When I turned eighteen I was fortunate enough to be given a car by my parents, my exuberance at the thought of finally attaining independence was immediately quashed though when I found out that my first set of wheels was a 1970’s spec VW Beetle.
‘Owning’ a Beetle presented a unique set of problems and none more so than reliability, or the lack thereof. I can’t remember the number of times I found myself abandoned on the side of the road, crouched, peering up the backside of my stranded companion, probing for a reason for the most recent break-down. It had almost no features, at least by today’s standards, and was charged with no more than being a simple means of transportation. I was, for the most part, lucky to have a running engine, all four gears and functional indicators and lights, although always conspiring never to be present at the same time. Entertainment? Well, that was taken care of by the passengers, who were usually few and far between.
There was a time not long ago, you’d be lucky if you got power steering, air conditioning, central locking or a CD player as standard spec. Nowadays clever salesman – whom I’ve noticed recently feel the need to wear ties with short sleeve shirts, thus in my view revoking themselves of any opinion whatsoever – lead us to believe that if the latest opposition offerings has manually adjustable seats instead of ten way electronically adjustable wingback armchairs and only a five Gig hard drive instead of ten, it must be inferior. I can’t help but think, and don’t get me wrong here, myself included, that haven’t we as modern motorists become a tad spoilt?
Take the Subaru Impreza 2,0-litre RS I’ve been driving the past week. For all intents and purposes it is quite a suitable car. Finished in traditional Subaru rally blue and sporting all the necessary go-faster bits, it’s a fairly decent looking sedan as sedans go, it’s quite spacious, practical and has a big boot, although sporty looking seats are about the only interior highlight. It has an addictive and rorty engine note and it’s reasonably quick too. But I can’t help thinking that one day you’ll be sitting at a red traffic light and out the corner of your eye you’ll catch a glimpse of a similarly specced Impreza, your heart will sink as he pulls up alongside you and you notice that famous air scoop protruding from its bonnet. Without looking, instinct will tell you that the driver will have his thumb and forefinger in the shape of an ‘L’ on his forehead.
I had previously driven the Impreza WRX and absolutely loved it, with that in mind though the luke-warm RS just leaves you wanting more, it’s like getting used to Woolies food and then being told that in the future you have to buy everything from Shoprite. Similarly with the RS, making a car look identical to its well endowed stable mate is either a recipe for disaster or a clever form of marketing. I suppose with the latter hoping buyers will ‘see the light’ and one day buy up to the full blown WRX. (I’m intentionally ignoring the STi model here on the grounds that it is ridiculously expensive and it’s a hatchback, two words akin to ‘Peter de Villiers’ and ‘I like’ – never to be used together in the same sentence).
This had me thinking about a natural competitor to the Subaru RS and it came in the form of the Toyota Corolla. Now, if I were Toyota SA I’d be worried about the thousands of Auris and Corolla drivers out there and in particular those who have but a hint of petrol coursing through their veins, who today are happily commuting in the knowledge that their cars resale value are high and that everything will keep going right, however come tomorrow what will they buy-up into, a Camry, a Prius? At some point though, they’ll begin to yearn for something a bit more unique, with a bit more…dare I say it, character, and I’m afraid you won’t find any of that anywhere near a Toyota dealership. The plethora of similarly specced bland Japanese rep-mobile, rent-a-car-fodder econoboxes anonymously transporting glum looking sales reps, oblivious tourists and saddened children with their paled complexions, who wish Dad had got that promotion last year, aren’t much better yet are a dime a dozen and precisely why given the choice I would opt for the Subaru every time. Ok, so the interior is about as attractive as the inside of a Tupperware lunchbox, I’d be willing to make that sacrifice though, because the Subaru has character – a trait conspicuous by its absence in this sector – it has heritage, a lineage, something to trace its history by, a proud motorsport record.
Unlike Toyota, who after eight seasons and 139 race starts in F1 and being a well funded team, never managed to win a single Grand Prix. I was always curious as to why Toyota could invest billions into F1, but could never seem to make the connection felt to its customers, at least in South Africa that is.
Maybe “Race on Sunday, Sell on Monday” is not easily translated into Japanese.
You could argue that Subaru has left WRC and therefore is no better than Toyota was at F1, however the results speak for themselves, with 47 rally wins and 3 constructers championships at least Subaru made the connection between its motorsport achievements and customers by essentially offering them the same car. There can be no arguing that its achievements in WRC put more bums in Subaru seats the world over, and even now with their demise in WRC, the likes of Ken Block and Travis Pastrana thrashing their STi’s around a track is sure to create massive interest on showroom floors overseas.
Lest we forget that Toyota too has a distinguished WRC history and indeed a proud rally history in South Africa. Of course overseas Toyota’s Celica was readily available to Toyota Racing enthusiasts who wished to emulate the great El Matador, on the Monday morning work route. I’m sure back in the day even Carlos Sainz himself had a full-blown rally spec Celica 2.0T GT-Four, as his personal means of transportation, I suspect he’d settle for no less. Fast forward to present day South Africa and local die-hard Toyota enthusiasts I suspect are left feeling a little underwhelmed by Toyota offerings.
“Race on Sunday, Sell on Monday” and making that bond between the fantasy of racing and the man on the street feel reel, provides the driver of the car like the Subaru RS with a sense of hope that even though you’re sitting in the lowly bog standard version now, if you work a little harder to get that promotion or that new job, there’s no reason why in the near future you could be driving the WRX or even STi. It’s called aspirations and without them we’ve got nothing, more to the point, as far as the Subaru Impreza RS goes, as a starting point you could do whole lot worse.
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