The interior is one of the most obvious signs that the Impreza has grown up. The cabin is well designed, judged both by appearance and function, and it's also very well finished. The overall effect is that of a car selling in the $30,000 range, rather than an economy car priced in the low teens. The dash in the base Impreza 2.5i is trimmed with a dark gray metallic material. It's plastic, to be sure, but it looks good and doesn't come off as cheap. The new features enhance this upscale ambience: A sophisticated anti-theft system is now standard, as are cabin air filtration and an outside temperature gauge.
There's no change in the basic layout for 2006, and that's okay. The instruments and controls were revised for '05, and they work great. Everything is easy to find and operate, but the package doesn't seem Spartan or simplistic.
The wipers are located on a stalk to the right of the steering column, headlights to the left. Audio controls, particularly with the standard stereo, are on the small side, but the radio is placed prominently above the climate controls in the center stack, and closer to the driver's reach. The three climate control knobs are BIG. Even the standard mechanical/vacuum dials on the 2.5i work smoothly; the electronic switches for the automatic climate control in our WRX test car felt like the dials on some high-end home stereo systems. The front seats in the 2.5i, taken from the old Impreza RS, have as much bolster as the so-called sport seats in some cars.
The seats in the WRX have even more bolster, with a single-piece back that integrates the headrest. The gauge cluster hints that the WRX is a serious driver's car. It's tucked under a semi-circular hood, just as it is the 2.5i and Outback, but the tachometer sits square in the center, race-style, while the speedometer is secondary, to the right. The WRX dash trim is a lighter silver metallic, and this Impreza comes standard with leather on the steering wheel, shift knob and hand brake.
Front seats in the STi crank it up another notch. They're very firm, with bolster and shoulder wings on par with some aftermarket sport seats. The inserts are upholstered in loud blue Alcantara, with a heavy knit fabric (in black) on the bolsters. The big tach speaks volumes about the STi's intent with something you don't see every day: a 9,000-rpm redline. Despite the race-car design ambience, Subaru has finally accepted the reality of production cars sales and equipped the STi with a 140-watt stereo and CD changer.
The Impreza's rear seat is roomy for the class. The rear roof pillars are shaped such that getting in requires a steep head bob, but inside headroom and legroom are tolerable for people up to about six feet in height. Two such people. There are three three-point seatbelts in back, but the Impreza is too narrow for adults to use all of them at the same time, unless those three people are on very, very good terms.
With 11 cubic feet of storage space, the trunk is as roomy as it gets in this class. Think of the Impreza this way. Two people can carry all the luggage they'll conceivably need for a trip of any length, traveling comfortably throughout, with room to pick up a hitchhiker if they wish.
The Impreza wagons have a 60/40 split fold-down rear seatback, with cargo retaining bars, a grocery-bag hook and cargo cover in all models. The Outback Sport also has 12-volt power point in the cargo area.
With the rear seat in place, the Impreza wagon has more than twice the cargo space of the sedan (23.8 cubic feet). Fold the seat and it opens 61.6 cubic feet of cargo volume behind the front seats. How much is that? Almost as much as a full-size Cadillac Escalade SUV with its third seat removed (64 cubic feet), and not too much less than the maximum in a smaller SUV like the Chevy Equinox (68 cubic feet).
