Isuzu NMR vs Subaru Impreza

What's the difference?

A truck like the NPR (or any other truck, really) is never going to replace a dual-cab ute in terms of its duality. While the latter can tend to weekday chores and be quickly reconfigured for weekend fun, the light truck has no such facility. Nope, it’s a workhorse. Period.

You need a fair bit of real estate just to park the Isuzu overnight and it certainly won’t fit in the typical supermarket car space. It’s hardly sporty to drive, either, although the latest upgrades have made it more user friendly in a total sense and safer than ever before.

But what it does do that a dual-cab ute can’t often do, is tackle bigger, heavier jobs with a fair bit of bandwidth still up its sleeve. And if the nine-to-five side of things is where you need to be, then a vehicle like this has to be worth a look. And if you consistently find that you’re sailing close to the wind in terms of exceeding a ute’s legal payload, towing capacity or GCM, then the extra bigness of a light truck could make a huge difference.

That’s especially so given the price tag. Okay, you’re not buying a lot of high tech for your money, but you are getting some seriously stout engineering and an expectation that you won’t be working the thing to death anytime soon.

Note: CarsGuide attended this event as a guest of the manufacturer, with meals provided.

The 2024 Impreza delivers on all the key things which have made the nameplate so well regarded for the last 30-odd years.

The issue is, buyer expectations have moved on. Hatchbacks need to do more than ever to compete with small SUVs, and with today’s fuel prices it’s far more valuable to offer hybrid rather than all-wheel drive.

This is why, despite the sixth-generation Impreza being a tidy high-tech offering with an admirable commitment to safety, I think it will ultimately continue to shrink its market share. This Impreza really is one for the fans.

It can’t be easy to make a light truck look fashionable, but Isuzu has done a reasonable job of making the thing look, at least, current. The lighting has all been changed to LEDs now, and the bold, angular face the truck presents looks pretty modern.

But new tech has also forced some design changes. The bull-bar that is part of the Tradepack deal, for instance, has been redesigned with changes to the main hoop. That’s all to accommodate the radar units inside each headlight that inform the front cross-traffic warning system of anything in the way.

Also notable is the attention to detail of the optional (rather than the alloy tray seen here) Australian-made service body. With a choice of internal layouts, the flip-up sides reveal a proper workshop on wheels when configured that way.

It’s also nice to see that all the clips and catches on the drop-side tray can be easily replaced if damaged.

Over the years the Impreza has changed in its design and intention so much.

Once known primarily for its sporty sedan variants, today’s Impreza is a far more contemporary hatchback, forgoing the once wagon-like shape for something with the traditional bubble silhouette to align with its rivals.

For better or worse, it also syncs up with the rest of Subaru’s range, with the brand’s current design language on full show, but it also barely evolves from the previous-generation version from the outside.

It trades the chunky square light fittings from the previous car for something a bit more refined this time around, with a similar look and feel to the WRX and Outback.

Inside also gets a similar fit-out to other Subarus in the range, complete with a raised centre console, shapely dash, and the same huge screen from the Crosstrek and Outback which dominates the space and helps simplify things compared to the busy interior and multiple screens of the previous car.

It’s a cosy space with chunky comfortable seats and the signature bumper car steering wheel is a stand-out bit of Subaru design.

Even the base car with its plastic trimmed wheel and basic cloth trims in the door is basic in an almost refreshing way, but unlike some rivals manages to be comfortable, too, thanks to soft trims for your elbows in the doors.

The new cabin Isuzu has brewed up certainly brings the truck into the present, but it’s still very much a light truck in some respects. As in, it’s still a pretty good climb inside, although there are steps and handles to make that easier. The steering column still gets in the way as you swing your left leg inside, though.

The plastic surfaces would still make a car interior designer cringe, and the floor is vinyl and the seats cloth. But the three-abreast seating arrangement makes sense and, should you choose the dual-cab N Series option, there’s actually seven seats in all.

Cabin storage has obviously been a priority for Isuzu, and there are three large, netted overhead bins above the top of the windscreen, as well as bins and buckets across the width of the lower dashboard. Interestingly, each door has just a single, slim pocket and no bottle storage.

The centre console addresses that somewhat with a pair of cup-holders and a pen slot, while there’s also a large bin behind the seat on the bulkhead. There’s also an interior light that wouldn’t look out of place in an industrial kitchen.

The dashboard is home to a pair of USB charge-ports in the centre and the truck stuff continues with a wand for the exhaust brake and a knob near the steering column for a fast-idle setting. It’s also nice to see that even though Isuzu has adopted keyless entry and start for the N Series, the starter button resembles a conventional key and is located right where it should be in the side of the steering column.

