Confession #52: It should be easy to make a Subaru Outback

2015 Subaru Outback (Photo: Subaru)

The Subaru Outback is an important vehicle, and a surprising one. It has succeeded where the AMC Eagle and Matra Rancho failed. It's a wagon masquerading as an SUV that people actually take seriously.

It didn't happen overnight, but in about 20 years the Outback has gone from a niche vehicle to being Subaru's second-best seller and catapulting the brand itself from a quirky bit player in the US to a less quirky, significant player in the US. Subaru keeps having its "best month ever" for US sales they could really find a new way to say that.

But it's partly due to the Outback, a reasonably simple concept. So why can't anyone else make a serious rival?

Confession #42: If others' first impressions are anything to go on, some things are still worth the wait

2013 Subaru BRZ (AutoViva photo)

I swear, I'm not turning into some hyper-critic of automotive journalists. I may have just railed on Consumer Reports and their apparent lack of any understanding of impulse buying in their reviews, but I will largely save media criticism for my other blog.

This isn't so much criticism as an observation. Perhaps the most drawn-out coverage among auto journalists in recent memory is the Toyota-Subaru sports coupe collaboration, just now bearing fruit as the Subaru BRZ, Scion FR-S and its Toyota-branded equivalent. A lot of acronyms, but really one rear-wheel drive, compact sports coupe with a boxer four-pot and aimed at sports car purists who value great handling characteristics over modern electronic driver intervention and a heavily boosted engine. What's more, this speaks to the core of an auto journalist's heart. These are cars that just aren't as common on auto show stands, things with four cylinders, three pedals and a price that begins with a 2. I'm starting to picture hoards of drivers slobbering like Labradors at the press launch. 

Confession #41: Don't hate it just because it's pretty, unreliable

You don't have to read too deep to find Consumer Reports' biases when it comes to testing cars. They place heavy emphasis over value and practicality over things like styling and emotion, things they probably say, "We leave to the enthusiast rags." Rightly so, since Consumer Reports also reviews things like TVs, laptops, butter and similarly prosaic products.

Don't get me wrong, I read their Cars blog religiously. And if someone who buys cars like they do microwaves, I base my recommendations off of some CR reviews. But if I, or anyone who puts emotion and style on a level with practicality, were in the market, I'd take CR's data with a grain of salt. 

The chronicles of their troublesome Fisker Karma then leaves me a little puzzled. First of all, who of their Prius-loving clientele is really interested in the Karma's gorgeous exterior and six-figure price tag? And it's such a low-volume vehicle, who, other than enthusiasts and celebrities, are really considering such a car? Those people are probably uninterested in reliability anyway, and they're tired of looking environmentally conscious while driving around in a Prius.

Confession #26: Get in and go for a drive

California State Highway 1 near Bixby Creek Bridge,
Big Sur, Calif. (Google Earth image) 

Easily one of my favorite things about driving is finding a good road without a lot of traffic, on a clear day with nothing else on your mind.

Trust me, it’s intoxicating.

Even though I lean towards the environmentalist perspective that we should all drive more economically and buy smaller, more appropriately sized cars, I don’t tell people it’s partially because we should be saving fuel for drives that aren’t to anywhere or really for anything other than the undiluted thrill of driving.

Finding a good road for this is a never-ending quest. Like a tough addiction, you can be happy with a favorite stretch of pavement for a while, until it becomes too familiar. Then you go out looking for something stronger, more thrilling. It could eventually consume you. Be careful.

The car for the job really matters. It has to be engaging on some level, meaning the Hertz special Ford Fusion isn’t a good fit. But get something that’s only powerful and not an able handler, and you’re again asking for trouble.

Confession #24: Impulsive, non-committal type seeks functional, fast wagon for friendship

(Saab Automobile AB photo)

Wagons are perfect for someone who favors diplomatic decisions over democratic ones. And even for someone who wants a quick escape, just in case the choice doesn't work.

Take a detour to Ikea one Saturday? You can spend hundreds of dollars in assemble-yourself furniture and spend the rest of the weekend scratching your head and screaming at an Allen wrench. And then return it in pieces the following weekend while trying to keep the rage to a minimum at the customer service desk.

Have you just started scuba sessions? Dozens of oxygen tanks will fit without drama.

Confession #20: You can't run on customer loyalty forever

It’s no secret Toyota’s recently been taking its decades-old customer loyalty for granted.

And while company officials and sales figures suggest it’s managed to keep a number of those customers in the fold, could it be only a matter of time before millions of Toyota drivers leave the company?

Bloomberg’s Alan Ohnsman posed the question in a recent article describing the struggle of the Toyota Corolla, the company’s mainstay for the better part of four decades. It long ago passed the Volkswagen Beetle as the most popular nameplate in history, with more than 37 million sold since the 1960s. And, floor mat-accelerator issues aside, it’s remained a byword for durability and reliability.

2011 Toyota Corolla S (Toyota Motor photo)

Toyota’s been throwing those characteristics around in TV ads, with customer testimonials about the number of surviving Corollas in the last 20-or-so years.

But there’s a problem when the best thing a company can say about its product is that it’s durable and reliable. The Corolla’s forever been an example of an automotive appliance, just reliable transportation. And for many years that’s been fine, since that best described the small car class.

