2009 Subaru Impreza WRX Premium

The WRX is a car that happily does duty as both an everyday driver and a machine to whoop it up on the back roads. The hatchback body style is extremely useful--the seats flip and fold down easily and make for a flat load floor that can accommodate long or odd-sized objects. I prefer the short-throw shifter in the WRX SPT version we had in earlier, but I don't really object to the standard shifter in this car, which has a fairly smooth action and is nicely mated to the 265-hp turbo four. Of course, that engine is the raison-d'etre of the WRX. It makes for great fun when you're hammering the car down a stretch of two-lane.

Amy Skogstrom, Managing Editor