The new Impreza is better than the old one, but where’s the funk and fun?

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Comfort

Front Comfort
The front seats in the Impreza 2.5i are very good. Although all the adjustments are manual, there are plenty of them, including a ratcheting seat height adjustment. The cloth isn’t particularly expensive feeling, but it imparts a sense of durability, and it’s certainly comfortable. The shift handle and steering wheel in our test car were both bare urethane, and while they’re fine when new, we wonder if they’ll get slippery with age. Also, the door tops and center console armrest are both hard plastic; the only soft spot for your elbow is the small, narrow door-mounted armrest.

Rear Comfort
Tall people will find the rear seat of the Impreza 2.5i cramped, but if you’re under 5 feet 8 inches tall it should be adequate. There is good head room, and shoulder room is fine for two people; three would push the limits of personal space. There is no center arm rest at all, and the door tops are hard plastic here, as they are in front.

Interior Noise
Inexpensive cars are often noisy, but this Subie bucks that trend with an interior mostly free of annoying noises. At speed there is some wind noise around the mirrors, and there is enough road noise filtering through the car to let you know you’re under way, but neither is particularly bad. The main source of noise is the engine. Under hard acceleration the engine gets thrashy, as flat-fours tend to, and you catch a hint of that distinctive Subaru engine note as well. If you’re a fan of these cars you’ll love it, otherwise it just sounds a little odd.

Visibility
Seeing out of the Impreza’s big, airy greenhouse is easy enough, with no particularly bad blind spots to speak of. The oddly shaped rearmost pillars intrude in the outward vision a bit, but only when the rear seats are folded; when up, the rear seat head restraints block the pillars. Mirrors are well sized for the car both inside and out, and the view to the side and front is also very good.