- Subaru, a car manufacturer that is known
for making motors and pistons that don't go up and down,
they go sideways and sometimes the head gaskets
on those little weird motors fail.
Then, their owners are stuck
holding their Monster in one hand, vape in the other hand,
wondering if they should buy a third motor for their WRX.
All jokes aside, Subaru has a rich history
full of all sorts of good, bad and ugly.
Let's jump in and learn a little bit more about Subaru.
(upbeat music)
Starting with the good.
Subaru is okay making vehicles
that can seem a little bit odd on the surface,
but are actually really cool
and practical when you think about it.
The two that come to mind for me right away
are the Subaru Brought. (beep)
I said it. The Subaru BRAT and the Subaru Baja.
Whoa, I started the good with these before the WRX.
Well, you know what?
Subaru can be a little quirky
and that's what I absolutely love about 'em.
Both the BRAT and the Baja combine the practicality of a car
with the practicality of a truck.
Both of these vehicles were relatively small,
could deliver power to all four wheels,
and that keeps the party going,
even when you're off-road or some inclement weather.
The BRAT, I almost said it. (laughs)
Brought, brought. Subaru Brought, the Brought.
We're in Wisconsin. The Subaru Brought.
The BRAT came out way back in 1978.
It was actually in production through 1994.
The Baja was a spiritual successor to the BRAT
and debuted in 2003 only to be unblasted,
that's a Baja joke, in 2006.
Another good part of Subaru,
and one you are probably familiar with, is the WRX.
Within this category,
I'll throw the Impreza-based models in here
along with the dedicated WRX editions of the car
that we're currently at now.
These cars are extremely practical and fun to drive.
The practicality portion is important
because that allowed Subaru to move some serious units
and keep the WRX going from one form or another
since 1992 until today.
It's a super long run that many car models just don't see.
The car has evolved from a trim level
to a dedicated model on its own,
but the essence of what makes the WRX a WRX
has remained throughout the years.
That means it's a fun to drive all wheel drive car
with a peppy power plant that lets you rev it out
and still have fun.
These cars have also been modded like nobody's business.
It's nearly impossible to find a used WRX for sale
that hasn't been fiddled with in some sort of way.
Trust me.
I was looking for one for a long time
and I couldn't find one, so I bought a Tacoma.
It's totally different, but I just couldn't find a nice WRX.
The three little letters of STI
also need to be mentioned, as well.
If you don't wanna modify your WRX to be a little better,
Subaru offers something from the factory
with the STI trim level to suit those needs.
I did a whole video before
on if the STI's worth it over the WRX if you're wondering,
but I gotta say that STIs are just ultra cool.
This is the closest you get
to a factory rally car from Subaru
and STIs are considered to be toward the top
of the JDM Cool List.
I mentioned that the STI being close to a rally car
is something that's good.
Subaru's involvement in motor sports,
and specifically rally racing,
is one of the best parts of the company.
There's some very iconic Subarus
that competed in World Rally Championships.
For me, Colin McRae's world rally blue Impreza can't be beat
when it comes to some non-group B rally cars,
as far as being iconic and some of my favorite cars.
Rally is also important specifically
because it's such a difficult form of racing.
It's not just difficult on the drivers,
but it's also difficult on the cars.
If you aren't familiar with rally racing
it's basically trying to get from point A to point B
with a faster time than anyone else.
This is also on public roads
in every sort of weather condition imaginable.
Snow, rain, sleet, freezing rain, all that stuff.
Also, a lot of those roads aren't paved
so you're on dirt and sometimes snow.
What this means is that rally racing
is extremely hard on the cars, like I said,
and their individual components on the cars.
Subaru's involvement in rally racing
improving the durability and capability of their cars
100% helped them sell WRXs and STIs.
Those same cars were also raced
in grassroots level rally races themselves.
One last thing on the good, in my opinion,
is the boxer engine from Subaru.
And those crazy folks keep putting that in production cars.
I know. This is controversial.
We'll mention some of the downsides to this motor later
in the bad or ugly section.
The good though is that the way traditional inline
or V-oriented engines sit in a car
lends to a much higher center of gravity
and sometimes a little bit of a weird weight distribution,
especially when going through corners
and really tossing the car around.
This creates less than desirable handling characteristics
in those V or inline type motors.
The boxer platform allows for some decent power
in a small package,
one of the reasons that a lot of airplanes
actually use this configuration.
Let's move on to some of the not so great aspects
of Subaru in my opinion.
So here comes the bad.
You remember how excited I was
when I talked about Subaru's involvement in racing?
Well, that's more of a historical thing
because they sure aren't as involved today
as they used to be.
Subaru isn't even competing in WRC right now.
Like, at all.
