How often did you sit in the back? Seriously, I'm not trying to defend the Impreza's back seat. Neither vehicle's back seat is particularly comfortable, so I see no need to argue.

I totally agree with you that the Outback with H6 had a transmission that did not do it justice. Very sluggish off the line and you had to floor it to get a downshift. It reminded me of how hard I had to floor the old domestics my parent's had in order to get the back two barrels of the carb to kick in. Evidently, the folks down under are getting a new H6 with closer to 250 hp and a 5 speed "tiptronic" slushbox. Hopefully it is an improvement.

 

You clearly care deeply about your passengers. You are a better person than I am.

Reclining back seats would be nice . . .

 

I once got a ride back to my dorm from class with a friend who had the newer body style Eclipse. My female friend, who is like 5'8 sat in the front and I had to get crammed into the back. I'm about 6' and even for a literally 5 minute ride my legs were killing me. The old style Ford Probe (pre 1993) was one of the few coupes that had a backseat that i could actually sit in. My roomie in college had an '89 GT and my older brother had a '92 LX and I'd ride in the back pretty often amd I was fine for like 40 minute trips if not longer.
A friend of mine in highschool had an '85 Prelude and it had a backseat that was tolerable for me on short trips (under an hour). I think the Impreza backseat is pretty good compared to some of whats out there.