Subaru Impreza review - Practicality, comfort and boot space
The Impreza offers a decent amount of cabin space and a reasonable size boot
The Impreza is the most conventional car Subaru builds, but remains perfectly practical among the SUVs and rugged estate cars of the range. In fact, as a five-door hatchback, it’s no less practical than the platform sharing XV, but the Levorg estate offers a significantly larger boot.
Size
This newer version of the Impreza is larger than the Mk4 and this translates into a more spacious interior. The cabin is 29mm wider at the front and 34mm wider at the rear, so there’s enough room to seat five adults.
At 4,415mm in length, the Impreza is longer than the Volkswagen Golf (4,258mm) and shorter than the Skoda Octavia (4,659mm). The width is 1,740mm (excluding door mirrors) and the height is 1,465mm with roof rails.
Leg room, head room & passenger space
The interior feels more spacious than ever, helped in no small part by the additional width. This latest version also offers 26mm more rear seat legroom than before.
Up front, the driver will find it easy to find a good driving position, while there’s no shortage of space for the front seat passenger. Thanks to a recess carved into the roof lining, rear seat occupants will find plenty of headroom, while leg- and knee-room are perfectly adequate for a car of this size.
Adults can sit three abreast in the rear, although the transmission tunnel will make long journeys a little uncomfortable for middle seat passengers as there’s nowhere to place your feet.
Boot
Maximum luggage capacity is up 5 litres over the previous model, but the Impreza can only muster 385 litres of boot space. This is the same as you’ll find in the XV, but the Levorg offers a relatively cavernous 522 litres of space.
For comparison, the five-door Volkswagen Golf has a 380-litre boot, while the Honda Civic offers 487 litres. However, few cars rival the Skoda Octavia hatchback, in which you’ll find a cavernous 590-litre boot.
The Impreza’s 60/40 split-folding rear seats lie flat when folded down and are operated via levers next to the headrests. Thanks to the increased width of the car, the boot features a 100mm wider opening than before and the depth of the boot is longer by 41mm.
