This weekend I had opportunity to drive my parent's 2006 Subaru Impreza 2.5i for about 150 miles, on a trip to NYC. I had never driven a Subaru of any kind for any significant amount of time so it was an interesting opportunity to sample one of the more popular cars on the market today. My drive included a large amount of freeway and city driving, along with two runs up one of my favorite mountain roads; all in the rain.

My parent's purchased this car at the beginning of the summer brand new, for approximately $17,000 USD. It now has 4,000 miles on it. Steel Gray Metallic exterior and black interior. The only option was the automatic transmission.

When I got into the car, the first thing I noticed was how thoroughly unremarkable the interior was. Standard Japanese ergonomic controls with plain, simple gauges all produced in good quality, if plain looking, plastic and vinyl. The seats were pleasantly firm with good lumbar support, but unfortunately the side bolsters were sized for someone a good 2-3" wider than me. Later in the trip, the only ergonomic thing that bugged me was a lack of a decent armrest for either arm. The cabin was very well insulated from outside noise, the stereo was decent (from my admitedly non-audiophile perspective), and all the controls worked well and had quality mechanicals.

From a driving perspective however, the Impreza was a bit of a disappointment. The steering, while nicely weighted, filtered out pretty much any feeling of the road or what the tires were doing. When I could feel the car starting to get out of shape in some of the more spirited driving, the steering felt rock solid throughout, as if nothing was happening. Turning the wheel as the car began to understeer provided no feedback as to whether I was gaining or losing traction. Quite disappointing. There was also an unnecessarily large amount of play in the steering rack when going straight ahead.

Speaking of understeer, the car was definately tuned for it. Running up and dow the mountain pass in the wet, the car would push significantly under power. Judicious application of throttle, while not fixing the problem, atleast made it entertaining. The OEM all-season tires, combined with a very conservative alignment, punished the car's performance abilities.

Driving through the mountains also illuminated another of the car's weaknesses: the brakes. The brakes in this car, were quite honestly atrocious. The pedal was soft, akin to stepping on a soaking wet sponge. There was very little initial bite and you had to press quite hard on the pedal for any significant amount of braking to occur. This, combined with ABS that would engage in even moderate braking (especially on painted surfaces like crosswalks), left me with very little confidence in the cars ability to stop.

The biggest downer about this car, though, was the automatic transmission. It took forever for it to react to throttle changes, and generally made the driving experience quite dreary. I took to shifting it manually while in the mountains, and while this improved made it a bit more fun, I still had to wait almost two seconds at time for it to shift. Giving the throttle a little lift while shifting sped it up, but it was still disappointing. There are good autos and there are bad autos, and this one was probably smack dab in the middle. Fine for commuting and highway trolling, but lousy when you need to have some fun.

Counteracting the transmission was the engine. Which, I have to say, was excellent. The boxer-4 had a great tone and growl, plenty of power and torque, and the wonderful longitudinal torque reaction. Throttle response was good and the torque curve seemed pretty flat. Built speed nicely.

Overall, I have to look past my personal performance criteria and look at this car for what it is. As an upper-echelon econobox, this car is excellent. It has plenty of space inside and in the trunk, it's very well made, ergonomically perfect, (subjectively) good looking, and enough power to satisfy. This is a solid, good car. It just doesn't excite me. I'm very curious to drive 2.5i with a manual to see how much my opinion changes, and to drive a WRX and see if any of my handling issues have been resolved.

Cliffs:
Good car, for what it is
Lousy transmission
Poor brakes
Understeer

Overall grade: B+

Sucks the brakes, steering and tranny were so bad but you summed it perfectly. It's an "upper-echelon econobox," not the track-ready rally star that the public seems to think all Imprezas are.

I have to agree with your conclusion completely. When I drove my 2.5RS, the 2.5i's predecessor, the first thing that I noticed was the shotty brakes. They get really bad, like, dangerously bad, when the pads get low. As for the 4EAT: it sucks. I'll be the first person to tell you that ever since I had gotten the car, I had been kicking my own ass for not waiting it out for a 5MT to show up. And, understeer gets rediculous in anything other than the dry. The RE92's are satan's little joke on the Impreza line.

I think they are a bit slow compared to the WRXs too ...

+1

Oh, I don't know, maybe because they are?!

Silly Indian, Trix are for kids.

Understeer is a bitch in my 9-2x. Even with Pirelli PZeros. As for the brakes, I will need to replace mine soon. z0ne, what are some good brake pads for the wagon?

My family has a Forrester and I have a Legacy Gt, I've also driven a new Impreza 2.5i and a 94 Impreza, they all have a similar brake setup to be initially squishy. There is almost no bite until about 20-25% down on the pedal. That being said, it does take some getting used to, and once you get used to it's not a problem. I do hope that Subaru change the brake setup, when most people get on the brakes they expect deceleration to happen sooner rather than later.

Here's the review on my departed 2002 WRX wagon.



http://wheeltalk.fancal.net/?p=274

While the 2.5i is not exactly the same as the WRX, but the overall handling should be similar. The WRX might have a somewhat stiffer suspension, but perhaps the lighter engine of the 2.5i may result in a better front-rear weight bias.

I overheated the brakes the one time I took it to Thunderhill. I was told later though that I was overusing the brakes. So you may have been overusing yours. Decreasing radius turns downhill in the AWD Subaru feels easier and more secure than the RWD Boxster and Corvette because the Subaru pushes more into the turns and the AWD provides you with a bigger sense of traction. In that regard, there's less of a need to want to use the brakes too.