Anyone have experience with Subaru wagons? Or just care to express an opinion? Owners seem to love them, but they seem expensive and the gas mileage is rather poor. The GF has her heart set on trading in her Toyota on one.

My dad has had several subarus over the years, he swears by them. They were all reliable and had 4wd to boot.

ETA: he had wagons and sedans, he likes the outback wagons the best. Lots of cargo room.

Subarus are lesbian p*ssy wagons.

I know a couple of folks with Foresters, seems like good cars with relatively few maintainance issues.  The gas milage is nothing to scream about, but they are AWD.

They get a lot of support from the gay community freaks.

Gay's luv Subarus, FWIW


Gay-Coded Subaru Ads Return to Mainstream

y Michael Wilke
April 18, 2002

View this ad
When a gay-targeted campaign from Subaru using light-hearted license plates began appearing in general outdoor advertising, the news media raced to understand the plates' seemingly "coded" messages, including "XENA-LVR," "P-TOWN" and "CAMP OUT."

While few at Subaru thought of their campaign as secret coding, the idea has now caught on with a more deliberate, tongue-in-cheek reprise. The veteran LGBT marketer introduces a new effort this month that offers a play on classic movie lines.

Taking a cue from Norma Desmond and "Sunset Boulevard," one new ad carries the headline, "I'm ready for my closeup" -- accompanied by a close view of the hood of a Subaru WRX. A forthcoming example references Faye Dunaway in "Mommy Dearest," with the line, "Put a window where it ought to be," meaning a sunroof.

"The gay community has a sense of ownership of literature and films," explains John Nash, who has been the creative director for Subaru's gay ads since the beginning, first for the defunct Mulryan/Nash Advertising, and now for Moon City Productions. "We thought that it would be fun to casually and thoughtfully align movie lines with the cars."

The campaign will run in gay titles as well as Movieline magazine, which reaches over 500,000 readers and brings the gay-targeted ads back into mainstream media. Subaru is also sponsoring postcard racks and medium-sized gay film festivals in Austin, Provincetown, Seattle and Washington DC.

While companies regularly run mainstream ads in gay media, they rarely run gay-targeted ads in the mainstream, since the expense is greater and there is risk of turning off other consumers. Little research exists on how general audiences respond to gay-targeted messages.

Playful Coding Appreciated By Consumers, and Accepted by Subaru

"Each year we've done this, we've learned more about our target audience," says Nash. "We've found that playful coding is really, really appreciated by our consumers, they like deciphering it."

Although Movieline is a general magazine, its demographics do not entirely stray from gay readers. Nash says that half of the readership is single and 42% are male. "You can assume we're speaking to consumers that matter," he adds, with his own bit of coding.

The whole coding concept began quite incidentally. Subaru's first campaign in 1995 used images of wholesome looking men and women, but consumer research found that people didn't relate to those pictured. The car marker shifted gears to just showing the vehicles that emphasized the individuality of its consumers through vanity license plates -- which was then perceived as "secret coding" that straight audiences didn't get.

The company wasn't exactly comfortable with the inadvertent intrigue at the coding concept at first, but are now lightheartedly embracing it. Nash explains, "They've taken a collective sigh and asked, 'What's the worst that can happen with this?' They are now having fun with this."

Subaru has eased into the LGBT market over the years. The company's interest began when research revealed a large lesbian following, followed by ads in 1995, then a partnership with the gay affinity card part owned by tennis champion Martina Navratilova, the Rainbow Card. Subaru later invited Navratilova to appear in a TV campaign, her first major sponsorship deal since coming out in the 1980s.

The license plate campaign appeared in 1999 and was followed by similar word play effort, with slogans such as "Get out. And stay out." and "Entirely comfortable with its orientation."

While Subaru was not the first auto company to reach out to gays (it shortly followed Saab's November 1994 debut), the brand remains to this day the only one to create gay-targeted ads. Says Tim Bennett, Subaru's director of marketing programs in Cherry Hill, NJ, "Every company markets to gays and lesbians, we just admit it."

U.S. Automakers to Join the Fray, Chrysler Adds Gay to 'Urban'

Several years after domestic major automakers suddenly extended domestic partnership benefits to their employees, Ford Motor and Daimler Chrysler have started to approach agencies about gay marketing. At the beginning of the month, Chrysler put its African-American and Hispanic accounts up for review while announcing that gay marketing would be brought into the fold.

Chrysler's plan has multicultural agencies scrambling to form new partnerships with gay agencies and a decision is expected by the end of May, Ford' interest is more open.

Jeff Bell, vice president of marketing communications at Chrysler Group, reportedly said, “We are moving away from solely dedicated creative for African-Americans, Asian-Americans, Hispanic-Americans and the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender communities. Instead, we are moving toward serving those dedicated markets, and, at the same time, doing a much better job of urban marketing in general.” Chrysler hopes to make its ads more “ethnically neutral,” by de-emphasizing the race of people portrayed.

The companies will face a number of challenges, from a more jaded market and the lessened impact of arriving many years after others, to combining purposes with other urban targets. Nonetheless, gay market agencies are giddy with the visibility of Chrysler's interest and the carryover potential to other corporate marketers.

Lots of dirt worshipping tree lovers drive them.  

I have to say though, the WRX would likely be my mid-life crisis wagon were I to have one.

I love rally racing.

Okay, you guys busted me. I'm a dirt-worshipping lesbian p**sy.

So, what's better, Outback or Forester?

Quoted: Okay, you guys busted me. I'm a dirt-worshipping lesbian p**sy.

