No more Garnet Red LGT

[LegGTLT]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

P.S. I give up...

[showbo]

Awesome. I <3 my GRP that much more.

[IwannaSportSedan]

Well, I finally did send that letter to SOA, as I said I was planning to. I did have to edit A LOT. I think I cut almost 60 percent. (compare to post number 35 of this thread for my original version.)

 

Below is what I sent them, followed by their response.

 

I am planning to purchase a sport sedan soon, and I have been watching the Legacy GT product very closely for over a year.

I have been very concerned with the declining configurability of the Legacy GT. I would be right in line for a Spec B. Some of the features are attractive to me, but from what I have read, may be too restricted for me to consider.

 

That brings me to the question. There are rumors that it is only going to be available in Diamond Gray Metallic. Is this true, or will the rest of the modest palette of Legacy GT colors be available?

 

I am also considering Legacy GT limited for 2007. I am sorry to see that the color choices are more limited there, too. I want a charcoal interior, but it seems Newport Blue Pearl will be paired with the taupe interior, and Garnet Red seems to be discontinued. Newport Blue and Garnet red would have been my choices.

 

I realize that choices must be made, and lines drawn, but I think the lines have been drawn too restrictively. I understand also that inventory of all the permutations of optional features can be an issue of logistics and dealer interaction. I could understand only stocking the more popular configurations, but alternatives can?t even be special ordered from the factory.

 

I would like to see alternatives such as Newport Blue, with a charcoal interior, or offering color choice with the Spec B. The charcoal interior, in my opinion, is sportier than taupe on a performance-oriented Legacy GT sport sedan.

 

My enthusiasm for purchasing a new Subaru, after more than a year, is now in doubt due to restrictive choices. It is unfortunate, because the Legacy is an excellent platform, and one of few of it's kind that offers a manual transmission and AWD.

 

Most sincerely, in a constructively critical sense.

[my name withheld from public forum]

 

 

Dear Mr. [withheld]:

 

Thank you for visiting the Subaru Web site and for taking the time to contact us. The most valued opinion of any business is that of its customers. Your comments are valuable to us in that they provide us with a clear picture of our products as seen by our customers.

 

We appreciate your suggestions for more color choices on the 2007 Legacy models. We have taken the liberty of forwarding your suggestions to our Product Planning Department for their possible consideration on future Subaru vehicles. Input from our owners has been helpful in initiating changes to our newer models. We hope to continually improve our products and we appreciate your comments.

 

2007 Legacy model specifications have not been released by Subaru at this time, and specifications could change by the time the vehicle is finally released later this Summer. If you can let me know where you are obtaining your information on the 2007 Legacy color choices, I would be happy to look into this further. I know that Subaru of America has NOT released any color choice information on the 2007 models, except for the limited production Spec B model, to be available in Diamond Gray Metallic only.

 

I look forward to your response!

 

Best wishes,

 

Samir Hasan

Subaru of America, Inc.

Customer/Dealer Services Department

-----------------------------------------------------------

 

This officially confirms the lame decision to paint the 07 Spec B one color only. Not a surprise, but this does quash any remaining hope for a spec B for me.

 

As of this posting, I have not responded to SOA yet, as I am not sure what there remains to say. However, I have no intention of outing people/sources here for leaking color option information. If SOA sees this post, then they have read this thread, and they already know where I got the information. More likely they haven't read this, and I am not going to rat out my sources to them.

 

They need not know more than the fact that I am a well informed and motivated prospective customer, because I do research before purchasing big ticket items, and am particular about what I do/will eventually purchase.

 

I don't know if they intend to come down on anyone if I were to tell them, but it isn't appropriate either way.

 

I wonder why they are so defensive, though. The 07 Subaru models are nearly out. Some other companies have their 07 models on the market, and people are always shopping. It isn't as if I am leaking nuclear secrets to the Chinese, or anything. It is just color choice information that customers like me want to know about befor buying a new Subaru.

