You could try looking at the short movies for the Forester on the Subaru of Japan website. I think Ken was the one who pointed out the movies. Rather funny, particulalry the on set in the US desert somewhere (Roswell scenes etc.)
Here's another 46-year old roller skater, although my forays are limited to the 4-wheel variety skate, on indoor rinks during the kids' school skate nights.
SF storm: My sis lives in Marin, called me last night after her power was restored after a 22 hour outage. Did I hear about 24-foot waves on the Oregon Coast? Yeesh!
Anybody remember the AmphiCar? Had a couple around here years ago for all the lakes we have - looked like fun, but not the best road car nor boat.
I couldn't get the links to the TV commercials since they're buried in Macromedia Flash. There is a new commercial of the Cross Sport doing drifts in some square in Prague.
Also, for those who want to minimize their Flash experience, the following link will let you see the SOJ website with HTML. Unfortunately, it goes back to Flash at the individual car level. Bob -- you might find this helpful:
My wife says that my occupation (Insurance Loss Adjuster) makes me a bit warped. Wild storms mean more work so we are a bit like vultures. However, I love exciting weather. There is something exciting about watching the trees blow and the rain lash the countryside, particularly if you are safeley tucked up at home or in a Subaru. We really love watching the waves crash over the harbour wall when we are on holiday. Sever weather is only really a problem when it hits areas ill prepared for it.
In Australia, severe weather occurs fairly frequently and hence most people are fairly well set up for it. Building design reflects greater variablity in conditions etc.
When I was living in England, I realised that they are not well set up for severe weather and hence even a mild snowstorm or severe breezes would paralyse the country.
I've found a work-around for (my AOL-challenged) Flash. I just access those sites via Navigator or Explorer (via AOL). It seems to work, for the most part. It's just a bit of a hassle, meaning more steps are involved...
What a blast! Of course I only hit a top speed of maybe 5 mph.... But hey, I didn't fall once. Beth sat outside watching with the phone in her lap. I think she had already keyed in 911, and was just waiting for the opportunity to hit 'send'! All the while my 6 1/2 yr old daughter was running circles around me and kept trying to give me 'pointers'.
Thanks for all of the encouragement. It helped make me feel a little less foolish for wanting to do this (it goes with the Subaru Active Lifestyle Vehicle image, you know).
The BMW Films are great. I got the DVD when we went to that Ultimate Driving Event thingy. "Superstar" was hilarious. Ask Bob what that was like to watch on my 91" projection screen with surround sound. :-)
I'll have to download the new ones, but I'll have to borrow my buddy's Mac (of course) to cut a DVD from it.
Should we add "roller bladers" to our demographics?
It's funny, I've read it's pronounced TOUR-egg and TWAH-reg. Which is it? Dumb name.
Still don't like the styling either. Wagons can be round, but SUVs should be boxy. Inside, too, is too complex. I prefer the Passat's interior, heck I prefer the Expedition's interior.
But that's about it. The rest is solid. Peek past those hood struts and you see both engines are mounted the hard way, longitudinally. $35k is a lot but I guess you have to compare it to an X5 or an ML320. But is the VW badge a deficit, then?
I'd require a 3rd row in that price range, so a Pilot, MDX, or Expedition would be more to my liking.
But definitely some cool stuff that may spread to other competing models. 220 lbs on the roof, 7700 lbs towing (with brakes)? Sweet, Bob, almost enough for you! ;-)
$68 GRAND for the loaded diesel, though? Aye yay.
Power tow bar is neat. I think the Expedition's swings out, but it's manual. That's fine really, since you're gonna hook up the trailer manually anyway.
The name "4XMotion" is confusing. Sounds too much like regular 4Motion. The name of the vehicle is also all wrong, so the marketing dept really messed up there.
6 speed manual or auto? I bet we get just the auto, but still, that's amazing. I wonder how 220hp will pull all that weight, though, probably not impressively. I think one estimate was near 10s, while Pilot is closer to 8s, blowing its doors off.
The suspension seems cool. Very Range Rover-ish. I wonder if they used the technology from the Audi allroad quattro.
I read somewhere they would only make 33,000 the first year, and only 15k would come to the US, so they'll sell that amount easily.
Ever the dreamer, Bob envisions a 2005 Forester Turbo with an adjustable air suspension and Class II towing capacity...
