Category: Affordable Sports 
Price Range: No data available
Imposing wide-hipped looks, decent ride, searing on-boost pace.
Uninspiring engine, poor steering, cheap-feeling interior.
The STi flags behind better, more entertaining rivals.
Subaru has a history of shunning the voluntary Euro NCAP crash tests, claiming it passes other mandatory tests around the world 'with flying colours'. That makes it hard to compare the Impreza with its rivals, but on paper at least, all the boxes seem to have been ticked.
Six airbags are standard including curtain bags, while Subaru says the front sub-frame has been redesigned to specifically absorb more energy of an impact and that energy from a crash will be channelled away from the cabin.
The STi also comes fitted with a Thatcham approved Cat 1 alarm and immobiliser as standard.