 

But anyway, this seems to leave me still in the position of choosing a new car that I am not completely satisfied with, or buying a used car that won't have some of the features I have been waiting for.

 

Unless, somehow Samir is right, and since the feature set isn't frozen (I'd bet dollars to doughnuts that the specifications ARE frozen) and Newport Blue comes with charcoal leather, the 07 LGT situation could be remedied for me.

[john_knoxville]

configurability? permutations?

 

tell samir you saw the color choices on cars101.com like the initial post says, and that his response will be considered a cop-out when those indeed turn out to be the color choices offered. there's no plausible reason known to me why a legacy couldn't be special-ordered with either interior color

[Beanboy]

Back in 1998, Legacy GT had TWO red options:

 

http://www.cars101.com/subaru_legacy_archive98_99.html#1998%20colors

 

Here is the total list from 1998:

- Glacier White

- Spruce pearl

- Deep Sapphire (dark blue)

- Quick Silver Metallic

- Mica Ruby (dark red)

- Black Granite Metallic (not a flat black, it has a warm brown-cinnamon undertone)

- Rio Red (bright but not too flashy)

 

A much better looking color list (green is nice!) for the kind of car the Legacy GT is.

[IwannaSportSedan]

IMO, each exterior color should be offered with either choice of taupe or charcoal. I realize that this miht be tricky to do, so offer it only on limited models. They do have to save production costs somehow.

 

I wonder how much it saved them in 2006 over 2005, when it DID have the choice.

 

It is possible that depending on the assembly line configuration, the cars with the taupe interior can only go into the x spray booth.

 

We are not talking GM here that can offer an almost endless possibility of color choices and configurations, Subaru is a small company that is growing steadily and not at a loss. It is too bad that we the consumers get fewer choices, but we do get better products. It makes solid business sense to drop the models that are selling the slowest. In this case, GRP isn't selling very well. Look at any Subaru meet photo and you will rarely see more than one GRP Legacy amongst the 20 or so blue, black, silver and white ones. Maybe the reason why they are offering the SpecB with the nicer interior (blue Alcantara vs the brick red leather) is because they have cut out some of their production costs.

 

I doutbt the paint booth makes any difference. The interior parts are lined up in order and meet the painted cars per the factory's logistics control.

 

With fewer options, they can more tightly control how many interior parts of what color they order from the sub-assemblers, and fewer variables in that program. X, Y and Z colors means A interior. Q, R, and U colors means B interior. It is simpler to build. But it ends up frustrating customers. If those customers buy something else, instead, SOA loses the sale, and never sees the money.

 

Not to mention, that most people buy from dealer stock. So if the regional directors don't order red cars to put on dealer lots, they don't sell. PLUS red was only offered on the Legacy GT, OBXT, and 3.0R, Not on all the variants. So lower sales of that color should be EXPECTED.

 

But not offering red at all is a decision, and one that virtually NO other car company makes. EVERYBODY else makes some sort of red car. Saying that the WRX comes in San Remo Red doesn't entirely count, since that is a car that not everyone wants to drive, OB, Legacy and to a lesser extent Tribeca have broader appeal, and should be offered in some sort of red paint.

 

Somewhere on the balance sheet, they don't correlate saved manufacturing costs of fewer paint colors, and no interior choice, with loss of possible sales. THAT is where the decision hits. They probably have no real way of quantifying how many sales dollars they are NOT making, that they would otherwise.

 

Besides that... Saying that Garnet red didn't sell well doesn't mean CANCEL red, it means offer a BETTER red. How 'bout that?

 

I agree - I want a totally configurable car, but I would rather have the new SpecB color with the new interior than the Silver with the red interior. It is all about what will sell more cars.

 

Their ohter rationale for the interior is that people want cloth vs leather and the Alcantara is a happy in-between point for most people.

 

then why is alcantara only offered on the "limited production" and VERY limited configuration Spec B? How many people is that going to apply to? a few hundred? A thousand? (I doubt even that many... considering that there are still unsold '06s.)

