Plain oatmeal, or oatmeal with salt? A Hobson’s choice: 2023 Subaru Impreza 5-Door Base vs. 2023 Toyota Corolla Hybrid LE

Oh, the existential dilemma of looking for a decent but reasonably inexpensive daily driver in the era of post-Covid supply-chain logjams and microchip shortages. Unprecedented times entail unprecedented situations, and, here I am at a point where I am weighing a potential choice between a 2023 Subaru Impreza 5-Door Base vs. 2023 Toyota Corolla Hybrid LE.

It’s like trying to choose between plain oatmeal and plain oatmeal with a pinch of salt. Exciting, isn’t it?

“But wait,” you may be saying to yourself now. Rather than an oatmeal vs. oatmeal with salt comparison, a choice between a 2023 Subaru Impreza 5-Door Base vs. 2023 Toyota Corolla Hybrid LE sounds more like a plain oatmeal vs. Cream of Wheat comparison, doesn’t it?”

After all, the Subaru is a 5-door, AWD hatchback with an all-ICE powertrain, whereas the Corolla is a fastback sedan with a hybrid powertrain that promises around 50 mpg in the city. So what kind of comparison is that?

Making the comparison understandable requires a bit of background. You see, I ordered a 2023 Ford Maverick XL hybrid last fall. Five months later, as has been the experience with thousands of other Maverick hybrid orderers, I have no sign that the order has yet even been previewed at the factory, let alone any sign of a VIN or production date.

So now my current situation must seem even weirder, but I can explain. The idea of an inexpensive, compact hybrid pickup truck appeals to me due to the mix it promises of being an extremely economical, decent-looking daily with the small truck bed as a bit of utility thrown into the mix as a nice-to-have amenity.

This particular truck checks a mix of boxes that, before the Maverick was announced, would never have occurred to me, but it happens to be a really good mix of boxes for me currently.

But NO other truck interests me. Not even the most comparable offering on the market, the Hyundai Santa Cruz, which you can expect to cost you at least five to seven grand more, and which has pretentions of capturing an El Camino-like vibe of the car-trucks of days gone by. If I want a truck, I want something that looks more like a classic truck, as appealing as the Santa Cruz is in many ways.

That said, it’s also about time for me to part ways with my current daily, and I am not keen on spending any more money on it. So, unless my Maverick order suddenly comes through in the meantime, I’m in a place where starting to look for an interim solution is probably a good idea, even if that means pushing a Maverick hybrid purchase another model year or two down the road.

However, there are some constraints on that interim solution:

• I don’t want to spend much more—or, preferably, any more—than the Maverick would have cost me. So that means a price as built somewhere in the $22,000–$24,000 ballpark.
• With the pre-owned market still kind of distorted, a used vehicle is not the perfect solution it might have been for a situation like this just a couple of years ago. Why pay 20 grand for something like a four-year-old Corolla with upwards of 50,000 miles on it, when I can get a brand new Corolla for just a few grand more? The value proposition for a used car seems non-existent in the present situation.
• There is no way that I am going to get locked into a lease or risk ever having to endure the nightmare and expense that goes with trying to get out of one.

So, when you factor in my checklist for a basic, economical new daily and the price range I’m willing to tolerate currently, the field narrows to a few options in either the crossover or sedan category like the Subaru CrossTrek, the Subaru Impreza, the Mazda 3, the Toyota Corolla sedan (ICE or hybrid), the Toyota Corolla Cross, a couple-three different Hyundai and Kia models, and maybe even some Nissans.

Theoretically there are some Volkswagen models and a couple of Chevys that could work, but I’m skeptical of the reliability of both compared to the Japanese marques. I’m willing to make an exception for the Maverick because it checks so many other boxes and, of course, like all new vehicles, comes with a warranty.

So here’s the deal. I can cross out most of the crossovers pretty quickly because I just don’t care for the category that much. I might consider the Mazda CX-30 or Corolla Cross, for example, but it’s hard to swallow paying extra for AWD when it’s a standard feature of every Subaru throughout their lineup. And I see no point in an FWD crossover even though I would still consider an FWD sedan.

