Tag Archives: Subaru

Be Careful Around Ram, Tesla and Subaru Drivers

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By Gary S. Vasilash

Sometime there are survey results that seem reasonable and some that make you wonder, like a sampling of findings of “driving incidents” (including accidents, DUIs, speeding, and citations) that were codified using QuoteWizard by LendingTree insurance quote data.

For example, it determined that Ram drivers had 32.90 driving incidents per 1,000 drivers, which makes them “the worst drivers.” And Ram drivers in Massachusetts are particularly bad: 64.44 incidents per 1,000 drivers. Ram drivers have the dubious distinction of being the worst drivers in 23 states, followed by Tesla drivers, who took the lead in 11 states.

Tesla drivers overall, incidentally, were second to Ram. They had 31.13 incidents per 1,000, although they took the lead in the specific accidents category, with 23.54 accidents per 1,000 drivers, besting (?) Ram, which was at 22.76 accidents per 1,000 drivers.

But here’s something curious: The third overall worst drivers were piloting Subarus. They had 30.09 driving incidents per 1,000.

Only Ram, Tesla and Subaru were above 30.00 in the overall incidents category.

In addition, Subaru was also third in accidents per 1,000 drivers, with 20.90.

Again, those three brands are the only ones of the 30 surveyed that were above 20.00.

Subaru? Ram and Tesla are not necessarily unexpected, but Subaru drivers might seem benign—unless they live in California where Suburb drivers racked up 57.66 incidents per 1,000

What do drivers drive that had the least number of driving incidents? Mercury. It was at 15.82 incidents per 1,000 drivers. Given that Mercurys stopped being built in 2011, thereby making those that exist somewhat vintage, might mean that the drivers are exceedingly. . .careful.

Toyota, Subaru and “Ever-better Cars”

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A new 86/BRZ is being launched. But this is about a different approach

By Gary S. Vasilash

Toyota and Subaru developed a car that is tailored for each brand’s character, the 86 for Toyota and the BRZ for Subaru. The collaborative vehicle, which was launched in 2012, is built by neither, but by Magna in a plant in Austria.

The companies have introduced the new version of the vehicle, the GR 86 for Toyota and still BRZ for Subaru.

Toyota GR 86 (Image: Toyota)

What is interesting to note about this is that the companies have developed the rear-drive vehicle with a bigger engine—no surprise there—but they’ve gone from a 2.0-liter to a 2.4-liter that produces 232 hp.

Yes, bigger, but not in the least bit like the mill that would be likely installed in an American performance vehicle.

(Performance? According to Toyota, 0 to 100 km/h (this is a global intro, so km) in 6.3 seconds. This is an improvement from the previous car, which was 7.4 seconds.)

This is a lithe vehicle: it weighs just 2,800 lb.

If it is like the previous generation—and it probably is—then when you’re behind the wheel you feel like you’re wearing it, not just driving it.

This is a sentence from the press release that is worth pondering: “Going forward, Toyota and Subaru intend to further ally their respective strengths, deepen their relationship, and so pursue the possibilities of making ever-better cars.”

It isn’t often you hear car companies about creating “ever-better cars.”

Strange that they don’t.

Laudable that Toyota and Subaru do.