 

I actually prefer the medium silver, and red leather over dark gray and dark blue/black.... so where does that leave SOA? They can't please everybody... that is true.

 

But SOA seems to follow that up with "...so why even try." Great freakin' attitude.

 

From SOA's Point of View:

We'll build a good car, ignore marketing for it, and then hope you somehow find out about it, then buy it with very little choice as to it's appearance. Appearances shouldn't matter, anyway...

 

Oh, and we'll offer an even better model with unique features that you might indeed want, but with absolutely NO choice on it's appearance, and for almost $8k more... (based on last year's price difference.)

 

How can anybody stand by and try to justify this kind of brainless decision?

 

Yeah. subaru needs to cut costs... but then they cut off sales, and don't meet their sales targets. Gee, I wonder why.

[funkpelts]

that's odd, when I look through pics I always think the red ones look best. Mine is gray but I didn't have a red option at my dealer.

http://www.modernracer.com/images/subarulegacygtfront1.jpg

[mphat]

STUPID ME and I was sitting here waiting for SOA to OFFER a different Red NOT eliminate the only friggin Red they had! I liked GRP and thought it was by far the best of the available colors but I thought I would wait to see if they addressed some of the other missing pieces (which they did) but only to then turn around and eliminate the one color I found interesting. Off to buy an Acura TL, or maybe an 07 Altima unless SOA pulls their head out and puts a red back in the picture! UN-BE-LIEVE-ABLE!

[IwannaSportSedan]

mphat, Nice to see that I am not the only one pissed off about this. I was beginning to think I might be more irrational than usual on this one... Garnet Red was my second choice, after seeing pictures of Newport Blue Pearl. But I don't want Newport's taupe interior mandate... And now Garnet Red is gone. So I am in a similar boat, although I hate FWD, so TL and Altima are out, too.

 

Heightsgtltd had asked in another thread if I was considering any other cars...

Maybe RX8... Thought about Mazdaspeed 6, but there are some significant drawbacks there. There really isn't an AWD platform to come anywhere near Subaru, besides Audi, with their own unreliability baggage. RWD is either too heavy or bland (charger, C-class Mercedes) or too expensive (BMW 3-series)

 

IS350 is too small inside, too expensive, and not available with AWD, only the IS250. MT is probably too hard to find, and the car is probably more of an appliance than a sporting automobile.

 

I am not impressed with VW or Volvo's AWD, or appearance, or much else...

 

What else really holds a candle to Legacy GT in terms of practical sedan performance at less than ~$32k? Not much that I can tell. Maybe new G35, but again, no stick with AWD, and pushing budget to the breaking point.

 

Funkpelts...

Did you go to Davenport for your Legacy? They didn't have much when I looked there about 6-months ago. Pretty meager selection. No Legacy GT sedans at all, and one wagon, and a few Outbacks.

 

What part of eastern IA are you in? I have relatives in Clinton County...

 

IAHAWKS, Hogmeat, and automaticsti are all Iowa Members, as well as myself... A lot of members here for the fact that there are hardly any Subarus on Iowa dealer lots. you guys probably account for a decent fraction of total Iowa Legacy GT sales for the last couple of years.

 

BTW, that picture of the red Legacy, (same as mphat's avatar) I believe is a 2004 JDM press photo car, and is painted San Remo Red. Looks very nice. I wish they would offer that red, or Solid Red. (used on WRX STI, perhaps overseas Blitzen models)

 

But I guess SOA went the other way on that... :frown:

[IwannaSportSedan]

I am not impressed by the BMW X3. Kinda Ugly, and way too much SUV.

The RDX is ugly, too. Maybe decently optioned, But a turbocharged engine doesn't solely define a vehicle as a performer.

 

The A3 is interesting, but ultimately too small, in terms of passenger space. A4 was one of my considerations, but to get a manual quattro, with any sort of options... quickly gets expensive, and I am not keen on dealing with notorious VAG electrical gremlins.

