I love my impreza - it's fun to drive! Plus safety and reliability.

But I look at people who drive pickup trucks and giant SUV's - which are empty 95% of the time - and have the same questions. Why on earth do you need suck a bigass vehicle? Or people with range rovers and jeeps - how often are you off-roading?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What family cars have better mileage?

I'm not sure what a "family car" is - our 15 year old station wagon gets considerably better mileage than any subarus and is plenty big enough for our active family. In fact almost all of the miles in our family car are from my wife driving it alone to work.

The problem is that most manufacturers have stopped making wagons, especially in the low to middle price range. What is your wagon?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Four wheel drive is essential for mountain ski trips.

Nope not true.

Maybe if you are going cross country skiing and need to get to a hard tp reach trail head but all of the ski areas are on major roads and the ski areas make sure they are clear because they can't sell lift tickets if you can't get there.

I grew up skiing in Colorado and we drove a Datsun station wagon.

The clerance difference between a car and an SUV is a few inches which makes no difference in.a big storn, most SUV's, believe it or not are 2WD, and every car slides on ice especially if you don't know how to drive which many SUV owners don't.

The best safety device for icy and snow packed roads is chains though most people driving luxury SUVs would never dirty themselves by putting them on.

But 4WD and AW2 is really overkill around here and both kill your gas mileage - we get the road conditions that require such cars every few years at best and in any case if you are concerned about safety the best thing you can do in conditions that require AWD is stay home.

There are lots of utilitarian cars with leg room that get better mileage than an Outback SUV.

But there isn't a car brand out there that so succesfully hoodwinks its liberal customers into believing you can be a progressive and drive a gas guzzling SUV.

Love

What are they?

Anonymous wrote:Four wheel drive is essential for mountain ski trips.

Nope not true.

Maybe if you are going cross country skiing and need to get to a hard tp reach trail head but all of the ski areas are on major roads and the ski areas make sure they are clear because they can't sell lift tickets if you can't get there.

I grew up skiing in Colorado and we drove a Datsun station wagon.

The clerance difference between a car and an SUV is a few inches which makes no difference in.a big storn, most SUV's, believe it or not are 2WD, and every car slides on ice especially if you don't know how to drive which many SUV owners don't.

The best safety device for icy and snow packed roads is chains though most people driving luxury SUVs would never dirty themselves by putting them on.

But 4WD and AW2 is really overkill around here and both kill your gas mileage - we get the road conditions that require such cars every few years at best and in any case if you are concerned about safety the best thing you can do in conditions that require AWD is stay home.

There are lots of utilitarian cars with leg room that get better mileage than an Outback SUV.

But there isn't a car brand out there that so succesfully hoodwinks its liberal customers into believing you can be a progressive and drive a gas guzzling SUV.

Love

Anonymous wrote:What family cars have better mileage?

I'm not sure what a "family car" is - our 15 year old station wagon gets considerably better mileage than any subarus and is plenty big enough for our active family. In fact almost all of the miles in our family car are from my wife driving it alone to work.

I assume it's because a Subaru is kind of a status car for outdoorsy liberals (I count myself as one).

But, I don't think of them as popular in DC. I grew up in Alaska and every third car there is a Subaru, not exaggerating.

Subaru is a mid-range brand that offers multiple "family-size" vehicles, so obviously they're going to be a hit.

They're also the only mid-range brand that offers a true midsize station wagon. The Alltrack is very cool, but it's based off the compact VW Golf whereas the Outback is based off the mid-size Subaru Legacy. There's more legroom in the back and it's a bit wider, too.

In terms of size the Outback feels more like an Accord whereas the Alltrack feels a little more like a Civic.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I JUST said this on Sunday
I’m starting to see a lot of Subaru’s on the road

Early Prius adopters are on their first or second kid, and they're all moving on to Subarus. I know 4 families like this personally. And once you think about it that way, you realize that they're all the same bad drivers that they were in Priuses, just in a bigger vehicle now.

So what you’re saying is that you can’t have a pro/con discussion without being mean spirited and resorting to personal attacks and generalizations? Lol.

What? This wasn't a pro/con discussion. The OP just asked why they are so popular. They're popular because they're being marketed to people who are the same kind of people who bought Priuses in 2012 but now need a slightly bigger vehicle - want reliability but also to feel like they're doing something good (Priuses had the hybrid thing, Subaru does the "we'll give $5 to a charity" thing). There's a generalization but nothing meanspirited in my post, and no personal attack, but if you feel attacked you might be a bad driver.

We have an only so I needed a car for our family of three that had room to carpool but didn't need a third row like a larger SUV or a minivan. We do weekend getaways and driving trips often so needed some storage capacity and room for the family dog. Great safety ratings, service, and reputation. The weather around here is crappy enough often enough, and drivers are horrible, that the AWD comes in handy. It's also $10K plus cheaper than the comparable Volvo. Love my Outback.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I JUST said this on Sunday
I’m starting to see a lot of Subaru’s on the road

Early Prius adopters are on their first or second kid, and they're all moving on to Subarus. I know 4 families like this personally. And once you think about it that way, you realize that they're all the same bad drivers that they were in Priuses, just in a bigger vehicle now.

So what you’re saying is that you can’t have a pro/con discussion without being mean spirited and resorting to personal attacks and generalizations? Lol.

Anonymous wrote:I JUST said this on Sunday
I’m starting to see a lot of Subaru’s on the road

Early Prius adopters are on their first or second kid, and they're all moving on to Subarus. I know 4 families like this personally. And once you think about it that way, you realize that they're all the same bad drivers that they were in Priuses, just in a bigger vehicle now.

They are not popular at all. I see more Mercedeses and Audis everywhere. Barely any Subarus at all in my MD neck of the woods. Have you been to CO? Now, that is Subaru country compared to here. Those cars are made so anything can cut through them anyway, my nephew in CO was near an accident, and the stray wheel cut through his Subaru Outback like it was paper. He got lucky that it missed his legs by a couple of inches.

Anonymous wrote:Because it shows your progressive credentials if you have one.

Volkswagen Golf Alltrack is an AWD station wagon, similar price, drives better... but does not have the progressive bona-fides.

We actually were interested in Alltracks (despite being burned by poor reliability with our last two VW.) I contacted 2 local dealers and neither had them in stock!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Because it shows your progressive credentials if you have one.

Volkswagen Golf Alltrack is an AWD station wagon, similar price, drives better... but does not have the progressive bona-fides.

Nope. It's the safety ratings for many people.

Both cars have 5-star overall safety ratings from the NHTSA, at least the 2019 models.

My daily commute is short and annual miles driven low, so I don't care about mpg so much, but I do like a car that is safe, reliable, will last a long time, and has 4WD because of where I drive. And I don't care about luxury or prestige vehicles nor would I spend that much.