VW has shown it's far more serious than Subaru about moving upscale. Obviously they are far bigger and have much more R&D funds, but Subaru is holding back stuff from Japan, while VW is clearly holding NOTHING back.
We gotta find out what druge Piech was taking, and let the Subaru guys smoke some. The man was fiscally nuts, but at least the products coming out now are cutting edge.
I think the pronunciation is approximately "twah-reg" with a hard "g". They are one of the last nomadic people in Africa, fround in Mali, Niger and similar parts.
There are about 800,000 of the Tuareg living around the Sahara. They are uinusual in the Muslim word as the men are veiled and the women not. They have an unusual alphabet "t'finagh". http://tuaregs.free.fr/commun/plus/polices.zip
This encyclopedia entry gives a rough summary of their history and culture http://www.slider.com/enc/53000/Tuareg.htm I gather they were subdued (sort of) by the French. The possibilities for what one can read into a German company like Volkswagen using this as a name are endless - revenge / warning? It's also worrying that their traditional financing scheme consisted of taxing travellers passing through their lands.
The concept of the nomadic traveller in wild country is actually fairly inspired for the VW 4wd. The only other really apt one I can think of is the Land Rover which was originally intended as a Rover car for the land owner. There are some extremely silly ones I can think of. Any other apt names come to mind?
laughing at the 'active lifestyle' comment about the roller blading subaru owners .. maybe SOME of you have the car for an active lifestyle .. I just bought mine cause I wanted something to haul things in and this one was the best value and also the most COMFORTABLE RIDE !
regarding naming the vehicle Touareg, besides for the difficult pronunciation (tour-egg). Seems that these nomads of the desert are also famous for owning slaves—not exactly a strong PR point...
"The concept of the nomadic traveller in wild country is actually fairly inspired for the VW 4wd. The only other really apt one I can think of is the Land Rover which was originally intended as a Rover car for the land owner. There are some extremely silly ones I can think of. Any other apt names come to mind?"
Volkswagen did this 28 years ago, when I switched from air cooled VWs to water-cooled. Their first US watercooled car was the Scirocco, named for the Saharan desert wind. (beat the Rabbit here by a couple of months.)
I always thought the Toyota Land Rover was aptly named. However, now it should be called "Toyota Bloated Overpriced SUV POS Driven By Gum Smacking Phone Talking Soccer Moms"
I tried to put your 'acronym' together, but it just doesn't flow right!
"TBOSUVPOSDBGSPTSM"
Great idea, though. I think you got the vehicle concept right, but we just have to work on rearranging the letters to something more easily pronounced. ;-)
I test drove the Scirocco but was immediately turned off because it had zero headroom for someone over 6'. I literally had to recline the seat to prevent my head from whacking the headliner.
was the pronunciation I saw in some car magazine (or was it an on-line article?). In any event, it was promoted by an automotive source as the correct way to say it.
I had no problems with the headroon in the Scirocco. Of course I'm only 5'8" so I sat pretty low.
The Scirocco was the car C&D coined the phrase Super Coupe around. Mine was the first year, so I had tons of problems. Good thing there was only a one year warranty in those days, as I replaced the points and condensor with an electronic ingnition and ripped out two bushel baskets full of emission garbage (and the broken air conditioner, which was a GM unit and about half as big as the block.) It did a lot better after that.
Of course anything was an improvement on the car it replaced; a 1969 FIAT 124 wagon (see a theme here?)
I recall a buddy had a monotone white Scirocco, beautiful car. Another had a GTI. But neither held up very well. At least parts were cheap.
Jesus would drive a Forester.
Why? First of all, he was a fisherman. So AWD is mandatory right there. But he'd need a built-in cooler and a place to stash his rod out of sight. It would have to be efficient, with enough room for a few apostles. ;-)
Plus, the only time I yell "Jesus" is when I slam the brakes, and I'm sure he'd greatly appreciate the 4 wheel disc brakes with ABS and EBD.
Just got this in my e-mail box from a UK auto site. Thought it would be worth passing on:
Let’s get something absolutely clear. I’m no big fan of SUVs. Brick-like aerodynamics and the fact that they tend to be big and heavy is almost enough for me. But what really kills them in my eyes is the simple fact that the people buying them, in the main, don’t use them off-road.