 

My wife has a wagon phobia, anyway. Even I think it is a bit irrational, but she hates anything that looks remotely like a station wagon. And I am philosophically against a SUV, unless I would need one for hauling a bunch of people AND a trailer or something.

 

Really, a sport sedan is right where I want to be. I would be on the "4-door coupe' kick, if it weren't a verbal oxymoron. A coupe is defined by being two-doors, all the way back to french horse-drawn carriages. The Merc CLS that coined the said oxymoron, is too ugly and WAY too expensive, but others seem to be gearing up to follow Mercedes into that genre, of sleek four-doors, with some performance thrown in. A theoretical $30k car that resembles the shadow of the Aston Martin Rapide would be a nearly instant sale to me.

 

 

I am considering the RX8, but it has some strikes against it. The rear seats are better than a coupe, but just. Not exactly a paragon of spaciousness. Coupled to the gas mileage of a full-size truck, and requisite oil-burining, and somewhat disconcerting appearance, it is just hanging on by it's handling credentials, and the fact that it is getting a nice new Blue paintjob with black leather, for 2007.

 

But I prefer the Legacy GT, technically. It is a better fit, and although it sacrifices some ultimate handling, it has more power, and still has a manual transmission. Bonus would be AWD for winter useability, where the RX8 won't be as adept.

 

A Subaru Legacy based GT coupe-like car, with "freestyle" reverse rear doors, and a fastback hatch profile, with the Legacy GT or WRX STI-like drivetrain would be a godsend, especially if it took the best styling cues from the current legacy, and the SVX...

 

 

REALLY, the only sticking point I have with the 07 Legacy GT is the color availability. Sure I wish for this or that to be added or changed, or whatever, but the only real stumbling block is that. The 05-06 has Garnet Red, or even ABP and RBP with black interiors for 2005, IF one could find said combinations, and they also would lack the audio input, and the folding rear seats that the 07 has, and I do want.

 

I am seriously considering how much I would have to save to convert the interior of a 2007 Newport Blue Legacy GT to Charcoal, or even Spec B's charcoal and blue alcantara.

Carpets,

front seats, rear seat bottom and backs,

rear parcel shelf and CHMSL cover,

lower Dashboard trims and panels,

glove box lid, center console pieces,

aluminum look trims for console and doors,

four door panels,

lower pillar and door threshold cover pieces.

 

The only thing I am not sure of, is the upper pillar covers and headliner. For 05, I think they were all grey, and i commented then about how grey and tan interior panels clash with each other... For 06, I think the upper trim pieces and windlace seals are taupe, or grey/black for the charcoal interiors... the headliner, visors, and overhead light fixtures might all be the same, though... I'd have to get a better look. Too bad the JDM Blitzen/STI tuned cars' black pillar covers and headliner would be expensive to import. A full black interior would be even nicer looking.

 

My wife thinks I should just get a black car for the black interior. It might come to that, but I would much prefer blue paint with the black interior. Taupe looks ok, for the grandad's buick look. But that is not what I am going for. I already have a blue over tan interior truck. I know roughly how that goes together, and I know I will prefer black interior.

 

The 07 JDM model release pictures are torturing me, too, because they show that Japan gets Newport blue with black interior, and it looks GOOD. I don't for the life of me know why that is too much to ask from SOA.

 

I am serious if there is anyone within reasonable driving distance to my location, who wants a taupe interior with a black, silver, or diamond gray (black would be the only color that would look decent with taupe interior, of those three, IMHO) I WILL TRADE!

 

Otherwise, if you get a Legacy with a black sedan interior, and wreck it, I will take the interior!

