For 2012, Subaru has restyled its Impreza compact, increasing interior space while keeping overall length and width the same, lightened it, and fitted it with an all-new engine and the Impreza’s first continuously variable transmission (CVT).
The new engine and transmission combine with a weight reduction of 110 pounds to improve gas mileage considerably over the previous model. While the 2012 Impreza's 30-mpg combined rating is hardly the highest among compacts, it’s the highest figure for any all-wheel drive gasoline car sold in the States.
The company hopes the all-new 2012 Subaru Impreza will make it more of a player in the world of compact cars that get good gas mileage--with the added Subaru twist of standard all-wheel drive. The new model will compete most directly against the Mazda Mazda3 and the Volkswagen Jetta, on the sportier end of the compact spectrum.
Cleaner lines, recognizable face
The 2012 Subaru Impreza was designed from the outset to have more appealing lines than the previous model, which launched a number of new styling cues, not all of them successfully.
Subaru says outright that styling was one of two reasons shoppers turned their backs on the last-generation Impreza (the other was its gas mileage). And the company redesigned every panel of the new car to improve it.
At the front, the new Impreza returns to the traditional and recognizable trapezoidal Subaru grille and "hawkeye" headlamps. The 2012 model is no longer than its predecessor, but the wheelbase has been lengthened by 1 inch, shortening the overhangs. The windshield is more steeply raked, and the hood is shorter.
Read More: http://www.greencarreports.com/news/1066879_2012-subaru-impreza-awd-36-mpg-highway-first-drive-report
