Subaru WRX-S - exhaust sound

[James76G]

I’m currently in the market for a five door petrol hatch for £7k ish.

Since I've not had a Subaru before I went to see a 2008 Subaru WRX-S (the hatchback one) yesterday and it ticks a lot of boxes. However I was expecting it to sound like a Subaru, with that distinctive flat four sound, but it didn’t. I’ve previously had some passenger experience in a standard 2010 STi Type UK 330S (also the hatch back one) and that definitely had that sound I am after.

Does the WRX-S have unequal length headers and so this lack of sound is just how they are? Given that the WRX-S is a WRX with a remap and a Prodrive exhaust I was expecting a bit more drama. Or is it that the STi has a fundamentally different setup?

Edited by James76G on Monday 15th October 12:42

[vxr2010]

un equal length headers gives you the subaru burble noise , equal length dulls the noise down and looses a lot of he burble , but in theory better for power and economy , if you changed the back box as a prodrive back box is known to be very quiet on earlier cars and probably yours you are looking at , then you will get a lot more of the noise you want

[James76G]

Thanks. In summary then a WRX-S has unequal length headers so a simple swap of the backbox is all that is needed to get that classic Subaru sound.

Also, the vendor advised that the car shouldn't be started without the clutch being depressed as it "isn't good for boxer engines". That's a new one on me. Is it true?

[LFB531]

Not sure if all the hatches are equipped the same but my 330 has a push button starter, it won't go unless the clutch is depressed.

In the good old days, we always used to depress a clutch when starting to release some load from the starter motor, not heard it advised on anything more recent.

[vxr2010]

Model dependant, classics i don’t think you had to push it down , newer age say 2001 to 2006 ish , sti did wrx did not need pushing the clutch down to start it , decat centre section plus sports back box will give it a good subaru burble , i did it on my 2005 Fsti and it does sound good , fairly close to a classis that had the full burble

[James76G]

LFB531 said:

Not sure if all the hatches are equipped the same but my 330 has a push button starter, it won't go unless the clutch is depressed.

In the good old days, we always used to depress a clutch when starting to release some load from the starter motor, not heard it advised on anything more recent.

vxr2010 said:

Model dependant, classics i don’t think you had to push it down , newer age say 2001 to 2006 ish , sti did wrx did not need pushing the clutch down to start it , decat centre section plus sports back box will give it a good subaru burble , i did it on my 2005 Fsti and it does sound good , fairly close to a classis that had the full burble

Thank you both. This advice re the clutch was about engine longevity. The car would start without engaging the clutch I am sure, but the current owner indicated it would be causing some issues if done that way. The jury is out on that one then.


Thanks for the exhaust advice. I had assumed that the Prodrive rear box on a WRX-S would have been enough, but obviously not.


Final point. Also in my consideration set is a similar era Golf R32, because it is a 4wd 5 door hatch with a nice sounding engine. When did they get so expensive though? I was expecting 10 year old examples to be £7.5k but depending on mileage they get close to double that. Madness.