Improved handling for fifth-gen Impreza
SUBARU HAS REVEALED its all-new Impreza, making bold claims for its high levels of safety and good handling.
Built on Subaru’s latest underpinnings and with all-wheel drive as standard, the fifth-generation Impreza serves as a left-field hatchback alternative to the likes of the Ford Focus and Vauxhall Astra.
Following the new XV, the Impreza will be the second model to use the firm’s new Global Platform that is claimed to vastly improve handling and refinement. Subaru said it has set the car up to be “firm, but comfortable”, promising quicker responses and higherquality damping.
Powering the new Impreza is a choice of two horizontally opposed four-cylinder petrol engines: a 1.6-litre unit used by the previous Impreza, with the same 112bhp and 111lb ft, and a direct injection 2.0-litre unit with 154bhp and 145lb ft.
Both engines send drive through a CVT gearbox — the first time such a transmission has been used in an all-wheel drive application.
The new car is 10mm lower, 35mm wider and has a 25mm longer wheelbase than its predecessor, allowing cabin and boot space to grow for improved practicality. With the rear seats down, the boot can hold 1280 litres, which is 10 litres better than the old car and 70 more than the Astra.
The Impreza goes on sale later this year at a price set to be similar to the outgoing car, which costs from £18,995. That will undercut the £19,635 Focus but not the £16,535 entrylevel Astra.