1994 Subaru Impreza on 2040-cars

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The next Subaru three-row will be the biggest Subaru ever

Subaru's trying to fix what hobbled the too-small, too-odd Tribeca, the company's last attempt at a three-row SUV, with a truly American-sized vehicle that will resemble the Viziv-7 Concept the company showed off at the LA Auto Show. We caught up with Dominick Infante, National Manager of Product Communications, to get the story about what that future SUV will be like. While he couldn't talk about engines ("[W]e'll have big news on that coming up," he said), Infante told us that the production SUV would be based on the new global architecture, a version of which underpins the new Impreza. That car, and its architecture, were "designed to meet crash testing out to 2025, so it's very overbuilt which is why we can go to something as large as this," Infante said. It's also coming soon. Infante told us that the production version be on the road in 2018, which we assume means it'll be a 2019 model year vehicle. Don't expect it to diverge from the company's general styling themes, either. Infante mentioned that the Tribeca, "was a very stylized vehicle ... [it] kind of didn't fit with the brand." We'd say that's an accurate assessment of a vehicle that always stood apart from the rest of the lineup. Subaru will play it safe to avoid that problem, making sure the production version of the Viziv-7 will be immediately identifiable as a Subaru. As Infante put it, "It's not going to be overly fancy or pretty; it'll be rough and tumble. We're going to stick with our Subaru DNA." And it'll also fix the Tribeca's other problem, which was size, particularly in the third row. Infante promised us that adults would fit in the Viziv-7's rear seats, although a quick glance in the Concept didn't confirm this because there wasn't an interior at all. So we'll have to wait and see, and note that there was no discussion of the size of those adults. Infante also promised configurable seating and cargo arrangements that would go beyond anything Subaru's done before – and since Subaru's only done one proper three-row, that means the Tribeca. Since it's debuting in 2018, it's a safe bet we'll see a concept that's much closer to production form next year. Stay tuned.Related Video:

2017 Subaru Impreza makes a stand in the compact segment

If the 2016 Honda Civic was a revelation for the brand as a rebuke of the past couple of generations of their brand-and-butter compact, the 2017 Subaru Impreza appears to be on a parallel trajectory for the lauded all-weather performance brand. Unveiled Tuesday at the 2016 New York Auto Show, the 2017 Impreza brings in an all-new platform that is stiffer, sportier, and a much-needed improvement to stay competitive as the segment tightens up. The car features styling cues that are potentially the most attractive we've seen on a non-WRX model since the turn of the century. The car looks downright European in either sedan or hatchback form, stealing much of the thunder that the Mazda 3 and Civic had brought just a short time ago. Its lines are clean all around, the front and rear are largely without aerodynamic clutter, and much of that style is carried over to the interior that gets a much needed refresh. Gone are the overly utilitarian surfaces and buttons; a clear shift has been made to make the car seem on-par with class leaders like the Civic and Mazda 3, albeit with its own distinctive Subaru style. The dashboard seems just as straightforward as before, but packs the necessary technology to remain competitive in the segment. It seems that Subaru has listened to critiques of the outgoing Impreza, and sought out a way to continue the tradition of making AWD alternatives to the mainstream compacts, but this time without compromises on content. Up and down the four-trim model chain (2.0i, Premium, Sport, Limited), standard equipment is greatly improved. Even the standard 2.0i model will come with the necessary power features that anyone would expect, along with a much-needed 6.5" touchscreen interface that dual-boots with Android Auto and Apple Car Play - something that even the base trim Honda Civic LX does not have, and perhaps, that should put Honda on notice. In the very competitive compact segment, content is king. With standard equipment being on par with or exceeding the headlining Civic and Corolla, the added convenience of AWD is the cherry on top in places with cooler climates. Without major changes to the powertrain (slight power gains for the standard 2.0 H4 and an updated CVT), fuel economy perhaps remains to be the only caveat to the Impreza being a class-leading choice. With the current model rated at 28/37 compared to the Civic's 31/42, a slight improvement wouldn't be much in the grand scheme of things.

Subaru uses a mime and a toy car to explain why it loves the boxer engine

I will freely admit to struggling with why Subaru continues to stubbornly employ a boxer engine design while so few other automakers do the same. After all, with twice the number of cylinder heads and cams as a traditional inline four-cylinder engine, a boxer four is more complex, more expensive to manufacture and more cumbersome to service with few tangible benefits. Until recently, the company's engines struggled to meet the fuel economy numbers of its competitors while offering no real boon in horsepower or torque. Subaru seems to recognize I'm not the only one scratching my head.
In order to help us non-believers understand what's what, the company has employed a pair of mimes, a toy car and a few clay engines to demonstrate the folly of every other automaker on the planet. Subaru says the boxer offers up a lower center of gravity than either an inline four-cylinder engine or a V6, which I will gladly concede. The company also says the design offers up smoother operation.
I'll offer just two counterpoints here. First, an engine with a low center of gravity is excellent, but when vehicles like the Forester, XV Crosstrek and Outback boast more ground clearance than most mainstream SUVs, that argument flies out the window. Second, anyone who's spent any amount of time behind the wheel of a vehicle equipped with an inline four and then proceeded to move into one propelled by a boxer can tell you the latter has all of the idling manners of a small tractor. Check out the video below to see for yourself.