--- title: "You Can Still Get a CD Player in the 2024 Subaru WRX" description: "The latest-generation [Subaru WRX]() may not be as universally beloved as its predecessors, but there are plenty of reasons to get behind the wheel of the more \"mature\" sports sedan. For starters, the [WRX]() is one of the most stubborn…" date: "2024-07-15" modified: "2024-07-15" authors: - name: "José Rodríguez Jr" job_title: "Contributing Writer" link: "https://www.thedrive.com/authors/jose-rodriguez-jr" url: "https://www.thedrive.com/news/tech/you-can-still-get-a-cd-player-in-the-2024-subaru-wrx" categories: - "Car Tech" - "Infotainment" - "News" - "News by Brand" - "Subaru News" tags: - "sedan" - "sports car" - "Subaru" - "WRX" --- # You Can Still Get a CD Player in the 2024 Subaru WRX ![Side-by-side image of a Subaru WRX and close-up of its optional CD player.]() *\Subaru, The Drive\* The latest-generation [Subaru WRX]() may not be as universally beloved as its predecessors, but there are plenty of reasons to get behind the wheel of the more "mature" sports sedan. For starters, the [WRX]() is one of the most stubborn [manual transmission]() holdouts in the U.S., still offering a stick shift in base configuration rather than making buyers pay extra for the pleasure of rowing their own gears. And we can add another tactile pleasure to the experience, because Subaru will install a delightfully weird [CD player]() to your new WRX under the armrest of the center console. It costs extra, of course, but you can't really put a price on [nostalgia]() and the flood of dopamine that comes with wrestling a crinkly wrapper off a new CD. Subaru will nevertheless charge $375 plus installation for the WRX "[CD Player Kit,]()" which requires feeding the disc downwards, or vertically, instead of like with the horizontal slot-loading drives that used to be so common on new cars. ![]() *The Subaru WRX's optional top-loading CD Player Kit, located under the center armrest. Notice the little decal to remind you which way to orient the disc when you put it in the slot. *Subaru** Strangely, [the optional kit is $75 more expensive if it's going into an automatic]()—sorry, *Subaru Performance Transmission*-equipped—WRX. Perhaps the CVT's shifter makes installation a little more of a pain. Whatever the reason, it's amusing that it's a bit cheaper to pair the retro playback solution with the retro powertrain. Subaru's CD player basically looks like an [old PC's]() optical drive, but I have to respect the company's commitment to the format. $375 to $450 seems steep for such a basic device. but it's not a lot of money given that adding a CD player *later* could be too costly or complicated to be worth it. Owners of new cars have nearly zero incentive to change their vehicle's CarPlay- and Android Auto-centric infotainment systems, unless a head unit breaks. You could argue that the lack of a CD player actually makes a car's media system more reliable, since there are less moving parts. Still, some of us continue to buy CDs to listen on old (and new) decks, or to rip and add them to our music libraries and portable players. (Hey—[Sony still makes the Walkman]() despite the great migration of music to the cloud.) Others buy CDs to support a particular album or artist, or to simply avoid streaming services and endless subsciptions. CDs' superior sound quality is just icing on the very thin cake. Vinyl records have lately been outselling discs in America, as *[The Verge]()* reports, but the humble CD isn't far behind the format in many markets around the world. [Japan]() is reportedly one of them, which could explain why Subaru has kept the WRX's CD player alive all these years. ![]() **Subaru** *Got tips? Send ’em to tips@thedrive.com* ## Author José is a contributing writer at *The Drive*. He was raised in the bed of a single-cab Mazda B2000 and, later, in the jump seat of an extended-cab Ford F-150, which should have come with a LOBO badge. José’s parents were migrant workers who drove all across the American South, so he spent his formative years on the road and now finds the comfort of home on the highway. Cars are cathedrals for him where individuals can commune with the self. That’s why he loves small cars like his 1997 BMW 318ti—the smaller, the better. José is also an avid motorcyclist who enjoys spotting bike cameos in the works of Akira Toriyama and Studio Ghibli.