- Living in SF and driving 80+ miles a day for work (when I'm home - that's another post)
- Wanting to head to Tahoe as much as possible (that's why we moved to SF right?)
- Currently driving a Mazda3, a great vehicle
- It's a stick shift and the hills and traffic are killing my left leg and clutch
- It's FWD, so we're going to need chains more frequently than an AWD vehicle (a lot more according to Tahoe locals)
- It gets 27mpg on a good tank that is mostly highway driving.
So Subaru comes out with a new Impreza (similar size to Mazda3) that is AWD (a Subaru staple) and gets 36mpg on the highway (hopefully nets to 9mpg improvement over the Mazda3). It's also about 9 cubic feet larger for cargo. It looks great on paper! It's looks less great in person. It's not the prettiest vehicle. I think the Thule Aeroblade rack would make it look much better. But still, it's not pretty.
On to the first drive impressions. The dealer has a nice drive loop. It took about 15 minutes and had some city stop-and-go. Some curvy 45mph roads, and about 2 miles of highway to get up to 70mph. The new Suby drives like a car. You press the gas and you go, and you press the brake and it stops. You turn the wheel to turn. I spent a weekend with an Outback awhile ago, so I've drive a CVT before. I don't mind the sound of the engine just sitting at an RPM while the vehicle accelerates. Just pay attention to the surrounding traffic and adjust speed accordingly. You can't listen to the engine to know your speed anymore. I noticed 2 weird things:
- As noted in some "professional" auto reviews - there is an engine braking feature under some conditions that is odd. I accelerated hard to merge into a gap, and into a left turn lane, and then immediately hit the brakes to stop for the left turn lane light. The engine was at about 4000rpm and, just like a manual transmission, stayed there as I braked. This added a tremendous amount of engine braking to a situation that I would normally expect an automatic tranny to just freewheel. I'd probably get used to it in a week.
- When merging into traffic from a moderate speed, you floor it, the engine revs high (and loud), and then, much like engaging a clutch on a manual, you feel this surge of acceleration. The odd part is the delay between the engine speed change and the "clutch engagement" feel. I would guess the engine is getting up to its power band, while the CVT is changing ratios, and the torque converter is slipping. Then, once the engine has power, the CVT starts changing ratios to accelerate the vehicle. That delay, in reality, is probably no different than any conventional automatic transmission. But, the first impression, based on the noise from the engine first and the smoothness of the acceleration, is a lack of power and fear of missing that gap your gunning for. Again, a week with this car and I expect I would know what to expect and not even notice it. I can't remember if the Outback CVT behaved the same way.
So overall, I'm not sold on the car yet. The looks are tough to swallow. The driving dynamics are OK but when I got back into my Mazda3 (stick shift) to drive home I noticed the zoomzoom right away - both the power and the handling. The Mazda is a fun car to drive and the Subaru is a car to drive. We also test drove the new Mazda3 with the 40mpg drive train (Skyactiv). Look for another "first impression" post on that shortly.
