As a professional car reviewer and a recent Subaru owner, I am always a little surprised at the exuberance everyone else seems to have for the brand. I’m not alone. Many, if not most, of my automotive peers seem to feel this way. Yet, talk to a regular person and the feelings they have for Subaru are strong. Talk to a new Subaru owner and those feelings are even stronger. I call this the “Subaru Effect.”
I was reminded of the Subaru Effect this morning when I saw that Consumer Reports named Subaru as its overall #1 brand, beating out BMW. How did it happen? It’s worth going deeper into both the Consumer Reports methodology and Subaru’s approach to the car market for this morning’s Morning Dump. Similarly, people tend to think of electric cars as simpler and more reliable, but reality and expectation are quite far apart as Consumer Reports found in a recent study.
Tesla has its own aura, though the light from that aura seems to be dimming a bit and so Tesla is aggressively leasing vehicles to try and keep its sales going. This will probably work for a while, though we’re going to run into a shortage of buyers until batteries or infrastructure get better. Infrastructure is slow, so perhaps new battery tech is the answer.
Happy Friday, let’s do this.
Subarus Are Just Well-Marketed Economy Cars, But That’s Ok
Do people love Subarus because “loving” a Subaru was a key part of the company’s marketing for the last decade, or is the advertising an actual reflection of the company’s user base toward the brand? I’m genuinely not sure.
The arc of Subaru in my lifetime is fascinating. As a child, my grandfather had a reliable Subaru wagon he used to drive me up and down the Texas coast. It was just a decent economy car. As a teenager, the rally exploits of Colin McRae helped make the Bugeye WRX the car to own… and eventually crash into a tree. Somewhere around college the brand somehow came to represent both flat-billed AWD enthusiasts and the outdoorsy/crunchy/granola REI Co-op set.
While the company still does make a WRX and even a BRZ, it’s now mostly a brand for normal people who want an economy car that doesn’t necessarily feel like an economy car. It’s quite brilliant, really, and it continues to work. Put AWD and some body cladding on an economy car, give it a little lift, and suddenly everyone who wants to kayak buys one. The brand also cleverly plays this up as it gives a ton of money to national parks and animal foundations. By not being a car for everyone, like Toyota or Honda, the brand has been able to cultivate a perception that’s attractive to a ton of buyers.
It even worked on me as, in 2016, I purchased a Subaru Forester as a family car that was safe enough, had AWD, and wasn’t too expensive.
The first couple of years were fine, though I eventually came to regret buying it due to its poor fuel economy, boring driving characteristics, and a seemingly endless series of small but expensive or annoying repairs it needed. Based on talking to other older Subaru owners I’m not alone in this, though there are plenty of Subaru owners who did not have this experience. This might be a case where I’m in the minority.
This might explain how Subaru went to the top of the Consumer Reports brand list, where it replaces BMW as the top brand by a single point. The rest of the top five are Lexus, Porsche, and Honda. At the bottom are Dodge, GMC, Land Rover, Rivian, and Jeep.
How does CR put this list together? Here’s the publication’s explanation:
We rank automakers based on their vehicles’ average Overall Score—a combination of our road-test scores, safety ratings, and predicted reliability and owner satisfaction data. This provides a definitive number to help consumers see which brands shine and which might be best avoided.
I want to note a couple of things here because I know the people at CR and have visited the company’s test facility in Connecticut. Many of the contributors and editors are sharp drivers, experienced wrenchers, and owners of quirky old cars. That’s not necessarily the CR audience, so the rankings are skewed toward the average CR member, which someone on Reddit described as “a support group for people who are bored out of their minds by their cars” yesterday.
Maybe, but CR has a huge readership to survey and buys the cars that it tests, going to great lengths to disguise themselves so automakers can’t send them a specific vehicle. Enthusiasts might not agree with the rankings, but the publication’s methods are unique in this industry.
[Ed Note: Consumer reports scores are a big deal in the Auto Industry. One of the strangest moments in my engineering career happened when I poked fun at Consumer Reports during a meeting in which an engineer was discussing us (i.e. Fiat Chrysler) making sure that we designed our vehicle to satisfy a Consumer Reports metric (yes, automakers design their cars around CR testing!). I, a car enthusiast, said something like “We really want to design our car based on boring Consumer Reports,” and the engineer (an older guy) said something along the lines: “If you don’t understand the importance of Consumer Reports, let’s go outside right now and I’ll show you the importance of Consumer Reports.” I think the guy wanted to fight me for me poking fun at CR? It was extremely, extremely weird. -DT].
