Subaru Impreza Subaru West

Sportsman for every day

Subaru Impreza WRX guarantees adrenaline injection at any moment
 
Kenzhi Kita, the first president of the Japanese concern Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd., who belonged to Subaru (now the brand owns General Motors), had a very definite and bribing the opinion of the automotive industry. He loved to repeat: if you are going to build a car - build a perfect car. Knowing the deepest respect of the Japanese to their leaders, there is no doubt that they fulfilled this order with all responsibility. Subaru can really be called one of the best cars, especially for Russia. Judge for yourself: all -wheel drive, galvanized body, Japanese reliability, excellent running qualities. What else does a modern car need it so that our compatriots like it? That's right, a powerful engine. Here it is, perhaps, the main highlight of the updated Impreza WRX.
 
Lightweight
 
Not all readers may be known that Subaru installs engines of a very rare design - the so -called boxers. Such units came to the automotive industry from aviation. The cylinders in these engines are flattened in a horizontal plane, and the pistons move towards each other. This design has a number of advantages, the main of which is a significant decrease in the center of gravity of the car, and, accordingly, the improvement of its running qualities. In addition, with the same volume, the horizontal and opposite scheme allows you to get a larger torque than that of brothers with in-line or V-shaped cylinders.
 
For Impreza, such motors are offered a couple. More precisely, one engine is one, two-liter four-cylinder, but in two modifications. They are so different that putting them in one row is the same as comparing soluble coffee with ground. A less powerful version of 2.0 develops 125 forces, which is quite enough for confident movement around the city with all its traffic jams, and for rapid overtaking on the highway. Such a machine is perceived as a solid sedan or a golf-class station wagon.
 
But the 225 -horsepower modification is a more serious thing. It is not for nothing that cars with such a motor carry the WRX nameplate, as if hinting that at least now they are ready to move off the asphalt and grab on the gravel of any of the stages of the rally. Compared to the prerestyling model, a powerful Impreza added seven stallions under the hood. True, without any serious alterations, they simply adjusted the program of the managing computer in the motor and transferred it to the 98th gasoline. Say, nonsense? Not at all. On the move, this increase is felt quite acute. Only not at the rate of speed set, but in the convenience of using the potential of the machine in various conditions.
 
On the former Impreza, the motor had a capture characteristic of all turbo engineers (suddenly a car with a light impetus began to accelerate at a completely crazy pace). This happened when the tachometer arrow crossed the mark of 3000 rpm and began to breathe in the full force of the turbine. (By the way, finally, Subaru engineers erected a tachometer to the dominant position on the dashboard and moved it to the very center, where the speedometer used to be). However, the restyled machine behaves more, let's say, friendly. She also immerses the driver into an acceleration wave and causes adrenaline injection into the blood, but does it more smoothly and predictably, without tangible jerks.
 
Another feature of powerful turbocharged engines was previously the so -called Turbo Lag - the failure of the draft at low speeds. That is, at the start of the place, I had to either tighten the gas pedal, or work as a clutch, so that the car did not stall. Not to say that Impreza lost this shortage completely, but, nevertheless, I did not experience any inconvenience in the city. It was only necessary to get used to more rigid, but also more precision pedals and gearbox, the lever of which moves like a shutter of a sniper rifle - with light effort and verified accuracy. There is not enough a characteristic sound of clawing iron. It seems that even yesterday’s graduate of a driving school will not be able to miss the desired program.
 
The laws of symmetry
 
However, that I am all about some consumer qualities? Of course, they are important for any car, but are not the main ones for the buyer Impreza WRX, which I got to the test. Despite all its convenience in urban conditions, the element of Subaru is narrow lanes, and with any coating. This is where it was possible to truly take his soul to a person who has been extended on lateral overloads. A long -shot bunch of turns in one of the districts near Moscow is a kind of landfill for me, where I try to come by any test car and give free rein to myself and the car. I can say that in my personal rating Impreza WRX took a leading place, sharing it with Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution VII and the BMW three -tank in Hartge tuning. Say that these cars cannot be compared? That's right, but I judge exclusively by the pleasure that I received from the car, and the reliability of her behavior on the road. More precisely, even by stress resistance to the driver.
 
