Tokyo Motor Show 2015: The Next-gen Subaru Impreza, or #SaveTheWagon

Aaron Cole
by Aaron Cole

At least we know that Subaru is planning on keeping the five-door through 2017.

Subaru showed off it’s cleverly named Impreza Concept in Tokyo on Tuesday. (Or was it Wednesday? With the international time travel line, I always get mixed up.) It will preview the next-generation Impreza when it arrives — probably around 2017.

The car sports a more angular face and rear end, alongside shoulder and hip flares that are connected through the car’s high belt line. If you place your hands over the front and rear wheels in the side profile picture, you’ll probably get a good look at Subaru’s next Impreza, I’m betting.

The Impreza Concept sports some signature concept-esque features that will likely go away come production time: Whiskers from the front grille? Check. Overly complicated fog lights? Check. Strongly defined hockey stick along the side? Check.

Thank goodness for some interesting lines because Subaru’s new “Enjoyment and Peace of Mind” design language reads like Ambien on paper.

But what’s interesting from the wagon is how the rear end will translate to the sedan. The vast expanse of sheet metal between the rear license plate holder and the rear bumper have to go away somehow in the four-door version, right? Guys?

Subaru didn’t offer any details on the Impreza’s powertrain, saying only that the Impreza will be all-wheel drive. We expect an FA up front, but whether that gets married to a manual transmission in the next generation is anyone’s guess.



Aaron Cole
Aaron Cole

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  • Bertvl Bertvl on Oct 28, 2015

    That's not a wagon. That's a hatchback.

  • Wmba Wmba on Oct 28, 2015

    The FA engine is a specialty item with two versions, one NA for the BRZ with dual injection, the other the turbo WRX and with cheaper valvetrain the Forester XT. The normal Subaru engine since 2011 is the FB in 2.0 and 2.5l forms. Given DI and cylinder deactivation for 2017, the 2.0 FB Mk II will be Subaru's new standard, with a 1.6 turbo for more power in the bigger cars. Same trajectory Honda is using on the new Civic, also Ford, etc., etc.

  • Redapple2 Love the wheels
  • Redapple2 Good luck to them. They used to make great cars. 510. 240Z, Sentra SE-R. Maxima. Frontier.
  • Joe65688619 Under Ghosn they went through the same short-term bottom-line thinking that GM did in the 80s/90s, and they have not recovered say, to their heyday in the 50s and 60s in terms of market share and innovation. Poor design decisions (a CVT in their front-wheel drive "4-Door Sports Car", model overlap in a poorly performing segment (they never needed the Altima AND the Maxima...what they needed was one vehicle with different drivetrain, including hybrid, to compete with the Accord/Camry, and decontenting their vehicles: My 2012 QX56 (I know, not a Nissan, but the same holds for the Armada) had power rear windows in the cargo area that could vent, a glass hatch on the back door that could be opened separate from the whole liftgate (in such a tall vehicle, kinda essential if you have it in a garage and want to load the trunk without having to open the garage door to make room for the lift gate), a nice driver's side folding armrest, and a few other quality-of-life details absent from my 2018 QX80. In a competitive market this attention to detai is can be the differentiator that sell cars. Now they are caught in the middle of the market, competing more with Hyundai and Kia and selling discounted vehicles near the same price points, but losing money on them. They invested also invested a lot in niche platforms. The Leaf was one of the first full EVs, but never really evolved. They misjudged the market - luxury EVs are selling, small budget models not so much. Variable compression engines offering little in terms of real-world power or tech, let a lot of complexity that is leading to higher failure rates. Aside from the Z and GT-R (low volume models), not much forced induction (whether your a fan or not, look at what Honda did with the CR-V and Acura RDX - same chassis, slap a turbo on it, make it nicer inside, and now you can sell it as a semi-premium brand with higher markup). That said, I do believe they retain the technical and engineering capability to do far better. About time management realized they need to make smarter investments and understand their markets better.
  • Kwik_Shift_Pro4X Off-road fluff on vehicles that should not be off road needs to die.
  • Kwik_Shift_Pro4X Saw this posted on social media; “Just bought a 2023 Tundra with the 14" screen. Let my son borrow it for the afternoon, he connected his phone to listen to his iTunes.The next day my insurance company raised my rates and added my son to my policy. The email said that a private company showed that my son drove the vehicle. He already had his own vehicle that he was insuring.My insurance company demanded he give all his insurance info and some private info for proof. He declined for privacy reasons and my insurance cancelled my policy.These new vehicles with their tech are on condition that we give up our privacy to enter their world. It's not worth it people.”
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