Subaru Impreza Review
Published: 2nd February 2008
Subaru Impreza
The 2.0R is priced at £14,995 but gains a few more goodies than its smaller engined counterpart. Apart from the larger wheels it has a windscreen wiper de-icer, heated door mirrors, Xenon headlamps and Subaru Vehicle Dynamics Control to help keep you on the straight and narrow.
The test car was the 2.0RX, which majors on convenience with ‘smart entry’, keyless entry and push-button start, and cruise control. In this version, the single CD/radio comes with 10 speakers and not four and the RX gains an integrated Satellite-Navigation system with a large, full-colour, touch-screen.
All of the prices mentioned are for Imprezas with a 5-speed manual gearbox; for the alternative, 4-speed automatic ‘box with sequential shift, simply add £1,000. However, there is no such choice for the WRX, which is priced at £19,995 (over £1,100 less than its predecessor). This buys a 6-CD audio system, a limited-slip differential and a lot more performance.
The 1.5 ‘boxer’ engine has been tweaked for better low to mid-range torque but is high-revving at the same time. The same can be said of the 2.0-litre unit in the R and RX, which produces 150PS (147.4bhp) at 6,400rpm. That is a drop of 10PS but the torque has been increased by 10Nm and is now 196Nm (144.6lb ft) at 3,200rpm.
The revisions have improved the fuel consumption figures by 2mpg for the combined cycle, making the manual version 25.4- 40.9- and 33.6mpg for the urban, extra-urban and combined, respectively. With the automatic gearbox, the urban figure is the same but it does slightly better on the extra-urban cycle with 43.5mpg, and the combined works out at 34.4mpg.
The emissions are reduced, too with the manual RX throwing out 199g/km and the auto’, 194g/km, which represents a drop of 15- and 13g/km, respectively.
The 2.0 engine doesn’t benefit from a turbo-charger and it shows in the 0-62mph sprint time of 9.2 seconds, which is just over 3 seconds slower than the 2.5 WRX and with a top speed of 120mph, it is 10mph slower than the turbo’d car.
Although the test car’s sprint time is not blisteringly fast it is still a pleasure to drive. It behaves like a perfectly good family car, but if you keep it in the lower gears, the engine noise is such that you might well think that you are in a rally car, albeit a good bit slower and much, much more comfortable.
I have mentioned that the new platform is longer (95mm) and wider (50mm) and that translates as greater stability on the road. In addition, the engine position has been lowered by 10mm, which is enough to alter the centre of gravity in a favourable way. The suspension has been tweaked as well, which is evident in the ride and handling, even when the road surface is not at its best.
