Originally posted by Lord Awesome
My Pentax gear does what I need it to do, and it does it particularly well.
On the same note as that our top gear is often compared to the competitions top gear which is not what our top gear is necessarily competing with.
My Subaru is an interesting car. Durable, lasts forever, goes places outdoors no other car can go, and you can attach any Thule rack ever made to it without buying new mounting brackets - very thoughtful of them to maintain Legacy roof-rack backward compatibility for all their outdoors enthusiasts.
The Forester was SUV of the year last year, but that was last year - they didn't introduce anything new at Detroit!! Its too small for my body anyway, but cutting-edge engineering and strangely appealing, weird styling - especially in white.
The Impreza STi is a ticket magnet, but not styled for a 53 year old. Too buzzy and cheap, entry-level ergonomics. Way too light to toss around a road course, and you have to depend on your gear to make money at it. Besides, it used to take a 6-Volt battery, available at any motorcycle shop or Walmart; now it takes a vertical 12-Volt, mounted in the trunk! what a PITA
The Spec.B was the best sport-sedan they ever made - but they never developed the concept. While the competition invested money in styling, suspension, exhaust manifold turbo boost, mechanical intercooling and high-energy fog lights, Subaru wandered around, dropped manual transmission and eventually dropped the car altogether.
Try going into an Auto-Nation and asking for an Outback!! Noooooo - you want a Beemercedes, not a little Subaru - no dealers, no parts - they're going out of business - no market share!!!
Of course, if I wanted to spend $60,000 to get around town in style I'd get an M5.
(FWIW, Subaru is the only automaker that made a profit last year
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