Subaru Impreza Range Car Review

Facts At A Glance
Car: Subaru Impreza range
Prices: £12,730-£30,350 - on the road
Emissions: 155-281g/km INSURANCE GROUPS: 4-20
Performance: [1.5R] Max Speed 109mph/ 0-60mph 13.7s
Fuel Consumption: [1.5R] (urban) 29.4mpg / (extra urban) 44.8mpg / (combined) 37.7mpg
Safety: front, side and curtain airbags / ABS / EBD
Dimensions: Length/Width/Height 4415/1740/1475mm

ATTACK SUB GOES MAINSTREAM

Our Rating: 7.0 / 10

The word’s Subaru Impreza always led you to think of a certain type of car and a certain type of buyer but the latest model aims to broaden its appeal without sacrificing its high-performance credentials. Steve Walker reports

Bigger inside, lighter, of higher quality, more spacious and more aerodynamic, today’s Subaru Impreza has definitely progressed. You can even get a diesel version. The only thing is that it just doesn’t look like an Impreza any more. The car’s enthusiast following may find it hard to adjust to this but beneath the new generation car’s more generic family hatch shape lie the same all-wheel-drive mechanicals and high-spec chassis that made the Impreza great. Buyers can choose sedate normally-aspirated engines or a head-banger turbo unit according to taste.

For a long time, the Impreza was all about the range-topping turbocharged models, the normally-aspirated alternatives apparently tacked on as an afterthought. Variously badged WRX and STI, the quick Imprezas felt like they’d just rumbled off a rally stage onto the public highway. Delivering degrees of brutal acceleration and tenacious grip from their all-wheel-drive underpinnings, these Imprezas underlined their capabilities out on the streets with burbling exhausts, snarling air-intakes and super-aggressive spoilers. The concept targeted a certain group of buyers and those buyers lapped it up. The car has been a success for Subaru but at the same time, its appeal was limited by the rally-replica image. With the emphasis of the current range shifted in a more conservative, family-friendly direction, the hope is that the Impreza can spread its wings and boost its sales performance.

Previous Impreza engine line-ups have tended to be rather top heavy with searing performance prioritised over affordability and running costs. Today’s line-up is far more in-keeping with the norm in the family hatchback sector, although the standard all-wheel-drive transmission, low range gearbox and multi-link rear suspension mean this isn’t your average family hatchback by any means. Big news is the availability of diesel at last, a 150PS 2.0-litre unit. Otherwise, it’s petrol power all the way. The 106bhp 1.5-litre engine opens proceedings and above it sits a 2.0-litre unit with 148bhp. Both engines do with out the Subaru trademark turbocharger but employ twin overhead camshafts and the Active Valve Control System that adjusts the combustion process according to the driver’s throttle inputs.

These are modern engines but with 0-60mph sprint times of 13.7s and 9.2s respectively, they don’t yield the kind of performance we’ve come to associate with the Impreza. For that kind of shove, you’ll need the 2.5-litre turbocharged engine in the WRX. Here, there’s 227bhp which is enough for a 0-60mph showing of 5.4s. All the engines have been tuned to give improved low-end torque for a smoother driving experience. In the WRX, fully 163Nm of the 174Nm maximum torque is available at 2,000rpm. If you need more, there’s the 296 or 326bhp WRX STi models at the top of the range.

Subaru’s favoured horizontally-opposed ‘Boxer’ engine layout is employed across the Impreza line-up. It produces a low centre of gravity in the car helping the latest Impreza retain its high levels of grip and steering accuracy while minimising body roll. From the 2.0-litre models upwards, all models get an anti-roll bar and the SVDC dynamics control package as an extra safety net should the full-time all-wheel-drive transmission system relinquish its hold on the road. Under normal conditions, drive is split 50/50 between the front and rear axles in the manual cars (60/40 in the automatic) but a centre differential with viscous coupling diverts torque to the axle with most grip to reduce wheelspin. The WRX and STi models also feature a mechanical limited-slip differential between the rear wheels.

In the UK, the Impreza was always either a saloon or a five-door Sport Wagon that trod the line between hatchback and estate but now it’s only offered as a conventional five-door hatch. The car is 45mm wider than the old Sport Wagon and has 95mm extra in the wheelbase. This brings a useful increase in interior space that will go down well with family buyers, as will the more compact rear suspension design which facilitates a 170-litre increase in boot space to 538 litres. Despite these advantages, many will still mourn the passing of the distinctive saloon bodystyle. The booted shape always served to