Subaru Justy 1.0R Car Review

Facts At A Glance
Car: Subaru Justy range
Prices: £8,495 - on the road
Insurance Group: 5
Emissions: 118g/km
Performance: Max Speed 99mph / 0-60mph 13.6s
Fuel Consumption: [1.0](combined) 56.5mpg
Safety: Twin front, side and curtain airbags, ABS, EBD WILL IT FIT IN YOUR GARAGE ?: Length 3600mm/Width1665mm/Height1550mm

BADGE ENGINEERING

Our Rating: 6.9 / 10

Subaru’s Justy slipped quietly into UK dealers with no fanfare whatsoever. Andy Enright takes a look at this understated supermini.

There’s a guy in our office who has an uncanny knack of buying the wrong car. You know the type. He’ll sometimes choose an ostensibly OK car and then foul things up with the wrong trim level, a nasty colour, an underpowered engine or an inappropriate transmission choice. At other times he’ll just buy a car that’ll leave you scratching your head. He used to own a Subaru Justy. That was the old Justy though, a vehicle that differentiated itself by offering four-wheel-drive. Dave thought this traction would come in useful. It didn’t. The latest Justy is undoubtedly a better car than its predecessor but will have to work a whole lot harder to worm its way into the consciousness of the Daves of this world. It’s probably too good, too mainstream to appeal to those with quirky tastes.

I’ve come across some soft drink vending machines that are more complicated to operate than the Subaru Justy. All the controls are legibly marked, the steering is light and the ride is surprisingly supple for a small car. The manual gearbox probably isn’t as direct as it could be and the windscreen pillars can be intrusive when negotiating tight roundabouts but other than that, this is an extremely easy car to drive. Performance from the 1.0-litre engine is best described as unhurried, the 68bhp unit getting the Subaru to 60mph in 13.6 seconds and on to a top speed of 99mph. The off-beat three-cylinder thrum is quite characterful though and is one of the car’s few ties with what one would describe as a typical Subaru feel.

The ride is accommodating thanks to extremely compliant suspension and balloon-profile tyres but handling is a little marred by body roll. The engine is vocal when you press it hard, as you’ll need to in order to make progress. The gear lever also has a significant vibration running through it. Despite, or perhaps because of this, the Justy always feels puppyish and alert.

Moving past the rather odd pair of badges on the Justy’s front end, the car has been designed to do well in pedestrian safety tests, the deformable bumper and nose cone section along with the ample space below the domed bonnet being a whole lot friendlier than many rivals. Front, side and curtain airbags are standard on all models, there are ISOFIX child seat fixings in the outer rear seats and a trio of three-point seat belts in the rear. Anti-lock brakes with electronic brakeforce distribution are also included.

There’s certainly no shortage of headroom inside the Justy. Six footers should find no issues in either the front or the rear and legroom is also surprisingly good. It’s even possible to adjust the rake of the rear backrest. Naturally this abundance of cabin space comes at a price and rear luggage space isn’t the best. Like most modern compact cars, the Justy features a multitude of cup holders, stowage spaces, trays and cubbies. Rather surprisingly, the seats are firm and give good support, even to broad shouldered drivers. Materials quality inside the car is about five years behind the current class leaders.

The Justy model range doesn’t require much processing power to get a handle on as there’s just one model, the 1.0R. This costs £8,495 on the road and comes reasonably equipped. Air conditioning, rear parking sensors, a CD stereo with auxiliary input for MP3 players, 14-inch alloy wheels and remote central locking are all standard. There’s also speed sensitive power steering, twin front, side and curtain airbags and anti lock brakes. That’s not a bad kit list for under nine grand.

Obvious rivals include the Honda Jazz, the Fiat Panda and the Mitsubishi Colt. The truncated nose and nicely contoured rear wheelarch and wing combination are redolent of the sharply-styled Mitsubishi, although the Subaru family face gives it a bit more road presence. Given that there’s an all-wheel drive version of the Daihatsu Sirion available in Japan, perhaps we can l