What’s missing? Mainly a vanity mirror on either side of the cabin and a physical volume knob for the stereo. Oh, and paddle shifters would be nice too, especially when towing.

Externally, the Tradepack option gets you an aluminium drop-side tray, sturdy ladder racks, a tow bar, bull bar, toolboxes fitted below the tray between the axles and even a wash station for after-work clean ups.

The tray is fitted in Australia (many of the Ready to Work body options are also made here) and the load floor is a vast expanse of alloy with the ability to cope with small, heavy objects thanks to its high-impact materials. But the usual drop-side tray caveats apply including a high loading height, rattling from the sides and the legal requirement to lash everything down before hitting the road.

Meantime, part of the overall appeal of the Isuzu line-up is that there are something like 40 different permutations of cabin width, wheelbase, GVM, overall length and driveline.

But here’s perhaps the N Series’ greatest trick when it comes to being practical: While it’s easy to dismiss the vehicle for being too big and unwieldy, many operators would possibly find that the extra payload and real estate in the cargo area means that they might not need to tow a trailer every time they venture on to a job site. At which point, the dual-cab ute with a tandem trailer starts to look less convenient, especially if there’s any reversing or squeezing on to a tight site involved.

Oh, and if tight spaces really are an issue, the N Series’ sub-10m turning circle makes a typical dual-cab’s 12.5 metre turning circle look ridiculously ungainly. And that’s before we get to that trailer.

Typically for a vehicle like this, a full-sized spare tyre is included.

Living up to the adventure-ready Subaru promise, the Impreza's interior is quite functional.

Even though many controls have moved to the big central screen, there are individual buttons for temperature adjustment and a permanent touch function for fan speed on the lower third of the screen.

It would be nice to see a full set of physical buttons for climate functions, but this seems like a decent compromise.

Elsewhere there are large bottle holders in each door with a small accompanying pocket, two more rigid bottle holders in the centre console, a small tray behind them, and a huge armrest console box.

Under the multimedia screen there is a bay with a wireless phone charger, but like the Crosstrek, it is finished in a hard plastic material, which means your phone will easy slide around and out of the charging area in the corners, which seems like an oversight.

Adjustability is great, even in the base car, with flexible seats and a wide range of movement for the wheel, letting you easily find a suitable seating position. Width in the cabin is okay, but headroom is excellent.

The back seat offers a solid amount of room for myself behind my own seating position, at 182cm tall, but the middle position is no good for an adult thanks to the presence of a large raise in the floor to allow for the all-wheel drive system underneath.

Amenities for rear passengers are only okay in the base car, with a large bottle holder in the door and a further two in a drop-down centre armrest. There are no adjustable rear air vents or USB power outlets in the L, but outlets are added in the R and S.

Boot space is on the small side, with only 291 litres (VDA) on offer. The high floor means a limited amount of space with the luggage cover in place, although I was surprised to find we could fit the full three-piece CarsGuide luggage set once it was removed, so long as you’re okay not being able to see out the rear window.

Under the floor, the Impreza sports a space-saver spare wheel - a must-have for long-distance regional travellers.

Now in sixth-generation form, the 2024 Impreza range has been trimmed down to just one hatchback bodystyle and three trim levels - the base L, mid-spec R, and top-spec S.

True to Subaru form these variants are all priced quite close together, and the base L comes with pretty much all the kit you’ll need, with the R and S grades adding mainly luxuries to the equipment list.

Now starting from $31,490, before on-road costs, the Impreza is not as affordable as the previous-generation version, and while it manages to pack a relatively high level of standard equipment, some of its key rivals are a bit cheaper in a segment where every dollar matters.

For example, you can get into a hybrid version of Toyota’s Corolla (Ascent Sport Hybrid - $32,110) for similar money to the entry level 2.0L, the Kia Cerato can be had for under $30,000 (Cerato S Auto - $27,060) while the outgoing Hyundai i30 is significantly cheaper in its most basic trim level (i30 Auto - $26,000).

What might make you think twice is the Subaru’s standard all-wheel drive, where all of its rivals are front-wheel drive, but in an environment where fuel costs are high, I can understand why people would prefer to see a hybrid version instead.

Unlike the Impreza’s Crosstrek small SUV relation, there’s no ‘e-Boxer’ hybrid variant.

