They are actually surprisingly reliable and unbelievably easy to work on . They definitely aren ' t fast , but most Americans don ' t actually care about speed . And they are pretty damn reliable , this is one of the subaru ' s that started the trend of subaru ' s being reliable . Since it is a wagon I ' d wager it has more storage space than the wrx and I ' d wager the gas mileage is equivalent to a wrx , maybe even better . I also bet the cost to operate is going to be cheaper . Plus not everyone wants to have the generic fast import of the generation . The wrxsti have turned into what the old civics used to be . Everyone who wants a fast car has on and they are way too common and unless you sink a lot of money in them aren ' t special at all . Some people thrive on being different , and if you really want a fast car I ' d wager you could throw a wrx or sti motor in this .