Looking at buying a new Imprezza, preferably sedan vs hatchback. Currently drive a Saturn Vue but no longer want an SUV. Rather liking the idea of loading the kayaks on a lower roof.
Anyone have an Imprezza or similar sedan and use it to haul multiple kayaks? At most, I am hauling a 13’ Necky Mantou, 12’ Necky Looksha, and 13’ Perception Conduit. Should I have any concerns hauling these on the roof using aftermarket roof rack? And anyone want to recommend an aftermarket roof rack? Looks like most are designed for hatchbacks vs. sedans.
great option for kayaking
I drive a Subaru Forester, but will replace in next few months with an Impreza or Crosstrek.
The Impreza has factory mounting points hidden under small metal hatches on the roof (look closely at the black trim strip that runs along the sides of the roof). Under these flaps, you’ll find threaded mounting holes that will allow you to mount either Thule or Yakima landing pads/cross bars.
While I am partial to hatches, the advantage to a sedan is that you can still access your trunk with yaks on the roof. I use 50" crossbars and regularly carry 2 kayaks and a SUP. (Necky Manitou 13 and 14, or a 17’ sea kayak). You’ll be more than satisfied.
ABZ
I have an 2014 imprezza
– Last Updated: Jul-07-16 9:54 AM EST –
I regularly carry two 17 foot sea kayaks, and also two solo canoes. I use Yakima landing pads and control towers. I have both 48" and 66" bars. I can carry both sea kayaks on the 48, but need the 66 for 2 solo canoes. I love the low roof. I have the hatchback. I get over 30 mpg carrying the boats. Love the all wheel drive.
Impreza
I have the sport wagon with factory rails and Thule aeroblade cross bars. I can easily carry two full sized sea kayaks on J-racks or 3 SUPs on pads. The low roof line was number one on my list when shopping. If you are an ACA member (longer than 6 months I think) you will get a hell of a discount on it. Love the car itself.
Great Car
Been very happy with my 2009 Impreza. The stock bar spread is adequate but I added a Goodboy kayaks Vee-rack to get a full 8’ spread for carrying surfskis and racing kayaks (works fine for relatively narrow touring kayaks as well).
My Impreza has been very reliable. Occasionally I have wished for a little more road clearance on rough roads but not enough to get a different model. All wheel drive has proven an asset during wet-weather driving (and driving on sand) although it does cost you some fuel economy.
http://www.gregstamer.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/P10401061.jpg .
I originally looked at the Outback (to be able to sleep in the back) but the current models are much too big for my tastes. Now, if only they brought back the older, smaller Legacy-style Outback…
Greg Stamer
If I
were looking to buy a car it would likely be an Imprezza.Lot’s of snow here in winter.Full time AWD is the next best choice to 4 wheel drive.
I agree
It could use a bit more road clearance. A 1-2" lift would be nice. However, it handles twisting mountain roads like a champ. I actually take mine off the pavement and it does well enough, but isn’t an off the road vehicle. The clearance was worth the trade off for the low roof. The other thing is on rough roads the noise level goes up inside. Still I really like my Sue B. Ruby!
Amazing Car
– Last Updated: Jul-07-16 2:55 PM EST –
I have the sport hatchback with the OEM crossbars and an INNO faring and I couldnt be happier. It handles 2 kayaks no problem. The OEM bars have a nice clean look on the car. I have a dark car so I plasti dipped the silver cross beams to black.
https://s31.postimg.org/smj67bf0p/1048451_10152920555420136_536023409_o.jpg
https://s31.postimg.org/aig5mohc9/1014875_10152920551770136_1340066296_o.jpg
holds two kayaks fine, but…
I liked my 2011 Impreza,but didn’t consider another when I gave it to my son. It doesn’t come with a blind spot monitor and I think that is just negligent.
?
Wow.
And we complain about the cost of cars.
You could learn …
– Last Updated: Jul-07-16 6:32 PM EST –
... how to adjust your mirrors. On most modern cars you can eliminate the blind spot on your right side by making full use of the viewing area, and if you can't eliminate the blind spot, you can make it so small that leaning forward a few inches expands your view more than enough. Don't waste space in either mirror showing you the side of your car, and you can increase side-viewing range even farther by reducing the amount of overlap between the side mirrors and rear-view mirror.
For your left side, adjust as noted above and stick on one of those little convex mirrors. If you want to be more elaborate, install your own convex mirror as a supplement to the main mirror. I've done that on a few cars, and it's a wonderful improvement (the 'A' pillar is a great place to mount a little convex mirror).
Of course, you could pay hundreds of dollars extra to have a machine do a small fraction of what your eyes can already do (the machine can't judge the relative speed of passing of the car that's next to you. It can only warn you that there might be something there).
2016 Impreza Sport Premium
This March, I traded in my older Honda Fit for the Impreza Sport Premium. Like the others posting here, I’m very happy with the car so far. I have Thule Crossroad 450 towers which fit well on the Subaru rails, square cross bars and a Thule Outrigger, and can carry two kayaks. My longer boats are 14’ and 15’4" and I haven’t had any issues. I use my older Yakima Mako Saddles for one kayak and Hull Raisers for the other (different hull shapes. I also have stackers for my river boat. One downside, since there is so much plastic on new cars these days, there aren’t any great places to secure tie-downs, unless you want to punch out the plastic squares on the bumpers that cover the area used for car-towing and get some screw-in eye-bolts. I did that with the Fit, and although very reliable for tie-downs, the plastic covers wore out from being inserted/removed all the time, and I was constantly banging my knees on the protruding eye-bolts! So with the Subaru I use Seattle Sports Quick-Loops. I put two on opposite sides under the hood, and depending on the boat/boats, one or two in the trunk. They have worked well to date. Hope this helps, and good luck!
That drives me nuts
I’ve noticed that in almost every rental car I drive (and I drive a lot), the side mirrors are pointed so that I see the side of the car.
What happened to driver’s Ed.?
Thanks.
Appreciate the comments. I will be test driving the 2016 impreza hatchback next week. I like the idea of the fixed mount points for cross bars. Going with the base model though the sport looks tempting. I understand the lack of tie downs and have been using the loops since I started kayaking. Looking forward to not needed a step ladder to load up.
No mounting points on Impress sedan
I am not sure about new models, but my Impreza sedan 2013 doesn’t have mounting points for roof racks like the hatchback and WRX. I have to use Yakima q towers.
Regarding the car, I am very happy. Very good on snow and mud, good mileage, easy to do routine service, great on corners.
Get the Turbo and Yakima racks
Nice cars, but stock engine is a dog. Tried to buy Forester but nothing I wanted at end of model year last year. Consider Mazda… Fast and handle really well Awd is great for rain slick roads and snow. I got CX-5
Really like my Yakima racks. Good customer service too. Sometimes Craigslist has used racks at good prices just be sure you know EXACTLY what towers you need clips for towers are very car specific but you can buy them separately.
wow
I was surprised to find out the turbo engine is no longer in the base models. There is still a penalty for AWD.
Heated seats
In this day and age, I think anything without heated seats is just inhumane.
Once you’ve had them it’s tough to go without, that’s for sure.
But the heated steering wheel - why did this take so long?
It required the ACA.