First to Review! Subaru Impreza S-GT

It's not a good thing to receive phone calls asking for last minute stuffs. As you might have to rush off with what you're doing, like after arranging all your files according to alphabets, you'd have to then stack them vertically upwards in non alphabetical order, as you figured you might not have time to stack them horizontally, in order. Then you'd have to quickly drive off to the nearest petrol station to fill up your car, which you initially planned to do so the next morning; undocking the pistol that kills you just about the moment you found out how much 'bullets' you need to fill in, you then had a little shock when you realized you tucked in the RM2.99 per liter V-Power instead of the RM2.45 Super Unleaded - Not a good thing in times when GM's shares are worth less than a gallon of petrol.

No choice then, you just have to pay for the price of being late, or to say, the price to pay when you're not the key player, or the upper hand in whatever that urges you to chase time, and to meet up to. Playing the lower hand is not always a good thing. However, it's quite good when the supposed last minute thing, is to drive the latest Subaru Impreza SGT that was just launched yesterday in Malaysia; had it be a Toyota Innova, I would've yawn and continue my ABC filling, but there's very low resistance when it comes to driving something that spells IMPRESSSS-AAH followed by three unknown, unheard of moniker that goes by the usual alphabets that adds 1 or 2 horsepower (R, S, G, V, T, I) and this one picked SGT for a good combination of 250 horsepower.



It was a late night, around two in the morning, and then the car arrived, without much drama, no that's not the correct word, it should read "Without much Subaru." Yeap that sounds more adequate. The car just whimsels by and got parked, followed by a creaking sound of the handbrakes pulled. No sign of screeching tyre marks, no little kids awakened from their sound sleep, and most astoundingly, no one noticed this is the yet to be seen, new Subaru Impreza Version 10. I could swear the bug eyed version 7 would still command eyeballs and respect/fear but this, the version 10 feels like a Corolla with a hood scoop. No, not exactly a Corolla, for when I was handed the keys, the very keys to unlock this rallybred legend where Colin Mcrae tears across the ego of other drivers, the key was astonishingly humble, or another spelling that goes 'Proton'.

I approached the car with - not a feeling of an excited child given his first bicycle, but a mixed feeling of wanting and doubting, given the weird concoction of a name plate that synonyms with epic performance and the rather Toyota image it first projects itself upon entering center stage. With a quick double flash of indicator lights, I'm in followed by the rather satisfying 'thump' of the door of which are of course not in the leagues of the old, maroon car parked right behind that belongs to yours truly. Well, I'm not there to play open-close doors, dashboard pinching and poking right? I'm here to drive the thing, the only option available through authorized distributors in Malaysia. The Subaru Impreza S-GT 2.0ltr Boxer Turbo.

Of all things that caught my attention when I first board the Impreza, was not the huge, prominent red lit revometer or speedometer, nor the gear lever or steering, it's that freaking huge dial at the center of a two din mp3/wma stereo head unit with these little three words that goes 'USB' that reflects off moonlight and shot straight to the very back of my retina, and registers into my membrane, tying itself together in my mind rendering that if I were to be hypnotized and asked what car I drove yesterday, the probabilities of me saying Subaru Impreza USB could be rather high. Add to that it's a huge two din player that had a 1 inch by 1 inch display, suggesting a retrofitting that could only be done by people from a country that builds parliament buildings that rains from within.

Everything looked well sorted, simple and plastics and plastics and plastics. Well I can't complained much as I've just stepped out of an 11 year old Audi that comes with an all leather dashboard, and of course it comes with all the squeaking and creaking of an 11 year old car, of which nothing in the Impreza suggest anything wear and tear prone, it's all solid, cheap, Japanese build, nothing excessive, nothing extensive, nothing garish. (Except that USB that again occupies my attention.)

