How do Subs sell in Florida?

I leave in Seattle. With all the skiing, biking and hiking it seems like that every other car around here is Subi. I just went to Florida and I go to So. California all the time. For 1 week in FL I saw 1 or 2 sub, the same in CA.

I can't imaging that these cars sell anywhere other then place where you truly need 4 wheel drive.

Yes and no. In California there are pockets of Subaru drivers that largely fit the college/hippie/granola stereotype. The original eco-friendly SUV market. The buyer base expanded a lot when the Outback came out, but the core is still the same. The same group would otherwise get a Volvo, Saab or Audi--but all put together these form at most 5% of the market.

The WRX racing crowd is entirely unrelated and AWD is just one aspect of its appeal.

-John

I see a lot of Subarus here in the San Francisco Bay Area. It's snowed maybe twice in the last 20 years (and barely at that). There are lots of Outbacks, Legacies, and Foresters used primarily as family cars. Some are probably taken into snow country. For the typical Subaru buyer in this area, AWD is probably secondary to whether or not rest of the car appeals to the buyer. I see plenty of AWD vehicle around here, and it's sometimes a selling point, albeit a secondary one.

Now I hear the granola type living in the woods up in Northen California love Subarus for their capbilities on unpaved gravel or dirt roads.

I've got a WRX, but there's no racing or track use.

Almost every other car is a Subaru in Reno, NV; they are immensly popular in Northern Calif. Places like Auburn, CA, the Sierra foothills in general, and particularly Lake Tahoe area (Truckee, Kings Beach, S.Lake Tahoe, Incline Village).

Resale values are good, dealerships and independent shops abound. Plenty of people with 'vintage' cars.

Now Florida, I wonder.

Lets not forget that Subaru is not all about AWD. Their cars in general are nice, and the boxer engine rather unique or altogether unavailable in an inexpensive car.

There should be plenty of people owning Subarus in Florida, but I suspect there aren't. Why?

Is the small added cost of AWD such a powerful deterrent, or something else? Insurance cost, lack of dealerships? Anyone from Florida care to reply?

I plan on moving to Florida soon, should I take my Subaru with me, or is selling it and buying something else a better idea?

MN

Our 1999 Legacy OBW is lovely in deep snow provided one doesn't perch it on a fulcrum; driving intelligently is still necessary for full AWD advantage.

We drove said car to Pensacola in November 2003 and didn't see another Subaru once we got south of Ohio, not even in the mountains of Kentucky and Tennessee. We only saw 4x4 trucks and American sedans and various Japanese front-wheel cars.

Look at the dealer locator on subaru.com. There are only a few dealers in TX and they are far apart. Different regions have different sales numbers.

I live halfway between Seattle and Canada, and every other car is a Subie. I spent a couple of weeks in Arizona recently, and rarely saw one. I never saw so many Hummers in my life, though. Sighting one of those is a rarity up here.

When I bought my OBW four months ago, a friend who's a moderately granola type like me joked that I had got an SUV. I replied that he was right, but it's a blue state SUV, and there's quite a difference.

Sure. As I recall someone from Finland once said, AWD/4WD only gets you going. If you're trying to slow down, it doesn't help you stop or steer.

I've got a coworker with an Audi Quattro A4. He seems to think that his car with all-seasons should be more than adequate in deep snow. Of course he doesn't drive in that stuff 4 months a year, where snow/ice specific tires are always a great idea because the tread and softer rubber help with control and braking.

I had a pet peeve with my old car ('95 Acura Integra GS-R). On a rainy day when I stopped behind a crosswalk or stop line, my front tires would lose traction on the painted lines in first gear. I'd take care of this by starting in 2nd gear. With my WRX, that has never been a problem, since the rear wheels had traction.

Your coworker is a moron. I also have the same car he has, but I am intelligent enough to have a separate set of wheels and snow tires for November-April, and in my case, my car is great. In deep snow, there are limits, hello. Geez! The A4 is not an SUV or a truck!

