READERS RIDES: Michael's 2003 Sonic Yellow WRX

There is no doubt that we are in strange times throughout the world. AI taking over everything, drones flying in the sky, technology continuing to move forward in evolution. We are slowly entering the Matrix where sometimes, we cannot distinguish what’s real and what’s really beneath the surface. Modern cars are part of this evolution with every band aid, every driver assist, cameras, giant infotainment screens inside the interior, and self-driving modes. By all intents and purposes newer tech makes the driving experience safer, and all of the creature comfort options make driving easier. The VB WRX is no exception to all of the modern standard equipment. After all, we need to be thankful in this day and age that Subaru is still producing the WRX in a complex and sophisticated car market.

However, at one time, the Subaru WRX was an integral role that defined the sport compact scene. We’ve talked about the past a few times in some of these articles. But before the internet was really a thing, most American households had cable television. TVs were insanely heavy boxes, where a cable screwed into the back and for those of us who grew up in the 90s, we had about 32 channels. And then entering the year 2000, the company Direct TV had satellite dishes that have us 120+ channels. Teenagers and college students went to malls, local bars, and sporting events to get outside. MTV was our social media for pop culture news, and if your parents were rich, you had the legendary Nokia brick cell phone.

Before The Fast and The Furious hit theaters in June of 2001, the sport compact scene was growing rapidly with drag racing, there was an organization called NOPI that hosted Hot Import Nights that was highly published in all import magazines. Most importantly, the World Rally Champion racing series was often televised on one of those satellite channels called SpeedVision. Then, enthusiasts who were only familiar with weekend SCCA autocross events, street racing at the local boulevard, and drag racing were very unfamiliar with this form of motorsport. The most that the average car guy knew about rally racing at the time was the Paris Dakar Rally that Porsche often participated in, and you had Rod Millen and his son Rhys Millen who raced at Pikes Peak before it was paved. Rod Millen earned the status as King of The Mountain behind the wheel of his turbocharged Celica.

Rod Millen’s son Rhys had earned a factory Mitsubishi Racing position and campaigned abroad in a Mitsubishi Evo before these were legal stateside:

In the late 90’s to early 2000s when we could actually peel ourselves off the couch with our 120 channels, life was simpler in terms of entertainment. We relied on movie theaters, Blockbuster and Hollywood Video was a place we went to rent movies and video games for our Nintendo 64’s and Sony Playstaytion 1 models. Gran Turismo 1 was released in 1997 which later turned into the greatest driving simulator. And we had several stores such as Media Play and Circuit City that mostly sold the latest books, CDs, video games, but most importantly, magazines!

This is how America preoccupied our time after work and during the weekends. Life had the perpetual smell of popcorn in the air. If we wanted to go on a date, we had to have the courage to approach people in person. We spoke with an actual vocabulary, and not in acronyms, and we had frosted tips in our hair. Rap music was actually scary, but it also had real lyrics and wasn’t about SoundCloud dudes who compete on who could make the most incoherent noises. Yes, the author’s generation has officially entered the “get off my lawn” stage in life. But magazines were a big part of our personal entertainment. Whether it be Cosmopolitan for the ladies, there were magazines that really catapulted the sport compact scene such as Sport Compact Car:

And Turbo Magazine:

These magazines were filled with photos of worthy rides, so much sensory overload all within these magazines. The smell of freshly printed paper. Getting interrupted by the page break where the subscription card would be. This was before debit cards so if you wanted a subscription to any of these magazines, you would either have to write out a check, or go to the bank and get a money order for $30, then go to the post office where you would have to get an envelope for $.025 cents and a $0.04 cent stamp and mail it out. Then two months later you’d eventually get a magazine in the mail.

With several articles about Colin McRae winning World Rally Championships in his Subaru Impreza WRX, the news of the Subaru WRX coming to America in 2002 was bigger than the second coming of the lawd for car lovers. Turbo Magazine closely followed drag racers in their MKIV Supras, FD RX-7’s, hacks on how to make your DSM (89-99 Mitsubishi Eclipse/Eagle Talon/Plymouth Laser) faster. But there was still a large gap in car pricing back there as well. You either made decent money and could afford the MKIV Supra, the RX-7 and the NSX which were $17,000-$29,000 range. And DSMs were $3500 cars back then. So many enthusiasts who wanted a brand-new car that was affordable were the Honda Civic whether it be the EX model or the now collectible Si model.

So, when Subaru announced that they would be releasing the WRX for the US market for 2002, it really changed the paradigm of the car scene. WRX standing for World Rally Cross was cool in it of itself, but it would be all-wheel-drive, and turbocharged. Soon, everyone would be a world rally racer.

The Fast and The Furious was an ode to street racing, but it thrusted the sport compact scene into the stratosphere with the help of Craig Leiberman who organized the logistics of what cars would be featured, how they were going to look, and how modifying cars was going to be part of a motion picture summer power film.

For many of you who have the attention span and bandwidth to have read this far, the 90s to early 2000s was a time of what late Gen-Xer’s and early millennials would say, was peak American culture and civilization. Times might have been easier on the surface. And yes 9/11 had changed everything for the worse.

