Auto News 5

The Automobile Magazine Automobile of the Year is a car that is groundbreaking, that establishes new standards in design, or performance, or engineering, or technology, or some combination thereof. It is an enthusiast's car. It is not necessarily exotic, or expensive, or high-powered; but any car that can provide some of the same pleasure to the enthusiast driver as exotic, expensive, and high-powered cars do, but at an accessible price, is of particular interest to us as we choose our Automobile of the Year. Our least expensive AOY was the 1994 Chrysler Neon ($9500). Our most expensive was the 2008 Audi R8 ($109,700).

I knew there was something different about the WRX as soon as I walked up to it in the parking garage, but I wasn't aware of exactly what the changes were for 2011 until I looked at the spec sheet. The gist of it is that the WRX sedan now has wide-body styling to ape the look of the high-performance STI. The front and rear tracks have been widened by approximately 1.5 inches, and the front end has been restyled a bit. There are also new wheels, 17x8 inches rather than the previous 17x7 inches, yet they each weigh 1.5 pounds less. The performance rubber is now 235/45R-17 rather than 225/45R-17.