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14583 messages, Last post on Dec 07, 2009 at 6:27 AM
You are in the Subaru Crew Forum. Your Host is kcram
Your Community Leaders are ateixeira and rsholland.
This is the place for Crew members to kick back, relax, and talk about...whatever!
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Replying to: ateixeira (Oct 23, 2009 6:31 am) -mike |
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http://www.motorauthority.com/blog/1...er-due-in-2013 Quote: Few, if any, automotive icons have as wide and as immediate a recognition factor as the Land Rover Defender. Spanning the globe and over six decades of production, the classic boxy go-anywhere-mobile is finally due for an update, and according to previous reports, it's already underway, appropriately dubbed Project Icon. Now it looks like the due date for the brand-new Defender will be 2013. The Land Rover team is hard and secretly at work on the project despite the somewhat distant deadline, aiming to update the classic Defender with modern design principles while keeping its simple, brutally efficient capability intact. Unlike most of its current stablemates, the new Project Icon vehicle is expected to eschew aluminum for a dependable and rugged steel chassis borrowed from the soon-to-be-replaced Discovery and Range Rover Sport models, reports Autocar. The news of the 2013 due date comes from a report out today by the Detroit Free Press. Like its predecessor, the Project Icon truck will be made in myriad form factors to suit the mission, and though initially built only in England, there are thought to be plans to send it to China, Russia, India and elsewhere in knock-down form for final assembly down the road. Upgrading the Defender to the T5 chassis will mean independent suspension, hard or soft tops and a choice of steel or air springs depending on the application. Power will most likely come from the company's existing lineup of four- and six-cylinder diesels. Americans, however, aren't likely to see the new vehicle, just as we haven't seen the Defender since their last brief stint here in the mid-1990s. Bob |
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....and although the Fit is the rational, economical decision to make, I think actually we're throwing caution to the wind and going for.... a used Mini Cooper Clubman S. 2009, 14k miles, premium package, cold package, sport package, convenience package, manual. 17" BBS-style rims, back up assist, rear fog light, blue accent interior. New: $31,000. CPO $22,900. More than I want to spend really, but a hell of a car that we'll be in love with for the whole decade we're likely to own it. Jeebus, what a hoot to drive. Seriously. Should never have even started it up. So Kirst will drive that, I will drive the OB. Which is cool, because I REALLY miss my old Subie. Thank you corporate America for the Camry. It was.....um, free while it lasted. But a car more incompatible with my lifestyle, driving style, and, er, style, would be difficult to find. At least you were red. Re-united with the first new car I ever bought. Still in pretty good shape after 10.5 years. Those RS seats are going to be such a relief after the Camry's Lay-Z-Boys. Now, what to do with the SSRs I still have from the FXT.... 
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Replying to: lucien2 (Oct 26, 2009 5:05 am)  Bob |
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Replying to: lucien2 (Oct 26, 2009 5:05 am) I was at my local MINI dealer this weekend, and they had a dozen left-over '09 Clubmen... Weird, because all of the coupes in stock were 2010 models...
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Replying to: kyfdx (Oct 26, 2009 3:17 pm) Where's your dealer? 1.9% for 60 mos on '09s!
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The new Mini Countryman off-roader: http://www.motoringfile.com/2009/10/23/the-r60-mini-crossover-gets-an-official-n- ame-a-revised-debut/ AWDand supposedly with a low range! The Mini Moke grows up. Bob |
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Replying to: lucien2 (Oct 26, 2009 3:54 pm) But, as you've seen, MSRP is $29K-$31K... 1.9%  60 months on $30K is still a heck of a big payment!!
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The article is on Subaru's success in this lousy economy. http://www.autoobserver.com/2009/10/...s-success.html A quote from the article: The common wisdom is that this positive brand identity has been achieved in large part by the fact that the company has stuck steadfastly to selling only all-wheel-drive vehicles in the U.S. over the last decade. As one contributor summed it up, "It's gotta be AWD to be a Subie." Some worry that the fuel economy penalty incurred by AWD drivetrains - roughly one mile per gallon compared an otherwise equivalent two-wheel-drive model - may end up hurting sales in the long run, assuming the price of gasoline continues to rise. "People in my office have told me that they would never consider an AWD vehicle because 'they get poor fuel economy,'" says one, who then suggests that "a FWD offering might help." But most insist that AWD-only is integral to Subaru brand in the U.S. and that if "they start offering FWD or RWD even on just a few models that... brand identity starts getting watered down." One post questions, "Is it worth losing your identity for a 10% gain in fuel economy?" Another argues, "They need to maintain the exclusivity of AWD standard; otherwise... they'd wind up being in the same position as Mitsubishi or Suzuki -- good but overlooked over for having nothing to stand out." And a third likens the potential effect of Subaru abandoning AWD-only to GM overtaking Saab in the 1990s, noting that Saab was "no longer the 'quirky car' once GM homogenized and pasteurized them." Clearly this is not just a view shared me and a few others on this site. Hope they stick to their guns on this. Bob
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...as previous one did not work for some reason. http://www.autoobserver.com/2009/10/word-on-the-street-the-secret-of-subarus-suc- cess.html |
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