When the 2015 Subaru WRX was unveiled at the L.A. Auto Show back in 2013, it was met with a lot of criticism and mixed feelings from longtime fans of the brand.  The car now looked totally different from any other past WRX model.  Some even said it slightly resembled the Mitsubishi Evo or other Japanese four door sedans at first.  Subaru ditched the hatchback variant and went with a sedan with widebody styling and a whole new 2.0 liter Boxer engine, the FA20, starting with the 2015 model.  This new generation also brought the addition of the CVT, which upset most of the purists for obvious reasons.

Although the styling and overall body of the VA chassis did not win people over when it was first unveiled, it has definitely grown in popularity since then.  Subaru finally updated the technology and interior greatly, resulting in a much higher quality and more modern WRX than what we’ve been used to.  Once people started buying them and slowly getting into modifying them, even the more hesitant Subaru fans came to accept the new cars.  It was a nice, fresh, blank canvas that the Subaru scene needed.  Now, they’re everywhere, and as more and more people mod them, we get to see some of the crazy and unique builds and some of the more subtle and polished builds that come as a result.  Bruno’s car is the latter.

At the Florida Subaru Mega Meet back in December, CJ met and got to talking with Bruno.  His car wasn’t there, but later on we ended up finding him and the car on social media.  After some prowling around on Instagram, we realized he lives only about an hour away from us, meaning we could meet up with him for a feature sometime in the future – and we did!  We met with Bruno at a park near us.  It was nice to shoot a feature locally instead of having to travel for once.  Intermittent rain all weekend really worried us about the shoot working out, but when a break in the weather came that Sunday afternoon we took advantage of it and met up with him.

The wet roads made all of the photos look even better, but also meant Bruno had to wipe down his car every time he moved it.  It was very clean for a car that drove through rain all day to a photoshoot.  Bruno and I got to talking right away as CJ ran around with the camera, and I quickly learned how passionate Bruno is about his WRX.

Bruno has been a rally fan since the Colin McRae days when he drove for Subaru in the iconic 555 Impreza.  He says seeing all the Subaru rally cars as a kid sparked his interest for the WRX and STi.  He always loved and wanted them, and the signature blue and gold paint scheme really stuck out to him as well.  When he got into video games, he would always choose the WRX’s or STi’s in racing games.  Bruno says the WRX is his dream car and has been since he was a kid, and he finally was able to get his hands on a brand new one in 2015.

Bruno’s car is a 2016 WRX Limited, meaning it has that nice, fancy leather interior and a touchscreen radio display.  Looks a little nicer than before, doesn’t it?  Subaru always seems to be behind on technology when compared with other brands, but I personally think they did a pretty good job with the VA chassis.  This is not only Bruno’s first Subaru, but his first modified car.  He came from a stock Mazda 3 hatch that he had while living up in Minnesota.  During the winters he wished he had AWD so he could get around easily and go play in the snow.  He had a friend with a WRX and watched him build it over the years, which inspired Bruno to go out and buy one for himself.  Since he didn’t know much about Subarus, he wanted to start with simple exterior mods while he learned, plus to make sure he kept the factory warranty.  That brings us to his wheels.

One of the first things I notice when looking at cars are the wheels.  Wheels can have such a huge impact on appearance and are usually one of the first places people’s eyes are drawn to.  Bruno made an excellent choice with his 18” x 9.5” +38 Rays 57 Transcend wheels in Super Dark Gunmetal.  He says that the wheels are definitely one of his favorite modifications he’s done to the car.  “They’re flush with the car, they don’t poke too much, and I did research to find the right specs because I didn’t want to roll the fenders.  I wanted a more aggressive look and wanted to lower car tiny bit too.  The combination of the wheels and suspension make the biggest difference to me.”  Bruno’s car is lowered on RCE Yellows lowering springs which he enjoys because they’re nothing extreme and keep the comfortable ride.

Small appearance modifications can make a big difference when looking at Bruno’s WRX.  He’s got the JDM front grille, Subispeed tail lights, APR carbon fiber license plate backing piece, and he got his lip kit and STi spoiler painted to match the factory Crystal White Pearl paint.  On top of that, the roof is wrapped gloss black and Bruno applied some gloss black door stripes and some different colored emblems.  Bruno told me his absolute favorite mod on the car would be his headlights – Diode Dynamics C-Lights.  “I had to open the headlights to install them [C-lights], drill some holes, route the cables and seal them up to prevent condensation.  I also painted the chrome housing and side markers black.  It was by far the most complex modification I’ve done to a car.”

Although Bruno wanted to start with exterior mods, the very first thing he did to the car was install an Invidia R400 catback exhaust.  He loves the sound and the noise level is perfect for his taste.  Other performance goodies he’s added are: a Grimmspeed TMIC, chargepipe and EBCS, an Invidia catless downpipe, IAG TGV and EGR deletes and a Cobb SF box cold air intake.  Due to his limited knowledge of the car, he wanted to have some of the work done professionally, so he took the car to RevWorks in Orlando in early 2018, and it now makes 298 WHP and 309 ft/lbs torque on a protune by Mike Adkins.

In the future, Bruno plans to install some coilovers for better ride height, wheel fitment, and handling.  He also would love to do the “F1-style” brake light that is offered for this generation, as well as some OLM wide angle convex side mirrors to see a little better out of them.  As for power, Bruno is quite happy with the car as it is.  He said the next move would be to go to a flex fuel kit and other supporting mods, but doesn’t feel the need to for at least the next year or two.

It was nice to shoot our first VA chassis WRX, and it was great to meet Bruno and get to know him a bit.  After the shoot, we all went out to dinner together and just hung out and talked – a tradition that sort of started on its own.  Being able to do this with the people we meet up with for shoots makes it that much more fun for us, and makes us want to continue going out and meeting more people to write more articles about.  So thank you, Bruno, for letting us feature your WRX and for taking the time to meet up with us!

By Ethan Pfab – @supwagon

 

Bruno’s Full Mod List:

Engine:

Grimmspeed TMIC

Grimmspeed chargepipe

Invidia R400 catback

Invidia catless downpipe

Grimmspeed EBCS

IAG Performance TGV deletes

IAG Performance EGR deletes

Cobb SF Box Cold Air intake

Cobb V3 AccessPort

Protuned by Mike Adkins

Suspension & Wheels:

Rays 57 Transcend Super Dark Gunmetal 18×9.5 +38

Bridgestone Potenza 265/35/R18

RCA Lowering Springs

Exterior:

CWP paint-matched STi spoiler, front lip and side skits

Diode Dynamics C-lights and fog lights

LED headlight conversion

Subispeed tail lights

JDM front grille

Roof and front grille wrapped gloss black

Door stripes

APR Carbon fiber license plate backing and emblem

60% window tint