The 2022 Subaru WRX’s Base Infotainment System Is Pretty Bad
There’s a lot of bezel going on.
The 2022 Subaru WRX was revealed last week, and it certainly has people talking. While the jury’s out on its redesign, the specs are solid, however. It still has a manual transmission and symmetrical all-wheel drive. There are a few hiccups like the car's top trim being CVT-only and now we're finding out that the 11.6-inch touchscreen screen that was previewed isn't standard. What is standard is that clunky thing you see here.
Thanks to Alex on Autos, we now know that the standard infotainment setup features two smaller screens set into a big sheet of black plastic. Though to be clear, this setup is already present on other vehicles in Subaru's lineup.
The base model Outback and Legacy both get these screens. We already know that the WRX shares a platform with these two cars, but we weren't expecting Subaru to extend this sort of base model equipment up to something like its brand-defining WRX.
As Motor1 pointed out, the Levorg, which is more or less a WRX Wagon sold only in Japan, is available with an even more basic version of this setup, featuring just one display. We might want to consider ourselves lucky that the dual-screen layout is even present here, then.
A similar configuration has been seen before on at least two other vehicles. Infiniti's Q60 and Q50 have such a twin-screen layout, but those cars are way past their sell-by date. And even in those instances, the stacked screens are significantly better executed than they are here. Subaru's setup is clearly a bandaid.
The big screen can be had with a stick and all of the other good WRX trimmings. This lower-end configuration is just something that base model buyers will have to deal with. And hey, if you don't like big screens, maybe this is something you would be interested in. For most people, though, it's a bit of an eyesore.
Got a tip or question for the author? You can reach them here: peter@thedrive.com
