Edmunds dealer partner, Bayway Leasing, is now offering transparent lease deals via these forums. Click here to see the latest vehicles!
Options
Popular New Cars
Popular Used Sedans
Popular Used SUVs
Popular Used Pickup Trucks
Popular Used Hatchbacks
Popular Used Minivans
Popular Used Coupes
Popular Used Wagons
Comments
I blame GM for this. When the Hummer first came out, they marketed towards the "bling" crowd, and the vehicle has suffered ever since.
This vehicle should have steel wheels and NO CHROME, and marketed in Idaho-like states. That's not what the quick-to-get-rich GM executives wanted, however.
This is a classic case of "you never get a second chance to make a first impression." Hummer got stuck, right out of the gate, with the wrong image, and it has haunted them ever since.If properly marketed from the get-go, I doubt Hummer would be in the tough position it's now in.
Bob
It's towards the end, when the Sargaent (a Jeep I believe) is taking SUVs on an off road course, and of course the Hummer look-a-like has gigantic chrome wheels, and he's crying and saying "I've never been off road" or something like that.
Hilarious.
There are only so many rappers that will buy one, and even they don't really need one. The trend dies, Hummer dies with it.
I think Subaru's marketing to the wilderness/granola bar crowd is pretty smart but like all marketing, it has to shift with the times---and I think Subaru is being smart again by making the new Forester reasonably attractive. For a while there I wondered if Subaru even HAD a styling department!
The other aspects of Subaru revolved around the safety reputation and their AWD experience. Big plusses up here in New England.
Oh, and the availability of AWD with a stick. Nice to see somebody out there sees the market for such a thing.
IS with AWD is auto only.
Same for G35x, automatic only.
Even when AWD is an option, it's usually packaged with an auto trans.
In 1998 that was a big selling point, when I bought my first Subaru.
You cannot surmise income levels or status of the driver of a Subaru.
I once started a letter writing campaign, and the letters came to me, and I forwarded them together to SoA.
It was incredible. VP of this, CEO of that. Some big name companies. They used letter head and most added business cards.
I felt like the poorest of the bunch.
Some of you are probably too young to remember, but when the VW bug was selling like hot cakes, back in the 1960s when there were still dinosaurs roaming the Midwestern plains, it was considered quite cache for well-to-do families to have a little VW in the driveway to putt around town in. It was a kind of city car for the wealthy, or a Martha's Vineyard car. They're 3rd or 4th car. In retrospect, it was a Death Trap, but at the time, so were most cars in one way or another. Highway deaths per mile were never higher than back then.
In fact, one of the marketing schemes used by VW in their brilliant advertising campaign was to show a little VW bug in a HUGE driveway of a mansion, with the word "STATUS" under the ad.
Earliest car ads I recall were from the 70s and mostly focused on gas mileage and prices.
I'm not sure about Smart cars. I think they are often the subject of some good hearted ridicule more than anything else. Smart may have crossed the line between what is cool and what isn't.
I got my used Outback from a bank VP who got it as a retirement gift. She flummoxed the other execs - all the previous bank officer retirees either went with Bimmers or Mercedes. Price wasn't a factor - the bank would have purchased just about anything. She didn't want to get stuck and wanted something she could toss golf clubs in.
When I purchased her Outback in '03, she got a new one. That one now lives in Arizona at her snowbird condo and she got yet another one last year for tooling around Alaska in.
It could not even make it up the driveway while the Forester laughed it off, the driver hardly even noticing the snow.
The Sienna is FWD but it's the traction control tuning that just halts whatever momentum you may have.
Now I just back it up the driveway when that happens.
Bob
Perhaps a trip down to the local Subie store to check out the new Forester might be in the cards for the Shift-meister?
Bob
The 2009 Forestser gained a substantial amount of legroom, so unless you have 3 children over 6' tall the legroom is definitely adequate now. Prior models were tight for taller folks, but they addressed that for 2009.
The problem is width. The middle child will sit on the hump, which is hard. It's the back of the armrest on all but the very base model. Fine in a pinch, but not long-term.
Don't do it, one child will always be unhappy.
And you also touched on the one nice thing about the Tribeca - the middle seat is actually designed in a 40/20/40 way, with 3 true positions. The kids will have much more width and the seats are actually shaped for 3.
The kids will be a lot happier with the Tribeca.
We own a 2009 Forester Limited but we looked very closely at the Tribeca, in fact we had a loaner Tribeca for an entire week and even took a road trip with it.
That's big.
It's not even a new model, just a redesign. For an update to double sales in this economy, well, that makes headlines.
I don't think SoA cares much how they did it, but merely surviving this slump would be a success.
I like the Forester (heck, we bought one) so I'll be the first to acknowledge it was largely on the back of that model. But look at the Legacy concept - they are applying similar changes to that 2010 model - longer wheelbase, more passenger room, better space efficiency, etc.
The Tribeca is the model in trouble.
Even the optimists are saying 10 million cars this year (some say 9), after years of 16-17 million sales.
I'd like to see some toe space under the chair.
If you have a few minutes, we would greatly appreciate your participation in a quick (and fun) exercise on how best to organize our site information.
http://edmunds.optimalsort.com/ersm/
And then there was Iacocca's '84 minivan for Chrysler.
I think Subaru needs to pop the mpg up somehow - if nothing else offer a FWD subcompact (they could Justify that :P ) and a FWD wagon.
Beastly $4 a gallon gas trumps the beauty of AWD.
I miss the Justy. Am I the only one? That was a right-sized car. I would take one right now, AWD or not, although getting AWD in such a small car is a real kick, and I would prefer it.
2014 Mini Cooper (stick shift of course), 2016 Camry hybrid, 2009 Outback Sport 5-spd (keeping the stick alive)
1994 Subaru Justy
And more's the point, where's the '09 model?
Oh wait, could this be it? ;-)
http://www.subaru.jp/r2/r2/index.html
2014 Mini Cooper (stick shift of course), 2016 Camry hybrid, 2009 Outback Sport 5-spd (keeping the stick alive)
They were probably thinking people would think "trusty", but in the Rust Belt the reality is something else.
Nick Senior, the head of Subaru Australia, has publicly said that if the upcoming Subaru-Toyota coupe is RWD-only, Australia will not import it. I'm with Nick.
Bob
If they start offering FWD, or RWD—even on just a few models, that AWD brand identity starts getting watered down. They'll be grouped with Audi, Volvo, etc.—all excellent brands, for sure—but their brand DNA will start to disappear. That would be sad.
Bob
Oddly enough, they RAN better but that wasn't the point. Also, having a bazillion of them come off lease all at once didn't help the resale value.
Certainly we've all seen cases of other marques that were stripped of their identity for the sake of increasing market share.