Comments on: Subaru set to post ‘08 sales increase

By: hummah

hummah — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 22:15:15 +0000

Subaru FTW!!

By: SubieDoug

SubieDoug — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 15:37:25 +0000

idrinorbarsaku – that’s simply not true. Subaru Motors Finance is JP Morgan Chase Bank. The 0.0% on the 08 models is limited to 24 months for all products except the Tribeca and STI, which go out to 63 months. AND it’s based on approved Tier I or II credit scoring. Chase is not a subprime lender and they have always tiered their rates. Up until a few months ago, they didn’t tier their lease rates so IF you were approved for the lease, your rate was the same if you were a Tier IV or a Tier I. Now they tier them just as they do their loan programs.

If your dealer told you anyone can get approved for the 0.0% they’re lying to you, plain and simple.

By: idrinorbarsaku

idrinorbarsaku — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 14:56:04 +0000

my dad and i kinda expected this because our suburu dealers were offering 0% financing on new subarus no matter what your credit score was. this saves a lot of money for everyone looking at a car.

By: Mutant@DCX

Mutant@DCX — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 04:30:35 +0000

Pacifica tooling has been recycled for materials content, read as gone forever

By: moparsalesman

moparsalesman — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 02:06:51 +0000

@jay
I agree they need to bring the pacifica back, the owners of them are not liking the journey because of the styling. We are selling a lot of journeys too mid thirty something young married couples with kids. the demographic for the pacifica was slightly older and higher income

By: Get Real

Get Real — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 01:40:38 +0000

Story about “Percent Numbers”…..a sales increase from 1 to 2 cars is a 100% increase.

If you reported REAL sales numbers it would be laughable.

By: Architect

Architect — Sun, 28 Dec 2008 22:49:38 +0000

I’m I the only one that thinks Subarus are totally lame? Hands down the ugliest vehicles on the planet. If I’m going to plunk down $25K for a vehicle, it darn well better evoke some spark of emotion when I stand back and look at it.

Given my personal perspective (my own, I understand), I find it mind-boggling that their sales would be up in a market with an infinite array of better options.

p.s. I do understand they have some sort of cult-like following. Why? I don’t know….

By: jayjc08

jayjc08 — Sun, 28 Dec 2008 16:53:43 +0000

moparsalesman- The fact that the Tribeca has better quality than most, if not all SUV’s on the market atm doesn’t mean the Tribeca is the only one we need.

I would definitely fetch a Tribeca, if the ride was a little bit less crude and the 3 rows of seating more comfortable.

A used one with the old grill, that is.

You have a point with the SUV claim, but I don’t think that’s what he meant.

Now, lets get the Pacifica updated! No?

By: The Stig

The Stig — Sun, 28 Dec 2008 06:51:59 +0000

Subaru would sell even better if they’d bring that diesel engine to the N/A market.

By: TomF

TomF — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 23:18:15 +0000

I’ve shopped the Outback twice in the last ten years and didn’t like it. It felt crude and coarse on the road, with a plain, plasticky, half-finished interior and a very uncomfortable buckboard of a backseat. Also, very easy to rocket past $30k with too little to show for it in terms of vehicle content.

That said, the Subaru owners I know swear by the cars and drive them well past 100k with virtually no trouble or undue cost.

Looking past the Outback, I have to say the new Forester really does look good. Great styling, right size for the times, and well-priced. I like it.

By: howsmydriving

howsmydriving — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 22:49:36 +0000

Subaru is the #1 car-of-choice for American lesbians (Volvo ranks high too). This is a fact, not an assumption. This issue needs to be addressed, not swept under the rug!

By: moparsalesman

moparsalesman — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 21:30:28 +0000

@ jake
first of all their are plenty of suv’s out there with quality to match a tribeca. If their were none then we wouldn’t need any other suv’s other than the tribeca, so that statement is a little ridiculous. Second of all I sell all mopar brands as well as suzuki and over 200 used vehicles on our lot ranging from kia to subaru to toyota and everything in between. In the part of the northeast that I live in a 4×4 is a bigger seller than any make awd we ever have. my current vehicle is an awd and before that I had a blazer and there is a distinct difference between four wheel drive and awd. Drive a Grand Cherokee with Quadra Trac II and your Tribeca in 15 inches of snow and you tell me which will go further up the mountain. My bet is the Jeep. So clearly different suv’s are better at certain things than others, so we do in fact need more choices than just the subaru. You see im not so ignorant as you to say bad things about other manufacturers build quality because I sell every brand and clearly other manufacturers have lots to offer in their own respective vehicles I did not say anything bad about the quality of the subaru just that i thought it was ugly and that is my opinion. You automatically go to bashing the product I sell most of as a reflex and that makes you an ass. Clearly you have not made any assumptions based on fact but by heresay and what you read.