We're glad you are comfortable finally coming out of the closet.......

Reliable, AWD, roomy and comfortable.

I hate it when people classify vehicles like the previous posters have.

I own one, and a truck (F-250 HD with a 460). I get almost 30 mpg and its a standard, you can get about 27 with the (Outback Wagons, 2.2L) in an auto.

They handle well in the snow, and easy to drive on the highway. It's a good car for high school/college students and people that aren't able to do there own auto work. I've seen them with over 250k miles on original engines and transmissions.

I bought it because it was better than the 8 mpg I was getting with my truck. I pretty much don't even use my truck anymore sadly, as I take the Subaru to school (in VERY northern NY where it snows from late october to mid march). So I needed something with snow handling abilities.

It works.

Quoted: Okay, you guys busted me. I'm a dirt-worshipping lesbian p**sy. So, what's better, Outback or Forester?

I like p**sy, too.  Just make sure whichever Subaru you get, put a little rainbow in the back window, mmmmkay?

Quoted: Quoted: Okay, you guys busted me. I'm a dirt-worshipping lesbian p**sy. We're glad you are comfortable finally coming out of the closet.......

Next thing ya know he'll be lettin the dog shit all over the neighbor's yard ...

In before the involuntary thread banishment.

ETA
I just bought a Outback 2.5XT w/turbo, intercooler, etc. Love it. And I am completely hetero. Really, I swear.

I drive a WRX Wagon and I am not homosexual.  I even tried it once to make sure.

If given the choice of a Forester or Outback, I would get the Forester XT.  It rocks.  Turbo.

I have an Outpack Sport (aka a fully loaded Impresa). Got a 104k miles on it and I like it.

I once hauled a deer home in the back.  It was a doe. For a big buck. you may want to use the Legacy or Forester.

I've gotten the Outback as a rental...I thought it was a pretty solid car.

Quoted: Subarus are lesbian p*ssy wagons.

I call them "Lesbo Limos".

We have a 99 Outback that has had problems 2 dealers could not fix.

Vibrations, and funny shifting.

They put in a new engine and front axle shafts and it's still f/u.

Had the dealer service the trans. and they put motor oil in the tranny (automatic).

I'm going to run it till it quits.

Danny

Quoted: So, what's better, Outback or Forester?

We went with the Outback cause it's a wagon, the Forester is considered a SUV by the ins. company and the ins. cost more.

Danny

A friend's wife has a Baja, and loves it.  My friend has a Wrangler for when they need heavier duty off-road capabilities...

Jim

Quoted: A friend's wife has a Baja...

Now that is an ugly ass vehicle.

Soccer mom or lesbian?

Sorry, but that seems to be about the demographic range that are going after lately. I used to live in Utah, and they have been very popular there with the mountain crowd (skiers, ski bums, et al.). They are excellent in the snow. One advantage is the boxer engine (I believe) - a friend had the timing belt go out on his legacy wagon and all that he had to have done was have it replaced. Try that with a conventionally designed engine. See if you can find one that is a couple of years old but is still in great shape. I think that your GF will like it.

They are solid...thier boxer engine is proven and their AWD is too.

I own a outback. I also own a toyota tacoma. I wear berkinstocks and have 8k rounds of ammo in my basement.                        

I just bought a Legacy wagon for my wife last april....problems...none.
When shopping for them, If you found one used, it was still expensive or had well over 100k miles on it.  All of the other subaru owners I've talked to spoke very highly of them and found them to be rock-solid reliable.  Although I'm sure it happens, I've never talked to anyone that drove it until it died, they either sold it when they got a new one or gave it to thier children.  

The only problem I'm aware of is a possible weak headgasket on certain years that was usually fixed under warranty with a different design of head gasket that solved the problem....I don't remember what years were affected...lots of good info here although it is mostly an imprezza and WRX crowd...forums.nasioc.com/forums/index.php?s=



....edited to make link hot

Have a 97 Outback.

Awesome car, it's dependable, reliable, and has ok amount of power (wish it was more on my car).

Car has been through hell, (young drivers) but has pulled through just fine.  It's relatively simple to work on, but parts around here have been a bitch to get.  Only needed two parts, a cable that had to be ordered from Cali, and a new rim because some idiot hit the wheel with their car (which had to be flown in from Japan).

So much better than that shitty ass mercury I had.

Quoted: Okay, you guys busted me. I'm a dirt-worshipping lesbian p**sy. So, what's better, Outback or Forester?

WRX STi

You might want to IM DaddyDett for info on Foresters.  He has an 01.

Also, you might want to IM SHIVAN since IIRC he has a WRX wagon and is also well-versed in Scoobies.

My girlfriends parents used to have a Forester.  It was a nice little thing.  They also for a week had a Legacy wagon.  

If I were to buy a vehicle, it would probably be a Subaru.  

I have a 2004 Forester XT, 0-60 in 5.3 seconds and lots of goodies, holds all my toys, great in the snow and mud and great warranty service from my local independant dealer.  Downside, gas milage is 21-23 in mostly city driving, it takes premium gas and it is not that comfortable for long trips,,I drove mine cross country this year.  Upside, no maintanence issues at all, tons of power, lots of room for guns and ammo, heaters on mirrors, front and rear windows and seats make cold mornings nice.  I have to be available 24/7 for work, I need a car that goes in snow, mud or whatever.

I know a guy with a non-turbo Forester.  He has the same options and gets 29mpg on the highway with regular gas.

Best of all you can run over hippies with all the skid plates and not ruin the car,,they never run they think you are one of them.