The regular Impreza with the standard (non turbo) engine has neither good performance nor good fuel consumption. Friend of mine had one ... he ended up selling it and buying a Jetta.
Not all front-drive cars are a mess of understeer. There are plenty of non-mundane front-drive hatches to pick from.
Honda has finally seen the light, and brought the Civic hatch. At launch of the new Civic, you couldn't get the turbo engine with manual transmission but apparently that has been fixed. The new Civic is supposed to be a huge improvement over the ho-hum last couple of generations.
Try a current-generation Mazda 3 before you knock it.
Try a Focus/Fiesta, too. Most of the knocks against those concern the automatic transmission - but if you're buying manual, it's not an issue. Not sporty enough? Try the Fiesta ST.
And try a Golf GTI.
I will disagree with your friend.
The base car has 170hp and 170 torque
quiet motor
car moves when you step on it, cornered great, brakes were solid.
Something about it's braking setup that pulls the car down and prevents nose dive.
Dealer let me drive the car, the sales guy was a former driver and worked with some of the Japanese teams (had the pics to show). He said that is how you test drive a car. He gave me some tips on how to push the car.
I 'flew down' the bluffs no issues and in the parking lot he said drive the car as fast as you can in a circle then STOMP on the brakes...it was slightly wet too. The car kept the line, the back end did not step out. I did it a few times.
I tried the same thing with the Vibe/Matrix/Mazda3. For 1 I slowed down a lot going down the Bluffs (before they repaved it). The cars just got airy and started to become unstable on the bumpy road. It rained earlier so the parking lot was wetish, had some puddles. I drove through the puddles to wet the tires then I was trying to make the car slip and slide...damn thing stuck like glue. I was not trying to flip or damage or risk life and limb...I wanted to really test it out and push it. That AWD is awesome.
I admit the gas mileage is not the best for city driving but I prefer a solid and stable car (safer also) vs gas savings.
My friend had that concern until the insurance company told her the car will be $400 less than the thrifty Suzuki Sx4 (go cart) with way less power.
Insurance agent told her car is rated safer...car with more power and more expensive was cheaper than the go cart. So the gas price was off set by lower insurance rate.
Also she drove that car to Owen Sound countless times in winter. She had winter tires on it. Said the car was solid and she felt very safe in it, never got stuck and the heavy snow felt like nothing to her.
I saw a guy with the Imprezza WRX STI get onto the on ramp in winter with snow down....dude just railed off the start and took the corner before I went 20 feet. I was impressed.
I also noticed in the other cars they cheeped out and used lesser seats for the front passenger. We took turns driving and noticed that. The Mazda 3 with Sky active had the harder passenger seat.
Also the Subaru has thicker sheet metal, car feels solid, not like a pop can.
I would not hesitate to get one if I find one...just missed a deal by 1 hour...solid silver fully done up....guy selling to get minivan (kid on the way).
Also, there is a lot of cargo room in those cars.
but the new car must be a manual transmission, wagon/hatchback, NOT FWD. So far I am coming up with only the Impreza which I am perfectly fine with but wonder what others are out there.
