2012 Impreza

Subaru has announced the 2012 Impreza. While I am currently still enjoying my 2009 WRX, and if you talk to my wife we are keeping it for like 15 years, I am interested to see the improvements that Subaru is putting into the basic Impreza.

I am guessing the basic goodness of the '12 Impreza will carry over in many ways to the coming WRX/STI models, though for the first time Subaru is holding over the performance models while they will sell a new Impreza beside them. I am sure this has to do with money and development time and other such things I don't fully understand, though it will be interesting to see how many old chassis performance models they can move when there is a sign of things to come sitting across the showroom. The rabid Subaru performance community is awash with potential customers asking "should I wait until next year?"

In my mind the big deals with the 2012 Impreza are fuel economy and refinement. The headline maker is the 36mpg highway number with the all new 2.0 "FB20" motor and CVT transmission. We have no idea if this will have an effect on the WRX, could it be a return to a 2 liter WRX? Is fuel economy on the minds of target WRX buyers? I certainly did not give much thought to it when I purchased, but over time I realized that this car is a bit more thirsty than I thought.

As for refinement, it is good to see a return to "soft touch" materials on the dash and doors. So many people say they never touch the dash so they only care that it looks nice. I disagree here, I have been a bit let down by the almost entirely plastic doors and dash in my WRX. Having a plastic dash panel just reminds you that you have been a bit "cheaped out." It also reduces sound absorbtion and increases potential rattles as I have learned. It wasn't enough for me to not buy the car, but it did make me think about whether I would buy another Subaru. I am sure they did what they had to do, and reducing cost was big for the 2008 Impreza, but this move was a little much in my view. Especially right before a slew of new compacts were hitting the market with upgraded interiors. But Subaru is righting what once was wrong, they are getting with the program and following the trend of more premium small cars, without pricing themselves out of the market.

On the whole, as a Subaru junkie I realize outside of the engine and transmission this car is not exactly "all new" it is a refinement of the existing chassis from what I can gather. This is historically how Subaru works as the original Impreza traced all the way back to the original Legacy. The later Imprezas and Legacies were refinements of those designs. The 2005 Legacy and the later 2008 Impreza were significantly new designs.

With this 2012 Impreza, the suspension, layout, the external size generally stay the same, the big changes being styling for better aerodynamics and reduced weight. In that vein, kudos to Subaru for continually addressing weight. The Impreza has remained a light car for an AWD compact over the years. As an enthusiast, I know the benefits of weight reduction are significant for economy, performance and handling. Subaru does too, as they are claiming this Impreza offers more performance with a smaller motor and better fuel economy, as well as increased range with a smaller fuel tank, than the existing Impreza.

I like the looks of this 2012 Impreza and I am excited to see what the coming WRX and STI models will bring. Subaru has never been known for their styling, though I think the basic look of the sedan has a nice wedgey profile and aggressive looking headlights. I am not so sure about the creased look with the hatchback model. I bought the better looking hatch option with my WRX, but I think the styling pendulum is swinging back toward the sedan being the better looking version, as it had been with the 02-07 Generation of WRX.

Track Time

I was reading an old Car and Driver comparison test today. They republish some classic articles from their back issues on their website. To me it is some of their most enjoyable and valuable content. The article that piqued my interest was a sport coupe comparo from 1985. Just about every 4 seat sports coupe of the day was included.

I didn't agree with some of the conclusions. The Mustang SVO was so far beyond everything else in performance. The editors indicted it for turbo lag and dated interior and tossed it in 5th place. I've driven the SVO and I never thought the turbo lag was too bad. It would have been quite a car with the 5.0 from the GT, and a new interior was coming for '87 but by then the SVO was gone.

What I did like is the way the test was done. They did the usual performance testing, with an extra slalom thrown in, then they hit the road, the PCH to be specific, to see how the cars did on the streets. It was nice to see the emphasis on driving experience. It seemed a bit of a welcome contrast to todays emphasis on track comparisons of performance cars.

It was a simpler time when reputations were not won and lost on Nurburgring times. We don't even know what the lap times of those cars were. We didn't know how many laps before the brakes would fade. It didn't matter because they were street cars.

I suppose from years of silly subjective results with unfathomable math formulas the reader now demands objectivity and thanks to the Intarwebs they have a few more outlets to provide that feedback. Automobiles in general are now far more capable, most beyond what can be controlled or enjoyed on the street, so we look to the track results to settle the differences.

I've learned my lesson about track results and the street. I drive my street car on the race track, but even then it doesn't matter how quick I go around it. I've been around long enough to know better than to put "race" parts on my car. How it works, how it makes me feel, how comfortable and confident it is, all matter more than a second or ten on a road course. I would never buy a car based on such things.

The Audi Coupe GT won the comparo. It was a dated design, with just 110hp and soft suspension. The controls layout, quality trim, comfort and over the road feel made the difference. I grew up through the 80's with Audis in the family. They really did get the basics and the details right in those days. They charged a few extra bucks but I took a look at the spec sheet and the price was pretty competitive, if you weren't focused on 0-60 and slalom speeds.

Sounds of my youth

Driving home from work tonight, I was thinking about all of the sounds I hear coming from my Subaru WRX. Gear whine, turbo spooling, recirculation valve chirping and more. It made me think back to my youth and how my fascination with automobiles led me to tune in to, and later recall, particular sounds.

I have been working on my own cars for years, from fixing my junkers to now putting "mods" on my new cars. Since I have diagnosed and fixed many maladies over the years, I have become very in tune with various noises and exactly what sort of malady or normal operations cause those sounds. This is a useful skill when riding in others' cars, I can tell them what to have fixed just by listening to the squeaks and clunks that these untrained people tune out. On the other hand I can drive my fiancée nuts when I turn down the radio trying to hear all the whirring and whooshing going on.

There was a time I can recall hearing various automotive sounds though I didn't know what any of these sounds were, from age 5 to about...well I am still learning more every day. Now I have the knowledge to realize what it was I was hearing. Took me about 30 years to put it all together:

Whirring of the transmission pump and torque converter in my Dad's 1976 Chrysler Cordoba

Clunking of differential gears when my aunt shifted her Oldsmobile into reverse

Studded snow tires on pavement

A moaning bad wheel bearing in my Grandmother's Gran Torino

Whining straight-cut reverse gears

Screeching fan belts

The sweet, sweet exhaust sound of a 1987 Buick Grand National

I think I was tuned in from a young age due to my curiosity about automobiles, something that I have carried forward to today. I doubt my sister remembers any of those sounds, or ever gave them a second thought.