Used 2012 Subaru Impreza Hatchback Consumer Reviews
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Exactly what I was looking for
mountaintundra, 02/12/2013
2012 Subaru Impreza 2.0i Sport Premium PZEV 4dr Hatchback AWD (2.0L 4cyl CVT)
15 of 16 people found this review helpful
I haven't been this excited about a car since I had a Citroen CX GTi (in England) in 1982! And the amazing part is that it's a fairly basic car that I love. It has leg room and head room that you expect from a bigger car, comfy seats, decent handling, AWD, and awesome gas mileage (35 average in the summer). It's not perfect, but it does everything I want it to do, including starting at -27F without a block heater and going through snow without drama. Very impressive. This is our 4th Subaru. We drove the competition and there is nothing available that I would rather have.
Oil Burner, MPG not as advertised
movingon1, 03/15/2014
2012 Subaru Impreza 2.0i Sport Premium PZEV 4dr Hatchback AWD (2.0L 4cyl 5M)
15 of 16 people found this review helpful
I bought the hatchback with a manual because I was looking for versatility with good mileage. Functionality wise, I'm happy. I'm 6'2" and the car is comfortable on long road trips and you can fit a surprising amount of stuff in the back, especially with the seats down. Also, the car is amazing in the snow. BUT- as others mentioned, the car has started burning oil at 30,000 miles! Almost 2 quarts between oil changes. Add to that the well known not-as-advertised MPG, and I am thinking about trading it in. I have logged every single tank on Fuelly. In the winter, 22 city, 27 highway. In the summer, 25 city 30 highway. It's rare to do better than 30 on the highway, but I drive 70-75.
My experience with my 2012 Subaru Impreza Sport
Loren Rochester, 07/30/2015
updated 02/04/2016
2012 Subaru Impreza 2.0i Sport Premium PZEV 4dr Hatchback AWD (2.0L 4cyl CVT)
25 of 28 people found this review helpful
I was very excited to get this car... good gas mileage and All-Wheel drive seemed like a perfect fit for Wisconsin. I liked everything about the car except three things: 1) The transmission went out at 66,000 miles, 6000 miles out of warranty. The dealership told me it would cost $8500 to replace it with a new one, or they could put a used one in for $4500. I called Subaru Corporate and after three days of investigation, they said it was up to the service manager. I went to the dealership and raised hell. Virtually all of my miles were interstate travel with very little elevation change, no stop and start traffic. After some phone calls, the service manager got the price down to $1500 for a new transmission. I was still mad, but didn't feel I had much choice; $1500 was better than $8500, and I still had to make payments on the vehicle. 2) I was surprised one day when the oil light came on early in my ownership. The car didn't have that many miles on it. The car was, in fact, low on oil. From that point forward, I went through a quart of Mobile 1 0W20 about every 3000 miles. I checked it every time I filled it up. I am over 60, and have never had a car that went through a quart of oil between oil changes. Recommended oil changes were 7000 miles with synthetic oil. The dealership wanted $85 for an oil change. I bought Subaru filters from the dealership for $5-$6, and bought Mobile 1 0W20 from Walmart for about $26 for a 5 quart jug, and changed the oil myself religiously every 7000 miles. I just traded the car in, three years old, and it was going through a quart of oil every 2000 miles. I had this problem when the transmission went out, and talked to the service manager about it. He did not act the least bit surprised. BTW, if you buy quarts of Mobile 1 synthetic, they are about $8 a quart, so this is not paltry change being spent on oil, I obviously bought 5 quart jugs and had them on hand all of the time. 3) For about the last 9-12 months, the car did not start very well. I usually had to crank it for a few seconds, quit, then crank it some more with the gas pedal pressed down, then it would start. The oil thing and the starting thing I have found are common complaints. I traded the Impreza in on a Ford Focus. I put about 33,000 miles on a car per year, and the Impreza had 99,920 miles on it. This is the first time in decades that I got rid of a car with fewer than 170,000-180,000 miles on it. I didn't trust it. I'm not sure that the Focus will be any better, but I got a 4 yr.-100,000 mile bumper-to-bumper warranty on it. I'm sure it won't be as good in the snow, but I can work around that. IMHO opinion, Subaru should have replaced the transmission gratis. Using the 0W20 oil is not a good idea in my opinion. They are doing it to improve gas mileage, but I think it is blowing past the pistons. The Focus uses 5W20. As far as starting difficulties goes, I don't have a clue what the problem is. If they would have taken care of the transmission and they had proven that they had solved the oil thing, I would have considered another Subaru. This was my first, and there seems to be a lot of loyal Subaru owners out there, but I will probably not consider another.
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Bad Engine/ CVT
Mark webster, 07/17/2016
updated 01/20/2017
2012 Subaru Impreza 2.0i Sport Premium 4dr Hatchback AWD (2.0L 4cyl CVT)
12 of 13 people found this review helpful
It's a o.k. car, wouldn't buy another. Problems with the boxer engine, burns oil. Transmission is weird, brakes when coasting down hill. Outside of car easy to dent, thin metal. Very loud when driving, turn up the tunes. Just had a wheel bearing and the front brakes replaced, cost about $900, so repairs are not cheap. What I do like is that the seats are easy on the back, corners well, and good speakers.Burns lots of oil, more on a long trip.
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I Hate This Car
Stephanie, 05/05/2016
2012 Subaru Impreza 2.0i Sport Premium PZEV 4dr Hatchback AWD (2.0L 4cyl CVT)
12 of 13 people found this review helpful
I had a used 2005 Subaru Legacy that I LOVED but it died (I put a lot of miles of cars quickly because of my commute.) I thought I'd be replacing it with something of similar quality when I bought the 2012 Subaru Impreza slightly used with 25k miles. I decided to spend the money on a newer car because of this. First of all, I got into a slowww speed fender bender where the front of my car has all kinds of damage and cracks--the other persons car didn't have even a slight dent or scratch. You'd never know their car was hit and they drove away without my info after surveying the damage-- I think it was a Honda. Also, I drove over a small piece of loose metal laying on the highway which I didn't recognize as something solid until it was too late and it tore up my back bumper as it exited. I realize things like this happen but the amount of damage is way out of proportion. Most vehicles I see have a plate in that area to protect the underside. This Subaru back bumper is nothing but curved under, thin, cheap plastic. Second, this thing burns oil. Imagine my surprise when I was something like 4k miles away from the recommended oil change and my oil light came on. Thirdly, I have never gotten anywhere close to the estimated MPG. I drive at constant highway speeds. My legacy got the same, if not better, gas mileage and the engine had a lot more strength. Fourth, at 73k miles the engine is now making a low, stressed whining sound with acceleration. I had my transmission serviced at the recommended 60k miles. But now I'm wondering if it's going out. I am fixing the damage to the front and getting rid of this thing before it falls apart completely.
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