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Watch Higgins' mind-blowing Subaru WRX STI Isle of Man record lap in first-person

Have you gotten sick of Subaru and the Isle of Man? Good, we'd hope not, because of all the videos we've posted so far, today's is the crown jewel. In-car, around the notoriously treacherous race track, with commentary from David Higgins himself.
It gets better, though. Overlaid with the video is the same biometric data that we showed you last week. The result is a heart-pumping, 22-minute video of the record-breaking sprint around the entirety of the Isle of Man TT circuit at a truly wild pace. Higgins commentary, meanwhile, simply adds to the experience of hurtling across the landscape. Subaru has also put together a second video, highlighting the WRX STI that was used in the lap.
You can view both of those videos, as well as a short press release from Subaru, below. Scroll down and take a look.

Subaru BRZ has higher manual take-rate than 86, and other Subaru manual facts

Automakers are continuing to give us a peek at the popularity, or lack thereof, of the manual transmission. Our latest information comes from Subaru, which kindly shared its manual transmission take-rate numbers for 2018. One of the most interesting tidbits was that 78% of Subaru BRZs sold had a manual. What makes that so curious is its stark contrast to its twin, the Toyota 86, where only 33% of those sold in 2018 had a manual. On top of that, the BRZ has a stronger manual take-rate than the enthusiast darling Mazda Miata; the soft top had 76% of buyers going for a stick, and the RF had 52%. If we had to speculate, it seems the Subaru BRZ is attracting the hardcore sports car fans. Although the BRZ manual sales are strong, it isn't the model that sells the most. The Subaru WRX tops it with 90% of buyers picking the manual over the CVT option. We of course suspect that plenty of regular WRX buyers are opting for the manual, though the number is likely partly boosted by the fact the STI version is only available with a manual. Things aren't quite as rosy with Subaru's more mainstream offerings, but that's to be expected. The Impreza follows the BRZ with 8% of Imprezas selling with a manual. The Crosstrek comes in second-to-last at 6%, and the Forester comes in last at 3%. And the Forester has now dropped the manual transmission. One final interesting note to Subaru's manual take rate. Subaru told us it sold over 47,000 manual-equipped cars. That's roughly 2,000 more than Honda sold in the same year. And with Subaru's total sales numbers being less than Honda, that means the percentage of total sales that were manual is larger at 7% versus 2.6% for Honda.

Some 2019 Subaru Ascent owners will get brand-new cars due to recall [UPDATE]

UPDATE: After inspection, it turns out that the issue of missing welds on Subaru Ascent models built between July 13 and July 21, 2018, was much smaller than initially thought. A Subaru spokesperson informs us that "none of the customer vehicles included in the recall were affected." According to Subaru, 293 brand-new 2019 Ascent crossovers built between July 13 and July 21, 2018, are missing a series of spot welds on the B-pillar. These welds add strength to the shell of the car right where the rear doors attach, which makes them extremely important to the overall structure of the vehicle. The issue was caused by improper programming of the robots that add these welds as the vehicle rolls down the assembly line. What makes this recall particularly interesting is that 9 of these 293 affected Ascent models are already in the driveways of paying customers, and those owners are going to get brand-new replacement vehicles. The other 284 affected Ascents are either sitting on dealer lots or in transit. All 293 models without the proper B-pillar welds will be destroyed and replaced. If you're the owner of a 2019 Ascent that may be affected by this recall, you can contact your local dealer with your VIN number, or check online to find out if your vehicle is one of the 293 with missing welds. And since it's a very real safety issue, we'd recommend you check your VIN immediately, because the missing welds cannot be identified just by a visual inspection. Related Video: