Automakers across the globe are readying teaser images for models they intend to debut at the 89th Geneva International Motor Show next month. For Subaru, that means the latest addition to its Viziv line of concept vehicles.

While initial Viziv concepts were highly conceptual designs, the line has gradually evolved to deliver models more in line with Subaru’s production vehicles. The 2016 Viziv-7 ultimately led to the creation of the Ascent and both the 2017 Viziv Performance Concept and 2018 Tourer Concept appear to directly foreshadow future incarnations of the WRX. But the new concept is an unknown quantity.  (Read More…)

A thought struck me the other day – since joining TTAC, I’ve liked just about every Honda I’ve reviewed. I even found little fault with the Clarity, which I was otherwise neutral towards.

That doesn’t mean I like every Honda. I drove the Fit for 10 minutes at a media event last fall (no review … 10 minutes isn’t enough time) and while I found it pleasant, it didn’t resonate with me the way the first-gen car did. The HR-V is fine, but I don’t think it would be my first choice in that class. I have yet to drive the CR-V and Pilot.

Realizing that I like most of Honda’s present offerings, I started wondering. Were I to work for an automaker, forced to switch vehicles every 60 or 90 days in order to cycle through the lineup, which brand has a roster I like enough that I’d want to rotate completely through?

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With the 2020 Legacy gaining improvements in the form of an optional turbocharged engine, many wonder how long it might be until the rest of Subaru’s mainstream fleet offers the manufacturer’s FA24 motor. The Ascent has it, and we already know the Outback gets it in 2020, but what about Subaru’s other volume models? What about the Crosstrek and Forester?

You’ll have to wait. Apparently, some of Subaru’s models are just too dang popular to receive turbo power. Is this a pathetic excuse or simply a grim reality the automaker must confront? Subaru, obviously, claims the latter and we’re inclined to agree, based on recent evidence. But there remains a silver lining; it probably won’t be this way forever.  (Read More…)

Subaru landed on these shores with a raft of cars and totally-not-trucks (thanks, Chicken Tax) that were certainly capable when shown a rough road but were, in a word, quirky. Since then, the Pleiades brand has filtered out some of its weirdness in an attempt to capture more customers but – as we will learn – still marches to the beat of its own drummer … or at least to the beat of a flat-four.

What’s changed since our first drive of the Ascent eight and a half months ago? Anything? Did the big Subie acquit itself well during the Polar Vortex? Does our Associate Editor wear army boots?

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Subaru’s sales in the United States effectively tripled in the past decade, making it the most important market for the brand by a wide margin. However, the automaker has had to expend quite a bit of energy in its home country of Japan to address recalls and regulatory scandals over the last few years.

While the duality hasn’t caused issues on a global scale, many observers wonder how long its good fortune will last. In America, Subaru is a feel-good brand that uses love as a core marketing concept to improve sales. In Japan, it has become synonymous with overworking employees lacking compensation, regulatory scandals, sudden work stoppages, and recalls. Many believe it’s only a matter of time before Subaru of America will have to contend with Japan’s issues, and evidence exists that problems are already beginning to surface in the West. (Read More…)

The 2020 Subaru Legacy made its debut at the 2019 Chicago Auto Show on Thursday. While most casual observers will probably assume the model has undergone a mild visual refresh, what’s actually on display is an entirely new vehicle.

Whereas previous incarnations of the Legacy provided more of an upscale WRX experience, the outgoing sixth generation saw the car fitted with a livable continuously variable transmission and engine options that moved it away from anything that could be described as truly sporting. Fortunately, Subaru is attempting to remedy that for the 2020 model year. (Read More…)

Few automakers can boast of 85 consecutive months of yearly month-over-month growth, but that’s exactly what Subaru did as the calendar turned from 2018 to 2019. Still, despite the automaker’s impressive performance in the United States, not every model in Subaru’s lineup is a sales stud. There’s always a problem child or two.

As American buyers drain from the passenger car market, Subaru plans to make a pitch for the non-traditional traditional car, unveiling a next-generation 2020 Legacy at next week’s Chicago Auto Show. By the way, you should wish the Legacy a happy birthday today. (Read More…)

January was peppered with claims that the Subaru BRZ And Toyota 86 aren’t long for this world. Rumors, which began spreading last year, stated the models weren’t selling well enough for either brand to rationalize continued sales, and those rumblings came to a head during the North American International Auto Show. There, seemingly every outlet asked engineers and executives what’s to become of them.

