2013 Subaru Forester 2.5x Premium on 2040-cars

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Subaru debuts tougher-looking Outback for Australia [w/poll]

If you're going to name a car after a specific location or region, you'd better make sure it's taken seriously in the place it's named for. You're not likely to see a Chevrolet Monte Carlo in Monaco, and the Alfa Romeo Montreal was never even officially offered in North America, but the Subaru Outback is another story.
Subaru apparently takes the Australian market, whose wilderness its jacked-up Legacy wagon is named for, very seriously. So it is apparently rolling out a revised version of the current Outback in Australia itself. The updated Outback, which arrives less than a year before the all-new model is expected to bow, answers Aussie customer feedback with a more rugged look. It's got new roof rails, body cladding, wheel arches, mud flaps, underbody protection plates and blacked-out headlight surrounds and grille trim.
The Motor Report reports that the AUD $2,500 worth of extra equipment - around $2,300 USD - comes with just an AUD $500 ($468) price hike. As far as we can tell, though, there are no plans to bring this latest look to our shores - Subaru has already detailed North America's Outback for the 2014 model year, and these changes aren't mentioned. Should this look be offered in our market? Vote in the poll below and then have your say in Comments.

2014 Subaru Forester XT

Power Doesn't Come Cheap
When Subaru first offered a turbocharged Forester XT model to US customers for the 2004 model year, the shoe-shaped second-gen model fell into a ready-made competitive set of small, V6-powered crossovers and SUVs. The XT might have been more of a raucous shopping-trip companion than, say, a Ford Escape V6, but the basics of the cars offered a clear differentiation from the naturally aspirated, four-cylinder models found just a bit downmarket. Here in 2013, the V6 breed of crossover in this size class is all but extinct, and turbocharged four-cylinders with the power to compete with the XT are not thick on the ground.
In many ways, the comparative analysis gets most interesting when you start looking around for CUVs to match up with the all-boxes-ticked Forester XT Touring that we had as a tester for a recent week. The top of the line Touring trim means that the Forester comes with features like 10-way power seats, leather, navigation, a Harmon Kardon sound system with HD radio, Bluetooth and more. In fact, our Forester also had the only option package available on the XT Touring; one that included keyless access, HID headlights and Subaru's EyeSight system (adaptive cruise, lane departure warning and pre-collision braking).

Travis Pastrana puts on blue and gold Subaru jacket again

Travis Pastrana partnered with Subaru for eleven years, the relationship going especially well from 2006 to 2010 when Pastrana won four consecutive Rally America National Championships. They broke up in 2010 to give Pastrana space for his NASCAR fling and a couple of years in Global Rallycross with Dodge.
Giving up on his NASCAR dream last November has made possible a reconciliation with his former automotive love: Subaru has just announced that Pastrana will return to its Rally Team USA for the 2014 Rally America Championship, partnering with veteran team driver and current Rally America champion David Higgins.
Although the season begins later this month in Atlanta, Michigan, Pastrana won't return until the second round in February, the Rally in the 100 Acre Wood in Salem, Missouri. He'll also be at the start of the Global Rallycross round of the X-Games in June, but in a WRX STI this year instead of his erstwhile Dodge Dart. You'll find a press release below with a few more bits of information, and there's always this trip down memory lane...