Video: 2010 Subaru Impreza

This is a car Subaru introduced for the 2008 model year, and it comes as a sedan or as the hatchback you see here and it's still one of the only small affordable cars with all wheel drive you can get out there. Subaru offers three turbocharged variants of the Impreza. We cover those in separate videos so be sure to check them out. The base model though, still a commute-friendly driving experience and good overall utility, but some may find the cabin a little small. Under the hood is a 2.5 liter four cylinder engine. It's a bit loud under hard acceleration, but really it delivers a lot more low end pickup than you get in a lot of compact affordable cars and Subaru's all wheel drive system is pretty unflappable. Ride quality is quite good and that's something you want to keep in mind if you're shopping the turbocharged Impreza GT or WRX. Both of those cars do have sport tune suspensions. That's probably something that will affect the ride quality. Taller drivers are gonna to want to take note. I'm about six feet tall and I've got plenty of headroom, even with the optional moon roof in our test car and my driver's seat raised all the way but I'm sitting with the seat all the way back. This is where I would sit to drive it. So if you're much bigger than me, you may wish that it tracked back a little bit more. The steering wheel doesn't really help the situation. It tilts but doesn't have a telescoping adjustment. That's something that's really fast becoming the norm, even in cars in this segment. Cabin quality is pretty basic and you kind of expect that in a car that starts under $20,000 but still I'd like to see things like more padding on the center armrest here and less of this painted silver plastic everywhere. On the upside, the seats are pretty comfortable and on a cold morning these seat heaters work pretty quickly. Subaru says you can fit two sets of golf clubs behind the second row. Obviously, you'd have to be pretty hardcore to want to golf on a day like this. Seats fold down pretty easily, no drama there. Flat load floor and you're looking at about 45 cubic feet of maximum volume. It's competitive for the segment. EPA gas mileage is a competitive 20 miles per gallon city and 26 miles per gallon highway. And so as a daily driver, the Impreza certainly gets the job done. If you find the cabin roomy enough and need the all wheel drive, this is actually a pretty affordable choice. <v Announcer>For more car related news, go to cars.com or our blog kickingtires.net.