I love both cars, but I love the A4 just that bit more; it handles better (the extra weight helps, plus the Audi AWS can't be beat) and is a dream to drive.

I used to live in Pensacola... just recently in fact I left there and that is where (actually, Destin Beach -50 miles away - is where I bought it because there are no Subbie dealers in P.Cola). Anyway. I saw a multitude of WRX cars there. Then again the pan handle isn't much like the rest of the state, so who knows. I would think, however, that the AWD would be a nice feature in all that insane summer rain we got there.

Just my two cents though....

Mike

Probably not as well as Buicks.

P T wrote:

Sounds like Santa Cruz, if it's still the way it was 15 years ago.

I don't think many. I'm in southeast Ga, and see very few here and in north Florida. I drove up to NJ a year ago, and seemed as soon as I entered NJ, I was seeing Forester/Outbacks all over. Didn't see any WRXs at all...might have overlooked Legacys...but just a lot more up there. I'd guess it's pretty easy, if you don't have an annual, significant benefit from AWD, why bother paying the extra $$$?

For sure. The SC mountains between SC and San Jose. Subaru Outback country.

-John

For sure, it's a center for hippie/granola culture. The cars are almost Anything But American.

As another said, the Blue State SUV.

It's all about the image. "I could go skiing if I wanted to and people will think I'm an outdoorsy type."

The point is it sells to younger street racers and the "Fast and the Furious" movie crowd. These are anti-granolas if anything.

-John

That's partially true. A lot of young guys want the WRX up here (I'm from Eastern Canada), but most people who own them are over 30, and bought them for the combination of performance and safety.

I bought the STi. Most of my freinds who have toy cars, bought Corvettes and Vipers; which you can only drive for 3-4 months per year up here. The STi is great performance, and its fantastic in the snow; so I have an all-season toy. Performance Scoobies are popular here because of a combination of fun factor and practicality.

You've got to be over 30 before the insurance on them drops to even the nosebleed level! I think interest in safety differs where climate isn't an issue, such as Los Angeles.

In my experience many Corvette/Mustang and traditional muscle car buyers wouldn't be caught dead in a "rice rocket" like the STi. No V8, the wing, the fenders, the wheels. None of their friends know much about it. It's a big cultural split like mainstream rock vs. alternative rock or hip-hop.

If only the new Legacy GT wasn't so boring looking!

-John

I agree to that. Although I've never been fortunate enough to own a set of snow tires, I've always run expensive all-seasons. Adequate in the snow, but at least they aren't scary. My current tires, however, were purchased in an emergency and with very little money available (college lack of money time) so I ended up with objects that are less like tires and more like rubber circles that can be mounted on a rim, but would perform better mounted on a rope and used as a swing.

The rubber compound is already pretty hard and cheap, even in the summer, and once it gets to around 40 degrees (F) those tires are rock hard, so you can imagine below freezing. Zero traction. It's like racing slicks on ice.

-Matt

Well he's probably only taking it on weekend trips to Tahoe, and probably sticks to the main roads that get cleared. Still - there are chain restrictions in winter, and I'm sure if it's bad enough, they're going on AWD or not. Especially if the all-seasons are even partially worn.

I bought my '02 OBW in Florida. Fort Walton Beach dealership to be exact. It is in the Panhandle (as noted earlier it isn't exactly like the rest of the state). Key buying points for me were safety, no matter how hard I tried in the test drive I couldn't get it stuck in the sand (can be a HUGE problem there), and I also couldn't get the sucker to hydroplane. I tried hard too! I never had trouble finding my car in a parking lot either, as it was rare to see another on the road much less in the same parking lot. When we (the missus and I) drove back to GA to visit family people would stare as they'd never even seen one before.

Of course now I live in Alaska. I'm lucky if my license plate help me distinguish between my vehicle and the 40,000 others parked on the same parking row as me.