Subaru is bringing a special edition of its WRX sedan to Australia, but while it looks more aggressive it’s unlikely to pack any more power.
The 2024 Subaru WRX Club Spec will arrive in April, with just 150 units earmarked for Australia.
It’ll be available exclusively as a sedan and with a six-speed manual transmission, and brings Brembo brakes, Recaro seats, 19-inch wheels, and a larger rear spoiler.
No extra power has been mooted, indicating it’ll stick with the standard turbocharged 2.4-litre flat four engine with 202kW of power and 350Nm of torque.
It’s unclear how much it will cost, though the WRX sedan range currently tops out at $57,990 before on-road costs for the tS automatic.
Subaru has released just one image of the vehicle, which it says is indicative only.
It closely resembles the North American WRX TR, revealed last year, which rides on identical wheels and also features Brembo brakes and Recaro seats – but goes without the giant wing.
The WRX TR’s Brembo braking system comprises six-piston front and two-piston rear calipers finished in red, along with larger pads and rotors and a larger brake master cylinder. These beefier brakes sit behind 19-inch wheels wrapped in Bridgestone Potenza S007 tyres.
US-market WRX TR
Subaru of America also says the WRX TR has stiffer springs, revised damping rates and a retuned steering rack. It’s unclear whether the Australian-market Club Spec will feature similar mechanical changes.
The Club Spec will join the other manual WRXs in receiving Subaru’s EyeSight suite of active safety and driver assist technology.
As Subaru has done with the manual BRZ, the three-pedal WRX gains autonomous emergency braking, adaptive cruise control, lane-departure warning and leading vehicle departure alert, joining the already standard blind-spot monitoring and rear cross-traffic alert.
This addresses a huge gulf in standard safety kit between manual and auto WRXs.
WRX RS manual 
Subaru confirmed in 2022 it was killing the WRX STI, with the fifth-generation WRX going without this flagship performance variant.
“The STI engineers and that team, that did all these great things, haven’t packed up and gone home. They’re still there,” Subaru Australia managing director Blair Read told CarExpert in 2022.
“Part of that change in direction with the STI brand is how it can play a role not just in one model variant, but across all the product.
“There is exciting options and development in a number of different areas that will feed its way into all the different models.”
MORE: Everything Subaru WRX
