Grown Up Imprezas?

It's a given these days.  New car designs keep getting "bigger and better".  I think McDonalds might have something to do with that, but regardless, it really struck me when I was getting this late-90s Impreza grille to a friend to swap onto his 2001 Outback Sport that he's Imprez-i-fying.  There's a 2014 Subaru XV Crosstrek grille in my office at work and I put the two together.  They're both about the same width, but everything else about the new grille is "bigger and better".

From the size of the badge to the gratuitous amount of chrome, it's interesting to see how Subarus have changed in a decade or two.  All-Wheel Drive became standard in 1997.  Their first 7 Passenger vehicle came out in 2005.  Continuously Variable Transmissions with better fuel economy made their debut in the Legacy and Outback in 2010.  Then the CVT made it to the Impreza in 2012, Crosstrek in 2013, and Forester in 2014.  Bluetooth became standard in all models in 2013.  All meeting the growing expectations for a needy customer base.  There's folks on both sides of the fence about all these new gizmos and flux capacitors making their way into new cars these days, but it's still got a Boxer Engine behind that badge and the same reliable company people have come to trust.  Sure my 2012 Base Model Impreza has WAY more going on than a 1993 Impreza L, but it's all Subaru and it's all good.