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Comments
Didn't lil sis move in anyway?
-juice
-Frank P.
I do a lot of marketing training and research, and one thing is certain:consumers increasingly go to the internet to research major decisions and purchases. SoA has now sent extremely well-prepared and knowledgable "volunteer" market researchers to witness , thoroughly investigate and report to the public every aspect of a brand new product. Unlike paid advertising, there is no reason to doubt the credibility of anything juice and bob have to say about the product. Nobody is going to challenge any of their pics as air-brushed or photo -shopped
Somewhere in SoA tonight is a marketing genius! I am truly impressed. As juice said in an earlier post, these guys approached this like a business trip..SoA couldnt buy this kind of dedication to company busines!
I'm gonna get a new Legacy, but I now see that the car is only a tiny part of the big picture of what has happened in these boards over the last three days. welcome to the new world, courtesy of edmunds.com, patti, juice, bob and SoA!
Mark
-mike
The only possible criticism that I see is -- we (juice and I) are already part of the choir, so to speak. We are believers, if not missionaries of the Church of Subaru. So some may(?) question our objectivity.
Praise be our Subaru.
Pastor Bob
-Dave
<slightly jealous> -Frank P.
done the marriage thing, you just gotta get the right one. hehe
-c
With a pair of nice vehicles in his garage, an M3 and a 2 wheeler, I kinda doubt Colin ever gets very lonely.
-juice
Actually if you count our courtship and going out together I have known her all told for 44 years, she was my very first girlfriend then we broke up and went out with others then got back together and that was it.
She is my very best friend and life without her would be unthinkable.
Cheers Pat.
-Frank P.
Cheers!
Paul
Len
Before that, 6 month engagement, and another 4 years before that dating. Heck, add another 4 years as good friends, and call it good.
Patti - congrats on the Eagles win, I'm sure you're partying up right now.
-juice
Mark - true about the marketing power of the internet. It would be interesting to calculate how many Subarus were sold due to this site (Juice alone accounts for more than are in Florida).
Greg
I've been paid twice for references to fitzmall.com, but many others were informal so I didn't get the referral fee (not that it matters much).
-juice
I can say I'm happy... but man, it's a hard road to drive sometimes... ;-)
I lasted TWENTY-SIX YEARS married after 2 years of dating ... how many were happy? .. obviously not enough!!
(5 years divorced and in a seriously happy long-term committed relationship with someone I wouldn't have liked 20 years ago .. lmao)
Greg
ROTLMAO....
-Ian
-Dave
By DANNY HAKIM
Subaru is tweaking the Outback sedan and wagon to meet the specifications of a light truck in order to avoid tougher fuel economy and air pollution standards."
The gist of the article is that they are making technical changes to re-classify Outbacks. The tone of the article is that Subaru is 2-timing its customer base who view the Outback as the more environmentally acceptable alternative to the SUV craze. And the article also claims that further raising the ride height will make the vehicle prone to rollover.
It isn't a flattering piece.
Here it is: http://www.nytimes.com/2004/01/13/arts/13SUBA.html?ex=1074574800&- amp;- amp;en=ee6ff3c1303c870e&ei=5062&partner=GOOGLE
I'm disappointed that Subaru is using the loophole but the extra ground clearance may be a nice bonus. They need to shift fuel economy to be able to sell all those new GTs. :-)
DaveM
DaveM
-Frank P.
fellow Crew members, I'd think twice before lending assistance to any future journalists if this is the result. not that this will dissuade them; of course not. rather I'd just not be a party to such things.
-Colin
The NY Times registration is currently free and enables you to read most stuff that's in the paper. Often you can find a non-registration partner link with a search that'll take you right to the article. Like the one above.
Another fascinating tidbit fyi :-)
Steve, Host
Some buyers want the street performance edge of true AWD, and the immediate success of the WRX proved that was a viable market. The new Legacy , especially the GT, is clearly re-focused as an on-street passenger car with lower ride height , etc. The alternative/"adjustable suspension" approach has been tried, e.g., the audi allroad , which never really met either objective well and , like the Lexus RX 300/330 et al, ended up as a sporty looking vehicle but 99% of them will never see a dirt road, a boat or bike .
Re-classifying the Outback and raising its suspension height will also allow for increased towing capacity, a not-insignificant improvement. Living in a part of the country where Subaru's are much more popular , its amazing how many Outbacks I see towing small trailers.
As the NY Times article suggested, re-classifying the Outback will get the largest selling USDM Subaru out of the CAFE calculations, leaving the NA 2.5 Forester , Impreza and Legacy EPA numbers to balance out the higher fuel consumption numbers of the turbos in the WRX, STi
Forester XT and Legacy GT. This clears the way for Subaru to sell all the Outbacks they want with the new H6 engine, maybe even make it the base engine,since such a high percentage of recent OB sales were the H6 models.
In the long run, the numbers will now work better for Subaru to bring a hybrid passenger car to market in the US and a 7-passenger crossover also classified as a "light truck".
Oh , yeah: you can get rear window tinting...
Mark
Was anyone here quoted? I'm curious to see if anyone was mis-represented.
Subaru was at the CAFE limit, and could not meet those standards while offering more power. Baja set the precedent, and I'm with Frank, it was a case of if you can't beat them, join them.
Some may recall I actually predicted the next Forester will go this route. Now I'm sure it will.
I do think they should drop the Outback sedan, though. It'll just create a lot less controversy.
Then again, remember the Suzuki X90? That was a sedan-like truck.
And for every hybrid Honda sells, they sell about 100 car-based trucks. Same for Toyota. So everyone has been exploiting this loophole already, what's amazing is that Subaru managed for so long without doing it.
-juice
Given how SoA has been positioning itself as an alternative to the large, truck-like (though not always truck-based) SUV, the approach strikes me as disingenuous. However if hybrid versions of Subaru models are not far off in the future, and if they become widely accepted and sell, then this may not be a great problem. My gut feeling is that the hybrid Highlander/Lexus RX is going to be a hit. The public needs to see that it's not just Toyota and Honda that are capable of producing this product.
IMO a lot of the controversy could be settled if SUVs can be made as fuel efficient as passenger cars, and hybrid technology can make that a reality. The crashworthiness and active safety features of those vehicles need to be addressed as well, however. As far as Subaru is concerned they have the latter two features well addressed.
Colin: The only journalist I lend a hand to is myself. I write a bimonthly column for a pharmaceutical industry trade magazine, but have also been quoted by the editors in other articles published in that magazine. I haven't made inroads in automotive journalism yet.
Ed
Stay off the drugs, Ed. ;-)
I'm thinking more about this, and personally? I may actually be more likely to buy an Outback now. The seat arrangement could be more flexible for us, and I love tinted windows. More power is always better, so long as efficiency is reasonable as well.
This may also help Subaru distinguish the two models. I'll go out on a limb and guess that the US Outback will be completely unique, different from what Japan and Australia get.
I already have a list of things I predict the new Outback will have in Future Models. This could perhaps appeal to folks like Bob that have been asking for more capabilities.
-juice
Ed
1) that weird split sunroof and fxt sunroof is the best
2) doggy speed ( compared to the xt )
3) costs a bunch more and didnt see any really advantage ( except size )
-juice
Thanks!
Patti
I believe the Baja also got the ground clearance increase, tinted rear windows, and a couple other "truckish" features.
Craig
For 3500 sales, is it worth it? I say just drop the sedan. They'll close up this loophole and the switch may back fire anyway. Subaru might lose the chance to classify Outback wagons as trucks if that happens.
-juice