I'll always champion an underdog but even at my most enthused and passionate I realise I'm going to face an uphill challenge convincing the PH audience 12 grand on a grey hatchback Impreza with a diesel engine under its bonnet is a sensible way to spend your money.
Where to start? Well. It's a five-grand saving over a Golf GTD of the same age. And you're unlikely to meet another one coming the other way.
She's no beauty but she's got talent
OK, how about stating that were I still living at the Stokesley end of the B1257 I've just put forward as
a Dream Drive
and had regular cause to use this and the many other fabulous roads in the area this car would be pretty high on my shopping list? So, in response to Gavinio's "Seriously? Diesel Subaru?" post in the comments thread that followed the answer is yes. This is the perfect Subaru for a Yorkshireman in a hurry, and not just because it'll do 50mpg and keep his wallet in his pocket. Where it belongs, obviously. I've run a proper JDM WRX in the past and could tell electric car owners a thing or two about 'range anxiety' too, not to mention the difficulty of finding a petrol station selling super out in the sticks.
That's by the by though. Bonnet scoop or not this isn't a diesel WRX or even a car with any real performance pretensions. What it is, however, is the perfect tool for the job. Want to set 'ring lap records? Fine, buy a GT3. Want to quietly make proper progress along a road like the B1257? Then this is your car.
The diesel Impreza is a classic example of a car that makes way more sense out on the road than it does on the spec sheet. Indeed, by the latter measure it's seemingly a tragi-comic desecration of all Impreza fans hold dear. 12 grand for an unloved, four-year-old diesel hatchback with 150hp and a 0-62 time of nine dead? When you can buy a similarly aged 2.5 petrol WRX for less?
It'll look better with a coating of grime
But on a road like the B1257 a car like this is an absolute weapon. Subaru's still unique boxer diesel probably loses them money on each unit sold. But unlike the grunty but clattery 170hp 2.0 TDI found in the GTD and endless other VW group cars it's a diesel with real charisma, spinning up the revs cleanly and with something approaching a power 'band' rather than fat lump that lands in your lap at 1,500rpm. Add to that a nicely snickety six-speed manual in the traditional Japanese mould, lovely floaty suspension with lots of travel to soak up those broken surfaces and gaping potholes and, of course, four-wheel drive traction to haul you through all weathers and you've got the perfect B-road tool. Plus nifty stuff like those heater elements in the windscreen to stop your wipers freezing to the screen on frosty mornings.
This is the exact opposite of the tied-down, firmly sprung 'sporty' vibe we're led to believe is the be-all end-all of performance driving. You drive this car on your fingertips, the light steering just one of the directional tools at your disposal and dampers and body control as comfortable at full extension as they are in maximum compression. You start the turn early with a car like this, setting it up way before the apex, swallowing mid-corner yumps like a rally car and keeping your foot in all the way. And nobody will even notice you passed.
This is a car to be used, abused and never cleaned. It's a tool for a job, pure and simple. You'd have to be thick-skinned, belligerently opinionated and very reluctant to spend any more of your hard earned than is strictly necessary at filling stations.
So yes, Lancashire-based vendor or not it's the perfect Yorkshire Subaru.
SUBARU IMPREZA 2.0 D RC
Engine: 1,998cc flat-4
Transmission: 6-speed manual
Power (hp): 150@3,600rpm
Torque (lb ft): 258@1,800rpm
MPG: 47.9mpg (NEDC combined)
CO2: 155g/km
First registered: 2009
Recorded mileage: 40,000
Price new: £20,000
Yours for: £11,950
See the original ad here.