Subaru Australia has revealed a special-edition version of its outgoing Impreza hatchback to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the model.
It’s called the S-Edition – thank goodness for that hyphen – and is priced from $36,290 before on-road costs, $3500 more than the 2.0i-S on which it’s based.
It also marks the “last hurrah” of the current-generation ahead of the launch of the next-generation model, which is locked in for Australia at a yet-to-be confirmed date.
The special edition will arrive in showrooms from May, with customer deliveries also beginning that month.
To make up the price difference over the 2.0i-S, the special-edition Impreza receives a number of additional Subaru and STI genuine accessories.
These include 18-inch STI Enkei alloy wheels, STI front under spoiler, STI side under spoiler, sports grille, as well as an S-Edition badge. On the inside there’s also an STI shift knob.
The Impreza S-Edition is available in four exterior paint colours – Pure Red, Crystal White, Crystal Black Silica and Magnetite Grey.
The 2.0-litre naturally aspirated flat-four engine remains unchanged and produces 115kW of power and 196Nm of torque. It’s mated to a continuously variable transmission (CVT) with seven pre-programmed steps.
The Subaru Impreza was first introduced to the Australian market in 1993 and almost 170,000 have been sold to date locally according to VFACTS sales data.
“Impreza has been an important part of the Subaru family for 30 years now, and this new special edition is our way of celebrating that legacy,” said Subaru Australia managing director Blair Read.
“The added styling enhancements provide enhanced sports styling to match the Impreza’s symmetrical all-wheel drive capability.”
The sixth-generation Impreza made its debut at the 2022 Los Angeles motor show in November and is only available as a hatchback.
New-generation Impreza
Compared to the Crosstrek unveiled at the end of October last year, the Impreza sits lower to the ground, has different grille and bumper designs, and misses out on plastic wheel arch extensions.
According to the automaker, the Subaru Global Platform underpinning the new Impreza is 10 per cent more torsionally rigid, and includes a full inner frame.
With 3.4 times more structural adhesive than before, the Impreza is claimed to be lighter than before, but Subaru has yet to quantify by how much.
For American buyers there are two engines to choose from. The standard mill is a 2.0-litre horizontally opposed four-cylinder engine making 113kW of power and 197Nm of torque.
Sportier variants have a larger 2.5-litre boxer-four generating 136kW and 241Nm.
Both engines are exclusively paired to a continuously variable transmission (CVT) and all-wheel drive, which now comes with torque vectoring as standard.
In upscale variants, the CVT also has eight preset gear ratios that are accessible via shift paddles behind the steering wheel.
