Now And Then: Subaru Impreza

Subaru Impreza: 2012 versus 2005

Impreza 2005
Price: $25,000 (drive-away)
Engine: 2.0-litre four-cylinder boxer
Output: 92kW/184Nm
Transmission: Five-speed manual
Wheels / Tyres: 16x6.5-inch / 205/50
Fuel / CO2: 9.2L/100km / 219g/km
Safety: Two airbags / Four-star (ANCAP)

The longer an owner keeps a car the greater the perceived gulf between old and new. It's not just 'sticker shock', it's future shock — for those who have been mired in the past.

Today's Subaru Impreza is two generations removed from the 2005 model Impreza GX press-ganged into this comparison. The older car belongs to Jenni, a mother of two living in Melbourne's eastern suburbs. Her Impreza — a facelift of the bug-eye model Wheels awarded Car of the Year back in 2000 — has been in the family since new. It's standard, other than the RS-spec 16-inch wheels that came with the car.

By no means a 'car nut', Jenni's only other experience with the Subaru brand was a brief drive of a 1999 model WRX, which impressed her a lot at the time. We turned over the new Impreza 2.0i with CVT (and steel wheels) to Jenni for a weekend. Here's what she thought of the new model...

"I felt they were two different cars," she answered, when motoring.com.au asked her what stands out about the new Impreza. "The new model has [a better field of vision] and I felt I had more control. It's quieter and far less rattly; a much smoother drive. I usually find it difficult to [drive] new cars at night, but found [this one] easy."

Subaru has remained true to its ergonomic conventions over the years. There's no single-point infotainment controller in the latest Impreza, no oddly-placed switchgear or complex operational tasks. So we expected the new model would prove easy to drive, after stepping out of a seven-year old model, and that was certainly the case, although there was one feature of the new Impreza that Jenni initially found disconcerting.

"Waiting at the traffic lights the 'stalling' was a bit off-putting," Jenni told motoring.com.au. But after a couple of days she grew accustomed to the car's fuel-saving idle stop-start feature. She did notice some other changes to the operation of controls that had been introduced over the years between her car and the new one.

"I found it a bit difficult to use the control for the mirrors and [rear] wiper," she also mentioned. In the case of the rear wiper stalk she was operating the washer on the tailgate, rather than the wiper itself, until she became familiar with the different operation.

Despite being unfamiliar with the ANCAP ratings for her car (four stars) or the new model (five), Jenni commended the new Impreza for its safety.

"Seatbelt reminders were great for knowing who has their seatbelts on in the back," she said.

But Jenni also had praise for the Impreza's brakes ("not too touchy"), as well as its steering and roadholding.

"It might have been the tyres, but I felt it had better grip and more forgiving steering," she explained. Her seven-year old Impreza has much lighter steering and lacks feedback through the wheel. In contrast, the new Impreza was "a lot steadier on the freeway," she offered.

"I felt I had much more control through the steering."

Jenni also felt the new model's seats were an improvement, for two reasons.

"The seats were much better, as I often have a sore back and neck when driving the older car," she said, and noted too that the fabric trim looked like it would be easier to maintain and keep clean than the fabric in her own car — an important point with two kids tracking mud, grass and foodstuffs in and out of the car.

While Jenni gave the new Impreza a favourable review overall, she concluded with the observation that she preferred the looks of her old car. The new one, she said, is simply "too boxy".

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