The main selling point of Subaru's most recently-introduced Impreza is that it costs £12,495, which puts it roughly at the same level as the cheapest Ford Focus. But there is more to the 1.5R Sports Wagon than a low list price. In a way that is quiet to the point of bashfulness, it is also one of the most fascinating cars Subaru has ever produced.We have already dealt with the 1.5R in a short test based on an hour's experience at the UK press launch. At that event, several of my colleagues were vociferous in their disapproval, considering the car to be offensively slow.If you think of Subaru as a sporting manufacturer - and there have been enough World Rally Championship successes and high-performance road cars to make that a strong possibility - the 1.5R does indeed come as a major shock. Its 1498cc engine (a flat-four boxer unit, following long-standing Subaru tradition) produces a measly 104bhp, and a fair proportion of that power is absorbed by the four-wheel drive system before it reaches the wheels.But what the four-wheel drive system also does - along with the typically excellent suspension and the boxer engine's low centre of gravity - is contribute to the 1.5R's handling, which is as fine as that of any other Impreza, and outstandingly better than that of any other car in the price range. This leads to a bewildering combination of abilities, as I found on the same afternoon during this test.Coming out of a roundabout on to a dual-carriageway and taking the engine to the red line in each gear, I found that the 1.5R was unable to keep up with a 1.4-litre Astra. But a couple of hours earlier, on a brutally technical piece of country road, it made short work of a Golf GTI (a car with nearly twice the power, and comparably more expensive) that was being driven so hard it was actually taking off on some of the fiercer sections. For a car that can't get out of its own way in a straight line, the 1.5R is mesmerisingly capable on the twisty stuff.So this is a performance car without the performance. It could, and perhaps should, appeal to people who want the feel of a tarmac rally car but can't manage the expense of an Impreza WRX or a Lancer Evo. But it's not being marketed that way; instead, Subaru is emphasising how much you get - estate-car practicality, reasonable off-road potential and a decent amount of standard equipment including alloy wheels, climate control air-conditioning, front and side airbags and all-round electric windows - for your £12,495.There's nothing to argue about as far as that goes, but part of the reason for the low cost is that the Impreza is nearing the end of its very long production life, and it can't hide the fact. To begin with, it's fairly noisy inside, and the wheezing rattle that emanates from under the bonnet every time you start the engine seems out of place in a car being sold as new this side of 1980.Starting the engine is something you have to time quite carefully, because the electronics won't let this happen more than a certain amount of time after the doors have been unlocked. This can be quite annoying, and it's not helped by the fact that the locks produce a loud clunk which reverberates alarmingly through the structure.The fantastic handling is matched by a mostly impressive ride. Near where I live there's a straight piece of road which is years overdue for resurfacing, and therefore acts as a useful testing ground for ride quality. The 1.5R's suspension reduced even the worst of the bumps to minor inconveniences at 60mph, which is a lot more than can be said for other cars I've driven there.Bizarrely, though, the tyres - which are also responsible for a lot of the noise - are hopeless at ironing out smaller-scale inequalities in the tarmac. This is normally a problem associated with low-profile rubber, but the 1.5R doesn't have that. A revised tyre choice might make it feel much more refined than it does now.Interior room is not an Impreza strong point, and even with the driver's seat as far back as it would go I still felt an inch or so too close to the major controls. I wouldn't fancy going for a long trip sitting in the back, either. But when three of us went on a 400-mile trip with a lot of luggage on board, we did manage to fit everything in (total load volume being a useful 1266 litres), and there were no complaints about lack of space from my travelling companions, both of whom are under six feet tall.(Needless to say, with all that extra weight the car's performance was even more seriously compromised. On long hills, dropping down a gear and flooring the throttle produced more noise but not much else, and several overtaking attempts had to be abandoned when I realised I couldn't even reach the car in front, never mind get alongside it.)The Impreza is too low-slung to be taken seriously as a true off-roader, but you can stray away from the tarmac to some extent. Subaru provides a low-ratio transfer box for the gearbox (which some other manufacturers don't bother with even on true SUVs), though there's a problem here: the control lever is right next to the gearstick, and I must have pulled the wrong one at least three times during each day of this test. It's easily done, and since you're not meant to engage the transfer box without using the clutch I suspect this could become quite expensive after a while.So where does that leave us? Well, the 1.5R has enough flaws to become quite annoying if you're not prepared to put up with them, and as you must have gathered by now it is comically slow in a straight line. Personally, I would accept all of that in return for the extraordinary driving experience, but potential customers who don't get their kicks from a car's handling ability may not be so forgiving. Engine 1498cc, 4 cylinders Power 104bhp Transmission 5-speed manual Fuel/CO2 35.8mpg / 184g/km Acceleration 0-62mph: 13.5 seconds Top speed 109mph Price £12,495 Details correct at publication date
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