Why low customer satisfaction?

[zyewdall]

Well the next few years should get interesting. In my newest addition of Subie Sport or Drive magizine (I forgot which) there's an article where they put up the Legacy Gt against an Audi I believe it is and in there they are talking about how subaru's plan is to be up to standards with cars like BMW and Audi's in the next 5 years and that the '05's were the first taste. Has anyone else read that one yet.

 

Bleah.. where's the emoticon for puking? UP to those standards??? Why would I want a BMW or an Audi? Besides being expensive to buy, they're expensive to maintain. Plus anything that's supposed to be a status symbol just give me the creeps.

 

I have to admit I was a little miffed when I found out that my "new" subaru with a tape deck instead of just AM/FM was painfully obsolete. But then again, my Ipod cost half as much as I paid for the car..., so I can't really complain that it didn't have an Ipod input standard....

 

Zeke

 

 

'89 GL wagon

[nipper]

.

 

and is it me or do the newer ones get worse fuel mileage than the ones from the late 90's? that's something that shouldn't be happening... yes, the bigger engines might be nice, but if you're not working other things to save gas, then there's a problem...

 

Its across the board. Again it goes back to people wanting more junk on thier cars, they get heavier, lower milage. More electronics more things go wrong. Biggest reason cars go back to the shop are not the drivetrain, but all the widgets. The widgets drove MB and BMW way down in the quality surveys, not the drivetrains

The newest marketing trick by GM is just to state higway milage in thier ads.

I think subarus are nicely equpied. Compare the base models with anything else in thier class.

There is no comparison.

 

nipper

[zyewdall]

I believe the gas mileage is also why the new subaru's no longer count as cars, but light trucks (or utility vehicals, what someone said the DMV was classifying it as). If they're over a certain weight, and meet certain other requirements, they count as trucks, and therefore don't have to meet the same CAFE standards. Many manufacturers intentionally do stuff to make them count as trucks, in order to allow them to get worse mileage (which no one cares about, or used to), and more power. What wants to drive a japanese tin can anyway. It used to be the subarus got way better gas mileage than any other four wheel drive, but they don't so much any more, much to the dismay of many of their loyal customers.

[nipper]

Actually it was the EPA that classified foresters as SUVS, it was not the gas milage (then ferraris would be rated as Semi's) its the interior volume and dimensions that determined the rating.

 

 

nipper

[TheBrian]

Gas mileage would be on the rise because of the evolution of engine technology, but for that cars have been getting bigger, heavier, and more powerful. New car buyers want horsepower (apparently, they're afraid to beat the piss out of their engines to pass and merge). They want bigger cars, so most models are creeping upmarket, while new models are introduced at the bottom of the scale. Crash safety standards are on the rise, and crash safety weighs a whole lot.

 

If Subaru were to bring back a modernized Loyale, it would fail miserably. People who don't want to pay $15k+ for a car buy used. Used car sales don't keep carmakers afloat.

[nipper]

Its mostly the junk the consumer wants..so say the auto makers. Not so much crash worthyness. Now if the EPA does change the wya they measure the MPG, that would be a backdoor CAFE raiting increase...then we would see things get better.

 

 

nipper

[Commuter]

Regarding gas mileage, I recently heard that overall average gas mileage is at a 20 year low in North America. We can thank the low gas prices (until recently), the love of the SUV and trucks and minivans that are no longer "mini" etc for this. Governments can do all they want with CAFE, regulations, taxes etc., but if you really want to see a change, hit the final consumer in the wallet (repeatedly, as filling up does). That will have an impact.

 

It'll be interesting to see where the price of energy takes us over the next generation or 2 of models.

 

Commuter

[mikkl]

but if you really want to see a change, hit the final consumer in the wallet (repeatedly, as filling up does). That will have an impact.

 

It'll be interesting to see where the price of energy takes us over the next generation or 2 of models.

 

Commuter

 

From '99-'03, I lived in Europe with $4/gal fuel prices. That did affect our lives and the decision we made on both the cars we would drive and the trips we would take. IMHO, the US would be better off with taxes that drive the price of fuel higher and force folks to decide that it is better to drive smaller vehicles and to walk. The net benefits to our country would be far higher than the costs.

 

I would rather see high fuel prices through taxes than the current situation of high gas prices due to high oil prices. Can you imagine the inflation if everything made of plastic reflected the increase in the price of a barrel of oil?? What is our economy going to do when we can't afford to make products out of plastic???

 

mikkl