2013 Subaru Outback 2.5 Limited Sunroof Leather Heated Seats Like New Save Big on 2040-cars

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The Mountain, the Manx, the BRZ and how I learned to love racing

Subaru Takes Us Along To Drive On The Isle of Man, And We Try Not To Ball It Up
While the mild dehydration wasn't helping me, it was probably the least of my worries.
I am not a timid driver, nor an inexperienced one. But waiting to take a lap of the stunningly dangerous, 37.7-mile Snaefell Mountain Course at the Isle of Man TT had me on tilt, no fooling. I concentrated on the task in front of me, left hand working the gear pattern on the right-hand-drive Subaru BRZ I was to pilot, while kids on bikes, fat old beer-drinking men and other members of a fast-growing throng of onlookers pointed at our group of five Subarus and nine Americans. We were moments from our 'demonstration' for the motorcycle racing-hungry crowd and I was awfully glad, at that exact moment, that I'd emptied my bladder before buckling in.

Subaru of America sells its 9 millionth vehicle, a 2018 Crosstrek

Back in 1967, Malcolm Bricklin approached Subaru about bringing its cars to the United States. The first models made their way to customer hands sometime in 1968. After 50 years, Subaru of America announced that it has sold its 9 millionth vehicle, a 2018 Subaru Crosstrek, to a doctor and repeat customer in Arkansas. This comes just weeks after the automaker sold its 2 millionth Outback and marks another achievement in Subaru's long and continuously successful US operation. Dr. Hershey Garner — the owner of a 2005 Subaru Baja — was greeted with a surprise celebration at Adventure Subaru in Fayetteville, Arkansas, after he took possession of his new car. Garner's new Crosstrek was of course a new 50th Anniversary Edition. Each model in Subaru of America's lineup got a 50th Anniversary Edition. Those cars are all painted Heritage Blue with satin chrome trim. The black leather interiors have 50th Anniversary logos in the headrests. Subaru sales have been going gangbusters. Crosstrek sales were up an astounding 88.7 percent in March 2018 compared to March 2017. As a whole, Subaru marked its 49th month of 40,000-plus sales. The automaker has broken sales records in the US nine years in a row. Things show no sign of stopping anytime soon. Related Video:

New Subaru concept crossover EV shown in walkaround video

Subaru held a technology briefing this week in Tokyo where it announced ambitious sustainability goals, but nearly lost amid the discussion of converting its fleet over to electricity was the unveiling of what appears to be an early concept version of a forthcoming battery-electric crossover. Thanks to the Japanese YouTube account LoveCars!TV!, we get a walkaround look. It appears to be Subaru’s version of the crossover EV it is jointly developing with Toyota, to be built atop a flexible platform that can accommodate multiple production vehicles from both brands. What weÂ’re shown is an athletic-looking crossover with its wheels pushed to the corners that borrows design elements, for better or for worse, from Cadillac, the Pontiac Aztek and the Tesla Cybertruck. Up front, the crossover borrows and exaggerates CadillacÂ’s signature squared-off corners and deep fog-light scoops that also reminds us of InfinitiÂ’s Q Inspiration concept from the 2018 Detroit auto show. It opts for narrow LED headlamps, and it notably omits any aesthetic concession to even a faux grille, save for a hexagonal shape outlined by the panel seams. Coupled with the black cladding on the lower bumper, the crossover's face has a certain Batman-logo shape to it. Moving around to the side, we see heavy black cladding — it doesn't appear to be standard plastic, since it reflects light — around the wheel wells, lending them a semi-octagonal shape that evokes the strongest comparison to the polarizing Cybertruck. Coupled with some interesting side creases, the cladding also gives the appearance that the wheel wells bulge out, and that the doors pinch inward, more than they probably do in reality. There are also no door handles or brakes, the side mirrors are rearview cameras and the windows are blacked out, so thereÂ’s nothing to divine about the interior and how far along that is in conceptualization. In back is where things get especially weird and Aztek-like, with a blunt and upright rectangular body panel making up the tailgate underneath a generously long, sloping rear window. ItÂ’s beveled at the top to tuck underneath the rear LED light bar, which stretches the length of the glass, and curved on each end to integrate with the sides. The LED treatment also dives down 90 degrees from the horizontal rear bar and then makes another sharp 90-degree jag to bracket the rear panel in hard-angled brake lights.