Looking more closely at Subaru you can get a sense of why the brand ranks so highly. First up, the brand’s road test score is high. Again, let’s go to CR to explain:
“The road-test score is an amalgam of a model’s driving experience. It factors in power delivery, handling agility, braking performance, ride comfort, noise isolation, seat comfort, controls’ ease of use, and fuel economy,” says Gabe Shenhar, associate director of Consumer Reports’ auto test program. “For EVs, the score also reflects range, charging time, and ease of plugging and unplugging. Brands that produce well-rounded vehicles that are capable in multiple areas are ranked highly.”
Subaru doesn’t make a lot of big, heavy crossovers and trucks, and instead makes fairly comfortable cars that handle reasonably well. While this may be skewed towards normal drivers, the lack of bigger and heavier vehicles has clearly helped Subaru’s road test score average. Other brands in the top four are BMW, Audi, and Porsche. Chrysler, which only makes the Pacifica, is also up here in sixth, so that tells you how these measures are weighted.
While reliability varies a lot from model to model, Subaru doesn’t make a lot of different vehicles and there’s a lot of platform sharing. Owners of Subaru who are CR members report the fewest issues after purchase, so Subaru is now at the top of the rankings for “Predicted Reliability,” ahead of Toyota, Lexus, Honda, and Acura. When it comes to used-car brand reliability, Subaru ranked much lower at 9th, which is a little closer to my experience. On “Overall Satisfaction” Subaru also only came in 8th, being great at nothing, but good enough at everything.
This is a kind of amusing outcome and goes to show what level the idea of a car matters more than the reality of the car and that the “Subaru Effect” is strong. People who just bought Subarus report few issues and are excited about the prospect of owning a Subaru. Overall, though, people who have had a Subaru for a while are less satisfied than BMW or even Chevy owners. Even more amusingly, used Subaru owners, on average, end up with a “reliability verdict” worse than Nissan, Volvo, and Buick.
And while Subaru isn’t the most economical car company when you look at individual models, the lack of trucks does mean that Subaru’s CO2 footprint is relatively low. The addition of Toyota’s hybrid systems to Subaru vehicles will be a huge improvement here.
Subaru got mad at us when we pointed out the Crosstrek Wilderness had the wimpiest skid plate you’ll ever see, even if we liked the vehicle overall. That was a car enthusiast complaint as clearly there are a lot of Subaru owners who are just Subaru enthusiasts (the brand is selling well). You know what? There’s nothing wrong with that. People being enthusiastic about their vehicles is what this place is about, right? [Ed Note: There’s a fascinating book titled “Where The Suckers Moon” all about how Subaru built its powerful brand starting with a cheap, tinny little mini-car from Japan. Worth a read! -DT].
I think “love” does really make a Subaru a Subaru. Soon after buying a Subaru I also became an REI Co-op member and bought a big tent and started going camping. Was I brainwashed? Maybe. Sometimes a little brainwashing is nice.
PHEVs And EVs Still Have Reliability Issues According To Consumer Reports
There’s this idea that electric cars, having less complicated drivelines, are somehow less likely to break than their gasoline counterparts. That’s not quite true. Companies have been making gasoline cars for 100+ years and have gotten quite good at it. Electric cars are new and there are basically no startups making ICE-powered cars, meaning that most of the new startup car companies are making EVs.
From Consumer Reports again:
“While they remain extremely fuel-efficient, today’s hybrids also deliver reliability that is similar to conventional gas cars, despite their added complexity,“ Fisher says. On average, hybrids have a similar number of problems as cars powered by internal combustion engines (ICE).
[…]
Plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) are more of a mixed bag. As a category, they have 70 percent more problems than ICE vehicles. The ability to drive locally solely on electricity but still take long trips without range worries makes PHEVs attractive. But having two distinct powertrains—electric and an internal combustion engine—increases the chance for problems.
Several PHEVs are even less reliable than their conventional counterparts, such as the Mazda CX-90 PHEV, which scored well below average, while the regular CX-90 is below average. The BMW X5 PHEV, Lexus NX PHEV, and Toyota Prius PHEV each score just average, while the regular X5, NX, NX hybrid, and Prius all score above average.
Overall, CR found that PHEVs had 70% more problems than ICE or HEV counterparts, while EVs had 42% more problems. This is an improvement over previous numbers for both powertrains as companies get better at making these vehicles. Rivian, which is a startup, had by far the worst reliability.
