It's not an auspicious beginning for the Impreza hatch. Many have question the looks and the decision to switch from wagon to hatch. I'm fine with a hatchback, but the nose (as has afflicated many scoobies) is just atrocious.
Auto Express recently drove the Mazda 3 1.6 TS, Vauxhall Astra 1.6 Life and the Subaru Impreza 1.5 R. The troubling news for Subaru is that the all-new Impreza placed last. The winner? Who else could it be? The Mazda 3. Every time I drive a Mazda 3 I always walk away impressed, the car is just plain fun to drive. The Astra is no slouch. I've only had limited exposure to the car in Europe, but I love the styling and interior appointments. It will be great to have the Astra here and I think it will have a lot of appeal as being "something different" yet quite capable in its own right.
But back to the Impreza. Why did it finish last? Besides objecting to the exterior styling, AE thought that the interior didn't match up either:
But back to the Impreza. Why did it finish last? Besides objecting to the exterior styling, AE thought that the interior didn't match up either:
The materials feel cheap and the vast expanse of grey plastics is unappealing. Everything seems rather dated, and this isn’t helped by the old-fashioned column stalks and standard instrument dials.
What I'm excited about is that soon we'll be able to do a similar comparo here in the states! It will be interesting to see how the trio in US spec shake down.
Full AE review is located here.
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