So why did the wagon get a 17mm rear sway bar instead of the 20mm one found on the sedan? Any thoughts?

Good question. Maybe they think only soccer moms who want a softer ride buy the wagon.

The WRX Sedan boasts a 1" wider front/rear track as compared to the WRX Wagon. Perhaps the diameter of the sway bar must be adjusted accordingly due to some engineering requirement. Or perhaps the WRX Sedan is meant to offer more serious cornering power than the Wagon. As a Wagon owner - I am curious about this too. If anyone knows the answer, please reply.

I can only guess. When you read reviews of the wagon, all early in the car's life, every reviewer pointed out the tail-happiness of the wagon and how easily it could be drifted, more so than the sedan.

My guess is that a) this was cool for reviewers but bad for Joe Average, so b) Subaru toned down the sway bar size for production cars. An email that someone posted from SOA said that the wagon's suspension was tuned for "comfort and utility," as I recall.

Only a supposition....

Kevin

What I don't understand is why the early reviewers found the 17mm bar to be sufficient. As everyone who has switched to the 20mm bar can attest, it's a great change and makes the car handle better, and it's STILL not "tail happy" if you drive it right. Of course if you lift or brake in a corner, pretending you have a FWD car that needs weight transfer to rotate, you'll find out that the tail will come around.

For those of us who are used to the RWD control of the car, the 20mm bar makes the wagon a true joy in the corners!;)

The wagon is less steady-state understeer due to its greater rear weight distribution. Also, vehicles are evaluated for stability when fully laden at high speed.

No, I'm wondering if the testers cars HAD the 20mm bar, and when they reported the tail-happiness, Subaru started having nightmares about the Dervish Edition WRX Wagon, and downsized the bar for safety's sake.

Kevin