I think we all kind of get you but I think the problem is you call Subaru retarded...in a way they're 99% not retarded because they went after the money which is what you want a company to do. The problem they are sucking in our eyes (the enthusiasts) is that they seem to be making less fun cars and more practical cars.

 

Correct. While nothing is wrong in chasing the money, you have to be ahead of the pack also. We all know how car companies are, nothing is forever. Subaru can make money today, but there is no guarantee of it tomorrow. We have seen this with Toyota and the American car companies. They became complacent with their earnings and only change when it is too late. Chevy is a great example of this. They don't know when to change until their check books dip into the red. Subaru, falling behind faster and faster in their performance line, is such a complacency. They can only get so much performance out of their "performance cars" in the EJ2xx lineup.

While Subaru is making money but getting complacent, Hyundai is becoming a different car company. Through their big changes of their lineup to include fun and yet pack-leading cars, they will be the next "Subaru" soon. Subaru will fall to the wayside while that happens.

In any business, you will have your ups and downs. Once you hit your peak, you will go down. It's a simple business cycle. As a company, if you want success, you have to push that peak further and further away. Subaru has not done this yet and are still milking their fuel inefficient cars.

And this, gentlemen, is why they are retarded.

 

Subaru PLEASE bring back the GC8 with modern technology in it, or atleast a 22B type would be good.

 

I have a GM6 with modern technology in it. Is that close enough?

 

What I'm trying to explain is that no car company will cater to enthusiasts unless they have the money to do so. What we want are things that are special to cars and the technology that makes each car unique. Enthusiasts like that make up maybe 5-10% of all the consumers out there. When the rest of the 90% of the car consumers say "make this car or we won't buy", the car makers listen. The layman consumer (such as the soccer moms and the occasional non-scientific/engineer rich person out there) only care about a couple things now a days. Fuel economy numbers and space. They won't care how you do it. You can ooh and ahh them with words and numbers, but they won't care about the real technology behind the car.

Subaru already has their boxer engine which is unique in the auto market where inlines and Vs are the "in" thing. They also still offer all wheel drive, which is becoming more common, but still a unique feature in the midst of FF and FR cars. To me, if they want even more fuel efficiency, they could dump the AWD system, lessen displacement to a 2.0l boxer and have it become FF because that cuts weight and efficiency robbing drivetrain losses and saves fuel. But if they did that, who would buy a subaru then? It would be another of the millions of cars out there. subaru always has been unique even though their offerings are the same or similar. Its just that they've always followed their own path for all these years.

 

I also read in MT or C&D that they consider the Legacy the only car in its segment (Accord, Camry, 6, etc.) that can honestly be called a sports sedan. So that's something...more or less.

 

 

Bumping old thread.

So Subaru, Toyota forcing you to change wasn't so bad after all right?

How the Scion FR-S Almost Never Happened and Why Subaru Thought it Was a Bad Idea | AutoGuide.com News

Now you're planning to sell 100k of it straight from your factory each year.

 

'1-25-2010'

It's a good thing I got to the end of the thread before I made a post.

 

Yeah its a good thing Toyota handed development over to Subaru. They haven't built a performance car in years other than concepts and LF-A.

This is a win for car-guys within those companies in that they were able to win over the bean-counters with pure logic and a little bit of *******.