Now I know there’s a safety aspect with 4WD that people understandably buy into, but there’s also the not entirely lost fact that your big mass will obliterate anything of substantially smaller mass in a collision – slightly uncomfortable territory in my personal view.
People find all kinds of justifications for owning SUVs (‘it was great on the beach on vacation last year’) but deep down they’re a bit of a con. Over engineered for what they do means wasteful to me. The lifestyle marketing guff fishes people in of course, but that’s human nature and they’re free to buy one if they want to. Hey, you know the arguments for and against.
But something in the news today has put me in alliance with SUV drivers everywhere. They’ll be indignant when they hear about it and rightly so. Certain religious groups in the US are planning a campaign against SUVs saying that your choice of vehicle is a moral issue and that SUVs are anti-social. This strikes me as a can of worms of immense magnitude that they would do well to steer clear of.
‘What vehicle would Jesus drive?’ Are they serious? I would guess that today he would have a bicycle and would be a keen supporter of public transport. If he had to have a vehicle then maybe he’d plump for a gasoline-electric hybrid like the Toyota Prius. Okay, if he has to have a pure gasoline ICE, then something modest surely – Perodua Nippa? Suzuki Alto?
But my real gripe is this: if your choice of vehicle is really a ‘moral issue’, then what about luxury cars and performance cars? They’re not exactly eco-friendly and if you trade down to something more basic, the money saved can surely be diverted to morally good causes. And what about other areas of discretionary spending on luxury or non-essential goods? Should we all live the lives of monks?
No, your SUV, should you choose to have one, should not be lambasted on purely moral grounds in this way. The vehicles are perfectly legal and in terms of the wider picture, no morally – or environmentally - worse than many other types of vehicle. Some SUVs are better than others of course and I’m not saying that there is not a case for discouraging the worst excesses via the regulatory environment. But SUVs – or their drivers – should not be singled out as wrong on moral grounds in my view.
I’m reminded of Beatrice Hall’s line about free speech: ‘I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death you’re right to say it.’ (The friends of Voltaire, 1906) For ‘say’ substitute ‘drive’.
The fact that there is still massive poverty in the world is a serious and complicated question for all of us who live in comparable luxury – and this isn’t really the place for dwelling on that. But picking on SUV drivers seems to me to be a little ill advised in this context, as well as missing the point (unless the point is simply to stir things up).
* Next generation new platform (SUW?) * hybrid power source (GM?) * new design language (the Alfa dude) * Increase joint purchasing and strategic procurement with GM group (careful!)
If they want Innovative, Individual, and Courageous, they'd better bring us all the models we're asking for.
Innovative? Let's see some 5/6 speeds right away. Side curtain air bags as an option. Shiftronic more widely available. They are way behind here, not innovating anything.
Individual? OK, I'll give them that.
They'd be courageous if the Forester STi and Blitzen were sold here. SoA is actually the opposite, very conservative.
And I don't see how "driving, safety, and environment" mesh with being courageous.
Bob - did you see Edmunds' review of the GX470? It's on the home page.
You know I've been a big fan, but two misses are mind boggling. First, the hatch opens toward the curb side. Stupid. Just stupid.
2nd, the glass does not open separately.
That wouldn't be a big deal if the 4Runner didn't address both of those concerns, and it shares a platform. 4 Runner doesn't offer the 3rd row. So neither of them really nailed it. :-(
One thing I'm not wild about is that the body is 3" taller than the 4Runner, which means a higher center of gravity than does the 4Runner. I do like having the 4x4 lever that includes a Neutral position, unlike the 4Runner.
I do agree with about the rear door. As you know it's sold in other markets a Land Cruiser-Lite, and the rear door also has the spare mounted on it. Probably because it is sold mostly in Australia, Japan & the UK, is the reason for the US-unfriendly rear door. They probably don't think it's worth the expense to re-hinge the rear door just for a few markets in which it is sold. I don't agree with that thinking, especially here in the USA, where it' marketed as a premium product.
Some time ago I got an e-mail from a Studebaker friend which included the following:
For centuries, theologians have squabbled over the type of transportation the Lord would use: Public transit or private car? Stick shift or automatic? A sport-utility vehicle roomy enough for all twelve apostles or an economy model?
One theory is that Jesus would tool around in an old Plymouth because the Bible says God drove Adam and Eve out of the Garden of Eden in a Fury.
