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Subaru updates EyeSight system with color-detecting cameras

Subaru is giving its EyeSight driver assistance camera system a major upgrade for the 2015 model year with new color cameras, as well as reducing its size by 15 percent over the rather bulky original system.
Subaru locates its EyeSight hardware inside the vehicle at the top of the windshield, which is unlike most other camera-based systems that have their hardware mounted somewhere in the front fascia. The benefit is that these rather expensive components are protected from any detritus that may hit the car, but the original system's size ate up a chunk of the driver's outward view. Thus, the shrinkage should be appreciated by new owners.
The upgraded stereo cameras have a 40-percent longer and wider detection range than the original system's cameras, and their ability to see color allows the system to recognize brake lights at a speed differential of 30 miles per hour, instead of 19 mph before. And as before, EyeSight continues to offer adaptive cruise control, lane departure warning and pre-collision breaking that can slow the car automatically if an imminent accident is detected, even bringing the vehicle to a complete stop.

Drive looks at a pair of STI-ified Subaru Impreza RS Coupes

Among tuners, the legions of Subaru fans are hard to top, displaying all the fanaticism of English soccer fans and a dedication to their vehicles that borders on obsessive. These are compliments, by the way. In the latest video from Drive, Matt Farah takes a look at a pair of very special Imprezas - early Impreza 2.5RS Coupes that have had some serious heart transplants.
The first, a traditional blue model, sports the 2.5-liter, turbocharged flat-four from the 2004 WRX STI, which is good for around 300 horsepower. The other Impreza is a bit more hardcore - the engine is a 2.0-liter, turbocharged four-cylinder from the JDM WRX STI, which we suppose makes it more of an Impreza 2.0RS Coupe. Besides the different engines, both cars represent the unique ideas and style of their owners.
The 10-minute video explores this, digging into why people tune, and how it's a reflection of their own personal driving style and character. Take a look below for another fun vid from the team at Drive.

Subaru uses a mime and a toy car to explain why it loves the boxer engine

I will freely admit to struggling with why Subaru continues to stubbornly employ a boxer engine design while so few other automakers do the same. After all, with twice the number of cylinder heads and cams as a traditional inline four-cylinder engine, a boxer four is more complex, more expensive to manufacture and more cumbersome to service with few tangible benefits. Until recently, the company's engines struggled to meet the fuel economy numbers of its competitors while offering no real boon in horsepower or torque. Subaru seems to recognize I'm not the only one scratching my head.
In order to help us non-believers understand what's what, the company has employed a pair of mimes, a toy car and a few clay engines to demonstrate the folly of every other automaker on the planet. Subaru says the boxer offers up a lower center of gravity than either an inline four-cylinder engine or a V6, which I will gladly concede. The company also says the design offers up smoother operation.
I'll offer just two counterpoints here. First, an engine with a low center of gravity is excellent, but when vehicles like the Forester, XV Crosstrek and Outback boast more ground clearance than most mainstream SUVs, that argument flies out the window. Second, anyone who's spent any amount of time behind the wheel of a vehicle equipped with an inline four and then proceeded to move into one propelled by a boxer can tell you the latter has all of the idling manners of a small tractor. Check out the video below to see for yourself.