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It used to be the case that if a customer walked into a Subaru dealership hoping for an Outback or a Forester, but the customer's finances didn't quite stretch to allow the purchase of one of those perennially popular Subaru models, the salesperson would gently guide the customer to the back of the showroom and present to them the Impreza. The Impreza was the forgotten Subaru, the one no one cared about, the price leader. It was bland, it was boring, it wasn't remotely competitive with compacts like the Mazda 3 and the Honda Civic, and it didn't even offer very good fuel economy, but at least it was a Subaru, and it was one of the cheapest ways to get an all-wheel-drive car. So, even though it was the bastard stepchild of the Subaru lineup, it found a few takers, people who really, really wanted a Subaru and were willing to live with the Impreza's aesthetic, performance, and efficiency weaknesses. (The Impreza also formed the basis of the popular WRX sports car, but that's another story altogether.)