2012 Impreza Prices Unchanged from 2011

2012 Impreza .Available as a four-door sedan or a five-door hatchback, the Impreza is like the buyers it targets: semi-grown-up. To make the compact car seem bigger, Subaru increased the vehicle's wheelbase by an inch while shortening the body overhang to retain the same footprint as the previous model. The sedan is still 180.3 inches and the five-door model is still 173.8 inches, but the subtle changes opened up 2.3 cubic feet of interior space in the sedan, and 2.9 in the five-door.

But the star feature of the 2012 Subaru Impreza is the fuel economy, which is expected to be rated at 27 mpg in the city and 36 on the highway--a 30 percent increase over the previous model. As of this posting, the 2012 Impreza is the most fuel-efficient gasoline-powered all-wheel-drive passenger car in America, according to Subaru. The simple truth is that the all-new 2012 Subaru Impreza doesn't really have best-in-class anything – power, fuel economy, cruising range, cargo capacity or even warranty. The major thing that sets the new Impreza apart from its competition is standard all-wheel drive – a Subaru staple (at least, until the rear-wheel-drive BRZ shows up).

By equipping the Impreza with all-wheel drive as standard kit, Subaru is hoping to achieve one best-in-class mention: drivability. In the case of both the sedan and hatchback, Subaru has added more pronounced wheel arches to the Impreza, similar to those on the Legacy. The 17-inch dark alloy wheels wrapped in 205/50-series rubber on our test car, for example, are pretty handsome and fill out those large wells nicely.

Frequent cargo-shleppers will appreciate the capaciousness of the five-door Impreza, with 52.4 cubic feet of usable space available with the rear seats folded. That's an improvement of exactly eight cubic feet versus the 2011 model, and 7.6 cubic feet versus the 2012 Ford Focus five-door. Overall, the 2012 Impreza's interior is where we see the largest improvement in quality.

The only engine available for 2012 is Subaru's all-new 2.0-liter boxer flat-four, good for 148 horsepower and 145 pound-feet of torque. Both a CVT and five-speed manual transmission are available, but the continuously variable unit is the only transmission offered on Limited models. CVT-equipped cars come with steering wheel-mounted paddle shifters with six 'gears' to choose from. Lower weight and lower power has improved overall economy, though, and even with all-wheel drive, the Impreza can achieve up to 36 miles per gallon on the highway. With the manual transmission, the Impreza nets 25/34 mpg city/highway (in the sedan – the hatch's highway number drops to 33 mpg with the manual box).

Despite all the changes, pricing for the 2012 Impreza hasn't changed from 2011 – the base, four-door car starts at $17,495 (plus $750 for destination), with the five-door commanding an additional $500. The Impreza has never been a sales superstar, with Subaru's Outback, Legacy and Forester models all posting higher sales numbers throughout 2011. What Subaru has done here is create a new Impreza that offers more refinement, better economy and modestly improved styling over the car it replaces.

As for being the most fun-to-drive car in its class, the Impreza might not be our first pick, but it's in the hunt. 2012 will see the Impreza lose the current 2.5 liter engine in favor of a new 2.0 liter boxer four, which puts out 148 horsepower and 145 lb-ft of torque. The result of this is significantly boosted fuel economy, now reaching 27 mpg city and 36 mpg highway, without sacrificing performance or speed. Electric power steering has contributed to the Impreza becoming the most fuel-efficient all wheel drive car in the US today, with overall drag reduction brining combined driving performance up to 20 mpg.