The least costly XV, the 2.0i, comes with a 6.5-inch central screen, cloth seat trim, and 17-inch alloy wheels.
Paying more for an XV 2.0i-L brings you a lot of extra kit, perhaps most importantly Subaru’s EyeSight active safety suite. EyeSight includes adaptive cruise control, which can accelerate and brake to match the speed of a car in front. A lead-vehicle start alert lets you know when a vehicle ahead of you in a queue has moved on. There is auto emergency braking, which works at city and highway speeds, and lane keeping assistance. (For more on these systems, please open the Safety section below.)
The 2.0i-L also has an 8.0-inch touchscreen, and two displays on the instrument panel, controllable from the steering wheel, that can show your EyeSight settings and other helpful stuff. There is nicer cloth seat trim, and leather on the steering wheel and gear lever. Dual-zone climate-control air conditioning allows individual temperature adjustment for the driver and front passenger. And the exterior mirrors can be power-folded, to keep them out of harm’s way when you’re parked.
Spending more again for an Impreza 2.0-i Premium gets you a powered sunroof and satellite navigation – the latter including the ability to have turn-by-turn instructions shown on the intstrument panel display rather than just on the central screen.
The most expensive Impreza, the 2.0i-S, adds luxury and safety. It has part-leather seat trim, with the driver’s seat power adjustable. Windscreen wipers operate automatically when it rains. Headlights use very bright and long-lived LEDs, switch on automatically when it’s dark, dip themselves for oncoming traffic, and swivel to shine into corners. Blind-spot monitoring, lane-change assistance and a rear cross-traffic alert enhance safety, and the auto-braking works in reverse. The wheel diameter grows to 18 inches, and the tyres are the same width but slightly lower in profile.