But there may be several other scenarios. In Psalm 83, for example, the Almighty clearly owns a Pontiac and a Geo. The passage urges the Lord to 'pursue your enemies with your Tempest and terrify them with your Storm.' (We're not sure how a Geo Storm could be considered terrifying, unless it had those scary shooting flames painted on the sides.)
Another scripture indicates that Yahweh favored Dodge pickup trucks. Moses' followers are warned not to go up a mountain until 'the Ram's horn sounds a long blast.'
Some scholars insist that Jesus drove a Honda, but didn't like to talk about it. As proof, they cite a verse in John's gospel where Christ tells a crowd, 'For I did not speak of my own Accord, but the Father who sent me commanded me what to say.'
Other theories include one in which Moses rode an old British motorcycle, as evidenced by a Bible passage declaring that 'the roar of Moses' Triumph is heard in the hills.'
Someone else has suggested the apostles followed Jesus' lead and carpooled in a Honda because Acts records that "the apostles were in one Accord".
Reading through the December issue of Surfer magazine, there are other manufactures marketing towards surfers. Subaru with the Baja, Ford with the Ranger pick-up, Nissan with the X-Terra, and (a first that I've seen), Honda with the Element.
The Honda ad is two pages and looks impressive. It touts their wipe-down utility floors and shows a view out the back. That thing looks huge!
Meanwhile, when I was at the dealer Monday, the pics of the Baja showed surfboards crammed in without any protection. I guess there's no way to fit surfboards that are in a board bag into the "pass-through".
Wonder if they got a surfer's point of view for those ads?
Heck yeah, Bob, cost cutting on a $50k vehicle? No excuses at that price.
Trooper's is also split, right? That's smart, the doors aren't quite so huge. Someone parks behind you in a RAV4 or CR-V and you can't open it all the way.
Element has one major omission: no full size spare. Imagine getting a flat on the beach, and then using a thin donut to dig yourself into the sand.
Does Baja get a donut? If so they should fix that.
The Baja has a donut stored under the bed. Subaru even puts a warning sticker in the bed saying NOT to place a full-size (flat or good) tire in the spare tire carrier, as it could cause damage.
That's a mistake considered they advertise in Surf magazines.
If there isn't enough clearance I'd get the taller springs and lift the whole thing while I'm at it. You could do both for about $500.
I still have 3 spare 15" steelies, any Crew member can have 1 free if they want a full size spare. It would fit on any TS wagon, Forester L, or Legacy L.
any vehicle that has "trucking aspirations," no matter how minimal, should have a full-size spare. Heck, I think all vehicles should have a full-size spare!
Comments
You could try looking at the short movies for the Forester on the Subaru of Japan website. I think Ken was the one who pointed out the movies. Rather funny, particulalry the on set in the US desert somewhere (Roswell scenes etc.)
Can't find the link now
Cheers
Graham
SF storm: My sis lives in Marin, called me last night after her power was restored after a 22 hour outage. Did I hear about 24-foot waves on the Oregon Coast? Yeesh!
Anybody remember the AmphiCar? Had a couple around here years ago for all the lakes we have - looked like fun, but not the best road car nor boat.
Cheers!
Paul
http://www.subaru.co.jp/forester/movie/menu_angel.html
http://www.subaru.co.jp/forester/movie/menu_mission.html
I couldn't get the links to the TV commercials since they're buried in Macromedia Flash. There is a new commercial of the Cross Sport doing drifts in some square in Prague.
Also, for those who want to minimize their Flash experience, the following link will let you see the SOJ website with HTML. Unfortunately, it goes back to Flash at the individual car level. Bob -- you might find this helpful:
http://www.subaru.co.jp/index_h.html
SF Storm stats:
- Highest wind gusts were around 75mph. One Uhaul truck was sheared in half!
- One area measured 5" of rain in 24 hours
Ken
My wife says that my occupation (Insurance Loss Adjuster) makes me a bit warped. Wild storms mean more work so we are a bit like vultures. However, I love exciting weather. There is something exciting about watching the trees blow and the rain lash the countryside, particularly if you are safeley tucked up at home or in a Subaru. We really love watching the waves crash over the harbour wall when we are on holiday. Sever weather is only really a problem when it hits areas ill prepared for it.
