 |
 | Home | Contact Us | FAQ | Search & Site Map | Link to Us |
 | Sign In | Join | Other 45 Sites in Network |
Car Forum / Subaru Cars / March 2008No more wagons?
Someone briefly said in a magazine article that Subaru will stop building wagons. Is that true? I like Subaru wagons and I always thought of them as Subaru's main product. > Someone briefly said in a magazine article that Subaru will stop > building wagons. Is that true? I like Subaru wagons and I always > thought of them as Subaru's main product. Well, yes and no. Yes, they stopped making "wagons". They also stopped making "sedans". What they've done is changed the names. The sedan is now called the 4-door, and the wagons are now 5-doors. Although some people will also call them hatchbacks, they still look like a wagon. > > Someone briefly said in a magazine article that Subaru will stop > > building wagons. Is that true? I like Subaru wagons and I always [quoted text clipped - 6 lines] > 4-door, and the wagons are now 5-doors. Although some people will also > call them hatchbacks, they still look like a wagon. Well, there isn't a Legacy wagon any longer. To get a wagon body in a Legacy-sized car, you have to buy an Outback. And as noted, the Impreza is now a 5-door hatchback. Dan D '99 Impreza 2.5 RS (son's) Central NJ USA >> Someone briefly said in a magazine article that Subaru will stop >> building wagons. Is that true? I like Subaru wagons and I always [quoted text clipped - 6 lines] > 4-door, and the wagons are now 5-doors. Although some people will also > call them hatchbacks, they still look like a wagon. I had a '98 Forester and now have an '03 and an '08. It takes a studied eye like mine to tell difference in model years. I like this. My wife's '08 looks better than my '03 but differences are minor. It is my opinion that Subaru has been wise to save money on annual model changes to suit the public trend towards crossovers. Sheet metal stamping dies cost in the millions each and 2 dies may be needed for each part. I rather Subaru put the money under the hood in performance and durability. Frank > Someone briefly said in a magazine article that Subaru will stop > building wagons. Is that true? I like Subaru wagons and I always > thought of them as Subaru's main product. They are. Unfortunately, a large part of US population is allergic to that word. Hence the clever name games. And for some really uncomfortable types there are wagons built on truck frames: luckily, Subaru never bought into it and $4/gallon prices should sort the matter with the uncomfortable types. But so we thought when $3/gallon "happened": the-mine-is-bigger types were never cured. Me thinks another republican term and a third concurrent war may fix that if $4 gas won't. An air lift of a bradley fighting vehicle takes quite a bit of fuel ya know... and then people wonder why oil supplies are running low :) On Mar 10, 7:55 pm, osamahornifu...@gmail.com wrote: > > Someone briefly said in a magazine article that Subaru will stop > > building wagons. Is that true? I like Subaru wagons and I always [quoted text clipped - 15 lines] > and then people wonder why oil supplies are running > low :) No matter what you call them, Subaru has essentially cornered the US market on wagons for more than a decade. Most Outbacks, all Foresters (their SUV categorization nonwithstanding) and 25-35% of Imprezas go out of the showroom with 5 doors. I'd bet that no other manufacturer comes close in total numbers of wagons sold (unless you want to count every SUV as a wagon). Giving up the wagon would be suicidal, but Subaru has made some bizarre moves in the past, so it's not impossible. I would sooner expect the sedans to go away since they've never gotten over the hump and produced a car to compete directly with the Camry/Accord segment (price-wise) or BMW/Audi market (in perfomance). The Legacy GT, and even the Impreza 2.5RS have been fine cars, but appeal to Subaru loyalists rather than compete directly with the broader market. > On Mar 10, 7:55 pm, osamahornifu...@gmail.com wrote: > [quoted text clipped - 25 lines] > every SUV as a wagon). Giving up the wagon would be suicidal, but > Subaru has made some bizarre moves in the past, so it's not Did I argue otherwise? You're preaching to the choir :) > impossible. I would sooner expect the sedans to go away since they've > never gotten over the hump and produced a car to compete directly with > the Camry/Accord segment (price-wise) or BMW/Audi market (in I don't think anyone in their sane mind think of Accord/Camry as a competition to Legacy. Apples to oranges. > perfomance). The Legacy GT, and even the Impreza 2.5RS have been fine > cars, but appeal to Subaru loyalists rather than compete directly with > the broader market. Yep. Niche market it is. I just wish given two Impreza trims Subaru kept LSD on the basic trim and offered VDC with no LSD on the "premium" line. VDC is "better" anyway, right? ;-) Then you'd keep LSD on Legacy GT and remove LSD add VDC on the L.L.Bean edition for all I care :-))))))) On Mar 11, 1:11 pm, osamahornifu...@gmail.com wrote: > > On Mar 10, 7:55 pm, osamahornifu...@gmail.com wrote: > [quoted text clipped - 50 lines] > > - Show quoted text - I go along with expanding the LSD availability to the hot rods and lower cost performance models like the RS (or whatever they call it now) and leave the VDC for the models they market to the soccer moms. As for Legacy as competition for Camrys and Accords, I guess it depends on whether you live in the snow belt or not. Where I am, at a higher elevation in the northern NY suburbs, Subarues, especially Outbacks, are the dominant form of family transportation. Mine is one of 3 2-subie familes on my block alone. In my line of work, we get busy when the snow falls, and just about everyone's got an AWD or 4WD. Management gets SUVs as company cars. Subaru has clearly forgotten its roots and forgot the product that saved them -- the Outback. They newer versions of this vehicle are pale shadows of the 2000-04 versions which were clearly the high point of subaru design and engineering. They are trying to move "upscale" despite the fact they have a solid reputation for making high quality, go anywhere, reasonably priced vehicles. The teibeca has sold poorly and I wouldnt buy another subie until they go backto basics with design. > Someone briefly said in a magazine article that Subaru will stop > building wagons. Is that true? I like Subaru wagons and I always > thought of them as Subaru's main product. > Subaru has clearly forgotten its roots and forgot the product that > saved them -- the Outback. They newer versions of this vehicle are [quoted text clipped - 8 lines] >>building wagons. Is that true? I like Subaru wagons and I always >>thought of them as Subaru's main product. While I may not be as severely critical as you are, I DO think they were too late with too little to the entire SUV craze and should have let it pass while concentraing on dominating their niche. Even the Forester is 'pushing it' I think. And why not bring over the R1 or R2 or even the electric R-car? What happened to the old advertising slogan they had; 'Inexpensive and Built to Stay That Way' ? Carl  Signatureto reply, change ( .not) to ( .net) |
Reply to this Message |
 Sign In
 Join
 My Latest Posts My Monitored Threads My Blog My Photo Gallery My Profile My Homepage Start New Thread Enable EMail Alerts Rate this Thread
|
©2008 Advenet LLC Privacy Policy - Terms of Use
This website includes both content owned or controlled by Advenet as well as content owned or controlled by third parties.