While I like a number of Nissan models, including the Altima, Armada, and of course the Z, nothing in the Nissan lineup in this price range floats my boat, especially not the Kicks. It’s pretty much the same for the Hyundais and Kias. In this price range my experience with Toyota reliability makes me lean toward the marque, and with Subaru the factor of standard AWD, along with a reasonably comparable reliability reputation, is appealing.

That pretty quickly narrows the field to the Subaru Impreza and the Toyota Corolla. However, the vanilla factor of Corollas is such a downside for me that only the extra icing on the cake of the impressive fuel economy of the hybrid sedan is enticing enough to make me consider it.

On the Subaru side, the Impreza base sedan has a dinky trunk and just has a vibe of overall smallness. But the 5-door base puts a vibe on the hatchback category that is somewhat distinctive and almost gives the impression of a small wagon.

So then there are two: the 2023 Subaru 5-Door base vs. the 2023 Toyota Corolla Hybrid LE. It’s an odd couple, for sure, but, in the strange calculus of our strange current automotive climate, it’s an odd couple that makes its own warped sort of sense as the two finalists for a daily in this price range.

For the final duel, let’s start with the Impreza. This vehicle is like your average, run-of-the-mill compact car, with a little bit of extra excitement thrown in thanks to its standard all-wheel drive, some subtle design nuances that set it apart a bit from its peers, and the wagon-like vibe. And, when you throw-in the AWD, it’s like having a superhero sidekick along for the ride, always ready to save the day in inclement weather. Of course, a low-stanced AWD sedan doesn’t have much utility if you stray from the safety of smooth, paved roads, but, hey—let’s call it a win for the Impreza.

And then there’s the Corolla, the trusty steed of the compact car world. It’s like your grandma’s rocking chair—dependable, comfortable, and a little bit boring. Some of you might be old enough to remember an odd “generic products” craze a few decades back when it was all the rage to sell off-priced products with non-branded category labels on the package, like a plain white box for a bar of bath soap that was simply labeled “Soap.”

That’s what the Corolla is like, viewed from the outside or especially when you open the door, sit your butt down, and behold the staid interior. Instead of “Corolla,” they should just stick a badge on the back that just says “Car” in Helvetica Book. Yes, it’s a daily driver of legendary reliability, but, despite some improvements in Toyota’s design language in recent years, the Corolla is still as generic as you can get. And the butt-ugly grille of the current model doesn’t help too much. It isn’t too bad on Toyota’s larger models, but on the Corolla it’s just too much.

In its favor, the Corolla does offer a more spacious interior, making it a good choice for those who like to travel with a small army of friends and family. But, for me, the only factor that really makes it worth semi-serious consideration in my current situation is the fuel economy of the hybrid LE.

When it comes to safety features, the Impreza has the advantage with its standard EyeSight driver-assist technology suite, which includes features like adaptive cruise control, lane departure warning, and automatic emergency braking. The Corolla, on the other hand, has the Toyota Safety Sense suite, which includes features like lane departure warning and automatic emergency braking. So, in essence, the Corolla has a better view of what’s behind it and can stay in its lane better. It’s like having a mom in the car, always keeping you safe and on track.

Finally, let’s talk about value. The Impreza starts at a higher price point, and if you want an automatic in lieu of the manual gearbox that comes standard you’ve got to pay about $1,300 extra. But it’s a big plus that AWD is standard on the Impreza, unlike the Corolla. In terms of safety features, I’d call the difference pretty much a wash, although the Corolla does offer a larger infotainment screen.

The choice between the 2023 Subaru Impreza 5-Door Base vs. 2023 Toyota Corolla Hybrid LE is like choosing between two different shades of beige. But, in the end, the scales tip in favor of the Subaru for me, with the key deciding factors being greater cargo-utility of the 5-door hatchback configuration, the inclement-weather benefits of AWD, and a design vibe that, to my eye, is clearly more distinctive and especially lacks the offensiveness of the ugly Toyota grille.

So, if I do decide to pull the trigger on this interim scenario—and that is far from a certainty at this point—the Subaru Impreza 5-door base will almost certainly emerge as the winner.

Stay tuned for updates. I will be glad to keep you posted, assuming that the prospect of choosing between what are, in the larger scheme of things, two rather ho-hum vehicles has not already put you to sleep.