Dangit Subaru, why you gotta go screw up my plans?

"Textured Soy Protein" (texturedsoyprotein)
03/23/2016 at 13:11 • Filed to: None

The lease on my gf’s 2013 Honda Civic is up in July. We’ve started looking at what her next car will be and had narrowed it down to the Subaru Impreza hatch (or Crosstrek), or Honda HR-V. But now Subaru just announced a new Impreza and this is throwing a wrench in my planning.

So far I’m the one who has gone out and done the advance scouting on cars for her, because she prefers to stay far away from car dealerships if she can.

The current 2016 Impreza hatch was pretty decent when I checked it out, but not all that different from her Civic aside from being a hatchback and awd. A little smoother ride and more torque, and better visibility out the front. The dash is not as nice but the seats are better. Maybe slightly noisier but in the same ballpark. We’d get one with heated seats and a sunroof instead of her total base-model Civic LX.

I’ve only sat in an HR-V, not driven one, but oh boy that is one roomy little car. Compared to the Impreza it’s an on-demand awd system vs. a proper center differential, it has a twist-beam rear suspension which I’m not a big fan of, and the dash is all stupid capacitive buttons. We’re in Wisconsin and spend several months of the year driving with gloves on. We have capacitive gloves, but still, I hate capacitive buttons. That said, an HR-V EX (again for those heated seats and sunroof) is still on the table. Need to go drive one.

The supposedly most-Jalop car in this segment, the Mazda CX-3, is a non-starter. It’s got a tiny back seat and trunk, a super high beltline and small windows which make it claustrophobic feeling, and the ride is too rough. Sure it’s fun-ish but that’s not worth giving up on the practical stuff like a back seat where adults can sit comfortably, which is not really possible in the CX-3. I also hate cars with bad visibility. No dice.

The new 2017 Impreza has a new platform, a new interior, standard Android Auto which I think my gf would actually like since she’s a big fan of her Android phone and tablet, supposedly sportier handling while keeping a comfy ride, and the Sport trim has what Subaru calls Active Torque Vectoring. They don’t explain how it works so it could be just brake-based, but who knows.

So...yay, new Impreza! Maybe we’ll lease one! Doesn’t really make sense to lease a soon-to-be old one when the new one was just announced, right? Except Subaru hasn’t said yet when the 2017 will be available. The !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! only says “[t]he new Impreza...arrives in Subaru dealerships in late 2016.”

Come on Subaru! Can I get an actual arrival date? Because we’ve only got this Civic until July and I’d sure like to have the option to pick up a 2017 Impreza by the time the lease ends.

DISCUSSION (13)

BrianGriffin thinks “reliable” is just a state of mind > Textured Soy Protein
03/23/2016 at 13:14

Subaru generally begins deliveries for its model year in late July/ early August, so there's that.

cazzyodo > Textured Soy Protein
03/23/2016 at 13:19

My friend has been monitoring this for the past couple months and emailed me about 20 minutes ago.

I’m looking forward to a summer of “WHERE IS THIS?!?!?!?”

gawdzillla > Textured Soy Protein
03/23/2016 at 13:23

by then subaru will come out with the 2017 wrx and u’d be asking the same question again

The Dummy Gummy > Textured Soy Protein
03/23/2016 at 13:29

What car does she want? This post makes it seem heavily biased to what you like. Or did she see the Impreza and say ooooo?

Boxer_4 > Textured Soy Protein
03/23/2016 at 13:29

I heard them say on dealer lots 4th quarter 2016 for the new Impreza.

The Powershift in Steve's '12 Ford Focus killed it's TCM (under warranty!) > Textured Soy Protein
03/23/2016 at 13:30

...why not jump on a current Impreza? Yeah, the new ones will be better, but odds are they will be giving the current models away right when she needs a new car. The deals should be killer, which will make up for driving a brand new old model.

Textured Soy Protein > gawdzillla
03/23/2016 at 13:31

Nah, for her car we don’t want something like a WRX. Regular non-turbo is the move.

Textured Soy Protein > The Powershift in Steve's '12 Ford Focus killed it's TCM (under warranty!)
03/23/2016 at 13:32

That’s a possibility but it’d have to be a really good deal on a 2016.

Textured Soy Protein > Boxer_4
03/23/2016 at 13:33

Argh, that’s not soon enough!

Textured Soy Protein > The Dummy Gummy
03/23/2016 at 13:34

Yeah she’s on the Subaru bandwagon, she loves the pearl white on the Impreza hatch, and even though the HR-V is also awd she feels more confident the Subaru will do better in the snow.

The Dummy Gummy > Textured Soy Protein
03/23/2016 at 13:39

Subaru (biased here, own two of them) is by far the best car I’ve driven in the snow. I’d highly recommend it for their AWD/snow capabilities and their reliability.

I was only asking because of the wording in the post. I’d feel bad pushing it if it was more your envy rubbing off on her while she tries to get a new car.

Textured Soy Protein > The Dummy Gummy
03/23/2016 at 14:00

I see how it could read that way. It’s really about what she wants, so when I say “I” it’s more what I think she would or wouldn’t like.

We take her car on a fair number of road trips, where I do most/all of the driving, so I’d want some input, but I get that anyway because she prefers for me to narrow the shopping down to a couple finalists for her to choose from. For example, the CX-3's terrible visibility and tiny back seat are dealbreakers for me, so I told her about those things and she was fine with crossing it off the list.

I showed her the 2017 Impreza and she agrees that she’d like to wait for it if we can.

The Dummy Gummy > Textured Soy Protein
03/23/2016 at 14:05

I like your selection a lot. But as I said before I’m heavily Subaru biased haha.