Lexus
Moderator
So I took my Impreza for servicing and they gave me a new Impreza as a courtesy car. Got to do a bit of driving with it and I wanted to share my assessment:
I won't touch too much on design, it's personal anyway. I really like it, although not necessarily much more than the previous generation. What I really do miss is the projector headlights.
What impressed/surprised me the most about the car:
- The suspension calibration and setup is very very well done (for an econobox, of course). It's comfortable and quiet yet sporty. Much better than the previous generation that's kinda boaty.
- the acceleration at highway speeds. Maybe it's the CVT or I dunno what but 100-140 is done much faster then in the previous generation despite having 22hp less.
The good:
- Gas mileage for an AWD is indeed pretty good and considerably better than the previous generation. It is of course far from what the manufacturer says but that happens with pretty much all car makers. It will take on average about 1.5 to 2l/100 km less than the old Impreza, which is a really good improvement.
- Although outside it is the same size, the interior feels much bigger and more airy and the trunk is considerably larger and more ergonomic as well.
- Interior quality and fit and finish is a big improvement. Many soft touch materials, trunk finish is much better, nice big display on the center of the center console.
- they added a trip computer with more functions even to the base model. Pretty much the same functionality as I have in the Legacy.
- Pretty quiet cabin and just feels very solid on the road
- Very good visibility with more "window surface"
- acceleration from standstill is better than I expected. Not sure if it's faster or slower than the old generation (magazines say it is slower) but it does not feel slower and if it is, the difference is very small.
- the CVT is really not too bad for a CVT
The Bad
- sound system on the base model is horrific. The one on the old generation was not good either but this one is just ridiculous, at least on radio. Didn't try a CD so maybe it's a radio problem only but still....
- I'm not a huge fan of the identically sized gauges. I actually really like the gauge style of the last generation, with the bigger speedometer in the middle and 2 smaller gauges on the sides. The new style is not bad but I just prefer the old ones.
- no projector headlights
- a bit too much wind noise caused by the sideview mirrors
- they removed the auto on/off headlights from the standard features of the base model which I find silly. They are present from the Touring on but still...
- the interior door handles went from metal/chrome to plastic. The look and feel of the old metal ones was much better.
- they still cheap out on little things like illuminated and auto up/down on all window switches that you don;t even get on the Limited.
- addition of a pointless BMW style analog fuel consumption gauge under the speedometer but still no engine temperature gauge (just the little blue light when cold) WTF?
- still an inefficient foot-well heater ducts design
- CVT is still a CVT...feels a little weird compared to a tradional automatic
Anyway, all in all I really liked it and it is definitely up there on the list for possible replacements for our current Impreza when the lease is up.
I won't touch too much on design, it's personal anyway. I really like it, although not necessarily much more than the previous generation. What I really do miss is the projector headlights.
What impressed/surprised me the most about the car:
- The suspension calibration and setup is very very well done (for an econobox, of course). It's comfortable and quiet yet sporty. Much better than the previous generation that's kinda boaty.
- the acceleration at highway speeds. Maybe it's the CVT or I dunno what but 100-140 is done much faster then in the previous generation despite having 22hp less.
The good:
- Gas mileage for an AWD is indeed pretty good and considerably better than the previous generation. It is of course far from what the manufacturer says but that happens with pretty much all car makers. It will take on average about 1.5 to 2l/100 km less than the old Impreza, which is a really good improvement.
- Although outside it is the same size, the interior feels much bigger and more airy and the trunk is considerably larger and more ergonomic as well.
- Interior quality and fit and finish is a big improvement. Many soft touch materials, trunk finish is much better, nice big display on the center of the center console.
- they added a trip computer with more functions even to the base model. Pretty much the same functionality as I have in the Legacy.
- Pretty quiet cabin and just feels very solid on the road
- Very good visibility with more "window surface"
- acceleration from standstill is better than I expected. Not sure if it's faster or slower than the old generation (magazines say it is slower) but it does not feel slower and if it is, the difference is very small.
- the CVT is really not too bad for a CVT
The Bad
- sound system on the base model is horrific. The one on the old generation was not good either but this one is just ridiculous, at least on radio. Didn't try a CD so maybe it's a radio problem only but still....
- I'm not a huge fan of the identically sized gauges. I actually really like the gauge style of the last generation, with the bigger speedometer in the middle and 2 smaller gauges on the sides. The new style is not bad but I just prefer the old ones.
- no projector headlights
- a bit too much wind noise caused by the sideview mirrors
- they removed the auto on/off headlights from the standard features of the base model which I find silly. They are present from the Touring on but still...
- the interior door handles went from metal/chrome to plastic. The look and feel of the old metal ones was much better.
- they still cheap out on little things like illuminated and auto up/down on all window switches that you don;t even get on the Limited.
- addition of a pointless BMW style analog fuel consumption gauge under the speedometer but still no engine temperature gauge (just the little blue light when cold) WTF?
- still an inefficient foot-well heater ducts design
- CVT is still a CVT...feels a little weird compared to a tradional automatic
Anyway, all in all I really liked it and it is definitely up there on the list for possible replacements for our current Impreza when the lease is up.