In Australia, severe weather occurs fairly frequently and hence most people are fairly well set up for it. Building design reflects greater variablity in conditions etc.
When I was living in England, I realised that they are not well set up for severe weather and hence even a mild snowstorm or severe breezes would paralyse the country.
Hope the storms have cleared for you.
Cheers
Graham
This one has cleared. Another is due in 5 to 7 days.
Our typical storms are not this windy...must be the global warming or something.
Jim
Bob
Thanks for all of the encouragement. It helped make me feel a little less foolish for wanting to do this (it goes with the Subaru Active Lifestyle Vehicle image, you know).
Steve
I'll have to download the new ones, but I'll have to borrow my buddy's Mac (of course) to cut a DVD from it.
Should we add "roller bladers" to our demographics?
Saw that, Bob. Last ditch attempt?
-juice
Still don't like the styling either. Wagons can be round, but SUVs should be boxy. Inside, too, is too complex. I prefer the Passat's interior, heck I prefer the Expedition's interior.
But that's about it. The rest is solid. Peek past those hood struts and you see both engines are mounted the hard way, longitudinally. $35k is a lot but I guess you have to compare it to an X5 or an ML320. But is the VW badge a deficit, then?
I'd require a 3rd row in that price range, so a Pilot, MDX, or Expedition would be more to my liking.
But definitely some cool stuff that may spread to other competing models. 220 lbs on the roof, 7700 lbs towing (with brakes)? Sweet, Bob, almost enough for you! ;-)
$68 GRAND for the loaded diesel, though? Aye yay.
Power tow bar is neat. I think the Expedition's swings out, but it's manual. That's fine really, since you're gonna hook up the trailer manually anyway.
The name "4XMotion" is confusing. Sounds too much like regular 4Motion. The name of the vehicle is also all wrong, so the marketing dept really messed up there.
6 speed manual or auto? I bet we get just the auto, but still, that's amazing. I wonder how 220hp will pull all that weight, though, probably not impressively. I think one estimate was near 10s, while Pilot is closer to 8s, blowing its doors off.
The suspension seems cool. Very Range Rover-ish. I wonder if they used the technology from the Audi allroad quattro.
I read somewhere they would only make 33,000 the first year, and only 15k would come to the US, so they'll sell that amount easily.
-juice
Next we see a trick IFS/IRS on the ultra-expensive Range Rover.
Now we see a trick IFS/IRS on the expensive VW Touareg.
Soon, hopefully, we will see a trick IFS/IRS on a vehicles mere mortals can buy.
Bob
VW has shown it's far more serious than Subaru about moving upscale. Obviously they are far bigger and have much more R&D funds, but Subaru is holding back stuff from Japan, while VW is clearly holding NOTHING back.
Frustrating, no?
-juice
Bob
-juice
I think the pronunciation is approximately "twah-reg" with a hard "g". They are one of the last nomadic people in Africa, fround in Mali, Niger and similar parts.
There are about 800,000 of the Tuareg living around the Sahara. They are uinusual in the Muslim word as the men are veiled and the women not. They have an unusual alphabet "t'finagh". http://tuaregs.free.fr/commun/plus/polices.zip
This encyclopedia entry gives a rough summary of their history and culture http://www.slider.com/enc/53000/Tuareg.htm I gather they were subdued (sort of) by the French. The possibilities for what one can read into a German company like Volkswagen using this as a name are endless - revenge / warning? It's also worrying that their traditional financing scheme consisted of taxing travellers passing through their lands.
A bit more detail here with a very dodgy translation from the French. http://tuaregs.free.fr/tuareg_e/accueil_ie.htm
They are big on cooking and music http://www.studiom.de/giger/fotoxxl/percussion/a-Afrika/Afrika5.htm
The concept of the nomadic traveller in wild country is actually fairly inspired for the VW 4wd. The only other really apt one I can think of is the Land Rover which was originally intended as a Rover car for the land owner. There are some extremely silly ones I can think of. Any other apt names come to mind?
Cheers
Graham
Graham, thanks for the trivia!
Bob
Volkswagen did this 28 years ago, when I switched from air cooled VWs to water-cooled. Their first US watercooled car was the Scirocco, named for the Saharan desert wind. (beat the Rabbit here by a couple of months.)