Off I go, reversing out like a Corolla again, and gently stepping on the pedal like a Corolla driver again. Nothing in this car suggests there's a 250hp engine underneath the bonnet except the huge hood scoop, which actually in Impreza terms wasn't huge at all as I couldn't feel my line of sight was bothered like that in the Version 8 or 9, I couldn't feel its there all the time, which is good and not good. For people who go for Imprezas, they loved getting screwed, they love answering why not the Evo, and they love telling people about the perfectly asymmetrical 4WD system that gives perfect weight distribution, and they love telling people how different their horizontally opposing cylinders reduces the effects of Newton's discovery, offering a lower center of gravity to give the car a more taut, road hugging driving characteristics. They loved being troubled, they loved being questioned and screwed, and this hood scoop is not screwing me enough. Perhaps its not the STi, as this is the USB, oops SGT pardon me.

Then comes a straight, empty road at about 2:30am, which is the correct spelling for 'Floor It'. Then I kicked down, awaiting the tremendous kick behind from the spooling of turbo chargers compressing air into the combustion chamber and unleashing all 250 mad horses and ... and ...

I lift my foot after one and a half second flooring it wondering if there's anything wrong with perhaps some hidden settings in the armrest or sun visors or hidden steering button; as nothing came out from the moment my foot lunges to the bottom of the foot well with the poor pedal underneath it and ONE THOUSAND FIVE HUNDRED milliseconds later, nothing happened. I tried again and its the same (perhaps its the USB, oops SGT version, I was thinking), nothing happened from within 2 seconds of kick down whilst I'm cruising slowly at a speed of around 25km/h, which is the easiest speed to feel the kick from any car. I could almost swear a Corolla would've won if this is a 30 meter sprint.

The turbo lag is apparent, and such turbo lag is exactly the kind that plagues turbo cars in the 90s, the red maroon 1.8T parked right behind, had; but one that key rivals of this RM185,689 Impreza doesn't, one that goes by a more subtle name, some little ball game loved by Tiger Woods. Then given another go, I held on to it pass the 1.5 second mark, and then comes the madness, the feeling of being pushed by 250 horses becomes apparent; however its not in the way of a huge kick from the back where I'm being pushed by those 'Sports Seats' (No mentioning of Recaro here, hmm Parliamentary job again I doubt) that weren't too hugging, but rather a smooth but urging whoosh pulling me towards the horizon. The difference is like your speakers suddenly tripled in volume or you yourself actually turning the dial from Volume 1 to Volume 9, every incremental point could be felt, that's what the Impreza SGT feels like when the turbos spool and produce all 34kgnm of torque together with the 1,390kg and the 86kg me (mind you, I have big bones. ehem) ahead.


Thou satisfying, I was quickly put off in confidence, first because I couldn't feel a thing from the steering, as the ride is well damped, given the constructions at Solaris Mont Kiara, I'd have to give a thumbs up to the MacPherson Strut and Double Wishbone setup, but leaving nothing filtered through the tips of my fingers, and the rather thin brakes (maybe its the thin tyres) didn't actually gave me enough confidence to blast around, unlike a Golf GTi. Coming to handling, same goes, it doesn't behave like hard core Impreza fans would like I believe, its a find balance between comfort and handling, albeit with a very unsophisticated feel, it feels outdated but its perfectly fine, but no where near the likes of the Naza Bestari/Peugeot 206 if it were outright pin pointing the car with the steering and the body reacting perfectly.

Leaving the turbo lag alone, I was then aiming for the next thing that raises my eyebrows, the 4-speed automatic gearbox with SportsShift, one that comes with manual overwriting gear changes in an electronically controlled automatic gearbox - which in short is a primitive 10 year old technology. I couldn't care less about the number of gears in the transmission box, more I'm wondering in a world currently dominated by automated manual transmissions, and of course the class leading DSG gearbox in the Golf GTi, (a RM200,000 car the Impreza plans to undercut and outperform) that shifts in 8 milliseconds, I'm wondering how would this fare, and I'm surprised to find that it actually shifts gear more or less the same time it took me to shift in a manual, of which being that I'm no Keichi Tsuchiya, it's painstakingly slow. In fact, it takes about the same amount of time compared to the 11 year old yours truly 5 speed gearbox to shift or downshift, albeit without the jerk and clank again. It would also help if Subaru could remind themselves that even the new Honda City comes with paddle shifters on the steering.

