Why? Oh! Why did Mercedes have to copy those idiotic Rx-8 fenders (front) Maxima fenders (rear) to put on that idiotic S-Class?

But I digress.

RF’s question was “What makes a Subie a Subie?”

The answer – given the bulk of comments on nearly every Subaru post I have read on all of the car sites I frequent – is, quite simply…abject ugliness on the outside and love on the inside.

On hot dry days and on cold slippery days like this one in PVD, right-footing or slicing up the twisties in any blown or 6-cyl Subaru is always a lovely thing.

A bit like Shrek, I guess my 8-year-old might opine: ugly but lovely.

I still like Scooby.. :-)

Where’s my boxer-diesel?

True to the Subaru fomula: Ugly, thirsty and overpriced.

This is Infiniti up front, Maxima along the sides and 5 Series out back…capped off with the last Passat’s arching roof line.

It does have nicely proportioned overhangs, though. Something you can’t say about Audi. If they blend in the fender lines – taking more of an STi approach – I might be able to live with this. Heck, Subaru are soooo dependable, I am probably too afraid not to.

STi package and maybe some “floppy” gear shift thingies for a 6-speed DSG, please.

Jet_silver: I’ve never seen blue-lit instrumentation, but blue light is a brutal choice for a color for nighttime illumination. I think it must have something to do with the wavelength, but it is very hard to focus on something illuminated in blue.

That said, I’m a little worried. The picture suggests a pretty substantial redesign . . . yet the basic shell looks strikingly anonymous. Whatever else you could say about the previous Legacy body, it had character that set it apart from the competition.

The other thing that strikes me about the design is its apparent lack of innovation. Smaller automakers generally can’t afford major redesigns very often, so are under greater pressure than the big boys to take great leaps forward. How does this accomplish that goal for Subaru?

1. It’s a concept, even if close to the Legacy production car. It’s supposed to be overstyled.

2. The nose and tail styling of everything else put on the road in the past 3 years is baroque. This should go away quickly as the economy continues to drop like a rock.

We have an ‘04 Legacy wagon, and there’s nothing wrong with Subaru that couldn’t be fixed with a 20% gas mileage increase. I’m willing to give up some standard horsepower to get it as long as it has a solid 5 or 6 speed manual.

Legroom says the only Subaru I’d buy for myself is a Forester anyway.

Personally, I’ve always enjoyed being the bug eyed happy idiot looking at the flying vagina.

I agree with other comments: the present Legacy is a great looking car, if a bit weak on the interior design/quality. This new design – yikes.

Enter the European Impreza 1.5F.
And the European Justy, which is a rebadged Daihatsu Sirion. (Sirion is available with AWD, Justy is FWD only)

In Japan, they have a lot more FWD-only machinery.

AWD? Call me an apostate, but recalling the Justy, I think Subie should build a good FWD small car.

This looks to have tons of Nissan/Infiniti DNA in the design language. Where the hell did that come from? On top of that, the details are hideous – the wheels and small AND badly designed, the rear lights look ripped straight from the hated current Ford Focus, yet blend into the trunk’s rear-facing surface even less successfully. The grille looks like a cheap, Chinese add-on.

You know, Subarus were interestingly quirky at one time, then they gradually got more mainstream in most aspects (aside from flat-fours and AWD) and, at the same time, more attractive. Now, it seems they’ve hit the reset button and decided to implode voluntarily (Impreza, Forester, B9, this). I honestly don’t understand who approves these things at the corporate level. Nobody is going to buy this.

Serious question: anyone here have trouble reading instruments illuminated in blue? Red and white – on my Legacy – are easy for me to read but blue always seems blurry and out of focus.

The bad news is they often look worse.