A Golf-sized hatchback with a standard CVT, 1.6-litre horizontally opposed petrol engine and four-wheel drive: it could only be an Impreza. The latest generation HR3 series model is an excellent car but with prices starting at more than GBP24,000, it’s understandable why this Subaru is a rare vehicle in Britain.
Subaru has been manufacturing this, the fifth generation Impreza in Japan and the USA since October 2016, although it took until the Frankfurt IAA in September 2017 for EU-spec cars to arrive.
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Two body styles, two engines, two plants
UK market examples are built alongside ones for Japan, Australia and multiple other RHD countries at the company’s main Ota factory in Gunma Prefecture. Even though this is the lead plant, most Imprezas are made at Subaru of America’s XL-sized Lafayette manufacturing complex rather than in Japan. SIA’s capacity is currently in excess of 400,000 vehicles a year but the Indiana works might well be expanded further as the brand keeps breaking its own sales records in the US.
In North America, the Impreza has a standard 2.0-litre engine and is sold mostly as a sedan. IM Group, the importer for the UK, understandably only brings in the other body style, a five-door hatchback. We can also have our Imprezas with the 1,995cc engine but that’s optional. A 1.6 is standard and both engines send their torque to the tyres via a CVT and the brand’s Symmetrical active torque split AWD. Unlike the Subarus of old, there are no levers to pull or even dials to turn: the all-wheel drive system looks after itself.
No other car in the C segment sounds like this one when the engine starts. That’s a good thing, as the little flat-four has a unique and pleasant mechanical signature. Not as husky as the out of production boxer diesel which some of us miss but still, distinctive in its own way.
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By GlobalDataGreat traction but more power needed
There’s only 114PS and 150Nm as neither this engine nor the 2.0-litre alternative has turbocharging, so you couldn’t call the Impreza brisk. Still, traction is faultless in all conditions and given what’s available under your right foot, the car is surprisingly fun to drive. If only there was more oomph.
Due to the need to give the throttle pedal a firm push (0-60 takes 12.4 seconds and notice too that the importer’s number isn’t one for 62mph) and the weight of the four-wheel drive system, the WLTP Combined MPG is 35.9, although the Impreza returned 37.2mpg for me. CO2 is 151g/km (WLTP).
SGP: Subaru Global Platform
The sedan and hatchback were the first vehicles for SGP (Subaru Global Platform). In the Impreza, some 10 per cent of the body’s steel is 1470 MPa-grade steel compared to just one per cent in the previous model. Moreover, whereas in the fourth generation model, 45 per cent of the body was 440 MPa grade, in the latest cars, it is 57 per cent. A first in a Subaru is the use of structural adhesive, with the Impreza having around seven metres of the liquid used in various places to reduce NVH. Another first for the brand is the use of tailor-welded blanks in the B pillars. In a move towards more lightweight materials in Subaru vehicles, the car has an aluminium bonnet/aluminum hood.
Mid-cycle facelift
As it will soon be three years since production commenced, an expected mild restyle has just been announced, but for now, this is only for Japan. Subaru of America is yet to say anything about its 2020 Impreza range, which probably means that it has been waiting for the facelift before talking what’s coming for the new model year. As for the European region, we’re not likely to see the updated cars in dealerships until 2020.
More new Subarus for Britain
The importer has some other fresh product due to land in the UK before 2020, including the Forester e-Boxer Hybrid which will join the facelifted Levorg that went on sale not too long ago. A new generation Outback is about to roll into US dealerships soon so we’ll see that model in 2020 too. Things aren’t too great sales-wise at the moment, the brand’s deliveries for the year to the end of July being down by 16 per cent to 1,466 vehicles.
Summary
The UK market’s Impreza is caught in a bit of a Catch 22 bind. This is a really good, well equipped car let down by high pricing and engines which could do with a better mix of power, torque and economy. Living with one for a week showed me why American buyers, who pay way less for their Imprezas, keep snapping them up, year in, year out (August was another record month for Subaru of America). Everything inside it will likely be working and unmarked in 10, maybe even 20 years’ time, the powertrain feels equally indestructible, roadholding is excellent and even the handling is benign and could draw in enthusiast buyers if there was just more power.
I do wonder, even if IM Group cut pricing, would it sell more Imprezas and Subarus in general? Perhaps part of the appeal for the people who do buy the brand’s cars is that they won’t often see another one the same as theirs.
Next generation Impreza
The sixth generation model should again be offered as a sedan and a five-door hatchback. Gunma Main will likely commence manufacture in October 2021 with Layfayette adding build a few weeks later. The sedan should however have been revealed some six months ahead of then at the New York auto show, which is what happened with the current generation model.
As with generation five, the platform will be SGP. A new 1.2- or 1.4-litre petrol/gasoline turbo base engine is said to be stepping in for today’s 1.6-litre flat four, although the 2.0-litre should remain the most popular powertrain in North America. The Impreza VI should land in Britain at the end of 2022 or early in 2023, the car’s European debut probably taking place in Autumn 2022 at the Paris Mondial de l’Automobile.
The Subaru Impreza 1.6i SE Lineartronic retails for GBP24,325, with the 2.0i SE Lineartronic priced at GBP25,025.
