2009 Subaru Impreza 2.5i 4dr Sedan AWD (2.5L 4cyl 5M)
So glad a waited for the 09's. This car is safe, very quick, pretty solidly built, awd, fun to drive/look at, manual, comfortable even on 7 hour drives, and considering all this, it gets pretty good mileage. As some people have noted, Car and Driver rated this 0-60 mph in 47, while Road and Track did it in 5.1 These numbers are competitive with cars more than twice the price. I get 23 mpg around town, and 27/28 on the highway @ 70. I have gotten a lot of compliments, especially about the Dark Grey Metallic color. There are audio/performance upgrades in the future, but this car is phenomenal already. I recommend it to everyone! Take one for a drive if you are remotely considering one.
I am a hatch person, so the styling. The red interior lighting, amazing speed past 3500 rpm's, awd, bragging rights, interior size/flexibility, mileage when considering engine power, standard shift.
pretty bad sound system, ok when listening to cd's/ipod, but radio is awful, possibly larger sway-bars (awesome handling already though), HID's, def short shifter standard, maybe 6th gear for better highway mileage (again, already good when considering power)