I always thought the Toyota Land Rover was aptly named. However, now it should be called "Toyota Bloated Overpriced SUV POS Driven By Gum Smacking Phone Talking Soccer Moms"
Steve
"TBOSUVPOSDBGSPTSM"
Great idea, though. I think you got the vehicle concept right, but we just have to work on rearranging the letters to something more easily pronounced. ;-)
Steve
Scirocco was a cool name. I kind of wanted one of those in high school.
Let's use paisan's term - Soccer Mom Vehicle.
-juice
Jim
-Frank P.
Bob
I think C&D said to pronounce it Tour-egg. The point is, noone can agree! Dumb name for an interesting SUV.
-juice
www.infoplease.com/ce6/society/A0849609.html
www.encyclopedia.com/search.asp?target=@DOCTITLE%20Tuareg
They should have kept "Colorado". Big time.
-juice
Bob
The Scirocco was the car C&D coined the phrase Super Coupe around. Mine was the first year, so I had tons of problems. Good thing there was only a one year warranty in those days, as I replaced the points and condensor with an electronic ingnition and ripped out two bushel baskets full of emission garbage (and the broken air conditioner, which was a GM unit and about half as big as the block.) It did a lot better after that.
Of course anything was an improvement on the car it replaced; a 1969 FIAT 124 wagon (see a theme here?)
Steve
Jesus would drive a Forester.
Why? First of all, he was a fisherman. So AWD is mandatory right there. But he'd need a built-in cooler and a place to stash his rod out of sight. It would have to be efficient, with enough room for a few apostles. ;-)
Plus, the only time I yell "Jesus" is when I slam the brakes, and I'm sure he'd greatly appreciate the 4 wheel disc brakes with ABS and EBD.
-juice
Let’s get something absolutely clear. I’m no big fan of SUVs. Brick-like aerodynamics and the fact that they tend to be big and heavy is almost enough for me. But what really kills them in my eyes is the simple fact that the people buying them, in the main, don’t use them off-road.
Now I know there’s a safety aspect with 4WD that people understandably buy into, but there’s also the not entirely lost fact that your big mass will obliterate anything of substantially smaller mass in a collision – slightly uncomfortable territory in my personal view.
People find all kinds of justifications for owning SUVs (‘it was great on the beach on vacation last year’) but deep down they’re a bit of a con. Over engineered for what they do means wasteful to me. The lifestyle marketing guff fishes people in of course, but that’s human nature and they’re free to buy one if they want to. Hey, you know the arguments for and against.
But something in the news today has put me in alliance with SUV drivers everywhere. They’ll be indignant when they hear about it and rightly so. Certain religious groups in the US are planning a campaign against SUVs saying that your choice of vehicle is a moral issue and that SUVs are anti-social. This strikes me as a can of worms of immense magnitude that they would do well to steer clear of.
‘What vehicle would Jesus drive?’ Are they serious? I would guess that today he would have a bicycle and would be a keen supporter of public transport. If he had to have a vehicle then maybe he’d plump for a gasoline-electric hybrid like the Toyota Prius. Okay, if he has to have a pure gasoline ICE, then something modest surely – Perodua Nippa? Suzuki Alto?
But my real gripe is this: if your choice of vehicle is really a ‘moral issue’, then what about luxury cars and performance cars? They’re not exactly eco-friendly and if you trade down to something more basic, the money saved can surely be diverted to morally good causes. And what about other areas of discretionary spending on luxury or non-essential goods? Should we all live the lives of monks?
No, your SUV, should you choose to have one, should not be lambasted on purely moral grounds in this way. The vehicles are perfectly legal and in terms of the wider picture, no morally – or environmentally - worse than many other types of vehicle. Some SUVs are better than others of course and I’m not saying that there is not a case for discouraging the worst excesses via the regulatory environment. But SUVs – or their drivers – should not be singled out as wrong on moral grounds in my view.
I’m reminded of Beatrice Hall’s line about free speech: ‘I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death you’re right to say it.’ (The friends of Voltaire, 1906) For ‘say’ substitute ‘drive’.
The fact that there is still massive poverty in the world is a serious and complicated question for all of us who live in comparable luxury – and this isn’t really the place for dwelling on that. But picking on SUV drivers seems to me to be a little ill advised in this context, as well as missing the point (unless the point is simply to stir things up).
