Ok I live near the great lakes and I don't see many Subaru's in this entire area. You would think with all our snow and bad weather you would see em here as much as in Washington or Oregon. Honda, Toyota all that abundant here, no subs. I think I may have the only forester in my area, seriously I just don't see em.
jc76
Same here in Indiana.
Lafayette sees a lot more Legacy's and Outbacks because of SIA.
Everywhere else is GM, Dodge, Honda, Toyota, Ford dominated as they all have manufacturing facilities in the area. Shoot in Kokomo there are 2 Dodge/Chrysler plants and you cant throw a rock without hitting a Chysler product.
I can usually count on one hand the amount of Foresters I see on the road in a week. It makes me a sad panda...
Lafayette sees a lot more Legacy's and Outbacks because of SIA.
Everywhere else is GM, Dodge, Honda, Toyota, Ford dominated as they all have manufacturing facilities in the area. Shoot in Kokomo there are 2 Dodge/Chrysler plants and you cant throw a rock without hitting a Chysler product.
I can usually count on one hand the amount of Foresters I see on the road in a week. It makes me a sad panda...
I have heard the new Subarus are more expensive in those areas because of the demand you would expect them to have, but I have no idea. I live in NC, see multiple Subarus every day and we barely have any bad weather down here in the piedmont area
Before we bought our Subie, I thought the same thing. Now that I lookfor them, I actually see quite a few fozzies around Cincy.
Quantity of Subarus in a region seems to be inversely related to the population density of red necks in the same region.
Tons of them in the Chicago area. I play "count the Subaru" every time I go out and about...my wife thinks I'm nuts.
Lots of subarus in the up of Michigan too.
If there are areas of the Midwest where subarus are scarce, I can't imagine that it has anything to do with the population's stance on political or social issues. I would think that it would have more to do with the distribution of dealers (there isnt a subaru dealer on every corner like there is a ford or gm dealer) and the fact that people tend to stick with a brand that they've had experience with in the past. This is especially true recently now that subarus are getting more upscale and expensive. It's also the same reason that people tend to stick with Subaru once they've had one. It just takes more time to build up people's awareness and confidence in a brand. You don't see many Korean cars around for probably a similar reason.
To say that people don't drive a particular car because they're "********" or whatever is kind of condescending in my opinion.
If there are areas of the Midwest where subarus are scarce, I can't imagine that it has anything to do with the population's stance on political or social issues. I would think that it would have more to do with the distribution of dealers (there isnt a subaru dealer on every corner like there is a ford or gm dealer) and the fact that people tend to stick with a brand that they've had experience with in the past. This is especially true recently now that subarus are getting more upscale and expensive. It's also the same reason that people tend to stick with Subaru once they've had one. It just takes more time to build up people's awareness and confidence in a brand. You don't see many Korean cars around for probably a similar reason.
To say that people don't drive a particular car because they're "********" or whatever is kind of condescending in my opinion.
It is condescending, to a point. But let's face it, there are certain demographics much more likely to buy this brand, and ******** ain't it. Doesn't mean anything good or bad about that demographic - it's just that this isn't a brand they're generally attracted to, for whatever reasons. :shrug:
I hear ya, what I was trying to get at was that there might be something cultural besides "******** don't drive subarus". Specifically, the tendency to stick with more familiar brands. It seems to me that subarus are popular in areas of the Midwest where they make a lot of sense (snowbelt) and less popular in other areas. My point is that Subaru has a lot of competition in areas where the poor weather performance is less of an issue, including competition from brands that are a lot more familiar. I agree that if a guy wants a pickup truck he's not going to a Subaru dealer, but I really doubt people stay away from subarus only because people from the Midwest somehow "less hip" than the rest of the country. I don't know, like I said, without the awd to set Subaru apart, there are other cars out there that compare really well and people from that reagion might tend to go with something more familiar without a compelling reason to change. I do get your point though.
There's not as many nerds in the midwest? :biggrin:
But seriously, I live in the western reaches of NYS which is snow country so there's a fair amount of them running around......but not nearly as many as I saw while living in the Albany area. God, they were everywhere, lol. And of course, more as you travel into new england.
From my short time living in that region, it seems people just prefer smaller vehicles in general and mostly imports. As one travels west across NY, the "fleet" slowly changes over to more domestics, especially trucks and bigger SUVs. The industrial blue collar character of western NY and the great lakes region in general must account for some of that although I've been noticing more and more imports in recent years in all regions. Local roadways are still dominated by big domestic pickups and SUVs, though.........including my own ******* GMC.