So, Impreza allowed completely without straining to enter the turns at such speed that many of its competitors did not dream of. I was literally smeared in the side rollers of the seats, and the car never began to slide. Well, I think that with such habits you need to be more careful - the skid, by all signs, should begin quite sharply. During the next race, I still add speeds, hold onto the wheel tighter. Here it has rushed! But where is the sharpness, where is the stress? The car simply smoothly left the trajectory, with all the wheels slightly slipping to the side. If you want, take the steering wheel and play gas - the car will stand sideways. If you want, let go of the accelerator, and the wheels will be tightly hooked on the asphalt. Everything happens reliably, predictably and exactly as the driver wants. Not a gram of fear.
 
In the situation described above, the merit, in my opinion, belongs to two things-a full-time 17-inch wheels (15-inch version in the basic configuration is installed in the basic configuration) and all-wheel drive, another trump card of this Japanese brand. Moreover, the design of the engine-boxer allows the 4x4 transmission to be completely symmetrical. Have you noticed that almost any working front -wheel drive car at a sharp start from a place slightly blows to the side? This happens because the shafts coming from the gearbox to the wheels have different lengths, and by no means because of the apparent slipping. Accordingly, in the right and left turns, especially at speed, such a machine behaves a little differently. In Impreza, this is excluded. Thanks to the mirror design of the all -wheel drive transmission Symmetric 4, the car has equal controllability characteristics in any turn. Moreover, this applies to both the usual, civil version of the machine, and the combat WRX.
 
Of course, the Impreza suspension has also made its contribution to excellent controllability. It is distinguished by other shock absorbers from the previous generation machines, which, depending on the conditions of movement, can change their rigidity without any control electronics. Depending on the speed of moving the rod (with slow movement, it is higher) a special valve either dissolves the rack, making it more comfortable, or, on the contrary, clamps it, forcing it to be more rigid.
 
Salon Sports suit
 
Returning in the evening with a feeling of pleasant fatigue from the experienced to Moscow, I no longer tried to overtake someone, did not exceed speed, I did not rebuild from the row once again in order to once again feel with what confidence the car does this exercise at any speed . In this mode, Impreza seemed very comfortable to me. It would seem that the chassis is clamped, and wide tires with a low profile do not contribute to softness. Apparently, such an effect was extended by the car base, which was why it began to react much more calmly to all kinds of potholes of the roadway.
 
I just rolled in the middle row of the highway, enjoyed the little things that at first there wasn’t even time to notice. For example, a beam of new front headlights, which began to shine brighter and further; a good sound of a dual -size proprietary radio; a reflection of many bright fireflies of the original rear lights in the glass of the car stopped after me; silence secured by modern sound insulation; The powerful heating of the glass, which is equipped not only by the back door, but the side windows of the luggage compartment.
 
But special sports seats with massive rollers of lateral support are a separate mention. On the charged Impreza WRX, they can be lined with skin (finally - before the Japanese did not offer this option important for many of our compatriots) or fabric. However, I liked the second option, especially since in its originality it is not inferior to the first. Sorry for a small retreat, but you know what modern tracksuits are making from? These are the latest strong materials from the outside and a microfiber lining - porous breathing matter. It was she who was sheathed by the chairs, so that for all the time the test I have never managed to get wet even under the scorching sun. The fact is that I deliberately did not include an air conditioner on the way, who in motion takes away enough agility from the motor. By the way, this unit in Impreza is not entirely common. Although it is called the word air conditioner, it is actually a full -fledged climate control system with all the usual attributes - temperature adjustment and the automatic regime of maintaining it.
 
As for the standard 125-horsepower machine, it cannot boast of such a rich list of options. The seats in it, although no less comfortable, but simpler, anti -winged trunk on the door is shorter. In general, the pipe is lower and smoke is older. However, such a modification costs noticeably cheaper - from $ 23930 per car with a central lock, immobilizer, electric packet, S -Auto air conditioning, fog -tulle fog and ABS.
 
The combat Impreza WRX will cost more - the prices for it begin at $ 33880 for the car for the car in the same configuration. But personally, I would love to give it precisely this money in order to enjoy everything that I described above, at least every day.
 
Yes, I almost forgot: dealer guarantee - 3 years or 100 thousand km of run.
 
Sergey Ilyinsky
 

A source: Newspaper "Automobile Izvestia" [No. 12 (36), 2003]