Subaru WRX TR Is No Longer a Blank Slate

The original WRX TR launched in 2006 as a stripped-down, minimalist trim aimed at buyers who planned to start modding their cars the day they got home from the dealership. The moniker stood for “Tuner Ready,” and the TR went without a rear spoiler, fog lights, or a fancy stereo. Why include a nice sound system that’ll immediately be replaced by a sweet Pioneer OEL head unit with a swimming-dolphin display and a Rockford amp bridged down to about a quarter-ohm? (Not that we built something exactly like that, ever.) The 2024 Subaru WRX TR takes a different approach—it’s definitely not stripped down, and more like an STI-lite. As a consequence, nobody is really sure what “TR” now stands for. Totally Rad? Tire Roaster? Theodore Roosevelt? As Teddy might’ve said, walk softly and carry big stick into those braking zones.

And brakes are the TR’s major upgrade, hulking Brembos with six-piston calipers up front and two-piston fixed calipers at the rear, animated by a larger master cylinder (an improvement that applies to all manual-transmission 2024 WRXs). The 13.4-inch front rotors are an inch larger in diameter than the standard WRX fare, and the 12.8-inch cross-drilled rear rotors gain 1.4 inches on the standard brakes. Lest there be any confusion over your WRX’s stopping power, the calipers are painted a searing red.

The TR can also be identified by its unique 19-inch wheels, which are an inch larger to accommodate the boffo brakes and look vaguely like they were pulled from a Lamborghini Urus. Those wheels are wrapped in Bridgestone Potenza S007 tires, which are new to the WRX. Springs and dampers are about 5 percent stiffer, and the power steering is tuned for more feedback. Inside, the TR gets Ultrasuede-trimmed Recaro seats, making it the only manual-transmission WRX available with those chairs. Ah, yes—the TR is available only with a six-speed manual transmission. In a weight-saving (and cost-offsetting) nod to its parsimonious predecessor, the TR doesn’t have a sunroof. Subaru says that even with its big brakes, the sunroof delete means that the TR weighs within a couple pounds of a manual-transmission WRX Limited.

Subaru introduced the WRX TR in Sicily, on the roads that made up the original Targa Florio circuit. What does Subaru have to do with a race that ended in 1977? Well, the Targa Florio became the Targa Florio Rally, which was part of the European Rally Championship from 1984 to 2011. And Subarus won that twice, in 1995 and 1999, so the WRX’s ancestors put down some victorious rubber on these roads—some of which can still be seen. You’ll be braking into a corner and notice the outside lane on your left streaked with skid marks, evidence of rally cars setting up to dive-bomb the apex. As public roads go, the ones that made up the Targa Florio are a lot like a track—a track designed by M.C. Escher.

And during our drive, it was pure WRX weather, which is to say: bad. Cold and rainy, the pavement was so slick that even walking downhill was an invitation to join a Sicilian blooper reel. The WRX TR uses the same 271-hp 2.4-liter H-4 as other WRX models, and even without additional power it was easy to spin all four tires off the line. We’d presume those brakes and the stickier 245/35R-19 Potenzas will help improve the WRX’s Lightning Lap time, but on these roads anything more than a gentle prod at the brake pedal would cue the ABS. And whatever the Sicilian word for “runoff area” is, it must translate as “into the ocean.” Most corners are bordered by sturdy guardrail, and you’re happy to see it. Still, this being a WRX, it was easy to drive faster than everyone else on the road—all-wheel-drive turbocharged rally rockets aren’t easily discouraged by rain, midcorner bumps, or the occasional section where the pavement went missing entirely. Given that the local drivers, like their rally counterparts, tend to set up for corners on the wrong side of the road, we were glad for the WRX’s quick reflexes. And glad that we didn’t personally investigate the crashworthiness of its floorpan and rear suspension, which were strengthened for 2024. All WRXs also get Subaru’s EyeSight driver-assist system, which was previously unavailable on manual-transmission cars. In Sicily, the lane-detection system was disabled, on the grounds that there were no lanes to detect.

WRX fans, ourselves included, are still disappointed that there’s no WRX STI, but the TR is a worthwhile step in that direction. And at $42,775, it’s surely priced lower than a hypothetical 2024 WRX STI would be—and lower than that $45,335 WRX GT, the current flagship of the range. Still, we can’t help but gaze back longingly at the not-so-distant year of 2021, when you could walk into your Subaru dealership with $38,170 and drive out with a 305-hp WRX STI.

The current WRX is a better car in a lot of ways, but it’s easy to imagine how much fun it would be with the 2.4-liter pumping out, oh, another 50 horsepower. Then again, as we’ve found before, there are plenty of firms that are willing to help make a WRX go faster. Maybe TR no longer stands for “Tuner Ready,” but that doesn’t mean it’s not true.

Ezra Dyer is a Car and Driver senior editor and columnist. He’s now based in North Carolina but still remembers how to turn right. He owns a 2009 GEM e4 and once drove 206 mph. Those facts are mutually exclusive.