As far as I know Nebraska only has two Subaru dealerships... one in Omaha and one in Lincoln. Very seldom see a Subaru when I go visit my parents farther west in Nebraska, so I make a point to point them out to my wife and kids when I do see one.
I see half a dozen Subarus before I even leave the neighborhood in CF, Iowa. (4) dealers within 100 miles of my house. At least three friends in town have Foresters. Subaru is common enough here that I don't even pay attention when I see one.
I started playing "count the Subaru" yesterday while my wife was with me, she's not a very good sport about it. Oh, 12 by the way which include a Gen1 Forester and an Outback that was not a wagon??? Today I am up to 3 which included an Impreza driven by a WWII veteran. So much for stereotypes.
Greg
I'm also in Chicago suburbs and usually, I see more Outbacks than Foresters
But I see a lot more Honda CRV's, Toyota Rav4's, Ford Escapes, Nissan Rogues, and Jeeps if we are comparing similar compacy SUV's. Just don't see the Forester out there as much. Like others say, it probably has to do with a lack of knowledge about Subaru. In a way, that is Subaru's fault for not doing a better job of marketing their company in the mainstream. But also, people are more familiar with the other Jap. car companies.
But I see a lot more Honda CRV's, Toyota Rav4's, Ford Escapes, Nissan Rogues, and Jeeps if we are comparing similar compacy SUV's. Just don't see the Forester out there as much. Like others say, it probably has to do with a lack of knowledge about Subaru. In a way, that is Subaru's fault for not doing a better job of marketing their company in the mainstream. But also, people are more familiar with the other Jap. car companies.
Iowa - eastern near Cedar Rapids
I have two Foresters (a red one and a green one, a 2000 and a 2002). There are several more in my small college towns (they ARE more numerous in college towns). I, too, play spot the Forester with my wife, who indugles me, but we quit doing it while vacationing in southern Maine. I had no idea there were THAT many forester in the world! They are very popular in Maine (some of those had Quebec plates, too). -Jan in Iowa
I have two Foresters (a red one and a green one, a 2000 and a 2002). There are several more in my small college towns (they ARE more numerous in college towns). I, too, play spot the Forester with my wife, who indugles me, but we quit doing it while vacationing in southern Maine. I had no idea there were THAT many forester in the world! They are very popular in Maine (some of those had Quebec plates, too). -Jan in Iowa
Where I am...
In Lake County, IN...(Gary, Crown Point and where I am in Lowell), you see tons of them.
Our '10 Forester has 4 twins up here(the light blue that is somewhat silver-ish).
Now where this guy is, in South Bend, is an anomaly.
You have the two counties where (at times) 75% of ALL North American RV and 45% of all boats are manufactured. If you count the county in MI directly north(which, no, I don't know the name of it) the numbers grow to...
85% and 75%.
When you have that much manufacturing in one spot...you don't get much "foreign incursion".
Notre Dame is the anomaly in the area, cause that one spot on the north edge of South Bend is probably the only "left" section of 10 Indiana, and 5 MI counties.
While you are in our great state(which I presume you are involved with ND in some capacity) visit Elkhart and go further into Amish/Mennonite Country(2 counties over, halfway to Fort Wayne).
In Amish/Mennonite country, you'll see lots of Subarus.
In Lake County, IN...(Gary, Crown Point and where I am in Lowell), you see tons of them.
Our '10 Forester has 4 twins up here(the light blue that is somewhat silver-ish).
Now where this guy is, in South Bend, is an anomaly.
You have the two counties where (at times) 75% of ALL North American RV and 45% of all boats are manufactured. If you count the county in MI directly north(which, no, I don't know the name of it) the numbers grow to...
85% and 75%.
When you have that much manufacturing in one spot...you don't get much "foreign incursion".
Notre Dame is the anomaly in the area, cause that one spot on the north edge of South Bend is probably the only "left" section of 10 Indiana, and 5 MI counties.
While you are in our great state(which I presume you are involved with ND in some capacity) visit Elkhart and go further into Amish/Mennonite Country(2 counties over, halfway to Fort Wayne).
In Amish/Mennonite country, you'll see lots of Subarus.
+1 on small-ish college towns. Bloomington has lots of Subarus. Purdue also. I think it's all about demographics. Older people tend to have more reliable cars that don't require problems and parts to be fixed ASAP like Toyota GM and Subaru. Around here at least. And places with a higher concentration of younger people (college towns) like more quirky cars.. ie Saab Volvo Subaru. Generalization never works out for me. But this is my opinion.
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