Subaru has at least four things going for it.
With the exception of just one model — the BRZ sport coupe — every car it sells comes standard with all-wheel drive. This is particularly standout in the lower-priced sedan/wagon market, where Subaru's entry-level model, the Impreza, competes.
The Impreza is available in both sedan and five-door hatchback body styles. Prices start at $18,395 for the base 2.0i trim with a manual transmission. A top-of-the-line Limited hatchback with automatic transmission has a price tag of $24,595.
Because it is the only vehicle in this class and price range that comes standard with AWD, and because no other cars in its price range even offer AWD, the Impreza has few direct competitors.
What's New
The 2017 Impreza has more interior room and a stronger standard engine, and it gets better mileage than before.
What's Good
The AWD costs about the same — or less — than most charge for FWD.
Manual transmission isn't limited to base trim; it's available in the Sport as well as the entry-level 2.0i.
It has more back seat legroom than several other cars in its class.
What's Not So Good
Added weight of AWD slows it down.
There's no stronger/optional engine available. (The Honda Civic, Mazda3 and several others offer upgrade engines.)
Some interior panels are hard and plastic-y.
Under the Hood
In addition to standard AWD, the Impreza (like all Subarus, including the half-Toyota BRZ) has something else no other cars in its class has or offer: a 2.0-liter boxer engine.
This is car slang for an engine that lays flat with pairs of cylinders mounted facing each other across the crankshaft, so that when one piston fires, it essentially boxes the opposite piston. This back-and-forth motion cancels out engine vibration without heavy external balancers, which in-line and "v" engines usually have to have in order to not shake to death.
Since the Subaru'a boxer engine doesn't need an external balancer, it is lighter. Its weight is also more evenly distributed (hence the symmetric moniker), and the engine itself sits lower in the car — both of which are help with handling.
Power is up slightly — to 152 horsepower from 148 last year.
So is fuel economy, with 28 mpg city, 38 mpg highway — only a few MPG off the pace of the class-best Honda Civic, which is capable of 41 mpg on the highway.
On the Road
Subarus are immensely popular in my neck of the woods, where it snows heavily in the winter.
Their boxer engines seem to last indefinitely, which may be a function of the inherently balanced layout.
The car has tight steering — two and a half turns lock to lock — and an equally tight turning circle (35.4 feet), which gives it a nimble easy-to-drive feel.
At the Curb
The 2017 Impreza is the largest Impreza to date.
Like other compacts, the new Impreza inches ever closer to being a midsized car in all but name. The wheelbase is 1 inch longer (105.1 inches), and the car itself is 1.6 inches longer overall (182.1 inches for the sedan).
Go back five or so years and those specs would have qualified as midsized.
Inside, there's 43.1 inches of legroom for the front seat occupants and 36.5 inches for the people riding in the back seat. To give you a feel for what that means as far as spaciousness, back when the Impreza was a compact, it only had 33.5 inches of back seat legroom.
The sedan's trunk, however, is still compact at just 12.3 cubic feet (the Civic has a midsized car's 15.1-cubic foot trunk). But, just like the Mazda3, which also has a small trunk in the sedan body style, you can fix this by going with the five-door hatchback version. This almost doubles the cargo area behind the back seat to 20.8 cubic feet; double that, or 55.3 cubic feet, is provided if you fold them flat. The liftgate access also allows you to get cargo in there that would never fit through the smaller aperture of the sedan's trunk lid.
Just as the shell verges on midsized now, the trimmings are a notch above the entry level, even though this is still Subaru's least expensive car.
The Rest
The Impreza still has a pull-up emergency brake lever. More and more new cars have a push-button electric parking brake. The distinction is real and important.
With a pull-up emergency brake lever, you are not dependent on actuators and sensors, so if the car goes dark or there is a computer snafu, you can still use the emergency brake. Also, with a pull-up brake handle, you can control/modulate the braking force applied, so as to come to a controlled stop. With an electric-actuated parking brake, you can't.
The bottom line: Even more amazing than the AWD Impreza's low sticker price is that no one else has tried to horn in on this action.
To find out more about Eric and read his past columns, please visit the Creators Syndicate webpage at www.creators.com. His new book, Don't Get Taken for a Ride! will be available soon.
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