For the high-performance versions of the Impreza, see Subaru Impreza WRX and Subaru
The Subaru Impreza is a compact car that was first introduced by Subaru in 1993.
"Impreza" is a coined word, deriving from an originally Italian word, impresa, meaning a feat or achievement. In Polish, "Impreza" means "party", "event" or "show".
The Impreza was introduced after the popular Leone/Loyale was cancelled with the aging EA series engine. The Impreza was introduced with the popular EJ series engine found in the larger Subaru Legacy.
The Impreza was introduced as an updated competitor to other Asian vehicles Toyota Corolla, Honda Civic, Nissan Sentra, Mitsubishi Lancer and Mazda 323, however the Impreza is the only vehicle in this class to offer AWD and Subaru made this feature standard equipment in 1996, a distinction that is still unique to this day.
Subaru chose to continue their longstanding traditional use of the boxer engine in the Impreza, as well as their other products, to simplify the powertrain implementation of all wheel drive and because of the natural smoothness of the engine design. According to Subaru, because the engine sits inline with the transmission, instead of being offset, as can be commonly found by other FWD and AWD vehicles, body roll is minimized. The weight of the engine and transmission are balanced instead of being offset, which causes the weight of the engine and transmission to be unbalanced in the engine bay in other vehicles. The boxer engine also affords a low center of gravity because the engine sits low in the engine bay and close to the ground, as opposed to other vehicles, allowing the vehicle to stay more stable in moderate to high speed maneuvers. Other manufacturers attempt to counteract the offset weight by making their powertrains weight evenly distributed, which overall causes the powertrain to be heavier than the Subaru layout, which is lightweight from the beginning, having being manufactured from aluminum. The boxer design also provides perfect vibration mitigation due to the fact that the movement of each piston is exactly countered by the corresponding piston in the opposing cylinder bank, eliminating the need for a harmonic balancer attached to the front of the engine at the crankshaft. Torque steer is also reduced with this type of powertrain layout. This is achieved by having the front driveshafts being of equal weight and length, and extend from the transmission to the front wheels at almost perpendicular from the transmission.