By: jackjimturkey

jackjimturkey — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 19:55:15 +0000

I almost bought a Tribeca

By: tastyorange

tastyorange — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 18:14:14 +0000

If the original Tribeca was so ugly, how come you see more of them on the road than the newer one?
I think the original Tribeca is cool and distinctive looking. All they needed to do was tweak the nose, not water down the whole vehicle… They also need to make ALL of their cars more comfortable.
I have a 2005 Outback. While it’s reliable… I get a lot of complaints from my passengers… how they can’t wait to get out of the car.

By: JakeK66

JakeK66 — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 06:28:44 +0000

Look for another SUV with the build quality and craftmanship of the Tribeca, it just doesn’t exist, and a mopar person has no room to talk about bad design and nor do you have any product that can hold a candle to this in terms of anything related to build quality. The thing is not bad looking since it’s ‘08 update, and it’s interior and engine both are top notch anyway.

By: moparsalesman

moparsalesman — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 02:16:46 +0000

the tribeca is one of the ugliest vehicles i have ever seen in my life. only one as ugly was the pontiac aztec. that was a horrible design oh yeah and btw subaru backwards is urabus haha

By: johnnycanuck

johnnycanuck — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 01:14:33 +0000

Yeah, well when the tide’s at its lowest the oddest things come to the surface. I’ve thought about buying a Subaru because for where I live and what performance I require a wagon or hatch with AWD and a manual transmission fits the bill perfectly. Two things however have kept me from plunking down my hard earned loonies: when you take away the AWD they’re pricey for what is essentially a middling Japanese effort in terms of quality and materials, and -for the most part- they’re just butt ugly. And this from the guy whose winter snowplow is a ‘98 Tracker, but it was cheap enough that I could also afford to put something else on the other side of the driveway that is far more aesthetically pleasing.

By: Gundy

Gundy — Fri, 26 Dec 2008 22:58:41 +0000

Gundy = beating-a-dead-horse, but, “Subaru, please bring your diesel Outback in 2010!!! We WILL buy one, guaranteed.” Our ‘97 Legacy Outback is literally rock solid, runs like new, and still gets about 25-26 mpg. But, it’s white, and living in Minnesota with the salt and snow, it’s starting to show rust.. We want the Outback diesel, bring it to the US please!

By: SubieDoug

SubieDoug — Fri, 26 Dec 2008 22:57:20 +0000

Tribeca sales are dismal in our part of the country. They’ve went from having great leasing incentives to pushing finance with 0% for 63 months etc. It just hasn’t done well at all, certainly not up to Subaru’s expectations.

By: SubieDoug

SubieDoug — Fri, 26 Dec 2008 22:53:50 +0000

What we’ve seen here is losing some Outback sales to Foresters, so I think the decrease in Outback figures is skewed a bit. The Legacy has done very well, great lease programs all year on it. The 09 Forester hasn’t had one cent of dealer or customer incentive, just 4.9% financing and it hasn’t hurt our sales efforts one bit.

We do have a very loyal customer base and our customer demographics are excellent. High income levels, high education levels and many could buy whatever brand they wanted, but they choose Subaru.

New Legacy/Outback around the corner, hopefully the numbers on those increase with the redesign.

By: JakeK66

JakeK66 — Fri, 26 Dec 2008 20:43:10 +0000

Nice observation A4

I don’t understand the math either, I think they must be talking model year to model year on the individual model’s numbers.

I like Subaru’s though. The 06 Legacy LTD I owned was a beautiful car inside and out, built like a true luxury sedan. The biggest problem I had with it was it’s name doesn’t bring any cache at all with anyone, and being my age, I like the cache.

By: A4

A4 — Fri, 26 Dec 2008 20:09:35 +0000

soo im guessing the outback and tribeca dragged them down

By: jackjimturkey

jackjimturkey — Fri, 26 Dec 2008 19:50:36 +0000

I like subarus
They’re tough

By: CarResearcher

CarResearcher — Fri, 26 Dec 2008 19:44:41 +0000

Good cars with loyal customers.

By: loudpedal

loudpedal — Fri, 26 Dec 2008 19:17:20 +0000

Yup, right after GM sold their stake in the company.

By: bimmer_mann_18

bimmer_mann_18 — Fri, 26 Dec 2008 17:50:58 +0000

STi for me, but the new one looks like a camry in my opinion.

By: jayjc08

jayjc08 — Fri, 26 Dec 2008 17:04:53 +0000

That’s good news for Subaru. Maybe more brands should fill niches, instead of scrambling to cover an entire market.

I’m guessing though, looking at the fairly high increases of other Subaru products… the Tribeca must of had a huge downturn.

The new Forester is nice. Otherwise though, Subaru’s lost a lot of character in the past two years…