[Subscribe to Daily Digest] |
 | [Main Other Cars Bulletin Board | BBFAQ |
Prev by Date | Next by Date | Post Followup ]
Member Login / Signup - Members see fewer ads. - Latest Member Gallery Photos
Re: owner retention Posted by Snowmobile [Email]  (#686)  [Profile/Gallery]
(more from Snowmobile) on Thu, 19 Feb 2015 18:42:12
In Reply to: owner retention, dtechakacheaptech, Thu, 19 Feb 2015 17:02:06 Members do not see ads below this line. - Help Keep This Site Online - Signup |
That is the thing - Subaru must be doing something right as they have phenomenal loyalty. It is as much a cult car as SAAB, at least in these parts, and their sales numbers are much better! You can bet if Subie went through a crisis like SAAB did, there would be "Save Subie" rallies. The passion is certainly there! The guy I spoke to at the Subie dealer claimed he had owned a 900 and that Subie was "the new SAAB". Many new Subie owners are the sorts of folks that used to be Volvo or SAAB owners.
The reason I refer to them as "lemmings" is that, at least the ones I know, go back to the brand and buy another without even test driving *anything* else. Even when the last one failed pretty badly in a relatively short time frame (eg HG blows in year 7, too costly to repair due to engine topology, so buy a new one). I know a lot of people like that! To me, there is a follower aspect to it. Some of us are kind of guilty of repeat buying SAABs (heck, I own 3), but I did test drive other vehicles. The Subarus I rented, I put serious miles on. 2 of them went for 3000+ mile multi-week trips. I drove another for 4 hours through a blizzard in the Rockies. I wanted to like them. They are good snow cars, but not perfect snow cars and I think some folks here (we live in the snow belt) get a little too wrapped up with the AWD thing in snow. There are many other factors (eg braking, dynamics), and also we don't live in igloos all year round - a car should behave as well the other 90% of the year when the roads are clear (or plowed). What I found is that our SAABs are mostly as good in snow (some ways worse, some ways better), and significantly better for us the rest of the year.
I suppose I just really noticed a difference coming from SAABs. I don't see how someone could test drive eg a 9-3X and a Forester or Outback back to back and buy the Subie (certainly if they sat in the seats for any amount of time)... except that they don't actually test drive anything else! 9-3X and 9-4X should have sold like hotcakes in ski country.
I think a lot of the loyalty has to do with the AWD - it is as if Subaru is the only manufacturer that offers AWD, and it is impossible to drive a car without AWD. I get it that some people like to take their Jeeps to far out places, but this is not how most Subies I know are used (or probably most Jeeps for that matter!)... but around here, it's the AWD and snow. I pass a heck of a lot of Subies in my fwd c900 winter beater.
dtech - weren't you on to a Hyundai SUV - Forester competitor iirc? Are you thinking of making the switch? It sounds like Subie does 5 year life cycles, so we are on year 2 of the new Forester and I got year 1 of the previous generation (and my friends year 3 or so). Maybe they have made vast strides in handling with the new one (PMB seems impressed with it). Certainly nobody I knew was impressed with the previous generation handling (even the lemmings). That was atrocious. Probably worse than older Foresters even. Certainly many American cars I drove were much better. Don't worry, I'm not going to suggest you should get a Buick instead!
, Sat, 21 Feb 2015 07:00:19
, Fri, 20 Feb 2015 10:32:25, Fri, 20 Feb 2015 20:12:10, Fri, 20 Feb 2015 08:44:52, Sat, 21 Feb 2015 09:44:01, Thu, 19 Feb 2015 18:42:12 <-- Viewing This Message, Mon, 16 Feb 2015 06:00:48, Sun, 15 Feb 2015 14:41:39, Tue, 17 Feb 2015 06:58:33, Tue, 17 Feb 2015 09:20:06, Sun, 15 Feb 2015 18:31:54
No Site Registration is Required to Post - Site Membership is optional (Member Features List), but helps to keep the site online
for all Saabers. If the site helps you, please consider helping the site by becoming a member.
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
