Two significantly similar cars, no doubt about that. Still, each one has something different to offer. Having both cars powered by petrol engines and utilizing the 4-door sedan body style within the same 'Small family car' segment, the only major difference here really is their wheel drive configuration (front for the Ford and 4 x 4 in the case of the Subaru). The first one has a Ford-engineered powertrain under the hood, a 3-cylinder, 12-valves 125hp unit, while the other one gets its power and torque from a 4-cylinder, 16-valves 114hp engine designed by Subaru.

The first thing to look into here would be the results from European New Car Assessment Programme (Euro NCAP) tests performed on the two cars. Good thing is that both vehicles got tested, with the same number of safety stars gained in the process. Still, apart from the official crash test results there are other things we need to be aware of. Both vehicles belong to the small family car segment, which is generally classifying them somewhere in the middle safety-wise, still it doesn't help us solve our dilemma, does it? On the other hand, when it comes to weight, a factor that most people underestimate, the Japanese car offers a marginal difference of 9% more metal.

Reliability is not the best thing to consider on the make level, but it is worth mentioning that Ford does have a slight advantage, all the models observed together. These are the results of an independent reasearch, while our visitors describe reliability of Ford with an average rating of 4.4, and models under the Subaru badge with 4.2 out of 5. The same official information place Focus as average reliability-wise, and Impreza is more or less at the same level.Above it all, drivers of cars with the same engine as the American car rank it on average as 4.4, while the one under the competitor's bonnet gets 4.0 out of 5.

Ford is a bit more agile, reaching 100km/h in 0.8 seconds less than its competitor. In addition to that it accelerates all the way to 195 kilometers per hour, 6km/h more than the other car. When it comes to fuel economy an obvious choice would be the American car, averaging around 5.1 liters of fuel per 100 kilometers (55 mpg), in combined cycle. That's 41% difference compared to the Japanese car!

Ford appears just a bit more reliable, although the difference is truly marginal. The most important thing when deciding between any two vehicles should always be safety, both passive and active. In my opinion, everything taken into account, the Japanese car offers slightly better overall protection and takes the lead. From there things take a different direction, with Ford offering somewhat better performance, just enough to call it quicker. To make things even better, it consumps less fuel! All together, there's not much more to say, in this case I wouldn't even consider anything but Ford. In any case that's my personal view, built upon all the data available to me. What should decide here though is the way you feel about the two vehicles, and I hope you'll find my guidelines useful in the process. I suggest you spend two more minutes in order to find out which car, based on your needs and budget, would be picked by the virtual adviser™, out of 12.000+ vehicles we currently have in our database.