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New Subaru universal front end.


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http://www.autoweek.com/cat_content.mv?port_code=autoweek&cat_code=carnews&loc_code=index&content_code=04399180

 

I really hate the new front end styling, i really dont think i could stand to buy a new sube if the front end lokked like this. Subarus i think right now look great the new Impreza front end makes it look i think better, the new Forester looks good, and the new 05 legacy look really nice. Subaru better not put this grill on all ther new cars.

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YUCK! If they wanted Subarus to look distinctive they never would've cancelled the XT... or the RX.... or the EA81 body style...or all the other cars they ever HAD that didn't look like anything else on the road. Instead they bring in "upmarket" designers from Alfa...

 

If they put that in production I'm going over to VW. The AWD+boxer engine isn't everything.

 

Edit: Isn't this why Saab is in the toilet? Because GM alienated the owner base over function AND FORM? (The TrailBlazer sure doesn't look like a Saab to me, even with the griffin on the hood. Same goes for the Impreza. Er, I mean 9-7 and 9-2X.)

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From the article...

 

 

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The front end will appear on a production car in 2005 with the launch of a seven-seat vehicle.

 

"It will be on every single Subaru vehicle that we make, so that when you are going down the road, you will recognize that is a Subaru product," said Fred Adcock, executive vice president of Subaru of America Inc.

 

"We think that is a driver in our attempt to become a premium brand."

 

The "common look" is prominent on premium ranges that Subaru is striving to emulate, he said.

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I wish they would concentrate less on looks and more on head gaskets and wheel bearings. I don't want a premium brand. Most existing subaru owners would agree. They are going to price themselves out of their existing customer base.

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Originally posted by 99obw

They are going to price themselves out of their existing customer base.

 

would that be such a bad thing???

to have a couple of luxury subaru's running about?

 

i'm sure the base model $19k cars will still be an option as well :)

 

take for example the Legacy 2005 (new Legacy styled by an individual who has nothing to do with the rest of the Subaru line....)

now we'll have 4 Legacy Models (excluding Outback) :

 

Legacy GT (turbo)

Legacy GT Limited (turbo and heated/electric everything)

 

Legacy I (2.5L NA)

and Legacy IS (also 2.5L NA)

 

I am sure we will see 2 different marketing strategies

from Subaru from this point forward...

 

base model (18k-24k)

and luxury models (28k and up)

 

i dont see anything wrong with that!

and i love the new design...

change is a good thing... and i'm all for it :)

 

Jamie

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Yes ma'am.. you re correct, change is a good thing.

 

i wonder how many people threw a fit when subaru went from the ugly EA81 body to the slightly less ugly EA82..

 

Ahh hell.. it doesn't matter.. I have never owned a Subaru for its looks anyway..Pretty much any Roo on the road prior to the Legacy is uglier than sin anyway.. and early imprezas aren't terribly attractive either..

 

You can't blame a car company for trying to improve their image and make more money.. they are a business after all.. the whole purpose of a business is to make money

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So my wife is sitting here with me looking at the new front end, and she loves it. So it really doesn't matter what I think, because the seven seater will be her vehicle. And she says that she isn't worried about head gaskets and wheel bearings, because I can fix them. Doh!

 

She is very excited about the seven seater, as am I.

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Like it or not, its here to stay so stop bitching all of you! Subaru's can't get much uglier than they are currently! Now a little sexy style comes along and you all bitch?!! GIVE IT UP!!! They will build it, and the people will come (not sexual)... :mad:

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We're complaining because it looks like an ugly encounter between an Aston and a Porsche. Perhaps Subaru customers buy cars because they care about function over form? I, for one, like the "ugliness" of my Subarus. They're frumpy little boxes on wheels and I want them to stay that way.

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I can just see this front end crashing through the wilderness of Alaska - NOT! It might make it through the first 2 mudpubbles, but it would never make it past the mudholes and rock-strewn trails I've been on. Bad idea.

 

Good point. One of the major reasons I love the Rooos is their unpretensious look and design. (I like the simple square look of the late 80s early 90s best.)

 

There is nothing wrong with Subaru wanting to move part of their products upscale, say by putting out a low to the ground sleek sports car to compete with the BMW roadsters and Porsche boxters.

 

However, I would hate to see Subaru marketed towards yuppies exclusively. This roadster front end looks like a Ford/Buick cross (Buick's are driven almost exclusively by grandmothers and old people); it looks nothing like a subaru; it's a nightmare and it frightens me.

 

These newly (probably highly paid) hired artist probably know nothing about Subarus. Why doesn't Mr. Subaru just use his own long-time employees over a new arrogant hotshot artists who knows nothing about what Subarus stands for and whose sense of style is corrupted from working at other car companies. I suspect these hirings must be the work of some bright fellow at SOA rather than Japan.

 

I also think this focus on external and superficial nonsense goes against the old Subaru philosophy. Take Mercedes at its peak; before things went downhill, they were designing bodies very infrequently, almost a decade before a new style.

 

Another one of the things I worry about is Subaru being bought out by GM; it would be the end of Subaru as we know it. Look what Ford managed to do to Volvo in around 8 years. I was shocked recently to find that you cannot get a manual shift sports wagons.

 

I hope for the best, but I always have my worries.

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Originally posted by WagonsOnly

We're complaining because it looks like an ugly encounter between an Aston and a Porsche. Perhaps Subaru customers buy cars because they care about function over form? I, for one, like the "ugliness" of my Subarus. They're frumpy little boxes on wheels and I want them to stay that way.

 

So if some of you think the new look is ugly, and apparantly think the old look is ugly too, why bother complaining? Just curious...

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The old ones were "ugly" in the eyes of the general public, and auto reviewers. The new ones are just mainstream. I like driving something that looks like nothing else on the road, not a Bimmer that looks like a Benz that looks like an Audi that looks like....you get the idea. And that's the market Subaru is targeting.

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I admit, my subaru is ugly.. all of my subarus have been ugly...

 

If I wanted truly hideously ugly, I would not have to go far.. I would just buy an XT or XT6..

 

The new design is just a little funny looking.. and funny looking is a very short throw from 'distinctive'

 

Definitely a step up.. Time and sales will reveal all.

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But I don't want a step up. I want weird. People have already compared the new look to Porsches, Alfas, BMWs, Fords and Buicks. What would you compare an XT to? The rear sort of looks like an Alfa 164--but on the whole there has been and probably will be nothing comparable on the market. The new ones look...like plain vanilla Hertz Rent-A-Cars.

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