Spy Shots: 2008 Subaru Impreza WRX hatch
by Noah Joseph on Sep 13th 2006 at 8:56AM 
First spy shots of the upcoming Subaru Impreza hatchback are hitting the 'net. Snapped under disguise while undergoing testing in California, you can begin to see the shape the new Impreza will take. As we reported earlier, the next Impreza's front facia will take yet another new styling direction, after previous facelifts were met with less than enthusiastic response.
The hatchback seen here is expected to hit the market before its conventional sedan counterpart. Reports suggest that the new Impreza will feature a 330-hp 2.5-liter flat-four engine; while others anticipate the possible addition of a high-performance hybrid powerplant.
Like previous Imprezas, the upcoming model will earn is credibility on the rally circuit and will likely prove popular with the street tuning crowd, while facing stiff competition from the upcoming version of its arch-nemesis, the Mitsubishi Evo X.
[Source: Leftlane News]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
sansname 9:28AM (9/13/2006)
god dammit. This year's impreza is so nice, to ruin it by making it a gay looking hatch is a crime. I hope this doesnt carry over into the STI...
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mr.ed 9:56AM (9/13/2006)
Evidently the industry layoffs the past few years have included some who had the job of looking at a design and saying "Damn, that's butt ugly. Have you lost your minds? Who's going to buy it?"
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speedball3 10:59AM (9/13/2006)
Kind of reminds me of the Mazda3 hatch. Except for the front grill... kind of chrysler-like. Replace that grill with something more reminiscent of the 2004 imprezas and it should be a nice looking car. Hopefully Mazda will make butt-loads of MS3's and we'll have some nice competition between the two cars!
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Michael Karesh 11:42AM (9/13/2006)
That's a lot of camou. I don't know how you guys are able to see past it to the car underneath. I've personally found that judgements based on such heavily camouflaged prototypes often tend to be wrong. So I'll wait for a more revealing shot.
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Leo 11:47AM (9/13/2006)
I am willing to bet this one is the new Toyota Carolla hatch they showed earlier as well. Toota delayed it since it was not on par with the Civic so they seem to have redesigned the headlights.
look closely at the pic of the front and you'll see the recent Toyota Camry grill on this hatch
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Richard 12:22PM (9/13/2006)
I hope the impreza morphs to something more akin to the A3, which is a great format. I hope they do a 3-door as well - a layout which has dominated WRC for the last several years.
Then, 330 bhp + paddle shift.
Here's to hoping!
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Kokomo 8:40PM (9/13/2006)
For some reason, the front end of the car reminds me of the new Toyota Camry. Somehow I doubt it will be any "better" than the current front end.
However, I don't think it will have quite the same sales numbers as the MS3 since the WRX will have AWD and thus will sell much better here in the northeast and with an available automatic.
Question is, will the standard WRX receive a more efficient turbo? Or will they continue to use the laggy piece of junk TD04 turbine with an engine way too big for it. The Evo continues to upgrade its turbo technology and yet Subaru holds back on the US market turbo. At least they did the much-needed favor of using the 2.5L block. I was hoping for an additional increase in compression ratio with direct injection but that might just be asking too much when Subaru doesn't really have any R&D into direct injection.
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Aki 1:15PM (9/13/2006)
Can't be a Corolla since it has that large hood duct. I actually like the airplane grille now--the reason why it looks bad is the rest of the car is some late 90s body design that doesn't match at all.
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JZeke 1:32PM (9/13/2006)
One nice thing about this hatch is that they're probably going to make one suspension the defacto design, as opposed to currently where the wagon has a narrower track and less clearance for wider tires (when lowered) than the sedan.
Still, I love my wagon, they better not F*** this one up. The new interior is really what im waiting for.
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Ryan 2:14PM (9/13/2006)
i think number 5 is right those rims look they are from a toyota, and the grill does look like its from a camry, do a zoom in on the grill. number 7, toyota likes to put hood scoops on their autos, look at the celica, tacoma, etc. maybe a supercharged/turboed matrix/corolla because everyone else has one of those models now.
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Richard 1:57PM (9/13/2006)
JZeke: Right on re. the interior!
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Bui 2:21PM (9/13/2006)
#10. Those are current Impreza Rims.
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james f. 2:36PM (9/13/2006)
'Whoa its a heavily camoed wagon its a knockoff of the mazda3 of course!'
Are you you people on the right website?
Oh btw regardless of hp awd>fwd. If you feel otherwise your a blind fanboy, a big believer of torque steer, you've never driven a turboed awd car or perhaps all three.
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naggs 3:33PM (9/13/2006)
bah, real hatches have 3 doors. why dont they make something like the best looking car subaru ever sold in the US, the 2.5rs
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Steve 5:51PM (9/13/2006)
I've been considering the current Impreza, and a body style like this would definitely increase my likelihood of making the purchase. I'm a fan of hatchbacks, and I would also favor a 2-door variant.
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Chet 10:44PM (9/13/2006)
No more frameless windows? That sucks. The greenhouse has that same humpbacked look as, well, everything else.
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David 10:06PM (9/13/2006)
The grill screems Toyota Camry. Are we sure this is an Impreza?
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Dave 2:21AM (9/14/2006)
Does anybody else think the profile looks like a Protege5?
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Michael Kilpatrick 3:55PM (9/14/2006)
There is now way this is a Corolla for a few different reasons.
#1 - Big Subaru-style hood scoop.
#2 - There are 5 lugs on these wheels. Toyota uses 4 lugs on all of their small cars, including the Corolla.
#3 - You can clearly see the rear lower control arms, that look very Subaru-like. Toyota uses a rear beam axle in all their small cars, including the Corolla, that looks nothing like that suspension.
#4 - Look at the rear shot. Right in the middle of the car, underneath it, you can just barely make out a rear differential. Toyota hasn't done an AWD Corolla in a while, and they are definitely going to get their bread and butter Corolla out before doing an AWD Matrix. Not to mention, I've heard rumor that the Matrix is gone after the redesign, and there won't be an AWD version anymore.
By the way, I work for a Toyota dealership and also own an Impreza.
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Ryan 2:10AM (9/16/2006)
look this corolla does have 5 lugs!!!
http://images.google.ca/imgres?imgurl=http://www.autobytel.com/images/carpics/testDrv/suemead/165/05.toyota.corolla.XRS/05.toyota.corolla.xrs.wheel.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.autosite.com/content/shared/articles/templates/index.cfm/article_page_order_int/5/article_id_int/43&h=124&w=165&sz=26&hl=en&start=7&tbnid=EOncHyhJFazyEM:&tbnh=74&tbnw=99&prev=/images%3Fq%3D05%2Bcorolla%2Bwheel%26svnum%3D10%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D%26sa%3DG
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