2025 Subaru WRX tS Review -- STI? What STI?

The tS not only gets you most of the STI experience without the boy-racer looks, it also makes up for the sins of the TR and offers more fun than the Premium -- enough to offset the car's general flaws. As fun as the Premium can be, it can't say that.

Opt for the tS, and you get electronically controlled dampers tuned by STI (which stands for Subaru Tecnica International), Brembo brakes with six-piston calipers up front and dual-piston calipers in the rear, Ultrasuede Recaro front seats, 19-inch wheels, and Subaru's EyeSight driver-assistance tech.

If you can't drive a manual transmission, too bad -- this one is available only with a six-speed stick. Save the manuals!

My complaints about the WRX have been thus -- the Premium was fun, but not quite fun enough to overcome a dated design and stiff ride. The TR, meanwhile, came across as too track-focused, and not only that, it wasn't much more fun to drive than the Premium, despite making sacrifices that enhance track driving but make street driving, especially commuting, into a punishing slog.

Here, then, is the Goldilocks solution, at least if you take price out of the equation, since the tS requires a much higher cash outlay. The tS handles even better than the Premium, but without the ride sacrifice required by the TR. It's engaging to drive and reminds me of why the WRX has so often captured the imagination of us keyboard-warrior auto scribes. It's just damn fun to toss into a corner -- no matter which drive mode you're in.

And while the extra cash doesn't buy more horsepower or more twist, the engine still has enough grunt to power you out of said corner with alacrity.

That's not to say the dynamics are perfect -- the ride, while less punishing than the TR, is still on the stiff side. Potholed, pock-marked pavement grinds the driver down sooner rather than later.

Some body roll shows up during hard cornering, too. A tad too much.

The engine also remains high strung and high-revving, no matter how you match it with the gearbox. That's good when you need to access the power band for acceleration -- and peak torque is accessible as low as 2,000 RPM -- but not so good when it comes to fuel economy. Or a quiet sixth-gear interstate cruise.

This bad boy is also noisy in ways both good and bad. Good, in that it can sound sporty when you're pushing hard. Bad in that it sounds coarse at idle. The freeway droning, even at light-throttle cruise, is also annoying.

The clutch takeup is a tad abrupt but you get used to it. The shifter, meanwhile, was a bit loose.

The WRX's biggest flaw, non-dynamic division, is that it's just, well, old. The exterior design has aged well but the cabin, which seemed dated before, is showing its age. There's also too much plastic body cladding on the outside and too much cheap-feeling hard plastic on the inside. For $45K, you expect more. As controversial as the haptic-touch interior controls of the similarly-priced Volkswagen Golf R are, at least the cabin in that car looks the price.

That said, looks and feel aren't everything, and the content level for the WRX tS is price-point appropriate. Sure, the moonroof goes away, but in addition to the above-mentioned performance features, the tS nets you heated front seats, blind-spot detection with lane-change alert and rear cross-traffic alert, LED exterior lighting (including fog lamps), Harman Kardon audio, Bluetooth, keyless entry and starting, and USB-C/USB-A ports.

Subaru didn't send me a Monroney, but the car is listed on the company's Web site as starting at $45,705 before fees. The configurator isn't live for building and pricing, either.

I still miss the Subaru WRX STI -- or, at least, I miss that car's performance. Its looks were always over-the-top, at least to my eye. But the Subaru WRX tS gets you at least 75 percent of the old STI's performance abilities while being easier on the eyes. It's a well-done package, though like all WRXs it suffers from being rough around the edges and having a down-market feel in some aspects.

If Subaru can modernize the cabin and smooth off the rough edges without sacrificing performance, the WRX would be a stronger competitor in the compact sport sedan/hatch game, and the tS would be the one to get. As it stands, the tS does a pretty dang good job replacing the STI.

[Images © 2025 Tim Healey/TTAC.com]

Become a TTAC insider. Get the latest news, features, TTAC takes, and everything else that gets to the truth about cars first by  subscribing to our newsletter.