Seeing out of the Impreza’s big, airy greenhouse is easy enough, with no particularly bad blind spots to speak of. The oddly shaped rearmost pillars intrude in the outward vision a bit, but only when the rear seats are folded; when up, the rear seat head restraints block the pillars. Mirrors are well sized for the car both inside and out, and the view to the side and front is also very good.

The Impreza is awash in yards of high quality hard plastic. This is a step up from the previous car, which also had its share of hard plastic, but most of it was cheap feeling. Yet this goes too far in our opinion. With the exception of the soft door armrest, there’s not one padded piece of plastic in this car. With a base price of more than $18,000, we expected at least a padded center console armrest.

Is it a coincidence that Subaru’s styling is losing its individuality at the same time they’ve partnered with Toyota? Maybe, because this is one of the most mainstream Subies we’ve seen in a long time. The Impreza 2.5i isn’t ugly by any stretch, but it lacks the character of the previous car, especially the early versions of that model with the round headlights. The interior styling is also mainstream, with cream colored panels throughout – including the steering wheel and shift handle – that will inevitably look dingy in a few months. Also, don’t bother looking for the temperature gauge, as there’s only an idiot light.

Hatchbacks trade on utility, so we were a little surprised to find that there isn’t a lot of storage space in the Impreza. The small door pockets are at least deep, but the center console bin is small and shallow, the glove box is only moderately sized, and the two cup holders can’t hold much more than a soda can. In back storage is limited to two small door pockets, and whatever purses and man-bags your passengers bring with them.

Say what you want about image, but hatchbacks are darn useful vehicles. The hatch on the Impreza opens wide, and there’s a small lip to keep items from rolling out onto the ground when it’s open. There’s a little bit of underfloor space for small items, too. Folding down the seats is easy enough, but to really maximize the room you first need to unhook the center shoulder belt, which is typical for modern hatches. One odd quirk was that although the hatch can be unlocked and opened independently of the rest of the car, you must re-lock the whole vehicle after you close it again.

Anybody who has driven an audio-equipped car in the past couple of decades will be familiar with the Impreza’s controls. Mounted high on the dash, it features a large display, a knob for volume and another for tuning. Presets are on the top with the CD slot beneath; the unit can read MP3 and WMA-encoded discs.

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