The Subaru WRX S4 VB made its way on Forza Horizon 5 as a prize car in the Hidden Horizons Storm Season Playlist and this is the only desirable car of the update packed with nothing but undesirable old cars plaguing around Horizon Mexico grounds like disease-carrying rodents.
So, what's it all about the VB WRX S4?
A rally legend two decades in the making, the second-generation Subaru WRX S4 was unveiled in 2021 and it now runs on the Subaru Global Platform for the first time in its two-decade history, which offers increased safety, improved dynamics, and reductions in noise, vibration, and harshness. It's the same platform used in its estate equivalent, the Levorg, currently in its second generation.
The new model's flat-four boxer turbo engine's size has been increased from the previous model's 2.0L to 2.4L. It produces 275PS and 375Nm of torque. It is mated exclusively with the newly-developed Subaru Performance Transmission, a sport-tuned CVT with an 8-speed manual mode that delivers 30% faster upshifts and 50% faster downshifts compared to the previous WRX S4's Sport Lineartronic CVT.
It boasts high levels of safety thanks to its EyeSight driver assistance with Lane Centering Function and Speed Sign Recognition, among many others.
Recently, a race-spec WRX S4 won the SP4T class in the 2024 ADAC RAVENOL 24h Nurburgring, a first in the VB model's second outing at the Nurburgring.
The one featured in Forza Horizon 5 is different from the WRX S4 as I know it. It is mated to a 6-speed manual gearbox, which is offered only in overseas markets. This is the kind of gearbox that Japanese Subarists are missing out on. With the WRX STi officially discontinued before the year of COVID, the call for a manual-mated WRX S4 from Japanese Subarists has never been louder, although Subaru has declined to comment.
Consumer Reports, infamous for calling American cars terrible, recommended the WRX S4 VB because “Its 59 mph speed through our avoidance maneuver (…) puts the four-door WRX firmly in high-level sports-car territory, matching the speed of the Porsche 718 Boxster, for example.”
Unfortunately, this is Forza Horizon 5, and I can't find a way to demonstrate the WRX S4's capabilities until some luxury four-door saloon is accepted to be its sparring partner.
The all-electric BMW i4, in eDrive40 trim, has been rejoined by the WRX S4. The WRX S4 is confident that it can compete with a luxury German saloon. The i4 may pack more power than the S4, the WRX S4, but because the electric drivetrain is darn bulky, the old-school Nurburgring hero from Gunma has a fighting chance.
With Horizon Mexico's shortest track becoming my laboratory, it's time to find out if Japan's own S4 can take down Germany's own i4. Let's roll the tape.
Here are the results:
i4 - 1m03.080s
WRX S4 - 1m01.812s
The WRX S4 beat the all-electric i4 eDrive40 by over two seconds. That's impressive, considering the i4 has more power and is twice as expensive. The future is bright for the WRX S4!
The Subaru WRX S4 is the only desirable car in an update filled with undesirable old cars. Although it's not as good as its predecessors, my experience with the current-generation WRX S4 in the game makes me want to drive it some more.
From rallying to Nurburgring survival, there are plenty of reasons to love the WRX S4 but there's one greater reason to love this car; it's a Subaru.
Case Closed. Welcome to your new WRX S4, FH5 Subarists.
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