Photo: JCOTY
When Subaru decided that the Leone needs to be succeeded by a much better product, the Impreza was born. And beyond its success in the world of rallying, the Impreza became a household name for the Japanese company. Now at its fifth generation, the Impreza is a more mature machine than ever before. What’s more, the all-new Impreza has been voted Japan Car of The Year 2017.
The panel awarded it 420 points, enough for the Impreza to finish first on the scoring table. Next up, JCOTY liked the Toyota Prius (371 points), Audi A4 (149), Volvo XC90 (145), and Mercedes-Benz E-Class (114). The bottom five finishers in the top 10 are the Abarth 124 Spider (107 points), Jaguar F-Pace (106 points), the awkwardly named Honda Freed (41), Nissan Serena (11), and BMW M2 (11). Since when is the M2 on the same footing as a minivan?
Despite the somewhat strange results coming courtesy of the JCOTY jurors, the 2017 Subaru Impreza earned the accolade. It is, when all in said and done, the embodiment of Subaru’s near-future ambitions. “The Impreza’s new global platform has great meaning for the company moving forward and will underpin nearly all of our cars over the next decade. On behalf of all of my R&D team, I’d like to thank the jurors for their support of this car,” declared Kazuhiro Abe, the chief engineer behind the new compact-sized model.
In Japan, the compact hatchback and sedan come as standard with many passive and active safety features. The highlight, from my point of view, is the pedestrian airbag. In the United States, however, prospective customers need to spend extra the Subaru EyeSight safety suite for all the bells and whistles available, including systems like automatic pre-collision braking.
Starting from $18,395 for the 2.0i Sedan and $18,895 for the 2.0i Hatchback, the U.S.-spec 2017 Subaru Impreza is manufactured in Lafayette, Indiana. On that note, the next generation of the rally-bred WRX STI is slated to ride on a performance-oriented derivate of the Impreza’s platform.
Despite the somewhat strange results coming courtesy of the JCOTY jurors, the 2017 Subaru Impreza earned the accolade. It is, when all in said and done, the embodiment of Subaru’s near-future ambitions. “The Impreza’s new global platform has great meaning for the company moving forward and will underpin nearly all of our cars over the next decade. On behalf of all of my R&D team, I’d like to thank the jurors for their support of this car,” declared Kazuhiro Abe, the chief engineer behind the new compact-sized model.
In Japan, the compact hatchback and sedan come as standard with many passive and active safety features. The highlight, from my point of view, is the pedestrian airbag. In the United States, however, prospective customers need to spend extra the Subaru EyeSight safety suite for all the bells and whistles available, including systems like automatic pre-collision braking.
Starting from $18,395 for the 2.0i Sedan and $18,895 for the 2.0i Hatchback, the U.S.-spec 2017 Subaru Impreza is manufactured in Lafayette, Indiana. On that note, the next generation of the rally-bred WRX STI is slated to ride on a performance-oriented derivate of the Impreza’s platform.
Google News