2012 Subaru Impreza Long-Term Road Test

Edmunds.comEdmunds.com Member, Administrator, Moderator Posts: 10,316
edited September 2014 in Subaru

image2012 Subaru Impreza Long-Term Road Test

The first stretch of a road trip around California in our 2012 Subaru Impreza takes us north on U.S. 395 en route to Lake Tahoe and Nevada City.

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  • fordson1fordson1 Unconfirmed Posts: 1,512
    And this is why you take the blue highways. From someone living in the Great Lakes, it's kinda funny to read about how vast Lake Tahoe is...and then looking at the photos you can see clear across it to the other side.
  • duck87duck87 Member Posts: 649
    Nice digs
  • bankerdannybankerdanny Member Posts: 1,021
    I am really disappointed in the way Subaru is choosing to go with it's cars. Universal AWD does not make up for the weak engine/CVT combo.

    My Forester had a great suspension, outstanding visibility, comfortable seats, and acceptable fuel economy. But it's 2.5/4EAT combo was just aweful. Rev's would rise with no change in speed just like it had a CVT. I can only imagine what an even weaker engine and an actual CVT must be like.

    A manual is just not an option in any car I have to share with my wife, so sadly another Subaru is not in my future any time soon.
  • 06scooby06scooby Member Posts: 3
    Yeah Subaru's are just plain more fun to drive and sprightlier when you row your own gears. When we had our Legacy Wagon with the manual, I'd frequently take summer drives up the mountain roadways with the sunroof open and windows down and at a quick pace would have a blast. Driving all the way around the lake on a summer day is good for the soul. I miss that car!

    As far as the drive, 395 is our preferred route from Reno when we visit family in So Cal. We drove I5 through sacramento one time, and I'll never do that again. The walker river canyon is one of my favorite parts of that drive... I just drove that way for work just 2 weeks ago and I always stop there at the river and lust listen to it rush by for a few minutes!
  • 06scooby06scooby Member Posts: 3
    And bankerdanny, I feel for ya. I had girlfriends in the past that had no interest in learning to drive whatever manual I was driving at the time, and I was fortunate enough to marry my wife who hates automatics after learning to drive mine, and now we both drive manuals... and nothing else will do!
  • cherryfancherryfan Member Posts: 12
    As an Impreza owner with the CVT, I don't get the gutless comments. Yes, I've seen all the 0-60 times, and I also drive a 2012 Ford Focus manual, so I do have some frame of reference. But I just drove 500 miles in the mountains of Colorado last week, with no problems entering the Interstate and cruising through the Eisenhower tunnel and over Vail Pass at 65-70 (except for the requisite 50 or so in the tunnel). Rpm rarely topped 4k rpm, even at 10,600 feet @ 70 mph.

    Would I like more hp? Always. Are manuals more fun? Of course.

    However, I've come to see the CVT as the perfect mountain transmission, because it can choose whatever gear ratio the grade requires. The much-maligned boxer engine and CVT get great mileage in the mountains, too—hand-calculated 31.5 mpg despite a fair amount of snow and ice to deal with. And the handling in snow and on ice inspires confidence, even with the stock all-seasons.
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