Tesla Is Getting Into The Leasing Game To Juke Sales
While Tesla once had what amounted to a monopoly on EVs in the United States, the brand now suddenly has a lot more competition. As you can see in the graphic above, one of the ways brands get curious buyers into electric cars is leasing.
The Inflation Reduction Act also helps. One of the giveaways to the auto industry in the IRA was the ability for automakers to take $7,500 off any electric car that’s leased with no restrictions on where the vehicle comes from, what it costs, or how much money the customer has. This has been huge.
In an effort to keep its market share, Tesla has aggressively cut prices and offered extremely low financing (the company is super rich and can afford these activities). Now, Tesla is trying to make leasing more attractive by allowing people to buy out their leases, whereas before Tesla leasees had to return their cars.
“Tesla’s lease penetration has gone way up,” said Tom Libby, a senior analyst at S&P Global Mobility. “They are getting more and more aggressive because they need to — and because they have the financial resources to do so.”
Leasing a Tesla seems like a good deal, especially given that Tesla values vary so much due to all the price-cutting and the risk of a new model. This is all part of a growing trend of Tesla saying it isn’t going to be a normal car company and then doing more normal car company things.
Does SSB + SIB = The Future Of EVs?
Lithium batteries in either NCM or LFP form will continue to dominate the car market for years to come, but perhaps there’s something better than cells or pouches filled with lithium-based liquid electrolytes.
S&P Global Mobility has a “BRIEFcase” paper out today about the possibility that both sodium-based batteries (SIB) and solid-state batteries (SSB) could provide the market with what it needs to get that next level of penetration. Sodium is cheap and abundant and SSBs are more energy-dense, though both technologies have drawbacks:
SIBs are likely to compete with LFP batteries, as their energy density is approximately 160 Wh/kg, compared to around 200 Wh/kg for LFP. This lower energy density, alongside a shorter life cycle, limits SIBs primarily to low-cost, entry-level vehicles.
[…]
Despite the advantages, several hurdles exist for SSB adoption. The use of lithium metal anodes, which can lead to uneven plating and dendrite formation, poses risks to battery integrity. Additionally, solid electrolytes are less conductive, potentially limiting power output, especially in colder conditions. In some cases, external heating is necessary, particularly with polymer electrolytes.
SSBs are also five times more expensive than lithium-ion batteries, though with time that price will come down. Sodium batteries will also likely improve as more investment goes into them.
What I’m Listening To While Writing TMD
Is it weird that my favorite version of Alice In Wonderland might be the version portrayed in the video for “Don’t Come Around Here No More” by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers? The book is super messed up if you take the time to read it and this video captures both the disorientation and the creepiness quite well.
The Big Question
What do you consider to be the overall best car brand selling cars in America right now?
I do wish the consumer reports reliability reports were more broken down. Infotainment screens lagging is very different from transmissions breaking. I don’t see driveline/power components of EVs breaking, and that is the main concern (Bolt battery being the outlier).
On the other hand, I think subarus are good cars usually, and I despise most of the insanely impractical cars that the auto press spends all its time on.
I wouldn’t mind at all If I never see another article about half-million-dollar german or italian sport cars that only insurance CEOs can afford, and I wouldn’t miss flashy pictures of low-ground-clearance japanese coupes that can’t even carry a real dog or a carseat.
But I am not an editor or writer for an edgy car blog, so no one reads my 2500 word essay about why LATCH connectors suck
Based on purely on anecdotal evidence it seems to me that Subaru has a much higher level of quality variance than say Honda or Toyota (or even Mazda). While generally not on the level of a german car, I think we all know someone (at least here in the PNW) who’s had a Subaru massively screw them on some unexpected major component failure: engine, head gaskets, transmission…but I can also say having recently acquired a low mileage 2015 Legacy for my wife via a very good deal from a friend-it’s a surprisingly good basic transportation car. It’s got great seats (with pleasing Subaru exclusive, heated cloth), good visibility, a solid sound system, and while we wish it had CarPlay its bridge era touchscreen infotainment has surprisingly good UX, oh and a long time Subaru strong point, a subtly handsome interior free of gimmicks and weird dashboard shapes (looking at you Toyota).
Is it for enthusiasts? Not at all, but it drives well enough to not fall apart on a back road and it’s the first CVT I’ve driven that actually seems to live up to its premise. Has good enough acceleration to feel pleasantly peppy, certainly more than enough for my partner while getting over 30 mpg on the freeway.
