If your favorite carmaker doesn’t make the model you actually want, what do you do? For one Subaru fan from northern Virginia, the answer was to take matters into his own hands. Stephen Ketelsen’s ideal ride is a modern WRX hatchback, but Subaru only makes a WRX sedan. This led to Ketelsen creating his own WRX hatchback, which combines the WRX powertrain with the body of a Crosstrek Ketelsen purchased back in 2020. After a lot of elbow grease and assistance from a Subaru specialty shop, the final product looks like the perfect Toyota GR Corolla rival.
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Humble Crosstrek Beginnings
Custom Subaru WRX Hatchback
Stephen Ketelsen
The desire to take on a project of this magnitude started with the Subaru enthusiast’s purchase of a previous-generation Crosstrek, but although it had a manual, the crossover’s underpowered four-cylinder engine was a disappointment. However, Ketelsen still had a soft spot for the Crosstrek, his first new car, so embarked on a much more daring way to keep it but add more power.
“Once the WRX moved to Subaru's Global Platform with the new generation, it kind of presented an opportunity in my head,” Ketelsen told Road & Track. “Because that whole premise is that all of Subaru's models are built on the same chassis, essentially, and then it's just modular from there: what powertrain goes in it, suspension and subframes and body panels and all that.”
Mach V Motorsports, a Subaru specialty shop in Virginia, worked with Ketelsen to prove the viability of the idea, and once he had test-driven a new WRX, nothing could stop the project from going ahead. A wrecked WRX from Copart provided the powertrain and interior, and that’s when the fun really began.
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Engine A Near-Perfect Fit—But Not The Back Seats
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The older Crosstrek and new WRX have different body styles, so it figures that tearing apart the Crosstrek and making the WRX’s powertrain and interior fit would present some problems. Fortunately, the shared platform allowed the more powerful 271-horsepower WRX flat-four to fit without any major problems, but items like the rear seats and third brake light were challenging. Ketelsen began tearing apart the cars himself in his garage, but soon realized he’d need help with more complex sections.
“When I moved up front, I pretty quickly realized that I didn't really have the means to do it on my own,” Ketelsen said. “My garage had parts lined from floor to ceiling just from pulling all the stuff off."
The WRX’s radiator, condenser, and fans were not identical to the Crosstrek’s though, so a body shop worked its magic to make everything fit, while also transplanting fenders and other parts from the new WRX onto the shell of the old Crosstrek. The finished product is a hot hatch any Subaru fan would be proud of, and looks far more appealing than a new Impreza, the only other hatchback Subaru sells in the United States right now.
“You know, it’s awesome. I love it,” Ketelsen said about driving his new car. “If you close your eyes, it sounds like one, it drives like one, it shifts like. So it’s, for all intents and purposes, a stock WRX.”
All we need now is for someone to find a way to create a modern version of the iconic WRX wagon for Americans, a car that still does a few things better than today’s WRX sedan.
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