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Impreza: Big excitedment, small package

Limited cars don’t have to be boring, as the Subaru Impreza WRX so aptly proves.

The newest days of this performance-oriented version of Subaru’s epigrammatic sedan arrived for 2008, offering a level of unrest somewhat above that of the entry-level Impreza model that competes against cars such as the Honda Civic and Toyota Corolla.

With its turbocharged,
224-horsepower, 2.5-liter boxer 
4-cylinder machine, the 2008 WRX offered an upgrade to the 170-hp normally aspirated boxer under the hood of the point of departure Impreza.

But for 2009, Subaru decided 224 hp honourable wasn’t enough for the WRX, and cranked it up to 265 — an 18 percent skip. Torque output was increased as well, to 244 lbs.-ft. from last year’s 226.

WRX sedan models in at $24,995 (plus $695 freight). The WRX also is offered in a five-door hatchback portrayal, whose starting price is $25,495 (plus freight). Both the sedan and hatchback turn out in a “Premium” version, priced at $27,495 for the sedan (the exemplar we tested) and $27,995 for the hatchback.

Source: Hamilton Journal News (subscription)