is slashing prices.Hefty discounting by the overstocked brands has forced other Top 10 contenders to lower their profit margins.“Most dealers have all but given up making money on the car itself, the margins are so low, they make their profit in the deal on the finance,” said the industry veteran.Figures for February showed 86,818 new vehicles were reported as sold, down 3.8 per cent for the same month last year.The Mazda3 was the top-selling car for the second month in a row, extending its year-to-date lead over last year’s reigning champ, the Toyota Corolla (8530 sales versus 6246).Holden sales were up by 13 per cent buoyed by a recovery in Commodore deliveries (up 50 per cent from a low base, year-to-date) but the brand was relegated to third place outright by Mazda. New car sales in February 2014Toyota 16,200 -- up 1.1 per centMazda 9171 -- up 5.3 per centHolden 8697 -- up 13.2 per centHyundai 7802 -- up 4.4 per centFord 6287 -- down 4.6 per centMitsubishi 4683 -- down 22 per centNissan 4458 -- down 45.7 per centVolkswagen 4376 -- up 5.0 per centSubaru 3121 -- down 0.6 per centHonda 2662 -- down 31.1 per centSource: VFACTS. Percentage change compared to same month in 2012.This reporter is on Twitter: @JoshuaDowling