Confession #16: Hyundai's out in front

If you had told me, or anyone for that matter, in 2001 that 10 years later, the Hyundai Sonata would land on Car and Driver magazine’s 10 Best List and be one of the best-selling midsize sedan – just behind the perennials Toyota Camry and Honda Accord – I wouldn't be the only person laughing.


But crazier things have happened, such as Lady Gaga and Lindsay Lohan. Or things ending in Gosselin or Palin.

Then it’s less surprising that the South Korean carmaker, part of an industrial giant that used discarded Mitsubishi designs as the basis for its first vehicles, is now being compared not just to mainstream carmakers like Toyota or Ford, but premium brands like Mercedes-Benz and Lexus.

Confession #12: Time to play catch-up

It’s been a rough year for Toyota and March isn’t even over. While sales probably won’t suffer too much (year-on-year comparisons and hefty incentives are responsible here), the company’s reputation is on the line right now.

Toyota, which reached its goal of being number one in 2008 – and did it again last year – did so by cutting costs, stretching its engineering resources and riding heavily on its reputation for high quality.

Time to face facts: Toyota stopped deserving their reputation several years ago. Products like the Camry and Corolla, while never groundbreaking in a technological or design standpoint, were always well-engineered and refined and to a higher standard than the competition.

Honda had stellar products in the 2003 Accord and 2006 Civic. Nissan got its act together with the 2007 Altima. Hyundai did a good job knocking off the Corolla with the 2007 Elantra, and did it with their low prices and great warranty. Now their new Sonata looks 10 times better than a Camry ever did while being cheaper, better built and better to drive. GM got down to business with the 2008 Chevy Malibu that is better at being competent than the Camry. And Ford’s 2010 Fusion leaves the Camry, and just about every other midsize sedan, in its dust whether you want gas or gas-electric power.

Toyota will get over its unintended acceleration hysteria whether or not the problem is actually solved. It may even get past its other quality issues. But it won’t be able to ride on its reputation for quality cars when it isn’t in the business of producing those products anymore.

When Hyundai/Kia are making them for cheaper, Volkswagen is making them with more panache (see NCC coupe concept, soon to be the new Jetta) and Ford is going crazy with courage (see new Focus and Grand C-Max also), it’s only a matter of time before Toyota loses its prized ubiquity.

Confession #10: No Autocar, there isn't one car of the decade

The British motoring publication Autocar is trying to evaluate the Car of the Decade. The latest blogger, Steve Sutcliffe, has it really wrong.

The Bugatti Veyron, as impressive as an engineering feat it is, epitomizes a lot of what went wrong in the 2000s. Yes, it's absolutely amazing that this road-legal car has a 16-cylinder engine, with no less than 10 radiators, and goes 253 miles-per-hour. Every

thing about it is done to the highest standard and frankly I would sell any part of me for a ride in one, let alone the privilege of driving it.

But it's a $1 million car. New. And while it's not like there's one on every corner (unless you live in Dubai), it's not exactly rare or special enough to warrant the price yet. So collectors haven't really embraced it at this point. It's just shocking to grasp the reality that people will actually pay this much for a new car and never realize its full potential.

There are worse offenses of the decade as far as cars go. I notice now that people who in the '90s had Accords, Camrys, and thought a Nissan 300ZX wa

s an exotic plaything for weekends now end 2009 with BMW 3-series and Audi A4s in their driveway, with a Porsche Boxster or BMW Z4 in the garage. It's not like they have any more disposable income than they did 10 years ago, but people have stretched their credit further in order to afford a posh badge.

This phenomenon has done two things. It has cheapened the appeal of premium brands, especially the German ones. That's why Porsche brought us such things as the Cayenne and Panamera. And Audi inflicted the butt-ugly Q7 and BMW brought the aforementioned X6. Other nationalities have had poor offenders, such as Lexus' new HS250h hybrid, which is just a more expensive and less efficient Toyota Prius.
That in turn has narrowed the gap of premium brands in terms of quality and engineering. The Hyundai Genesis, for example, is every bit as good as a Cadillac STS, itself a very competent vehicle competing with the Mercedes E-Class and BMW 5-series. But because it has a cheap badge on it, it's worth 15 grand less.

This brings me to my cars of the decade. There has to be several, maybe 10. The 2000s were just chock-full of new cars and rapidly advancing technology that I really can't narrow it down to a single model.

Confession #8: Ugliness loves company-- at Honda

First there was the Acura ZDX, which I've blamed the existence of on the BMW X6.

Now Honda has shot itself again with the release of the Honda Accord Crosstour, which automags are ready to rag at this point.

There is a reasonable business case for this one. Toyota has burdened the world with the hideous Venza, and Nissan put its toothy Murano out for the world to see as well. Companies think people in these cash-conscious and un-bling times still want unnecessary vehicles. Why would anyone buy an Accord Crossdresser for similar money as the far more practical Honda Pilot, or the cheaper CR-V? And why would you pass up the Toyota Highlander for the Venza, which has two fewer seats, is uglier and gets worse fuel economy?

Honda doesn't understand, like a number of other automakers this year, that the world doesn't want hatchbacks with funny names and bulbous details. What upscale customers want is something European. Something like the Honda Accord Tourer. But that's coming next year. As an Acura TSX wagon. I'll wait for that one.