Test Drive: Impreza impresses as a lot of car for the cash

— -- What a treat. A simple, sensible, pleasant car with all-wheel drive (AWD), decent fuel economy, comfortable seats and relatively good people space.

Meet the redesigned Subaru Impreza. Generally in the backwaters of consideration when shoppers head out to acquire a smallish car, Impreza now makes more sense than many rivals; it certainly makes more sense than it ever has.

Not because it's a fuel-economy champ; it's just OK. But because it's a lot of car for a modest price. All those top-of-mind economy cars (e.g. Civic, Corolla) are pricey now that $4 gasoline has lighted a bonfire under demand for them. And you don't get AWD standard with those, as you do in the Impreza (all Subies, in fact).

Though still compromised by Subaru's typically rackety-clackety engine sounds, Impreza seems as inviting as a pair of slippers after a day in boots half a size too small.

Impreza is the foundation for Subie's high-performance machines, the WRX and WRX STi, which offer muscle-car scoot from unlikely looking (ugly, some might say) small, four-door hatchbacks.

But Impreza is much more than the scorned relative of those WRX machines. The test car — 2.5i with automatic transmission — was a destination, not a way point.

Small kids or occasional back-seaters? Bad weather sometimes? Hankering to avoid Everyman's Civic/Corolla/Focus? Step right up.

You'll find a car that you can just get into and go. No fuss. No complications.

The downside: There's not a great amount of excitement, nor a bushel of premium ambience. In fact, the insides will remind some shoppers of their last rental car — a bit barren and off-putting.

That would be too harsh a judgment, based on time behind the wheel of the test car — but it would have some truth.

Hard surfaces inside the cup holder and a small rectangular cubby on the console, for instance, were a tactile shock contrasted with the premium-looking and at least OK-feeling materials elsewhere in the car. Why are you poking around in the cup holder, you might ask. Chasing toll booth change, of course.