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THE
trouble mostly with new cars is, they are good. And
it’s hard spotting the difference between two competing
models.
Is this
one better than that?
Better
in what aspect?
Looks?
Performance?
Safety
features?
Amenities?
Most of
the time, it’s hard to tell.
With the
Subaru Impreza, it’s different.
If
driving pleasure has many meanings, the Subaru Impreza
has many leanings.
You
could lean on its looks, as well as on its performance,
for boasting purposes.
Any kind
of road, under any condition, its looks make heads turn,
its gait draws raves.
Or,
think of its safety features. Amenities, too.
It
offers you high levels of active safety and an inspiring
ride with its unique symmetrical all-wheel-drive (AWD)
system, an extraordinary feature invented solely for the
Subaru 35 years ago.
Consider: this system downloads the information from
every location on the FIA World Rally Championship and
applies the findings to the road cars.
 Whether
you are in the toughest rally in the world or the
toughest stretch of road in Bontoc or the Cordilleras,
the car’s chief objective is to deliver the optimum
driving experience, whichever way you want it done.
It’s a
hatchback, all right, but this new Impreza does not
sacrifice the legendary abilities for which the car has
become famous for the world over: stability beyond
compare.
The
vehicle’s phenomenal stability provided by the
rally-bred combination of the Subaru Boxer engine and
the symmetrical AWD is still very much in evidence.
I pushed
the Impreza Hatchback to its craziest limits at the
Skyway coast-to-coast—again, thank God, the traffic cops
were somewhere else doing their thing—and I tell you, it
was a ride like no other.
It does
not start jackrabbit like a Formula One demon, does not
kick dust from the blocks like the disgraced Marion
Jones. But, again, I tell you, it responds quickly to
every prodding—at a moment’s notice.
I raced
it at daytime and it felt impeccably fine. My
passengers slept tight like newborn babies.
I raced
it at nighttime—a little slower at the Maharlika Highway
at, well, under 100 kph—and it glided almost
flawlessly. My passengers dozed off so quickly when the
car was in cruise control that I had to repeatedly sing,
“Why Don’t We Do It On The Road” by The Beatles to keep
my drooping, dropping eyelids open.
It has
features sporty enough to make some established road
racers pale in comparison: 17-inch aluminum alloy
wheels. Muffler cutter. Front seats that sit you like
a king and queen.
The new
Impreza 2.OR Sport, featuring the only AWD configuration
in its class with Subaru’s famed horizontally opposed
engine under its hood, is priced at P1.140 million for
the “matic” and P1.060 for the manual. Not too much, I
must say.
“If you
consider that cheap, thank you,” said Ariel de Jesus of
Motor Image, the Singapore-based car giant owned by the
youthful Glenn Tan. “But with that price, you get a
monster of a product as the Impreza 2.0R Sport offers a
lot more than meets the eye, so to speak.”
The
Subaru Boxer 2.0-liter DOHC engine delivers smooth,
effortless performance through the rev range and
features aerodynamics that reduce drag and an underbody
tingle.
While
the Subaru is rally-influenced, it does not lack,
though, for low center of gravity, offering ideal weight
distribution, balance and poise.
It
barely moaned when I hit a pothole on the highway, or
shrieked when I bumped a hump.
I must
give it to Motor Image big boss Tan, a 29-year-old
dynamo whose presence in a world mostly peopled by wily
and callous wheeler-dealers has stunned even the most
shrewd CEO in the car business.
I saw
him speak in one Subaru launch a while back and his
seemingly unorthodox, if not irreverent, approach to a
game supposedly played by men of demonic caliber makes
him appear like a midget among big leaguers.
But
don’t be deceived by his looks: tousled hair, rubbers
topped by slacks and jeans in a party supposed to be
black-tie-only in nature. Who’s this, a rapper out of
Motown in the City of Pistons that is Detroit?
Tan, a
true-blue Chinese in the Year of the Rat, has been
making a statement in the industry for some time now and
the competition ought to pause and give him a second
look.
Hey,
what’s this kid doing in a man-sized world?
Times
have changed; times are a-changing.
They’re
getting younger and younger every day—and the so-called
top guns had better watch out.
Hasn’t
Toyota already infused a 9-percent stake on Subaru?
If
that’s not solid trust on Glenn Tan and Subaru, what is?
C’mon,
Subaru Impreza, impress us some more! |
