Subaru's new no-nonsense hatchback takes on the snow (sort of)

It was billed as the “highest altitude test-drive experience in Australia”.

Subaru Australia, working with the High Country Subaru dealership in Cooma, opened what was effectively a dealership in the car park at the Perisher Ski Resort for the duration of the NSW school holidays, the idea being that snow-goers could try out a new car while they’re there.

Or to quote Subaru Australia’s Head of Brand, Trent Whitechurch: “It provides a unique opportunity for snow-goers to experience driving a Subaru in an environment that frequently presents some of Australia’s more demanding road conditions”.

If you can tackle the Snowy Mountains, it figures, you’ll be fine everywhere else.

So, we decided to send the new Subaru Impreza there, and in the hands of a man who can’t really remember the last time he saw snow. This’ll end well.

First up, the man.

Morgan is Region’s social media guru, and gets around in his family’s old Ford Falcon wagon. It hasn’t been serviced since about early Roman times, there’s Coke sprayed onto the roof lining by a vandal who went to the effort of breaking in only to not steal anything, and the brakes pretty much only bite in the last inch of pedal travel. He was excited to try out the new Impreza.

So on to the machine.

By this point, we know what to expect from the Impreza. The name is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year, after all. So even if it’s been made “all-new” for the occasion, the basic recipe remains the same.

The Impreza has always been a granny-spec version of the WRX, so the looks of the latest WRX sedan – with its hectares of black plastic cladding all over its face and bottom – had me worried any updated Impreza would be tarnished with the same brush.

But no, it’s still a chunky five-door hatchback, just now with that sharp cat-like face we’ve seen on all the recent Subarus. It doesn’t exactly woo, but it’s handsome enough.

We borrowed the base 2.0L model from the Subaru Canberra dealership in Phillip, with a driveaway price from $35,482.

The top-spec 2.0S model is several thousand dollars away at $42,177, but there’s enough here to comfortably move you and your things to where they need to be. Even if the coin slot near the gear lever makes you think they didn’t really know what to put in the space.

The jumbo 11.6-inch touchscreen includes controls for wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto and all the usual safety technologies. At the top is also a graphic showing the angle of the car in degrees, although if you do need to refer to this, it’s probably too late – you’re going over.

Everything inside feels solid and nicely finished, and I particularly like how Subaru got a bit creative and used grey instead of black.

Underpinning all of this is, of course, the traditional two-litre four-cylinder ‘boxer’ engine and CVT (Continuously Variable Transmission) with eight built-in gears.

Most importantly, for this mission, it’s also all-wheel-drive. In case you hadn’t worked it out, Subaru was angling to show off the capabilities of its ‘Symmetrical All-Wheel Drive’ and off-road ‘X-Mode’ systems with this temporary high-altitude dealership.

“It took me a while to get used to the brakes,” is the first thing Morgan says to me. A definite plus for the Impreza there.

“And the revs just explode on acceleration.”

Yep, a typical CVT trait. The engine is completely unchanged from the previous model, and 115 kW of power isn’t a lot. Not that this will be terribly important to the average buyer. It’s enough that you won’t have to turn the AC off during overtaking manoeuvres on the Monaro Highway, at least.

On arrival at Perisher, and presumably after he’d become acquainted with his very first snowflakes, Morgan jumped into the WRX wagon.

The wagon bit means it not only comes with a bigger boot and less of the controversial black plastic cladding, but the trade-off is that smooth but dull CVT comes as standard. That said, it’s much sharper in the WRX, where the revs are accompanied by actual brisk forward movement.

Being a WRX, he also figured it would make a bit of a rowdy noise, something to let passers-by know the gaping bonnet scoop isn’t just ‘making up for something’. He got into position to capture the noise with a good old start-up video.

“But I’m surprised the phone’s microphone picked it up.”

The WRX was also a little low for driving on the shores at Lake Jindabyne, so on return to Perisher, he swapped it for the new turbocharged Outback.

“That surprised me – it’s a big car, but it had plenty of power,” he says.

Maybe Subaru should have put that engine in the new Impreza.

The drive experience didn’t actually include any time on the snow, so it’s difficult to say how these cars or the new Impreza perform on truly “demanding road conditions”.

But there’s no doubt all-wheel drive imparts a very sure-footed feeling on the tarmac. The Impreza corners flat. It rides well. It steers nicely. And yes, the brakes work.

As an all-rounder car, then, it’s hard to fault. And not just compared to a derelict BA Falcon.

2024 Subaru Impreza 2.0L

• $35,482 driveaway
• 2-litre four-cylinder petrol, 115 kW / 196 Nm
• CVT automatic, all-wheel drive (AWD)
• 7.5 litres per 100 km estimated fuel usage, 50-litre fuel tank
• Not yet rated for safety

Thanks to Subaru Canberra, Phillip, for providing this car for testing. Region has no commercial arrangement with Subaru Canberra.