Photo: Sam CarLegion / edited
Sam CarLegion is back with another thrilling quarter-mile showdown. The competitors are manual-shift compact cars, although the Corolla GR and WRX RS are very different from the Elantra N and Integra Type S.
As you may have guessed, the Scooby and Yota have full-time All-wheel driveThe WRX RS (the Canadian name for WRX TR) and the Corolla GR also differ under the hood from the hottest compact cars from Hyundai and Acura.
The Subaru has a 2.4-liter turbocharged flat-four engine, while the Corolla GR uses a 1.6-liter turbocharged inline-three. Interestingly, Toyota got more power (300) and torque (273) than Subaru from a larger engine with more cylinders (271 horsepower and 258 pound-feet).
Both the four-door sedan from South Korea and the Integra Type S with liftback body are equipped with a 2.0-liter turbocharged inline four-cylinder engine. The peak power ranges from 276 hp and 392 Newton meters to 320 or 310 (420). If it were equipped with the optional wet clutch, DCTThe overboost mode would have briefly offered 286 hp.
The WRX is also available with a two-pedal transmission, but it’s a Lineartronic continuously variable transmission rather than a dual-clutch transmission like the Volkswagen Group’s DSG or the Tremec-supplied transmission in the C8 Corvette and Maserati MC20. Subaru has the audacity to call it the Subaru Performance Transmission, which it certainly isn’t.
Photo: Sam CarLegion on YouTube
The compact cars described above, pictured at the Dunnville Autodrome in Canada, weigh around 1.5 tons. The lightest of the bunch is the Elantra N at 1,451 kilograms or 3,201 pounds, while the Scooby is the heaviest of the four at 1,542 kilograms or 3,401 pounds.
It goes without saying that starting is more difficult with a manual transmission than with a two-pedal system. The GR Corolla and the all-wheel-drive WRX RS have no problem engaging the clutch. In two drag races, the front-wheel-drive Integra Type S and the all-wheel-drive Yota posted the best times, both clocking 13.7 seconds in the quarter. The GR Corolla, however, clocked 60 miles per hour (97 kilometers per hour) in 4.9 seconds, compared to 5.3 seconds for the wickedly expensive Acura.
The WRX RS and Elantra N managed no better than 13.9 and 14.4 seconds, hitting 60 mph in 5.2 and 5.9 seconds. Sam preferred the Acura over the others and it proved its dominance in rolling as well, with Sam getting these babies rolling from 50 and 80 clicks (that would be 32 and 50 mph).
It’s a little disappointing that the WRX RS came last in both tests, but even so, the Scooby is a very good value. In the U.S., the base trim costs $32,735 before taxes and options, compared to $33,700 for the Hyundai or $36,500 for the GR Corolla. At the other end of the spectrum, the Integra Type S, a twin of the Honda Civic Type R, comes in at $51,800.
