The Subaru WRX (World Rally Experiment) and STI (Subaru Tecnica International) has been a staple vehicle in the car community that most people know just by looking at the front end of it. While the Subaru WRX has been through numerous generations, they are all distinguishable by the massive hood scoop, feeding air into the overhead intercooler to cool down the turbocharged air that propels the 4-cylinder Boxer engine.
This listing goes into a ranking of the top Subaru WRX generations that explore looks, characteristics and engine performance.
- Hawkeye (2007-2013)
The Subaru WRX & STI 2007-2013 variants were mostly composed of the Hawkeye. This car is mostly cited as fans least favorite due to the odd looks of the car and questionable reliability of the EJ225 boxer engine in the WRX and STI, however, questionable reliability will be a common factor in most of the cars on this list due to the sensitivity of the EJ series with maintenance and aftermarket support.
- Blob-eye (2000-2007)
The Blob-eye WRX & STI is regarded as a more appealing looking vehicle for the Subaru community. The Blob-eye is very famous for its blobby looking headlights compared to the previous Bug-eye. However, the motor featured in the Blob-eye was the EJ20, which suffered chronic head gasket failures giving Subaru owners a bad rap for constantly replacing head gaskets.
- Mean-eye (1992-2001)
The Mean-eye WRX and STI is the first generation of these cars that Subaru released. This vehicle is often favored by fans for its looks and its wide variety of motors ranging from 1.5L of displacement all the way to 2.5L, while only the 2.0 and 2.2L were turbocharged. The engines in this vehicle were less questionable and easier for users to mod or take care of.
- Evo-eye (2014-current)
The Evo-eye is when Subaru fans saw the death of the STI, primarily when the chassis changed from the VA to the VB in 2022. The VB chassis is commonly a more disliked variant of the WRX due to its plastic wheel cladding and questionable designs, despite this, the FA24 motor Subaru placed in this series of WRX is far more robust and reliable than previous generations as Subaru reworked and fixed a lot of the problems in prior generations, with this 2.4 Litre 4-cylinder seeing up to 600 HP on a stock block with minor issues and running quite well.
- Bug-eye (2001-2004)
The Bug-eye generation is cited as a fan favorite for most Subaru enthusiasts. The Bug-eye is given its name due its round headlight design, giving it the looks of an insect. The Bug-eye came with the EJ20 motor, a 2.0 Litre turbocharged Boxer engine that was a little bit more reliable than the other EJ’s on the list and was far easier to work with. The Bug-eye will forever go down as the most influential and loved WRX for Subaru enthusiasts across the world.