Lastly don’t overlook the fact that Subaru has been peddling a better than average AWD system for many years. I may be biased from having mostly lived in WA and MT for my driving life, but I think the average auto journalist underrates how nice AWD is somewhere with frequent inclement weather. And sure a lot of this is an inaccurate perception that AWD helps everywhere, rather than just accelerative traction, but clearly it’s helped sell an awful lot of crossovers. And in the average person’s defense, FWD kinda sucks if you live somewhere with a lot of inclement weather, on wet pavement even the least powerful fwd car (106 hp Civic) I’ve owned could easily break the front tires free. And in snow, it’s like do I want to carefully modulate throttle at every stop sign or just pull away carefully and not have to think about it. Sure I’ll take a fwd with snow tires over an awd with banana peels but put them both on equal tires and no one in their right mind is picking the 2wd for their daily.
If you actually sit in a subaru, you immediately realize it has something no other car maker offers:
Big windows, small pillars, and good sightlines
And solid roof rack points! I should love Subarus. I kayak and camp, and have a dog and small kids. Our 2 outbacks were great for carrying everything and the sightlines, ease of access, and intuitive controls are all great. But I literally fell asleep while commuting in traffic, the front seat on the base (leather was better) model hurt my back no end, the mountain roads were wasted on it, and I got really sick of the constant CV axle and head gasket replacements. Really dirtbag outdoors people use Toyotas (actually, just whatever is cheap).
Subaru didn’t hack my mind. I just like them, and have for over a decade now. I’ve owned a STI, a WRX wagon, 2 Foresters, and 2 Crosstreks. I’ve had two 6-speeds, two 5-speeds, a slushbox 4-speed (wife’s 2010 FXT), and now a cvt in my 23 Crosstrek Sport.
I’ve genuinely loved every one of these cars. Not because of marketing, but because they have been reliable, enjoyable, easy to work on, and well-built.
I know Matt hates Subarus, but there isn’t some mass-scale brainwashing going on with why people buy these cars. They’re just good cars (not all of them obviously) and people like them. They’re also great in the snow that some of us have to trudge through 3-4 months out of the year.
Sounds like something a brainwashed person would say
Nope, I just happen to like quirky and trouble-free daily drivers. My brainwashing was all done by my dad as a kid, and resulted in my obsession with classic VW’s. Those are where my true automotive passion lies. Outside of the new Crosstrek, I actually don’t care much for the current Subaru lineup. Their design direction as of late is horrendous, and I just generally find them all extremely ugly. When my 23 dies, I will probably look elsewhere if their designs stay on this path.
Its the AWD. Part of this is marketing (gets the outdoor types, the I need to be ready for anything types, and the driving dynamics types). From a non-marketing point of view, having only AWD (excepting the BRZ) has got to keep costs down while maintaining an in-house AWD system. Subaru became the “Kleenex” of AWD vehicles (yes, Audi can probably make this claim too), whereas many other AWD options are an add-on package option, third party mechanicals, or only kinda AWD.
I also think they did an excellent job of distilling down what an AWD vehicle is supposed to be to an economy car level. Every economy car will have compromises. Subaru has never compromised the AWD, whereas with most other brands the first way to reduce the vehicle price is to spec it without AWD. They just got the blend of compromise vs capability pretty right.
I looked at a lot options before I replaced my 9-2x with a Forester XT in 2018 (bought a 2015 model used). The Forester was the only one that checked all my boxes (AWD, 200+ horsepower, cargo capacity, pricepoint). Runners-up were volvos (lost on pricepoint), golf Sportwagon (lost on capacity, roominess), Audi (lost on reliability, cost).
Its not as good a driver’s car as the 9-2x (I miss the more mechanical AWD system), we’ve had a few maintenance issues but overall reliable (never stranded). I don’t like the later offerings as much and I’m not sure what I’d buy now, but with a research spreadsheet that topped out at 25 different cars/configurations, it won that round.
Fell for the Subaru effect. Talked the Mrs into looking at a new Outback. Late 40s and literally the first time she ever went car shopping on her own. Not because I won’t let her, but its because her “instant gratification” takes over and anything the sales or finance guy is background noise to her and she’ll sign anything to get out of there ASAP.
Anyway, she picked out a black Outback. She came home and was so proud of her SUV “bought on her own”. Then I had to point out it’s basically a “handsome wagon” and she wanted out of it. But that worked in her favor when the gremlins came out in earnest and crippled that Outback. It was something like 4 batteries, endless CPU flashes, and numerous electronics being replaced in less than 18 months. To the point, Subaru asked us if they could buy it back before we could ask them. Made out $8k more than I owed on it. When it was running, it was a nice ride and very practical. No doubt got a lemon and not what to expect from the brand, but it does lend a little to the blinders some people put on when in love with a brand regardless of how many issues they really have. Looking at you Tesla owners.
