2024 Subaru Impreza: Making Affordability Look Good

Tim Healey
by Tim Healey

The 2024 Subaru Impreza debuted in L.A., and after wandering over to the brand's floor stand -- and nearly getting sick due to the psychedelic floors -- I gotta say, Subie's little inexpensive hatch looks good up close.

The on-paper specs look pretty good, too.


The sixth-gen car is five-door hatchback-only and has a 10-percent stiffer chassis, and offers a new RS performance trim. The RS has a 2.5-liter boxer four-cylinder that makes 182 horsepower, and it also has 18-inch wheels and exterior and interior aesthetics that are unique to the trim.

Subaru is making its Starlink infotainment system available in the Impreza for the first time, the EyeSight safety system is "improved", and wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto are available.

Subaru fans and/or those with long memories will note that the very first Impreza debuted in 1992 at the Los Angeles Auto Show.

There are three trims -- base, Sport, and the aforementioned RS. All-wheel drive is standard across the board, as befits Subaru. The two lower trims have a 2.0-liter boxer four making 152 ponies and 145 lb-ft of torque, while the RS delivers 178 lb-ft of twist. No manuals here -- a CVT does the transmission duties, with Sport and RS models getting an 8-speed "manual mode" with paddle shifters. Yes, we're rolling our eyes, too.

The Impreza has long served as a base for the WRX, and the sportier sedan returns the favor, as the Impreza gets a version of the WRX's dual-pinion electronic power steering.

Sport and RS trims get the SI drive-management system and a sport suspension.

Subaru claims it has focused on making the cabin quieter and the seats more supportive.

The claimed improvements to EyeSight include the ability to work under a larger range of conditions, and Automatic Emergency Steering is included on models that have blind-spot detection with lane-keep assist and rear cross-traffic alert. Updated software and an added electric brake booster are part of the updates, as well.

Other standard or available features include fog lamps, Bluetooth, a rear-view camera, satellite radio, LED lighting, heated front seats, Harmon Kardon audio, and a power moonroof.

[Images © 2022 Tim Healey/TTAC]

Become a TTAC insider. Get the latest news, features, TTAC takes, and everything else that gets to the truth about cars first by  subscribing to our newsletter.

Tim Healey
Tim Healey

Tim Healey grew up around the auto-parts business and has always had a love for cars — his parents joke his first word was “‘Vette”. Despite this, he wanted to pursue a career in sports writing but he ended up falling semi-accidentally into the automotive-journalism industry, first at Consumer Guide Automotive and later at Web2Carz.com. He also worked as an industry analyst at Mintel Group and freelanced for About.com, CarFax, Vehix.com, High Gear Media, Torque News, FutureCar.com, Cars.com, among others, and of course Vertical Scope sites such as AutoGuide.com, Off-Road.com, and HybridCars.com. He’s an urbanite and as such, doesn’t need a daily driver, but if he had one, it would be compact, sporty, and have a manual transmission.

More by Tim Healey

Comments
Join the conversation
3 of 30 comments
  • Kukala J. Machus Kukala J. Machus on Nov 18, 2022

    Inexpensive? TTAC must pay well. Coupes have 2 doors Tim.


    • Tim Healey Tim Healey on Nov 18, 2022

      You're right -- I meant to type hatch and had a brain fart. I will fix.



  • Teewuggle Teewuggle on Nov 18, 2022

    Rephrased: 2024 Subaru Impreza; Making Affordable look affordable. Honestly, It doesn't look bad; but compared to its competitor, the Chevrolet Trax; it looks 10 years dated.

  • Varezhka I have still yet to see a Malibu on the road that didn't have a rental sticker. So yeah, GM probably lost money on every one they sold but kept it to boost their CAFE numbers.I'm personally happy that I no longer have to dread being "upgraded" to a Maxima or a Malibu anymore. And thankfully Altima is also on its way out.
  • Tassos Under incompetent, affirmative action hire Mary Barra, GM has been shooting itself in the foot on a daily basis.Whether the Malibu cancellation has been one of these shootings is NOT obvious at all.GM should be run as a PROFITABLE BUSINESS and NOT as an outfit that satisfies everybody and his mother in law's pet preferences.IF the Malibu was UNPROFITABLE, it SHOULD be canceled.More generally, if its SEGMENT is Unprofitable, and HALF the makers cancel their midsize sedans, not only will it lead to the SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST ones, but the survivors will obviously be more profitable if the LOSERS were kept being produced and the SMALL PIE of midsize sedans would yield slim pickings for every participant.SO NO, I APPROVE of the demise of the unprofitable Malibu, and hope Nissan does the same to the Altima, Hyundai with the SOnata, Mazda with the Mazda 6, and as many others as it takes to make the REMAINING players, like the Excellent, sporty Accord and the Bulletproof Reliable, cheap to maintain CAMRY, more profitable and affordable.
  • GregLocock Car companies can only really sell cars that people who are new car buyers will pay a profitable price for. As it turns out fewer and fewer new car buyers want sedans. Large sedans can be nice to drive, certainly, but the number of new car buyers (the only ones that matter in this discussion) are prepared to sacrifice steering and handling for more obvious things like passenger and cargo space, or even some attempt at off roading. We know US new car buyers don't really care about handling because they fell for FWD in large cars.
  • Slavuta Why is everybody sweating? Like sedans? - go buy one. Better - 2. Let CRV/RAV rust on the dealer lot. I have 3 sedans on the driveway. My neighbor - 2. Neighbors on each of our other side - 8 SUVs.
  • Theflyersfan With sedans, especially, I wonder how many of those sales are to rental fleets. With the exception of the Civic and Accord, there are still rows of sedans mixed in with the RAV4s at every airport rental lot. I doubt the breakdown in sales is publicly published, so who knows... GM isn't out of the sedan business - Cadillac exists and I can't believe I'm typing this but they are actually decent - and I think they are making a huge mistake, especially if there's an extended oil price hike (cough...Iran...cough) and people want smaller and hybrids. But if one is only tied to the quarterly shareholder reports and not trends and the big picture, bad decisions like this get made.
Next