I am actually really excited that subaru/toyota decided to go through with this and build a car that should be great in spite of its perceived performance shortcomings. This will in fact prove to be a true driving enthusiast's car (a la Miata/MR-S/etc) instead of the boy racer, saturday night drag special.
You can have the WRX with 60 more hp and awd for roughly the same price but the toyobaru is hundreds of pounds lighter, should understeer much less and be a more rewarding drive unless you launch from every stop sign or red light you encounter.
That said I consider the WRX a benchmark compromise car and it ruins a lot of new cars for me... Quick, awd, and fairly spacious for under 30k makes it hard to look at anything else if you can only have one car (especially in the snow belt). The Subyota looks to be a car made to have fun with in the hills, not drag you to the store in the snow.
You can have the WRX with 60 more hp and awd for roughly the same price but the toyobaru is hundreds of pounds lighter, should understeer much less and be a more rewarding drive unless you launch from every stop sign or red light you encounter.
That said I consider the WRX a benchmark compromise car and it ruins a lot of new cars for me... Quick, awd, and fairly spacious for under 30k makes it hard to look at anything else if you can only have one car (especially in the snow belt). The Subyota looks to be a car made to have fun with in the hills, not drag you to the store in the snow.