![]() The only thing the driver has to do is use common sense. The power transfer is done automatically. When the rear wheels slip, more power shifts to the front. But when the front wheels slip, more power shifts to the rear. In the 165-horsepower 2.5 RS, equipped with a standard five-speed manual transmission, Subaru uses what it calls “continuous all-wheel drive.” That system normally provides a 50-50 sharing of drive power between the front and rear wheels. All five models come standard with a Subaru all-wheel-drive system, of which there are three versions available. In all, there are five cars in the Impreza line - the 2.5 TS Sport Wagon and Outback Sport, the 2.5 RS sedan, and the unbelievably fast WRX sedan and WRX Sport Wagon. ![]() It’s that good, and it’s surrounded by a family of equally good, oddly styled models. But, truth is, I had little to do with the car’s extraction from the snow mounds. Success in those episodes made me feel good. I got stuck, but I managed to work my way out by shifting the all-wheel-drive 2.5 RS into reverse, backing up a bit, and then dropping it into second gear and slowly moving forward. I didn’t do the math in some neighborhoods. Six inches is shorter than 18, 36 or 53 inches - the variously reported amounts of snow that fell on the East Coast last week. The 2.5 RS clears the ground by 5.9 inches. It is fearless in up to six inches of snow, but it backs away from, or gets stuck in, substantially higher drifts. It zips in and out and around curves with exceptional grace. ![]() It runs like a sports car twice its price on dry highways. But I love its billowed front fenders, bug-eyed headlamps and discount-store interior. It is the ugliest of the ugly in Subaru’s lineup. That is high praise, as evidenced by the 2003 Impreza 2.5 RS sedan. Subaru makes cars that are good and ugly.
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