Subaru Impreza 2.0i-S AWD 2017 Long-term review - 5

As part of my time with motoring.com.au's Subaru Impreza 2.0i-S long-termer I resolved to put it to the ultimate test.

What could that be? Perhaps a slimy, wet, or loose gravel surface to show off its all-wheel drive capabilities and punchy boxer engine.

Or the cut and thrust of urban traffic to appreciate its nippy handling, user-friendly size and strong suite of driver-assist features marketed under the Eyesight banner.

Nope, nothing too hard about that lot. Instead, I girded my loins and resolved to navigate my local Bunnings hardware store car-park on a Saturday afternoon.

This place is hell on earth; conflict, cross-purpose, ego and envy collide – sometimes literally – as the home handy-people fight for the last space closest to the front door.

The Bunnings challenge is a modern problem in microcosm. And that car-park design is crap nowadays.

Entering one is to take the sheetmetal health of your car into the danger zone, while placing your own mental health in jeopardy.

Why can't car-parks be like the good old days… square or rectangular-shaped with adequately sized bays and an obvious and easy route to navigate?

Instead, they are a labyrinth. The worst of them have no rhyme nor reason, try to fit too many spaces into too little room, require ESP (extra-sensory perception, not stability control … hmm, maybe you need both) to navigate and have cunningly concealed traps for the unwary, like fingers of concrete that reach out and graunch alloy wheels.

Initially, the Impreza is at a disadvantage in this environment because it's not a dual-cab ute or SUV. It's a pygmy in the land of automotive giants.

That means spotting the parking spaces is harder, but on the positive side it's much easier to maneuver towards a spot and then fit in it than the its heavier, slower, bigger rivals lumbering about this bitumen prairie.

Light, direct steering is a real asset in these conditions. The only downer is the amount of friction that comes channeling up the steering rack from the all-wheel drive system when you've got a lot of lock on. It feels like one of the front tyres has gone flat – I checked, they were both still pumped up.

The ride is also well sorted, so those sharp-edged speed humps don't pose a challenge either. It's a composure that translates to the open road, in which the Impreza is fun to whizz along. It isn't hard core like its WRX close relation, but it's not anodyne like a Toyota Corolla either.

Back at Bunnings, Eyesight is getting a work-out as we gingerly weave our way through the clutter. There are vehicles going forward and back, as well as loaded-down pedestrians trying to control their oversteering shopping trolleys and kids looking to make a run for the bouncy castle.

Eyesight is beeping away as various objects enter and depart the scope of its radar vision. The noise is a bit irritating, but the warnings are gratefully received.

Incidentally, while our car is a 2017 model, for 2018 Subaru has introduced some updates to the top-spec 2.0i-S. They include the addition of reverse automatic braking and lane keep assist and a price bump of $250 to $29,440 (plus on-road costs).

Having parked successfully, collected my sausage on bread as a reward, navigated the hallways of Bunnings – a fear-filled expedition in itself – and secured our paint, dynamic lifter, weed killer and so on, it's time to fit it all in the Impreza.

More good news. The tailgate opens to reveal a nice wide loading area. While there are only 345 litres with the rear seats upright – under-sized by class standards – it does expand to a much more useful 795 litres with them split-folded down. So there's room to spare after we load up all our stuff.

Which is handy, because the next stop is grocery shopping… aarrrgghhh, another car park.

Long-Term Tests
motoring.com.au aims to make your vehicle buying decisions easier. Our Editorial section does this via our mix of news, international and local new model launch reviews, as well as our seven-day tests.

From time to time, we also take the opportunity to spend even longer with a vehicle.

These longer-term tests can be as short as a couple of weeks, but more recently we’ve settled on a three-month period as indicative of 'normal' ownership.

Long-term tests give our staff writers and contributors a chance to get to know a car as an owner would. While the car is with us, we pay for fuel, the servicing, and generally use and live with the car as a new owner would.

We believe long-term tests give car buyers a deeper insight into the vehicle on test, but also the qualities behind the brand and nameplate. The extended period also allows us to touch base with the dealer networks in question.

It comes as no surprise that manufacturers tend to have a love-hate relationship with long-term tests. Three months is long enough to fall out of love with the latest and greatest, and start to nit-pick — just like real owners do.

2017 Subaru Impreza 2.0i-S AWD pricing and specifications:
Price: $29,190 (plus on-road costs)
Engine: 2.0-litre four-cylinder petrol
Output: 115kW/196Nm
Transmission: Continuously variable
Fuel: 7.2L/100km (ADR Combined) / 8.0L/100km (as tested)
CO2: 163g/km (ADR Combined)
Safety Rating: Five-star ANCAP