SUBARU IMPREZA

Manufacturer	Subaru
Parent company	Fuji Heavy Industries
Production	1993–present
Assembly	Ōta, Gunma, Japan
Predecessor	Subaru Leone/Loyale
Class	Compact

The Subaru Impreza is a compact car that was first introduced by Subaru in 1993.

"Impreza" is a coined word, deriving from an originally Italian word, impresa, meaning a feat or achievement. InPolish, "Impreza" means "party", "event" or "show".

The Impreza was introduced after the popular Leone/Loyale was cancelled with the aging EA series engine. The Impreza was introduced with the popular EJ series engine found in the larger Subaru Legacy.

Compared to vehicles in a similar size class such as Toyota Corolla, Honda Civic, Nissan Sentra, Hyundai Elantraand Mazda Protegé/Mazda3, only the Impreza has always offered AWD, and as of 1996, Subaru made this feature standard equipment in some markets. Subaru produces a lower volume of slightly upscale, well-equipped, sportier Impreza models, unlike other contemporaries in the compact category that offer no-frills base trims.

Subaru chose to continue their longstanding use of the boxer engine in the Impreza. According to Subaru, their configuration of the engine inline with the transmission minimizes body roll due to the lower center of gravity compared with offset engines in most other vehicles. This is similar to the design of the Citroen 2CV, providing light weight and compact, economic design for basic cars. The boxer design provides good vibration mitigation due to the fact that the movement of each piston is largely countered by a piston in the opposing cylinder bank, eliminating the need for a counter-rotating weighted crankshaft (harmonic balancer), but with some vibration from offsets. Torque steer is also reduced with this type of powertrain layout since the front drive shafts are of equal length and weight.