2004 - Subaru Wrx on 2040-cars

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Subaru sells its 10 millionth car in the United States

No longer a niche automaker known for quirkiness, Subaru has sold its 10 millionth car in the United States a little over a year after its American division celebrated its 50th birthday. The milestone illustrates how quickly (and how much) the Japanese firm has grown in the United States. It took Subaru 41 years to sell the first five million cars on our shores. Its line-up evolved considerably during that time period; it went from peddling the 360, a tiny kei car damned by Consumer Reports as America's most unsafe car, to spear-heading the rugged wagon segment with the original Outback. It entered the 2010s with a clear idea of how to achieve maximum growth and sold an additional five million cars in a little more than a decade. Its formula is simple: expand while staying true to its roots. The milestone car, a white 2019 Impreza, isn't destined to spend the rest of its life in a museum. It was purchased in Salt Lake City, Utah, at Nate Wade Subaru, the brand's oldest American dealer, by Dr. Craig Harmon. He didn't know he had bought his daughter a historically significant Impreza until he noticed an arch made of balloons in front of the dealership. Nate Wade parked a fully restored 360 from its private collection next to the Impreza to illustrate how far Subaru has come in 50 years. Harmon's Impreza is a run-of-the-mill Rocky Mountains-spec hatchback: white with roof rack. It'll be covered in Utah's finest road salt in just a few weeks. Nothing about it reveals the threshold it represents, and Subaru isn't planning a limited series to mark the 10-million car milestone. Instead, it's focused on keeping its streak of sales records going into the foreseeable future.

Autoblog Minute: VW Q3 financial woes, 2015 Tokyo Motor Show

Consumer Reports pulls its Tesla recommendation, the U.S. Copyright Office offers a ruling affecting car owners, VW gets hit hard with third-quarter losses, and lots of exciting news from Tokyo. Autoblog senior editor Greg Migliore reports on this edition of Autoblog Minute Weekly Recap. Show full video transcript text [00:00:00] Consumer Reports pulls its Tesla recommendation, the U.S. copyright office offers a ruling that affects car owners and gear heads, VW gets hit hard with third-quarter losses, and lots of exciting news from Tokyo. I'm senior editor Greg Migliore and this is your Autoblog Minute Weekly Recap. After a week away testing vehicles for Autoblog's Tech of the Year award, we're back in the office to recap the week in automotive news. [00:00:30] One of the things you might have missed was Consumer Reports pulling its recommendation of Tesla's Model S sedan. The blemish for Tesla comes after a tally of reviews from customer surveys. The most common problem areas for the Model S as cited by survey takers included: the drivetrain, power equipment, charging equipment, body and sunroof squeaks, rattles, and leaks. So lots of stuff. Though they could not ignore a score of "worse-than-average", Consumer Reports still [00:01:00] highlighted the fact that the Model S was "the best performing car" they've ever tested. Telsa CEO Elon Musk took to social media to defend his sedans saying: "Consumer Reports reliability survey includes a lot of early production cars. Already addressed in new cars." And, "Tesla gets top rating of any company in service. Most important, CR says 97% of owners expect their next car to be a Tesla (the acid test)." In Financial news, Volkswagen took a hit and reported an operating loss of [00:01:30] $3.84 billion. This is the first such loss for VW in 15 years. Toyota reclaimed the crown as the world's largest automaker as well. It's important that it's not all doom and gloom for VW though in Q3. Sales revenues were up and the company's automotive division boasts $30 billion dollars in liquid assets. It's a sizable war chest that will no doubt come in handy, as the company has yet to feel the full brunt of the diesel emissions scandal. Good news for gear heads. The US copyright office [00:02:00] ruled in favor of mechanics and car owners by granting an exception to existing copyright law. The law was originally meant to prevent software pirating and bootlegging of Hollywood movies.

Junkyard Gem: 2000 Subaru Legacy GT Limited Sedan

Due to the runaway success of the Subaru Outback wagon based on the third-generation Legacy, which appeared in North America for the 2000 model year, nearly all of the discarded 2000-2004 Subarus I find in my local Denver junkyards are these dime-a-dozen longroofs, mostly with H4 engines and automatic transmissions (though I do manage to run across the occasional rare H6 model). For a discarded example of the super-rare non-Outback Legacy GT sedan with manual transmission, I had to travel all the way to a Northern California car graveyard. Here it is! The GT Limited came with bigger brakes, faux-wood interior trim, and a bunch of winter-weather extras that probably weren't very useful in coastal California. All Legacies, wagon or sedan, had all-wheel-drive at this point. The "wood" didn't come from trees, but the leather did come from cows. I have a 2004 Outback wagon of this generation, complete with 5-speed manual transmission, and I must describe the driving experience and fuel economy as truck-like. Still, it has been very reliable during its 140,000-mile career and— when shod with proper winter tires— laughs off any kind of winter driving conditions Colorado can throw at it. If you're building a car-parts homemade boombox, be sure to get one of these weather-band-equipped Subaru radios. It's not a boombox party until you can listen to the robotic weather broadcasts. Although Americans seem less interested in sedans with each passing minute, Subaru still offers the four-door Legacy. Remember, the Outback wagon has always been based on the Legacy, not the other way around. This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. This car was built in Indiana, but we're going to look at the Japanese-market commercial for the turbocharged Legacy sedan because it's so action-packed. This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. In Israel, the Legacy sedan swam with sharks in a parking garage.