2023 Subaru WRX Sportswagon tS

BabyDrive Verdict

We are testing the new 2023 Subaru WRX Sportswagon with our family. This five-seater all-wheel drive wagon is very sporty looking in this pillar box red with big air scoop on the bonnet. Let’s find out how good it is as a BabyDrive when we put it through our testing…

Not being an SUV, the Subaru WRX Sportswagon doesn’t have the high ceiling look we expect you of a family car. However, don’t let that fool you. The WRX Sportswagon is a very practical family car. So if you are looking for something with a sporty feel/drive and practical for the family then this ticks the boxes.

The first thing to mention is legroom! The Subaru WRX Sportswagon has so much legroom. With a rear-facing Infasecure Attain More child seat installed in the back we could very comfortably fit a 186cm driver. When it comes to installing child seats in the WRX Sportswagon, I found there to be room for two Infasecure child seats in the back.

The ceiling tapers in at the sides and the rear seats are very sculpted at the edges Both these things prevent you from being able to move the child seats out to the edge of the seat base so you can’t squeeze a third seat in the middle.

There are ISOFix points in the two outer seats behind flaps of the seat base fabric and they are easy to connect to.

There are top tether anchorages for all three rear seats that are easily accessible through the boot, giving you flexibility for where you position your child seats in the back.

It’s a really nice comfortable fit with our two Infasecure child seats in the back, the Infasecure Attain More and Aspire More – and like I said the legroom is fantastic.

The other great thing about the WRX Sportswagon is even though the legroom is very generous this hasn’t taken away from the boot space at all.

From empty, the boot of the Subaru WRX Sportswagon will hold sixteen shopping bags, as does the Volkswagen Passat Alltrack. The Subaru Levorg which the WRX Sportswagon is replacing holds fourteen shopping bags and the Skoda Octavia and Mazda6 wagons both hold fifteen bags.

You can easily fit any single, double or twin pram in the boot of the WRX Sportswagon with heaps of room for shopping beside it too.

For those down to the compact stroller stage of parenting that will easily fit in the boot with twelve bags of shopping.

If your family dog goes in the car with you in the boot you will easily fit your medium or large size fur baby in the boot of the WRX Sportswagon.

Storage is good in the cabin of the WRX Sportswagon too, front door bins have room for a drink bottle and iPad and two cup holders in the central console will safely hold your morning coffee!

The glove box will fit a wallet with the large manual and the central console box is a modest size.

In the back passengers have two cup holders in a fold-down armrest in the central seat back…

… and two map pockets that will hold and conceal an iPad.

As well as door bins that will hold drink bottles.

The Subaru WRX Sportswagon has a portrait media screen with a modern and easy to use media system.

It has the ability to customise some of the driver assist settings, like lane departure and lane keep assist, which I like being able to do.

You can also save driver profiles so everything is set up for you when you get in to the car.

Apple CarPlay and Android Auto come as standard so you can easily access your phone and Apps and podcasts to listen to on your journeys.

The cameras in the WRX Sportswagon have very good clear images however they are small on the screen. It would be better to have them one above the other so they could fill the whole screen.

You can turn the parking sensors off easily with a button at the bottom right of the camera image. There are lots of camera views you can choose from too.

There is also a button down in the central console so you can turn the camera on at any time and change the views.

There are air-conditioning vents in the back of the central console box and two USB sockets, so rear passengers are kept at the right temperature and charge devices while driving along.

The Subaru WRX Sportswagon is a great everyday car. It has the boot space and legroom you would expect to find in a much larger car. It is great to get both of these things in a car that is great to drive.

It has good visibility out of all rear windows with two child seats installed. The turning circle is tight which makes it great to park and labourer in school and supermarket car parks.

You can press the Mode button on the steering wheel and change it to Sport Mode, so the adults can enjoy a bit of fun driving once you have done the school drop off too!