27 Sep 06
So just how slow is it? Very. The flat-four petrol engine makes 103bhp and 105lb-ft of torque and however hard you work the five-speed manual gearbox, the 1.5R simply refuses to go fast. Faced with a mid-sized hill, you'll have to change down at least once. There's no surge of power, ever. The 0-60mph time is 13.5 seconds, which is the slowest of any Subaru since the Justy trundled off to the great snail-racing party in the sky.
The fuel consumption's pretty good, though, at 35.8mpg on the combined cycle, and the chassis goes a long way towards making up for the engine's limitations. It's got beautifully responsive steering, a firm but not harsh ride and is supremely well balanced at all times, thanks in part to the low centre of gravity. Even on good road surfaces, the four-wheel drive system makes a subtle but useful contribution to the car's poise; like the Golf 4Motion and the Alfa 159 Q4, the Impreza feels more composed than a front-drive car.
There are a couple of disappointments. It's quite noisy; less so than the hot Imprezas, true, but your expectations are different in a family runabout. There's also a little slackness in the gearshift action. And although the Legacy and new Tribeca show that Subaru is perfectly capable of making an interior that looks and feels good, the Impreza's does neither.
It will be interesting to see how well the 1.5R sells and who buys it. Anyone who spends a lot of time in the countryside knows the benefits of four-wheel drive and anyone who lives in the city will tell you that a highly strung engine is more trouble than it's worth. Anyone with kids, wherever they live, will make good use of the hatch/estate spaciousness. The 1.5R has got a lot to offer, at a very competitive price.
But anyone who's ever driven an Impreza Turbo will be all too well aware of what's missing.