A family member bought a new crosstrek a few years ago. She doesn’t drive that much and her trips are usually pretty short. Between the car shutting itself off at stop signs & the wimpy alternator (to save 0.1% MPG?), the battery went flat several times. She traded it in on a corolla and is much happier.
What’s hilarious is that Subaru is one brand that I have absolutely no interest in whatsoever. I’ve never liked any of their cars at all. The only exceptions are the classic ones when they were first starting out and also the XT since it had a cool body style. The best and most reliable brand for me is definitely Honda!
I’ve had or regularly driven six different Subarus since I was in high school. I used to be a big Subie enthusiast. They were the quirky, fun sibling to the other Japanese brands. The direction of their current offerings does nothing for me now. No WRX wagon, pass. No manual offerings for the Crosstrek or Outback, pass.
The CVT is not for me. My ex had one in a 2015 Forester. Fine on the Interstate but I hated it around town.
I get the hype. Subaru has done a masterful job of marketing . They have convinced the masses that their cars are the hip, alternative lifestyle vehicle then their competitors. (For reference I did own a 1993 Subaru Legacy GT wagon for close to 300k miles) .
Now the driving experience in modern Subarus (minus the BRZ and WRX) are vastly dulled by the CVT . But to be fair, many of their competitors have the same setups. But Subaru has done a brilliant job disguising a wagon as an off-road alternative (Outback) and their AWD is very good.
My parents just traded their 2014 Forester in for a new 2025 and I’m utterly mind blown that they did. Pretty much all the problems Matt has had with his, my parents had with theirs. Had to replace both front lower control arms, multiple wheel bearings, A/C pouring water into the passenger floorboard, and finally, the reason they traded it, a solenoid in the transmission failed that would cost $3000+ to replace because Subaru forces you to buy an entire valve body assembly to get it. The car only had 96,000 miles on it. I begged my dad to walk over to the Honda dealer next door and look at a CR-V or something but nope. He was dead set on another Subaru for some reason.
To be fair, their new one is a very nice car but with the trouble the old one had and how expensive this dealer’s service department is, I can’t believe that they didn’t look at anything else. At least the new one fixes many of the non-reliability complaints of the old one, so while it’s working, it’ll be a better experience.
Also, unrelated but it’s another white crossover. Both the old one and the new one are a bitch to find in a parking lot. I don’t love red but my vibrant Milano Red HR-V is much easier to spot.
Having clubs and social elements helps. Off the top of my head, Porsche, Jeep, and Tesla have some rabid following here. Our Prosche owner’s club regularly takes over the golf course.
Our DIL just traded their fairly new Prius in for a Subaru Crosstrek. They looked at the various options and decided that they didn’t need the hybrid version. They have had a Subaru before and simply preferred Subaru over Toyota. We have had a couple of Subarus, but we prefer Toyotas.
I can’t tell if it’s just my local dealer but my 2014 Outback has an insanely low repair and maintenance cost. Even fixing the rear axle was just 1200. I’ve taken it mostly to the dealer for service. Oil changes cost me legit $10 more than if I bought the oil and filter on my own – and I value my time way too much to not just pay the $10. My BIL gets charged $200 by the Toyota place to do an oil change on his 2017 Sienna… I’ve honestly found the Outback to be cheaper to maintain and more reliable than everyone I knows Toyota or Lexus. I know gas mileage is poor but that’s a cost I’m willing to accept. I also understand 1 person’s experience doesn’t change stats but the cost is the cost and the bill i get for service on the Subaru is wildly cheaper than anything else.
What was wrong with the axle? If it’s literally an axle replacement, it takes like an hour to do the job and a new axle is maybe $300 if you buy a Subaru OEM one instead of something from RockAuto.
I did mine on my Outback in the driveway and it took like zero time; damn easy job. The hard thing is wheel bearings. I’m not sure what Subaru does, but they don’t last long, and they are harder to replace (getting the old ones out) than any other wheel bearings I’ve ever worked on.
Yeah, my elderly parents nearly fell into the Subaru trap recently.
When I informed them that what they wanted (Comfort, reliability, quality) wasn’t what Subaru offered long-term – they went back to Volvo and bought an XC40.
…they were probably better off buying the Subaru?