Still, standard equipment is high even on the base 2.0L. Included are 17-inch alloy wheels, LED headlights, a massive 11.6-inch multimedia touchscreen with wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto and you even get a matching wireless phone charger.

Elsewhere the base car gets cloth seats with manual adjustment, a plastic steering wheel, analogue instrument cluster with a small digital display, and importantly, the majority of Subaru’s very good active safety equipment is standard.

So, what do you get for stepping up the range? At $34,990, the 2.0R adds premium cloth seat trim, additional charging ports in the rear, eight-way power adjust for the driver, heated front seats, a leather steering wheel and shifter, steering responsive LED headlights, and LED fog lights.

At the top of the range, the $37,990 2.0S adds a 10-speaker audio system, built-in sat-nav, an electric sunroof, and synthetic leather seat trim.

The cabin tech, safety, and standard all-wheel drive are the real draws, but you have to want them. The Impreza isn’t the stellar value buy it once was.

Believe it or not there’s actually a family connection between the 3.0-litre turbo diesel in the Isuzu NRL and the Isuzu D-Max dual-cab and MU-X SUV.

While the displacement of the D-Max remains, the unit in the light truck has been retuned to liberate more torque at lower engine speeds. In this case, that’s 129kW at 2860rpm and 430Nm of torque anywhere between 1450rpm and 2860rpm. That gives the engine great flexibility, but the transmission also plays a part.

That’s either a six-speed manual or a nine-speed dual-clutch unit. The latter has either manual or fully automatic shift modes, and it’s worth is backed up by the potential for lower fuel consumption thanks to the inherent efficiency in such a transmission as well as the three extra ratios.

Designed and made in-house at Isuzu, the brand says it’s confident the wet-clutch unit doesn’t carry the potential flaws of some other dual-clutch units we could name. That said, Isuzu has downgraded the towing capacity from 4.5 to four tonnes if the nine-speed is fitted.

And just like any good truck, there’s the provision for a power-take-off on the side of each transmission option, as well as an exhaust brake to help the mechanical brakes when fully laden.

Unlike many light trucks before it, the Isuzu doesn’t get stuck with a rigid front axle. Instead, you get a proper independent set-up with coil springs, while the rear end remains a live axle with leaf springs in the interests of carting lots of heavy stuff.

The Impreza is equipped with just one engine and transmission for its sixth-generation, a 2.0-litre (FB20) four-cylinder horizontally-opposed ‘boxer’ engine mated to a continuously variable automatic transmission, driving all four wheels via the brand’s signature ‘symmetrical’ permanent all-wheel drive system.

The FB series is a development of the successful EJ series engines which lasted from 1989-2021. This more recent engine has new material science, heads, and seals which have helped the brand push service intervals out to 12 months rather than six, and should address issues which the older engines developed over time.

Power is on-par, but not a stand-out in the segment, with peak outputs of 115kW/196Nm.

This is a cursed subject in the truck segment, because there’s just no standard pattern of usage, nor a typical loading scenario. Some trucks will spend their whole lives heavily loaded going from red light to red light, others will be less burdened and driven between regional towns.

But what we can tell you is that unladen and driven sensibly, this truck should be able to return fuel consumption figures in the low teens per 100km. Throw the full payload and a trailer on the back and head for hilly country and you could easily double that and then some.

As such, the range from the 100-litre fuel tank is going to vary enormously, but should be somewhere between 500 and 800km.

The other thing to bear in mind is that the upgrade to this model has brought the Isuzus in line with Euro 6 emissions or their Japanese equivalent. So they now need AdBLue and there’s a 14-litre tank for that.

One issue with having a non-turbo, non-hybrid 2.0-litre engine with all-wheel drive is relatively high fuel consumption. The Impreza has an official combined cycle fuel consumption figure of 7.5L/100km which is less than impressive in today’s market of hybrids and downsized turbocharged engines.

In my week of mostly stop-start city driving, the test example drank 11.1L/100km, which is disappointing.

Mercifully, it is capable of running on 91RON unleaded. For those who care, the CO2 output is officially 170g/km which is well above the 140g/km it would need to be at to avoid the wrath of incoming vehicle emissions regulations.

Actually climbing aboard the Isuzu is job one, and you’ll need the handles and step to do it safely. Then again, it’s probably no more testing than getting into a really low sports car in a degree of difficulty sense.

With that accomplished, you’re met with two things; the view out and the very un-car-like driving position. The first is fantastic for forward vision. And it’s not just the height advantage over other traffic. The cab-over-engine layout also means you’re almost at the very front of the truck, meaning you can see a lot more of what’s directly in front of you, even if it’s almost under your nose. Jumping back into a dual-cab ute for comparison emphasises the point enormously.