A few more gearshifts and roundabout tyre screeching action (no 4WD could help those skinny 205 tyres grip I guessed), and a quick seat in the comfortable rear passenger seat that'll undoubtedly seat 3 in perfect comfort, and a quick glance at the cup holders, bits of tit and tat, I've decided to pass the keys back. For physically I've did all I could to understand the car, now I what I need now, is to understand the car from a conceptual point of view. What were they thinking, just what were they thinking.

Traditionally, people with around RM250,000 would automatically go for a BMW, then came a time when Mitsubishi finally realize how to make a civilized Evolution 7, much that got over with the propeller logo prestige, and lingering between dying of boredom with driving a 1.8 ltr 4 cylinder BMW crosses over to Mitsubishi Evos; Subaru remains elite. Subaru remains alone standing tall with pride as hard core fans amongst hard core enthusiasts amongst hard core drivers were still worshiping the prowess of these magical 4 cylinder Boxer engine turbo charged road warriors, the sound of these magnificent engines alone would've been enough to captivate anyone with a little drop of petrol in their blood, not to say those outrageous scoops and signature spoilers at the back, becoming an instant recognizable cult culture in the automotive scene.



However, Subaru decides to throw it all out and away in one go, out goes the noise, out goes the uncomfortable back seats, out goes the craziness, out goes the soul of what makes an Impreza, even a non STi for any matter, or a SGT or USB. I could almost understand what they're trying to do here, as hot hatches sells like hot cakes in Europe, the Golf GTi, Megane R, 207 GTi had all gotten themselves big fat cheques, putting in a formula combining a relatively powerful engine, sublime handling and comfortable 5 seating family hatch, it seems like a good bet, only that it just 'seems'. At this very moment, I can feel the quietness or Subaru fans, unlike their adversary Evolution fans, this time around, they couldn't quite argue, they couldn't quite justify which looks better or goes like a stint, as it becomes apparent that the Impreza, had a little Corolla in this one, even if it now comes with a 400hp version, it still has a little Corolla in it, and the more you spend time in it, the more it reveals, cup holders became a priority higher than a second passenger handle bar, only an automatic was offered, leaving all those clutchdophiles behind.

Subaru intends to come into the Malaysian market with this RM186k 'hot' hatch with only one selling point of having a 250hp engine, and nothing else, no refinement in build quality, a lack of proper amenities, a primitive gearbox and a rather lack luster styling, and of course most deadly of all, no manual version and no huge scoops and spoilers and noisy exhaust.

Is it a bit too rush to bring in the Version 10 Impreza SGT? Where everyone are still longing for the Version 9? Or is it too rush for Subaru or Fuji Heavy Industries (Subaru's parent company) putting too little time to decide what they want with the new Impreza? Or simply too little effort placed into the product as most of the funds went into marketing? (Toyota had just gained control of Fuji Heavy Industries by the way)

However, what it lacks in Subaru appeal, it comes in with a succumb to all approach, this is the first comfortable Subaru, and its very spacious at the back, it could swallow an adequate amount of luggage, and its a very good, quality family car for all I care. If you're in your early 30s, with your dear newly wed wife and a young toddler, you can then make your pick, a huge luxo barge Honda Accord that's difficult to park, difficult to maneuver around town and looking boring as hell (ugly even) or a 250hp hatch that could carry a washing machine, (Nope, you can't do that in your Accord nor S-Class) carries you around comfortably, had Isofix for your toddler's child seat, one that your wife wouldn't feel overwhelmingly large to the markets or quick shopping trips; this might just be the right car for you. But then, there's the Golf GTi, and Honda Civic Type-R albeit another RM20,000 away.



I have to apologize as the whole thing was too rushed, hence I've only taken one photo from the outside and couldn't take any decent ones from the inside, nonetheless the official photos are there to fill in the gaps. Cheers!