This week, outlets began reporting that Japanese automotive tabloid Best Car is preparing an article for its upcoming February issue explaining that Subaru and Toyota have “deviated on their development policies” and plan to break their collaboration on the Toyobaru twins. (Read More…)

Living in Colorado, I see so many discarded Subarus during my junkyard explorations that it takes a very unusual one to make me reach for my camera. An SVX might do it (though not always), or maybe a BRAT (again, not always), or perhaps a Subaru with Saab badges. A really early Subaru, from the Malaise Era days when few Americans took the brand seriously — I think that’s always worth shooting.

Here’s a first-generation Leone that I had to go all the way to Northern California to find. (Read More…)

Subaru has a history of keeping the good stuff in Japan. Eastward-looking rally enthusiasts clamored in the early ’90s for the turbocharged Impreza WRX. Subaru sent us the naturally-aspirated Impreza 2.5RS in 1998. Once the WRX hit our shores in 2000, we saw the more-powerful WRX STi as the forbidden fruit, not to grace our shores until 2004. Countless limited editions, starting with the widebody 22B (a killer on Gran Turismo) and proceeding through several iterations of the S-series, have too been withheld.

No longer.

Subaru finally heeded the call of World Rally Blue-blooded boxer geeks in North America when it revealed the limited-edition STI S209 on Monday. Tweaks, both subtle and not, refine the familiar formula into a more focused performance vehicle.

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Subaru is preparing a couple of rather interesting concepts for next month’s Tokyo Auto Salon, which is essentially the Japanese equivalent of SEMA.

With fun passenger cars gradually disappearing from the market, performance-enhanced crossovers are becoming more common. In fact, they could be the next hot industry trend — and Subaru Tecnica International doesn’t want to be caught with its pants around its ankles. As a result, the team will bring an STI-ified Forester and the sort of WRX STI one third of all boxer fans have begged the automaker to build for nearly half a decade.  (Read More…)

Yesterday, Subaru released a teaser video for a rip-roaring special edition of the WRX STI. Hours earlier, AutoGuide reported the brand filed an application with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to reserve the “S209” moniker, which we (and every other automotive outlet) now believe is the car in the video.

Those in the know will recognize that the designation is one number higher than the Japan-only S208, which exists as the Christmas ham on Subaru Tecnica International’s table. The S208’s 2.0-liter turbo flat-four generates 329 horsepower and 319 pound-feet of torque. It also boasts shorter ratio steering, upgraded suspension with Bilstein dampers, BBS wheels, upsized Brembo brakes, a sizable rear spoiler, carbon-fiber roof, and a unique aero kit.

STI has been building special edition S models since 2000, when it debuted the S201. Thus far, track-focused cars have emerged every year, just never in America. That doesn’t appear to be the case for the S209. (Read More…)

The stereotypical Subaru customer has always been overly concerned with Johnny Polar Bear, so it’s been a bit of a surprise that the company hasn’t had a plug-in hybrid offering in their lineup.

That changes next year, with the introduction of the 2019 Crosstrek Hybrid. Subaru must be employing a few wizards in the engineering department because despite the new hybrid producing less power and weighing more (a lot more), the company is claiming the electrified Crosstrek is a full second quicker to sixty than the standard car.

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Subaru is recalling nearly 229,000 late-model vehicles over an issue that could result in vehicles unexpectedly stalling. While this is a very different issue from October’s recall notice, which dealt with roughly 400,000 vehicles globally, both could leave you stranded on the side of the road.

The new recall involves software gremlins inside the 2018 Outback and Legacy. According to the NHTSA’s report, the low-fuel warning light may not issue a warning at the appropriate fuel level. Likewise, the anticipated range may overestimate the number of miles you have left before needing to refuel. This could elevate the risk of a crash in certain situations, but the most likely outcome is the vehicle sputtering before you’ve had the chance to gas up.  (Read More…)

Until this model year, the Subaru Forester was a homely-looking beast, eminently practical but always looking like that kid in grade school whose slacks were too short. With its narrow body and tip-toe stance, the old Forester had the appearance of its pants cuffs stopping well above its ankles.

Subaru has fixed this for 2019, creating a crossover that doesn’t appear as if it’s about to get stuffed into a locker. The price has been kept at bay, too.

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