Bob
So they took aim at a big target.
I use my Forester to capacity and my next vehicle might be bigger, if it's as fun to drive.
-juice
http://www.fhi.co.jp/english/news/press/2002/02_10_11e.htm
FHI 5-year plan
http://www.fhi.co.jp/english/news/press/2002/02_05_17_e1.htm
* Next generation new platform (SUW?)
* hybrid power source (GM?)
* new design language (the Alfa dude)
* Increase joint purchasing and strategic procurement with GM group (careful!)
If they want Innovative, Individual, and Courageous, they'd better bring us all the models we're asking for.
Innovative? Let's see some 5/6 speeds right away. Side curtain air bags as an option. Shiftronic more widely available. They are way behind here, not innovating anything.
Individual? OK, I'll give them that.
They'd be courageous if the Forester STi and Blitzen were sold here. SoA is actually the opposite, very conservative.
And I don't see how "driving, safety, and environment" mesh with being courageous.
-juice
You know I've been a big fan, but two misses are mind boggling. First, the hatch opens toward the curb side. Stupid. Just stupid.
2nd, the glass does not open separately.
That wouldn't be a big deal if the 4Runner didn't address both of those concerns, and it shares a platform. 4 Runner doesn't offer the 3rd row. So neither of them really nailed it. :-(
-juice
I do agree with about the rear door. As you know it's sold in other markets a Land Cruiser-Lite, and the rear door also has the spare mounted on it. Probably because it is sold mostly in Australia, Japan & the UK, is the reason for the US-unfriendly rear door. They probably don't think it's worth the expense to re-hinge the rear door just for a few markets in which it is sold. I don't agree with that thinking, especially here in the USA, where it' marketed as a premium product.
Bob
-mike
For centuries, theologians have squabbled over the type of transportation the Lord would use: Public transit or private car? Stick shift or automatic? A sport-utility vehicle roomy enough for all twelve apostles or an economy model?
One theory is that Jesus would tool around in an old Plymouth because the Bible says God drove Adam and Eve out of the Garden of Eden in a Fury.
But there may be several other scenarios. In Psalm 83, for example, the Almighty clearly owns a Pontiac and a Geo. The passage urges the Lord to 'pursue your enemies with your Tempest and terrify them with your Storm.' (We're not sure how a Geo Storm could be considered terrifying, unless it had those scary shooting flames painted on the sides.)
Another scripture indicates that Yahweh favored Dodge pickup trucks. Moses' followers are warned not to go up a mountain until 'the Ram's horn sounds a long blast.'
Some scholars insist that Jesus drove a Honda, but didn't like to talk about it. As proof, they cite a verse in John's gospel where Christ tells a crowd, 'For I did not speak of my own Accord, but the Father who sent me commanded me what to say.'
Other theories include one in which Moses rode an old British motorcycle, as evidenced by a Bible passage declaring that 'the roar of Moses' Triumph is heard in the hills.'
Someone else has suggested the apostles followed Jesus' lead and carpooled in a Honda because Acts records that "the apostles were in one Accord".
Ed
Must have been a tight fit in that one Accord...
Jim
I thought he was a carpenter who opined that the meek shall inherit the earth. So that puts him in a T100 V6 with a bedliner.
Bob
Steve
The Honda ad is two pages and looks impressive. It touts their wipe-down utility floors and shows a view out the back. That thing looks huge!
Meanwhile, when I was at the dealer Monday, the pics of the Baja showed surfboards crammed in without any protection. I guess there's no way to fit surfboards that are in a board bag into the "pass-through".
Wonder if they got a surfer's point of view for those ads?
-Dennis
Trooper's is also split, right? That's smart, the doors aren't quite so huge. Someone parks behind you in a RAV4 or CR-V and you can't open it all the way.
Element has one major omission: no full size spare. Imagine getting a flat on the beach, and then using a thin donut to dig yourself into the sand.
Does Baja get a donut? If so they should fix that.
-juice
Another half-baked Baja solution, IMO.
Bob
If there isn't enough clearance I'd get the taller springs and lift the whole thing while I'm at it. You could do both for about $500.
I still have 3 spare 15" steelies, any Crew member can have 1 free if they want a full size spare. It would fit on any TS wagon, Forester L, or Legacy L.
-juice
Bob
Bob