Subaru does compete in Rallycross here in the states
with some factory-backed drivers
like Travis Pastrana, better heard of him,
but Rallycross just isn't the same as stage rally.
And that lack of motor sports involvement
leads me to my next bad point on Subaru.
The WRX has become fat. Like, really fat.
The WRX used to be a nimble car that was relatively small.
The previous, like just previous,
and the current generations of the WRX are pretty damn big.
Without even looking at numbers
and just looking at these cars
or sitting in them yourselves,
they're huge compared to what they used to be.
The lack of a WRX presence in true rally
has also turned this into a bit of a pavement princess,
without as much off-road clearance,
and frankly it looks weird when the current ones are lifted.
Also, lifted Subarus in my opinion
are cooler than just slammed ones
'cause rally spec cars are dope.
The WRX and STIs competitor, the Evo,
started to get chunky first
but then when the Evo just disappeared,
the buttons really started popping off the pants of the WRX
and that gut was just flowing.
Yeah, a bigger car leads to more practicality and sales
but it's also just not the same fun, nimble car
that everyone knew and loved.
The last bad mark I want to give Subaru
is just what we didn't get here in the United States.
This is probably true for every Japanese manufacturer
but for Subaru, I've got two vehicles in particular.
The first one on this list is the 22B.
Only 424 of these cars were ever made,
so I know that chances of me getting one
or anyone getting one in general are really low,
but it stinks things that we never had the chance.
Honestly, this being a larger scale production car
would've done really well,
and the demand for it, even when it was out, was huge.
This is also the Subaru to have.
It's kinda like the F40 of Subarus.
The one I have a real gripe with though is the Forester STI.
I would buy one of these in a heartbeat.
It looks amazing.
It has some performance upgrades
that make this a seriously practical
and fun to drive daily driver.
The Forester in the USA
was marketed to a way different crowd than WRX
but I think it still would've done well
once us Americans realize how good of a car it could be
and is practical and fun as a daily driver,
like I mentioned.
Now, let's get to the ugly part of Subaru
and look at the gross parts of the company.
First of all, it's the stigma. We can't avoid this.
I even opened the video of some of this.
Right now, as I said here, I can tell you
that vaping is still synonymous with Subaru owners
and Monster Energy drinks, as well.
Hoonigan and COBB Accessports
has defined a lot of the ownership group,
their flat-rimmed hats and DC Shoes.
It always sucks when there's such a heavy stigma
associated with certain types of cars and their owners.
The Facebook groups can be kind of cringey.
My friend, Pete, who has an absolutely amazing Bugeye WRX
says that he hates talking to people
within the WRX community
because of the stigma and what you'll encounter.
All these stigmas do
is put ownership of a certain car on an island
and it kinda stops the rest of us
from seeing the awesome parts of the car
and enjoying them or experiencing them.
Next is the fact that there is no STI
in the current generation of WRX.
As of filming this, Subaru still has not said
what exactly they're going to do
with the next generation of the STI
or really the future of the STI,
except it's gonna be powered by batteries.
Yeah, we don't get some batshit insane,
final crazy version of a swan song of an STI for a sendoff.
And that just sucks. It just disappeared.
The STI just stopped
and we didn't know that was gonna happen.
In my opinion, Subaru really did this
as a disservice to their fans and the automotive community
to chase the dollars.
And I'm kinda mad about it.
The final ugly thing for Subaru
is the big one you all have been waiting for
and been making jokes probably
in the comments already, reliability.
Well, the lack of reliability.
("In the Hall of the Mountain King")
Now you're probably sitting there saying,
"Sam, you praised Subaru for having a boxer engine
and having a racing history
that proves how great and reliable their cars are."
I do think Subaru using a boxer engine is good,
and it's for a reason that little four cylinder
does a good job.
For racing, yeah, the cars are great
and prove that Subaru knows what they are doing.
The real problem is when people
start messing with these cars, which is everyone.
Head gaskets like to go out,
especially with some increased boost.
The horizontal nature of the boxer motor
is prone to head gaskets working against gravity,
along with oil in the cylinders
wanting to go to one part the cylinder,
which you kinda want it like all in there,
not just one spot.
The ease of modding comes with a slew of downsides
that need to be addressed
or you'll have some more major issues.
In my opinion, these boxer motors
are best enjoyed in stock form or some slight bolt-ons
and not really messing with that boost
'cause that's when things start falling apart or blowing up.
But in the end, these boxer-equipped cars
are not known for lasting a long time
and many owners are on their second or third motor.
I know it's kind of a joke,
but most Subaru owners I know that have modified their cars
have replaced the motor at least once.
So that's a look at the good, bad and ugly of Subaru.
Drop a comment down below on what you think I missed
or maybe you disagree with.
Let's argue down there together.
Appreciate you guys watching.
I'm Sam. Peace.