Driven: Subaru Impreza 2018

Capability, safety and resilience. Are these the three qualities you’d most associate with Subaru? Or would that name better evoke Colin McRae in full cry in his blue and gold World Rally Championship car? Subaru wants us to focus on those three values and actually feels it’s suffering from a ‘rally hangover’ from the 1990s, so you need to bear that in mind when looking at the fifth-generation Impreza.

So is this car capable, safe and resilient? It’s pretty much the only car in the Subaru range now, in a sea of more SUV-focused vehicles, so Subaru has thrown quite a lot of work at it. For starters, it’s built on the new Subaru Global Platform and that gives torsional rigidity improvements in the 70-100% range. A solid foundation.

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And under the bonnet there’s a choice of two new engines, both of them four-cylinder boxer units without turbocharging. There is a 1.6-litre and a 2.0-litre, and one thinks of just how potent Subaru engines have been, so we looked forward to trying the latest versions.

And were disappointed. Since the larger engine only costs £1000 more than the 1.6-litre, we’d go for that every time, but even that doesn’t feel powerful. There’s 154bhp and a rather average 145lb ft of torque, so the competition, with its turbocharged engines, feels notably more potent across the rev range.

To add insult to injury, emissions are high – 152g/km of CO2 for the 2.0-litre engine – and fuel consumption only a claimed 42.8mpg. For some reason Subaru has stuck with constantly variable transmission, so put your foot down and the revs soar up without any immediate increase in road speed. CVT is an acquired taste and it really doesn’t do these engines any favours. You can use the manual mode which improves matters somewhat, but you shouldn’t need to use it – it’s something you should want to use not need.

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What is frustrating is that the chassis shows a big step forward. The suspension seems quite firm but there’s a definite integrity to the new chassis that works well with the improved steering and the standard four-wheel drive. It feels stable and predictable, although understeer isn’t that far away.

From the outside you might think not much has changed, and the styling does mean your eyes would probably just slide over it if you see it in a car park, but inside there’s more to focus on. It feels strong and the dashboard has been redesigned so it looks more modern and accessible.

There is only one trim level, SE, but that throws in bundles of kit, including reversing camera, heated seats and an 8in infotainment system. Safety scores are to follow but they’re expected to be excellent. There is also a decent amount of space for people and their cargo, sort of in a Golf area of load.

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So in some ways this is a much improved Impreza. The chassis does feel capable, safe and resilient, and it should stay that way if you venture off-road, going further than much of the competition. The cabin is much improved too. But the new engines already feel dated and their emission and consumption figures mean this is unlikely to appeal to company car buyers.

With a price tag about the same as a Skoda Octavia vRS petrol, it’s hard to see this as decent value for money. Upgrade the engine and transmission and it could be a different story, but for now, yes, the new Impreza is reasonably capable, safe and resilient, but those are values that should be a starting point, not an end point.

Subaru Impreza 2.0i SE Lineartronic