23 years to present day, many of us enthusiasts are now middle-aged people including the author, many of which are going through a mid-life crisis. Growing up meant that we had to take our earrings out. Cover our tattoos, tuck in our shirts while climbing that corporate ladder. Falling in love, getting a home and having kids. Making the sure the mortgage was taken care of while manning the ship of life’s unexpected emergencies. Before we knew it, we almost forgot about the WRX we had to sell 10 years ago so that the wife could drive that SUV. We now use soul-sucking terms such as “move the needle” while in meetings and we have got used to the grey hair and bags under our eyes every time we wash our hands in the bathroom. For us, life has been a giant HOA fee on everything that drains the soul. Yet every time an edited Notorious BIG or Eminem song comes on the radio on the way to our commute, we perk up just a little bit, remembering another lifetime ago that we were happy, and we didn’t even know it. Growing up means sacrifices so our kids can grow up with decent shoes and making sure they are fed. But our minds and our souls are now deeply numbed with our phones as social media has desensitized our lives so much that we don’t even care at this point if the government has officially stated that UFOs are real. The routine is the same for many of us. Work, make sure the wife is happy, make sure the bills are paid. Make sure you are putting some money away for the summer vacation. Many of us older folk are now behind the wheel of a Model 3, or a Hyundai or Kia whatever that consumes the highway. But even when we are walking back to our cars from work, or filling up at the gas station, hearing a Subaru rumble from afar does make us perk our ears up just a little.

Point being behind all the rambling, when sitting at a red light trying to decompress from the end of the day, when you see a bugeye Subaru WRX from the mentioned era in time, it makes us from the older generation glance at it and think, that’s cool. Especially, if it’s in Sonic Yellow.

For Volume 1 of Reader’s Rides or whatever we will officially dub it at some point, meet Michael Asay. He is the proud owner of this 2003 Sonic Yellow Subaru WRX. This is a very tastefully modified and is a fine example that has dodged that terrible era of Subaru ownership where these cars were very cheap and were victims of plasti dip and vape.

As a matter of fact, we published an article found HERE, that discusses how clean early examples such as the 2004-2007 STI are becoming collector cars. This particular bugeye, as well as any clean 2002-2003 WRX, will soon join that status.

It’s funny how time changes the overall opinion of colors, as when the Mitsubishi Evo hit US markets in 2003, their Lightning Yellow option was the least favorable. And now it is one of the most highly desired. In a world full of World Rally Blue, and even silver for that matter, Sonic Yellow is pretty awesome to see especially when done right.

What’s even more special about Michael’s WRX is that it makes a satisfying amount of horsepower with the right number of mods. It makes a very impressive 358.87 WHP and 366.12 WTQ on every day 91 octane. It had been tuned by Simple Performance in SLC, UT through a COBB Accessport V3.

Now let’s take a moment to discuss those power numbers. Nearly 360 HP on pump gas in a WRX is a highly satisfying driving experience. It’s enough to be responsive but continue to climb through the RPM band. Michael’s WRX makes these numbers the right way, and that is reliably through a built motor. This WRX features a fully built 2.0 that has a semi-closed deck with JDM EJ207 heads. The slugs are 93mm forged Manley pistons as well as Manley connecting rods. Valvetrain is built with 32mm GSC exhaust valves, 36mm intake valves, and GSC beehive valve springs.

Yeah, it’s also cammed as well running GSC 272 cams that help the turbocharger make more steam in the upper RPM range. The rotating assembly relies on ACL main and rod bearings that are in the right clearances to handle the power.

Speaking of power, Michael opted to go with the COBB Tuning 20G turbocharger which is an awesome choice because it behaves like an OEM turbo for regular driving duties, but it is more than capable of making more boost and power. With a built engine, it only makes sense to go with a Turbo XS front mount intercooler setup to have the coolest intake charge temperatures while maxing out the power efficiency with the limits of pump gas.

Of course, none of this is possible without a proper fuel system. Because a properly built fuel system is the most important mod you can make to any modified engine when trying to make more boost and more power. Otherwise, you are going to lean out the motor. Michael has a top-feed injector setup equipped with SMY PTFE Top Feed Rails, COBB 1050X injectors, and a modified fuel pump to avoid any fuel starvation issues.

It's got a GrimmSpeed exhaust manifold, an up pipe, and an ETS cat-back exhaust system to ensure that there are absolutely no interferences in the path of the exhaust when the car is at full throttle.

Bravely, Michael still employs the factory 5-speed setup but not without the proper clutch to do so. It does have the ACT HD Street Clutch Kit with the StreetLite flywheel that removes extra rotational mass to allow for faster revs and more power. And yes, with Michael’s WRX being 22 years old, it does have every possible drivetrain and chassis bushing replaced to make the car ride very comfortably.

Suspension wise, the chassis sits on Faction Fab’s V2 coilovers and the Whiteline sway bars can make this WRX a highly competitive class warrior at weekend sanctioned events.

Our favorite mod on Michae’s WRX? It would be the Voltex rear wing that is mounted on the Seibon Carbon Fiber Trunk:

In conclusion, Michael’s 2003 Sonic Yellow WRX is a very nice tip of the hat not only to Japan’s Time Attack culture, but it is also properly period correct in a time when the WRX really launched the import side of the automotive performance aftermarket. It’s got the right mods and absolutely no corners were cut to make this WRX not just a driver, but an event every time Michel has the privilege of getting behind the wheel. What a car.

Check out the rest of Micheal’s mods in a detailed list below. Got a ride that you’d like featured? Email jeff.willis@rallysportdirect.com with pictures, youtube links, and a detailed description of your car. Now onto Michael’s list of mods: