Subaru Impreza test drive 5 doors since 2012 Hatchback

Fire and Ice

Who is faster in winter: hot hatch or all-wheel drive vegetable?

Which is better, 280 horsepower on the front -wheel drive with a turbo engine or 114 forces on all -wheel drive with an atmospheric engine? Who is faster, Opel Astra OPC on the handle or Subaru Impreza with a variator? Hot hatch or a very cold sedan? The answer, which in the summer lies on the surface, was no longer so obvious in winter. We went to identify the winner on the ice track in Myachkovo.

The unprecedented snowy winter this year probably forced many to think about an all -wheel drive car. Icy roads, snow porridge and snowdrifts in the yards are hardly submitting to monoprodic vehicles. The usual picture: the owner of a helplessly rotating car rolled by two wheels of the car goes behind a shovel, or even behind the tractor, and some simple crossover or ordinary Subaru Impreza sedan calmly passes by. Here it is a celebration of all -wheel drive!


In the summer, no one will look towards imperme. Why look at it when the price of a car with a 1.6-liter 114-horsepower engine and a variator starts from 985 100 rubles? And this is at a discount! Its appearance is ordinary, and at the sight of the back is completely boring. The interior is noteworthy only with cheap plastic, buttons of heating seats 25 years ago and upholstery of the seats, to which everything sticks. And the Impreza accelerates is not at all in sporting: with a 1.6 engine, this exercise occupies painful 13 seconds. Yearning!

Whether the case is Astra ORS! It is only 200,000 rubles more expensive, but how much more spectacular! Cool body kit, 20-inch forged discs, sports seats and steering wheel, modern interior and amazing panoramic windshield. And the filling here is much more serious: a two -liter turbo engine with a capacity of 280 horsepower, a differential of increased friction, a six -speed manual gearbox and separate rotary fists in the front suspension. In a word, the OPC puts impregnates on both shoulder blades.


But this is in the summer. In winter, excess power only interferes. With constant slipping in all programs, the self -block is not able to cope, and the stabilization system shamelessly strangles the motor. Yes, and in slippery turns you don’t feel all the delights of a cunning front suspension: you are trying to somehow refuel a powerful hatch into a turn, and the vegetable Impreza envelops you without effort. Is she really so faster than a skewed? We took cars shod in the same non -nuclear Nokian Hakkapeliitta R, and went to the ice track in Myachkovo. Now find out!

Opel Astra OPC
The previous Astra OPC was famous for its ability to ride only in a straight line. The level of insufficient rotation was so high that for the quick passage of the circle, the owners had to master the braking technique with their left foot. The new Astra OPC, thanks to the new front suspension and self -block, has become much more interesting on the asphalt, but on the ice of Myachkovo all these charms nullify the explosive character of a powerful turbo engine. To avoid slipping, the tachometer arrow must be kept below 2000 rpm, in the range when the turbine is still sleeping. At higher speeds, there is a sharp jump in the thrust and, as a result, slipping and losing the adhesion.


Quick acceleration on slippery coating on ORS is a big problem. Almost struggle. You need to handle gas with the extremely neatly. The help of the Drexler differential with a fairly high degree of blocking, which is obvious on the asphalt (even wet or snowy), it comes to the ice: too slippery. There are simply nothing to catch on the 235 millimeters with tires! What are the six seconds up to a hundred?! Even on rather long Myachkovsky straight Astra, the Astra rarely manages to gain these same 100 kilometers per hour.


The struggle continues in corners. We have to sweat pretty much to make ORS go quickly in vihi. To discharge gas and a provocative counter -schedule reaction, one car smears past the turn. The medicine is the same as on the previous Astra OPC: in the turns you need to brake your left foot or handbrake. And, of course, monitor the turnover and selected transmission.


As a result, the struggle of a powerful front -wheel drive car with the ice coating of the Myachkovsky track turned into a very modest time of a circle of 58 seconds. Not fast. The ice track is not the most suitable place for a powerful Astra OPC. And what about Subaru Impreza?

Subaru Impreza 1.6 AWD
The difference is felt at the first start of the place. Impreza, even with a disconnected ESP system, accelerates smoothly and stably. In the usual state, a multi -discground coupling distributes torque in a proportion of 60:40 in favor of the front wheels. But on slippery coating, traction constantly migrates between the axes, which provides a much better hook of all four wheels. It is not necessary to stand on ceremony at the start here: I pressed the floor and Impreza went forward, limited only by the possibilities of a weak 1.6 -litful atmospheric opponent. But on the icy straight, Subaru is no slower than astra, which is more than twice as powerful!


However, it will not work out to turn off the stabilization system on Subaru: you can remove the electronic collar only by pulling out the desired fuse and losing several more important functions, for example, ABS and the possibility of turning on the rear gear. Otherwise, with the ESP Impreza on, each turn will barely crawl. From Subaru in such a car only a name.

But it is worth pulling out the fuse, and the car comes to life! There is a character for which brand fans still love and buy Subaru. Only without the help of electronics can you feel how the car knows how to drive. And he drives very well!


How easy and confident this low -power sedan writes turns! No struggle is only complete understanding. And if you want, you can even enjoy. Definitely more than at the wheel of asters: Impreza understands all the driver’s teams at a half -corner. In response to a light counter -scenery, the car immediately begins to smoothly and predictably slide the rear axle. A similar reaction can be achieved by slightly pulling the handbrake before entering the turn: yes, the handbrake is an absolutely working tool, despite all-wheel drive.


If you do everything right and put up the car from the right angle even before turning, then by running the imprecial in sliding, you can control the car only with gas only! Here they are, subaru rally genes, albeit in a very modest dosage. But even there were enough of them to get ahead of the Opel Astra OPC in the ball for almost five seconds. The time of the circle is a little less than 54 seconds.

Say that the loss in four seconds from 500 meters of the ice track is not so great? Whatever it is: four seconds are a lot. And the Astra on the ice was helped by a powerful motor, nor the presence of snow fragments of the coating and two large straight lines, where the hatchback had a chance to play the time lost in corners, nor self -block.


The Subaru all -wheel drive and the even thrust of the atmospheric engine were more important: Impreza drove a circle faster and, most importantly, much more confident. So even the most powerful hot hatch in the winter may not be so hot, but a simple, but all-wheel drive sedan can really give heat!
 

Source: Motor magazine [February 2013]