2022+ WRX Common Problems Guide

The rear driveline whine

This is the most substantive owner-reported complaint on the platform and the one worth listening for specifically. Owners across 2022 to 2025 cars have reported a pronounced whine or howl from the rear driveline, most noticeable during steady-state cruising between roughly 45 and 75 mph. It points toward the rear differential or final drive. What makes it awkward is that some degree of gear noise is normal on an all-wheel drive car, and dealers vary in how they respond. The practical approach is to characterise it clearly before you raise it: note the exact speed range, whether it changes with load or throttle position, whether it is present in all gears, and whether it changed over time. A complaint described as an intermittent noise gets dismissed; one described as a consistent whine at 60 mph steady throttle, present since 8,000 miles, gets investigated. If you are buying used, listen for it on the test drive at a steady cruise with the radio off. It is easy to miss with music playing and easy to identify when you know to listen. It is worth being measured about this: it is a noise complaint rather than a documented failure mode, and plenty of VBs do not exhibit it. But it is the genuine issue on this platform that comes up most consistently.

Preventative items worth having

Things that are not problems

Three complaints dominate owner forums and none of them are faults. **The cold start is loud.** Subaru runs a deliberately aggressive warm-up strategy that raises idle and pushes heat into the catalyst to meet emissions requirements quickly. The result is roughly a minute of noise every cold morning. There is no fix, no tune meaningfully changes it, and an aftermarket exhaust makes it considerably worse. Factor that in before buying an exhaust if you leave early in a dense neighbourhood. **The 1-2 shift is notchy when cold.** This is a transmission and fluid characteristic, not linkage damage. It improves as the car warms. Solid shifter bushings will make the shift feel more precise without making the cold notchiness disappear, and fluid choice affects it more than any linkage part. **Fuel economy is unremarkable.** It is a turbocharged all-wheel drive performance car. Ethanol makes it considerably worse. One more worth addressing: the engine internals discussion. You will find claims about pistons, rods and bearings attached to WRX searches. Much of that material describes earlier generations, particularly the FA20 in the VA. The FA24's rods are meaningfully stronger and the block is generally considered good to around 400whp on stock internals. Be careful about applying older-generation reputation to this car.

The verdict

The VB is not a problem car. Its recalls have been small and specific, its bulletins are the ordinary output of a modern vehicle programme, and its most discussed owner complaints are largely characteristics rather than defects. The two things genuinely worth doing: check your VIN for open recalls, and listen for rear driveline whine at cruise. Both are free. The two things worth not doing: assuming older WRX generation reputations apply to this engine, and treating the loud cold start or the notchy cold shift as evidence something is wrong. And the thing that matters more than any of it: the reliability problems VB owners actually encounter are overwhelmingly self-inflicted rather than inherent. Parts fitted without the tune to match, power levels past what the drivetrain was designed for, and maintenance intervals stretched on a tuned car cause far more trouble on this platform than anything Subaru built into it.