The driving position, meanwhile, might take more getting used to. The steering wheel is almost flat and you tend to sit pretty upright. Long-distance drivers will tell you this is actually great for long stints at the helm, and it honestly feels pretty natural after just a few minutes. But the steering column placement means there’s no chance of left-foot braking which some drivers (this one included) prefer.

Once you’re rolling, the dual-clutch transmission starts to feel pretty handy with short, sharp upshifts and a calibration that sees it keen to downshift on deceleration to help balance the vehicle, take the stress off the brakes and ensure that the engine is in its power band for when you next throttle on.

Speaking of which, the engine is not exactly overpowering, but it does produce the meat of its muscle in the right places, helped no end by having nine ratios to play with. And here’s an interesting point: The way the engine is installed in the NPR – and despite the fact that you’re sitting pretty much right on top of it – there’s less noise and vibration from the 3.0-litre than in an Isuzu D-Max ute. Obviously, low vibrations and less noise are factors in staving off driver fatigue, and clearly Isuzu knows how to achieve this.

Ride quality will vary hugely depending on what’s on board. We tried the NPR with a full load of gear on the tray, taking it almost to its payload limit. At that point, the ride was actually quite compliant, and the only odd sensation is that of having your backside right over the front axle.

The other mantra held dear by fleet managers is that the best way to reduce breakdowns is to take the driver out of the equation as much as possible. That explains the dual-clutch transmission, for one, but it also perhaps explains why the NPR is set up to be actually very easy and simple to drive. It’s definitely scarier to look at than to pilot. And that turning circle is something else!

Have you driven a Subaru in the last 10 years? The drive experience here is pretty much uniform with the rest of the automaker’s range.

This means a lot of very appealing traits. For example, the new Impreza has a comfortable, compliant ride, really nicely weighted steering, and solid handling even on slippery surfaces courtesy of the all-wheel drive system.

The FB series engine also has a good bit of pull fairly early in the RPM range which makes it deceptively spritely, although power really hollows out the more you push it.

This makes it nice to drive around town, but less impressive when it comes to overtaking on the freeway.

This is reinforced by the continuously variable automatic which lends the engine a thrashy, rubbery character when pushed, but is nice and predictable at lower speeds.

The rev-happy engine is also quite noisy when a lot is asked of it, and like a lot of Japanese cars, but Subarus in particular, tyre roar picks up in the cabin above 80km/h.

It’s a comfortable and family-friendly drive, and I particularly like the way the plethora of active safety systems sit by the wayside and don’t interfere with the overall experience.

It is just a bit of a shame it doesn’t move the drive experience forward by a huge amount. The current Impreza doesn’t feel meaningfully different from the fifth-generation version which debuted in 2016.

The majority of active safety equipment is standard across all three Impreza variants including auto emergency braking up to freeway speeds with reverse auto braking, lane support systems, blind-spot monitoring with rear cross-traffic alert, traffic sign recognition, lead vehicle start alert, driver attention alert, and adaptive cruise control.

Stepping up to the 2.0R or 2.0S nets you the front parking camera for a 360-degree parking suite, and high-beam assist for the LED headlights.

Expect the usual traction, brake, and stability controls, alongside the more modern torque vectoring system and an impressive suite of nine airbags. The new Impreza is yet to be rated by ANCAP.

Despite the hard life many trucks are destined to live, Isuzu offers a standard six-year/250,000km warranty on the cabin and chassis of this model. The rear RTW body (whatever form that takes) is covered for three years. There’s also a three-year warranty on genuine accessories provided they were installed by a certified fitter.

Service intervals are every 25,000km, 12 months or 5000 hours of operation, whichever comes first. There’s also six years of roadside assistance thrown in.

Isuzu offers a range of service agreements ranging from the basic package right up to a plan that covers everything including wiper blade replacement.

There are currently 84 Isuzu dealers or authorised service outlets around the country, including some pretty far flung spots, so service and parts should be less of a problem than for some other brands.

Mechanically, Isuzu has worked to reduce servicing times, including the use of sealed-for-life wheel bearings.

Subaru offers its fairly standard five-year and unlimited kilometre warranty on the Impreza, with 12 months of roadside assist included.

There is also a five-year fixed-price service program covering the first 75,000km, although it’s nowhere near as affordable as the Corolla or i30, coming in at an average annual cost of $464.64.

The Impreza needs to be serviced once every 12 months or 15,000km, whichever occurs first.