Kuth678

After spending 10 minutes reading this post (who knows why) I finally found one I agree with.


Whoever buys a subaru for looks is missing the point anyway.

silentbob343

Road & Track had a nice little snippet about the redesign in the future car section. It went some thing like; Subaru is giving their line a new design feature, grill from B9, for a more cohesive look….We like current WRX design and are not fond of the B9s. This is best me memory can do, I read it at 4 AM.

I hate comments like that. It is looks that initially draw you to a car . You don't innately know a cars performance, you are not born with that knowledge. You see a car and say, "hey I like the way that car looks maybe I should find out more about it”. Yes, the Impreza will never be a sleek low slung sports car. Hell, it was originally an inexpensive compact car or 4-door saloon for those across the pond . It doesn’t mean it’s not/can't be a good looking car. I first saw the Impreza in WRC and was drawn to it; I liked the semi-aggressive box look. I like the v5 and v6 cars the best. Performance is great and all, but I also want a car that I enjoy looking at. Don't get me wrong, I would enjoy looking at the redsign at almost every angle.

I never get the people on these forums that ***** about how the car looks, but still bought the car because they wanted the performance. I’ve seen a couple posts where the owner states he hates how the car looks. Why, the hell would you buy a car if you hate how it looks? I can see myself buying a car that has one or two design apsects that I dislike, but I don't think I could ever buy a car hating the entire design.....but I digress.

If you are really so concerned about just the performance aspect of the car how about you take out the engine and drive train and stick it in an old civic? It’s lighter so it’ll perform even better and it’s still has the Subaru heart and soul.

I believe a person should buy a car for 2 reasons; A) has the performance you want and B) You like the way it looks, not necessarily in that order either. There are some circumstances where looks must be overlooked, but for the most part a person should buy a car they like overall.

While the Impreza WRX has never been about Ferrari/Porsche looks it hasn’t been ugly either, at least IMO.

samurai

iTrader: (1)

So just for the sake of argument.. If you had the same 4 cyl boxer engine, DCCD, AWD, and all the goodness of a Subaru drivetrain with the exterior of this car, would you still buy it? It has a hood scoop and a tall rear wing.

Tim

meilers

I don't mean to offend, but this is a silly and provincial attitude. There is no business in the world more international than the auto industry, and reaching accross borders for design elements is extremely common -- in fact, anyone with a little knowledge of Subaru's history knows that they have contracted "outside" designers numerous times before; the SVX (arguably one of the best-looking Subarus ever made, with the exception of the half-windows) was an Italian design, and GM designers contributed to the Forrester and Legacy/Outback wagon designs (which have never been produced on Japanese soil; Lafayette, Indiana is where they are made).

I'm an 02 bug-eyes owner, and I've had the car's looks compared to a Neon, a Mercedes, a Porsche 911, a Porsche 928(!), a Volkswagon Bug (the originator of the term bug-eyes, of course) and a Citroen. See any Japanese cars in that list? The idea that a Japanese designer would somehow do an intrinsically better job than anyone else is on the silly side; recently, I've never seen Japanese cars (and Korean cars) try harder to look American and European than they do now.

As for the 04-05 models, their look (which is an *extremely* minimal update from the 02-03 model) was heavily influenced by Prodrive's rally cars. Prodive is located in this crazy place called EUROPE . Not exactly JDM! Be honest here, would you really want the designers who crafted the aesthetic nightmares known as the Forrester and Baja to get their hands on the WRX? Argh!

The GC8 is a fantastic-looking car, I will agree, but it has its own share of aesthetic problems; those fake hood vents were odd back then and unfortunately look "rice" now that so many copycat fiberglass hoods for everything from Ford Focus to Civic to Geo exist; certainly this isn't Subaru's fault, but it means Subaru can't go back in that direction. And the GC8, just like the bug-eyes, is a mixed bag of designs grabbed from other cars (for instance, the headlights were lifted from an early-model Prelude) rather than a unified look.

Heh -- well, that is a way to get a good score, if the other guy was right. I don't know if this is common knowledge, but Subaru sells less than 300k cars per year in the US. That number is growing, but is also pathetic when you consider the potential of the brand and the cars themselves. While we all might like to think of our Scoobies as our personal best-kept-secret (certainly my co-workers never give my 02 a second glance, even though I could ride any of them into the ground on the track) this kind of "indie" attitude is what slowly strangles a brand to death. Anything -- even cosmetic change -- that raises the profile of the Subaru name and brand is a good thing, IMO, because then Subaru will have enough cash on hand to be a healthy company and spend more money on R&D, rally racing and engine development. Certainly we all pine for a 2-door coupe, but that is never going to happen; 2-door cars jusn't dont sell anymore, except in the convertible sports-coupe market. Dodge even brought back the Charger as a 4-door sedan (it was a 2-door coupe).

If it gets the WRX/STI back on magazine covers where they belong, I don't care if the 07 WRX/STI comes in pearl pink with a chrome front bumper. The "indie" instinct in the Subaru loyalist might cry "sellout," but I hate to break it to them -- SELLING CARS is the whole idea

samurai

iTrader: (1)

Well... I think that this is exactly the problem with the whole auto industry today. Its all about making money and selling cars. Not about coming out with a nice design or coming out with something great. If something is designed great out of the box, it pays for itself. Once sombody comes out with a nice, unique design that everybody likes, everybody else rushes to analyze it and copy it.

Like the Accord and Camry.. As dull as dull can be but they sell. But that is not for enthusiasts like us.. For a car that says "individuality" say like the 350Z or the Supra, or even that early 90's prelude (with the "doberman" style rear taillights), you'd want something different. Not something that has been band-aided or stamped out. Remember how MBs had dull looking "accord" taillights before that prelude. Look at their cars now..

Also the GC8 is the code for the WRX Sti in Japan. So at least on this car, the hood scoop is functional. I believe that the US got the same body style but a different code. But, the front end just doesn't look like that early 90's prelude you were talking about to me... And actually the sti forrester doesn't look too bad to me.

Lastly note that I didn't say the Japanese were the best in styling, I just wanted somebody who grew up with the company to design it. why is that? Prodrive is DEFINITELY not Japanese, but how long have they been with the company? At least 5-6 years? You would think that they would have known what Subarus identity is and therefore have some idea as to what kind of design to suggest. You can analyze and perhaps drool over other designs but the design you have to ultimately come up with (and this is why it is called a design) your own material.


Tim

hk_subi

i'm not feeling the alfa romeo look

Zora

The real Alfas look sooo much better.

sykosis

iTrader: (23)

Lots of pics up:

http://www.subaru.co.jp/impreza/wrx/exterior/index.html

Nick Koan

iTrader: (3)

These new pics look pretty good.

Its suprising what a professional photographer can do for you

silentbob343

looks good from every angle except the front

jdepould

iTrader: (2)

is the standard wrx getting the huge wing?

Nick Koan

iTrader: (3)

Just noticed something. That little difuser wing was used at the 24 hours at Nurburgring race a month back or so.



I guess that means Subaru thinks it actually is useful

samurai

iTrader: (1)

Yea that and the "under-body" diffusers as well. Just to improve stability. I saw the clip of the differences between the '05 and '06 versions in the Jp subie site and the '06 had a slight stability improvement, but I concluded that it was nothing that an amateur driver like myself would notice..

Tim

silentbob343

you could always get the "huge wing" on the WRX it is a dealer option, not standard.

edited to clarify factory->dealer my bad

jdepould

iTrader: (2)

no, it was only on the STi