Jekyll and Hyde: Subaru Impreza Sport vs. Subaru XV Crosstrek

For many people, the automobile is just a form of transportation; two wheels and an engine that are meant to get you from point A to point B. If the buck stopped there, manufactures like Audi, BMW, Chevrolet, Jeep, Nissan and Subaru would certainly be hurting. Why? Many manufactures, most in fact, design vehicles that they believe will speak to lifestyle.

You might be an urban city dweller who dines at the hottest new restaurants and values the finer points of technology – a BMW or Mercedes could be in order then. You might be the outdoorsy type who likes to conquer the mountains in summer and winter, rain, snow or sunshine. The point here is that car manufactures have a tall order – catering to the desires and image of the consumer. How do they do it? Some go a little Jekyll and Hyde creating a single vehicle with vastly different images to appeal to different lifestyles.

Perfect examples are two recent vehicles I tested from Subaru: The all-new 2012 Impreza Sport and 2013 XV Crosstrek. The Subaru brand is no stranger to the Rocky Mountains and has been very popular in Colorado due to its all-wheel drive and simplistic no-frills attitude. Vehicles like the Impreza and Forester have also gained the reputation for being vehicles family gravitates toward. Must be like a pair of sensible shoes.

What’s new for 2013? The Subaru Impreza family now has a new 2.0-liter four-cylinder 148-hp engine, and a new exterior and interior appearance. Oddly enough, the engine in the 2013 Subaru XV Crosstrek matches that of the Impreza Sport. In fact, a lot of things are the same about the XV Crosstrek when compared to the Impreza Sport. Both vehicles share the same body and interior; is it an Impreza by any other name? Yes and no. This is no accident on Subaru’s part; the XV Crosstrek has been designed for a different person with different passions and desires.

This is where Jekyll and Hyde comes in; both the Impreza Sport and the XV Crosstrek XV perform pretty much the same and even have similar looks. The difference is in personality and perception; the 8.7 inches of ground clearance is hard to miss on the XV and gives it a height advantage of about three inches over the Impreza Sport. The personality change starts with the aforementioned lift and continues with standard tinted windows in the base premium model. Then you add attention-grabbing colors, like the Tangerine Orange Pearl of our test car, and black alloy wheels; what you end up with is a car that appeals to a much different audience. Ironically, the basic car is the same right down to the interior look and feel, the engine and transmission.

So which one do you go for? That really depends on your personality. The XV Crosstrek will tend to give more of a sway or wobble out on the highway as three inches makes a difference in height, but you can go over a lot of rough terrain. You will also see a couple miles per gallon less in the XV as compared to the Impreza Sport, which has a small appetite at 25/33 mpg city/hwy. You can also expect to add another “G” to the price to step up into the attention grabbing XV at $22,790 as tested.

I am loud and proud, so I would have to have that Tangerine Orange Pearl and the super cool lift. What about you?