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New photos of the WRX courtesy of drive.com.au

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Pictures of Subaru’s new Impreza WRX have been leaked in an American car magazine almost two weeks ahead of its world debut at April’s New York motor show.

The photos have been electronically scanned from Motor Trend magazine and circulated on the internet, in the process breaking Subaru’s strict global embargo of Thursday, April 5.

Subaru spokesman David Rowley refused to comment on the validity of the pictures.

“The new-generation car won’t be unveiled officially until Thursday [5th April], New York time,†he said.

Motor Trend magazine’s official pictures confirm speculation that the Japanese car maker’s highly popular Impreza small car is making a radical styling departure from its traditional roots.

Subaru’s third-generation WRX takes the company’s design language in a new direction after the company admitted it was abandoning the controversial ‘fuselage’ corporate face used on the current WRX and Tribeca four-wheel-drive.

Subaru is understood to be dropping the sedan version of the WRX, and will go after popular European hot hatches such as Audi’s S3 and Volkswagen’s Golf GTI.

The Impreza WRX will also compete with hot Japanese hatches like the Mazda 3 MPS and Honda Civic Type-R.

The WRX leads the charge for an all-new Impreza range which will go head to head with the Toyota Corolla, Mazda 3 and Ford Focus.

These more affordable models will feature the WRX's all-wheel drive system, but not the turbocharged engine or bonnet scoop, or indeed its rally-inspired suspension tune.

The new WRX, which arrives locally in the third quarter of 2007, takes its visual inspiration from Subaru’s 2005 Tokyo motor show concept, called the B5-THP – most notably the blending of the grille and headlights.

It replaces the second-generation model launched in Australia in 2000, complete with controversially styled round headlights - quickly dubbed 'bug-eye' lights by fans and critics. The model was facelifted just two years later in an effort to answer these criticisms.


The new model will no doubt strengthen the WRX's reputation for affordable performance, building on the current model's 169kW, 2.5-litre turbocharged engine and six-second 0-100km/h performance.
 
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I think it looks horrid!!!!!

The current one has redeemed itself after the monster that was the previous bug eyed model but this is just poor.. In my opinion anyway... Reminds me of daewoo styling.. a little - it's not quite that shocking!!!
 

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what's the point in having a rear diffuser and then sticking an ehaust out of it - it will render in useless..... plus at high speeds it will mean the passenger side having more downforce than the drivers side - pushing the car to the left.....
 
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I can't say I love it, but am I correct in thinking this will be a hot hatch? That is going to blow the competition away when they do an STi version! In fact there won't be any competition, apart from maybe the new Focus RS.

I'm glad they lost that disgusting grille design, now they just have the whole rest of the car to sort out.
 
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I think the back looks like an RX300...
 
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I wouldn't say it was particularly ugly but i think i'm about to fall asleep looking at it....

If it ends up looking like that, and the drive is anything less than astonishing then I can't see it selling well at all.
 
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Cue said:
what's the point in having a rear diffuser and then sticking an ehaust out of it - it will render in useless..... plus at high speeds it will mean the passenger side having more downforce than the drivers side - pushing the car to the left.....

The exhaust just looks cheap more than anything!

Don't worry about it's positioning and the diffuser - I doubt the effect would be detectable at all from inside the car.
 

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Surely building that is akin to committing financial suicide.

Who the hell would buy that, existing owners won't.

Get it off my screen now!
 
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Subaru reliability and a lot of horsepower for probably £15-17K will ensure it's sales. I mean the Impreza's no beauty queen and they've been flying off the forecourts from day one.
 
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