[funkpelts]

Yeah I got mine at Lujack's automall. They only had one new Legacy GT on their lot and it was my 05. I got it for 21000 with the auto/sportshift, subwoofer, and spoiler. Yeah, they don't work very hard at having a selection of Subarus in general. In fact, I looked around and didn't see a Subaru sign anywhere. They have the Subarus in their Chevrolet showroom, but I wonder if that will be changing, maybe that was part of GM's former 20% ownership in Subaru. But that lousy selection kind of helps score a deal on one. They get known as having a poor selection so I think people stay away from Subarus there. There is a full blown subaru dealer in Cedar Rapids that I have never been to. But I am sure that is the reason why Lujack's can't move Subaru's very fast. They do for some reason have about 5 new 2005 WRX wagons that are heavily discounted. Somebody mus have screwed up and accidentally ordered a selection of a subaru model I thought about test driving one for a second, or maybe a half a second haha. The only other new subarus they had were 2 sedan wrx's, 1 sedan impreza, 4 outbacks, and 1 of those new suv's that just came out.

 

Funkpelts...

Did you go to Davenport for your Legacy? They didn't have much when I looked there about 6-months ago. Pretty meager selection. No Legacy GT sedans at all, and one wagon, and a few Outbacks.

 

What part of eastern IA are you in? I have relatives in Clinton County...

 

IAHAWKS, Hogmeat, and automaticsti are all Iowa Members, as well as myself... A lot of members here for the fact that there are hardly any Subarus on Iowa dealer lots. you guys probably account for a decent fraction of total Iowa Legacy GT sales for the last couple of years.

 

:

[funkpelts]

For now I would rather not say what county, but i am only 30 minutes away from Davenport and on the Mississippi.

 

What part of eastern IA are you in? I have relatives in Clinton County...

 

:

[IwannaSportSedan]

The Cedar Rapids dealer is not bad, and probably has more than Lujack's. Dubuque has Nothing. Waterloo had some... I took a little mini-break and went up to Galena, IL with my wife, and stopped at all three of those dealers on our way through.

 

I missed a chance to see what they had in Iowa City when I went through there about 6-months ago, on the way back from DeWitt/Clinton.

 

More often, I get to Des Moines. Bigger dealer, but they carry very little stock of Legacys. Some outbacks and tribecas. LOTS of Foresters, WRXs and STIs, though. They also sell Mazda, Pontiac, and Porsche.

 

They had the same 5 Legacys for about 8 months, now they have one left, a silver/black GT automatic sedan. They probably won't get any more until their first allotment of 07s... and then probably sit on those for half a year.

 

Stan Olsen in Omaha is even bigger, and has some Legacys, but no manual trans cars last time I was there. (I actually was helped by Stan Olsen, who has to be at least 85 years old, but a very nice man.)

 

there is also a Subaru dealer in Council Bluffs, which had 4 legacys, one of which was an 05... but they refused to even acknowledge me.

 

So there are some dealers around, but they typically don't have much, in terms of selection, and they don't seem to move them very fast.

 

Are you from the quad cities, or somewhere else on the "east coast" of the state? (feel free to send me a PM, or whatever, if this is a bit too public...) Maybe sometime soon when I get a Legacy (still the frontrunner in the pre-purchase research, despite the content of this thread...), a Legacy meet in IA can be arranged, or we can suprise some local car show somewhere with a cadre of AWD Subies.

 

EDIT: if you'd rather not disclose, that is fine. I am in Boone, IA, but I tend to put some miles on to the east and the west ends of the state, and eastern NE.

 

[/off topic] Sorry about the temporary hijack... Back to bashing SOA for cancelling a good color.

[DukeTrout]

IWSS - you are far from the only one frustrated at these moronic limitations. My wife has an OBXT, and I love it so much that I was going to replace my Intrepid with a Legacy GT this Spring. Well, the Intrepid is running too well at 130k miles for me to dump it, but next spring I will definitely put it out to pasture. My ideal replacement would be a Regal Blue 6mt Spec.B wagon. I would accept any blue or red mt wagon, and might still go for the sedan if it had black interior. Unfortunately, it looks like there is no combination of Legacy GT that would even fit in my acceptable bracket in 07! In the end, I might just have to go with the Spec.B in the end, but it is certainly frustrating to spend the extra bucks for a limited model that is still only a compromise choice!

