Relationship issues

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I don't normally venture outside the Tiguan forum, (spend too much time there), but hoping someone can shed some light on this issue that's confounded me for years, and has just come again at work.

What is the go with VW and Subaru? Why are there so many VW owners that have such strong affections for subaru. It's like there is some unholy alliance that I've been left out of. Can anyone enlighten me? Please. This has bugged me for years - and years. The only thing I can recall is that when Subaru became popular in Aust back in the early eighties, they went into a lot of VW dealerships for some reason. But there must be more to this relationship, surely. Anyone?

[Tim]

I don't normally venture outside the Tiguan forum, (spend too much time there), but hoping someone can shed some light on this issue that's confounded me for years, and has just come again at work.

What is the go with VW and Subaru? Why are there so many VW owners that have such strong affections for subaru. It's like there is some unholy alliance that I've been left out of. Can anyone enlighten me? Please. This has bugged me for years - and years. The only thing I can recall is that when Subaru became popular in Aust back in the early eighties, they went into a lot of VW dealerships for some reason. But there must be more to this relationship, surely. Anyone?

There are squillions of WRX and Liberty owners that have jumped ship across to VWs. I dont think there is anyone that can deny that Subarus are good cars in their own right. Nothing beats the character of a german car though

[mikinoz]

Subaru is in my opinion the most acceptable Japanese car if you are a Euro lover that wants to swing the other way. I think it is the performance/aesthetic/reliability that attracted us to buy a forester back in 04 (but sold in 06 for a TDI tee hee!).

[Rocket36]

Never owned or even been attracted to anything from Japan (that's on more than 2 wheels), and never will.

I swung over to the Reich from the General...

[Golf Loon]

A lot of people seem to be leaving Holden and Ford and the two big players if you want something decent, economical and stylish are Subaru and VW.

Also in the early 80s, VW was pulled from these shores, so there may have been empty dealerships which could have been snapped up by Subaru.

[WEDEL.1]

VW owners left for Subaru because of one thing and one thing only.....the flat 4 motor was the the closest thing to their aircooled beetle, Type 3 etc.

These people have never forgiven Volkswagen for abandoning the aircooled motor, despite the fact that VW was going broke trying to sell it, and wouldn't buy a watercooled VW.

Of course NOT EVERYONE adopted that stand, but the majority did..

[Manaz]

I think the target demographic for both marques is similar, with similar pricing and features, so there's a natural tendency for ownership crossover/migration.

I used to have an MY02 RX Liberty, which I sold because we needed our larger car to be an automatic for my wife. We bought an MY05 Outback to replace it, and I got moved to the old Astra, which we soon replaced with my Bora. I've never been impressed by the Impreza, and with the Bora being one of the few small-mid sized four seaters with AWD, it wasn't a tough decision, nor one I'm upset with making!

Subaru have gone off the boil lately IMHO - the 4Gen Liberty/Outback was great but for the average automatic gearbox option, but they've lost the plot with the 5Gen in terms of both styling (hideous) and gearboxes (CVT, no thanks!), whereas VW have really upped their game of late with the Polo, Golf and Passat (I don't follow the 4WD or commercial segments, sorry!), and so I think that a lot of people who previously purchased Subarus have moved over to VWs for the similar automotive values.

[Psyk]

I swung the other way.

We had 2 Subaru's in the house, a Forrester and I had an MY04 STi. Both are/were fantastic cars and cannot fault their drivability/reliability.

For me, the STi was getting a lot of unwanted attention and having a little one in the back and being chased by P platers in Commodores grew thin very quickly...

The new Liberty was just released - didn't like the look of it, no STi version was announced (probably will eventually come). The new STi would've attracted the same attention, the EVO X was high on the list as well and ditto the unwanted attention.

The R36 was the natural progression for me as it was somewhat the natural competitor to the STi Liberty... however, the CC just looked the biz and it worked out nicely.

VW have a good range of offerings from the Golf to the Passat and then the CC. The options for the range are great such as Reversing Camera, Park Assist, the DSG etc. make it a much better proposition for the money.

[philthy]

For me personally, I like small sporty cars and don't have zillions of dollars... so that's the GTI's and WRX's of the world.. and I also have a soft spot for Mazdas

[SoVeReIgN]

For some people, it's status.

Korean cars -> Aussie/American cars -> Most Japanese cars -> Subaru -> VW -> Other European cars (BMW/Audi/Merc).

Not saying I agree with that summary, but thats what most people think IMHO.

[Buller_Scott]

i'd agree with that.

funny thing- one of my mates (whose wife has a company car budget) was tossing up between golf mkV or impreza rs. he chose the golf because of the build quality and the room (his words).

japanese brands would have a stronger presence if their larger cars (crowns, celsiors, cimas, cedrics etc etc) were brought over here to compete in the $50-75k luxury market, and if fuel and the mass move toward hatches/smaller engines werent recieving so much media attention.

people might dismiss civics and mirage sedans as 'jap crap', but the japanese DO know how to make a damn good car.

[popeclement]

I probably fall into this category moving from a 97 Outback Ltd (manual) to my Bora in 2001. I recall my thinking was first the basic spec of AWD and manual with more power and the Bora was a very good fit albeit smaller. Looked at the B4 etc but around this time Subaru I felt was losing its direction till the later Liberty GT. What have they done with the latest incarnation - I would not go back to the current offering.

VAG wise tho only way forward/up would be say an RS4 or S5 (manual of course). So I'm keeping the Bora

[jettapilot]

I didn't notice that there was a 'relationship' between the two brands but now that you mention it ...

The marketing answer makes sense - they target a similar demographic offering similar value for $.

Hell, they've both succeeded at my place.

My husband drives a Subaru Outback.

[WABIT]

its because they bought out our beetle "flat 4" motor design......

i also have a liking to the mazda because they also bought the "wakel rotary" motor design......

dom

[gerhard]

The only thing worse than the sound of a flat 4 VW air cooled engine, is a flat 4 Subaru water cooled engine.

Or arguably the other way around.

So these two share the worst sounding engines on the planet.

VW makes up for it with the rest of the engine range, like the V6s, but Subaru has nothing that sounds good. And lately they have nothing that looks good either.