[IwannaSportSedan]

Well, I sent another letter in response back to SOA, with a more detailed explanation of our general dilemma, and we'll see what they say. I'll post it here when I get another response.

 

The fortunate thing for you, that your timeline puts you through next spring... when the 08 Models will be nearing production. There are rumors that SOA has been catching some flak for not having a manual wagon option... maybe that will be remedied for 08, and we should start hearing that information next spring.

 

But with SOA's track record of decision making, I am not sure how much hope I would hold out, unfortunately.

 

The car you describe sounds like a VERY cool ride. I would almost be tempted to really put an ear to the ground for a 2005 Regal Blue Legacy GT Limited wagon with a Manual trans, buy it at a used car price, and start with the retrofitting. Pretty much everything besides the NAV, and SI drive should be mechanically upgradeable, especially the important suspension parts, and probably the transmission/rear diff, if one can be sourced.

 

That would be a very special car, and very likely one of a kind.

[rodan]

IWSS - have you thought about buying a used '05 w/ the interior color you like and painting it? You could have whatever color you want, and it would be unique... Expensive, but probably cheaper than a new '07, and isn't getting what you want worth it? It would even solve the "soft paint" problems

 

All kidding aside, this is my first Subaru, and I love the car. However, Subaru makes some asinine decisions when it comes to features/options. We would have preferred a different color, but silver was the only 5mt available at the time, and none of the other colors were all that interesting anyway. WRB or a nice dark green would have had my interest.

 

My biggest gripe is the lack of small features that are no-brainers and relatively cheap: one touch up/down windows, memory seats, fold down rear seats etc... Subaru needs to adress these things if they want to actually be considered upscale. They've got the car for it, they just cheap out on the details.

[LegGTLT]

^^^ Your wish is Subaru's command... at least some of these are on the '07 spec.B that is!

[IwannaSportSedan]

Rodan...

 

Funny you mention painting an 05 Legacy... not a bad suggestion, but hard to finance a paint job. It basically becomes a HUGE down payment... and hopefully not a liability if you get a bad paint job.

 

But then you talk about memory seats (07 Spec B only... Really... why not LGT Limited??? C'mon, SOA!) and folding rear seats (all 07 Legacys...), and audio input for my MP3 player, which is nice, because I don't move CDs around anymore. One touch windows might be nice, but I can cope with just "power" windows.

 

And painting an 05 Legacy would give up those things...

 

Dilemma still present and accounted for. But thanks for the suggestion, it is a valid one.

[rodan]

at least some of these are on the '07 spec.B that is!

 

My point exactly... they should have been standard on all '05's, but they're only available on a "limited" trim level '07...

 

IWSS, all good points, just something to consider. The uniqueness alone may be worthwhile if you can't get what you want from the factory anyway...

[IwannaSportSedan]

Well, I finally got another response back from SOA, after a much longer message that I sent to them, my response to the previously mentioned exchange.

 

-----Original Message-----

Header Removed for online Forum

 

Samir,

 

First, thank you for your response. It does confirm some of the

questions I had. Unfortunately the answer about the Spec B color choice

was not what I had hoped, but was what I expected.

 

I read about the likely color changes for 2007 on the internet, on

various Subaru enthusiast resources.

I also inferred the change from european Tribeca and Japanese Legacy color information, and extrapolating the relationship to US market configurations, where it seems applicable.

 

Basically all the information points to the changes that Garnet Red

pearl will be dropped entirely, Regal blue relegated to the 2.5i models,

Newport Blue Pearl replacing Atlantic Blue pearl, including being paired

exclusively with the taupe interior, and Diamond Gray added to the GT

model and exclusive on the Spec B, confirmed by your last

correspondence.

 

I would think that the 2007 specification would be frozen by this time,

and production beginning at any time now, if not already. If dealer

inventory units are slated for later this summer, I would think

production would be starting presently.

 

The pictures being released of the 2007 Legacy in Japan, and the Tribeca

(being built in Indiana) in Britain, showing Newport Blue Pearl are very

encouraging. I realize that the 2007 Legacy in the United States will

not share the body changes of the Japanese model.

but the color renditions should be similar. I am very impressed with the

color, however, I don't prefer the taupe interior. Especially

considering how good the Japanese models look with Newport Blue and

Charcoal leather.

 

My second choice would be the Garnet Red Pearl, which was offered with

charcoal leather, but seems to be lost from the 2007 Lineup.

 

This tends to put me in a position to have to choose what I should give

up. With a 2007, there is no longer a color combination that I truly

like, even with my preference for Newport Blue. However, I do prefer the

folding rear sedan seats, the auxiliary input port for the audio system,

and the prospect of improved fuel economy with SI Drive.

 

I also like the performance features of the Spec B, but that is even

more limited, and more expensive for it, which is why I can't bring

myself to consider it, in comparison to the Legacy GT Limited.

 

The other option would be to locate a holdover 2005 or 2006 model, or a

pre-owned legacy, or a product of some other manufacturer, to get the

color I want, but losing the features I like about the 2007 Legacy GT.

 

Is there any way whatsoever to special order a new Legacy with an

alternate interior color? As it stands that I have a decision to make

before I buy, and one of the choices is not to buy a new Subaru,

unfortunately. Although I still do prefer the Legacy to most or all the

alternatives on the market, aside from this issue.

 

Thank you for your correspondence, and also best wishes,

 

-[name withheld from public forum]

 

Hello Mr. K...,

 

Thank you for your reply! I truly appreciate your feedback. Even

though 2007 specifications are likely to be set in stone at this point,

there are situations where changes are made during the model year, after

production has begun. This does not happen frequently but it can

happen. This is why we continually take feedback and comments from our

customers throughout the model year.

 

If the color combination you are seeking is not available as an approved

configuration in the brochure, it cannot be custom built. We are not

able to manufacture vehicles beyond the combinations that are specified.

To custom build one-off vehicles for individual customers would be a

logistical challenge we could not meet.

 

Some of the specifications of vehicles in Japan may carry over to U.S.

vehicles but others may not. I have no way of knowing in advance, nor

can we make any assumptions in that area. Because Japan is a different

market with different demographics, vehicles are equipped differently

there. Vehicle configurations are selected based on popularity, which

is based on previous model years sales, focus groups, market analysis,

and customer surveys.

 

The best advice I can give you at this point is to wait for the official

specifications to be announced in a Subaru press release and then see

the various configurations in person at a dealership before making your

final decision. You never know, what may not appeal to you on paper,

may appeal to you in person. From what you have told me so far, it

sounds like your are leaning most heavily towards the Legacy. Of course

color is important, however, you also have to be happy and enjoy driving

the vehicle. It needs to have the features you need and want as well.

There is probably no single car that can meet every single one of your

needs 100%, but there will be one that meets the majority of them.

 

Feel free to reply back with your thoughts. I look forward to your

response!

 

Sincerely,

 

Samir Hasan

 

Now, In Samir's defense, I know he is not a decision maker, and his job description is to handle people who contact Subaru of America for reasons like I have. That is his job, I can understand that, and I've been there, and done that, unfortunately.

 

But this message reeks of corporate line spin, and verbosly saying nearly nothing.

 

These complaints are more directed toward the people WHO *DO* make decisions. Because they have made BAD ones.

 

"We cannot build one-off vehicles for everyone" - No one asked that. I just want the interior color choice back. If it was good enough for 2005, it can be good enough for 2007, even if not all the combinations are in stock everywhere. I would settle for ALL Legacy GTs getting charcoal leather, which IMHO would look better with the meager paint color availability.

 

And adding interior color choice as a Build-To-Order option is NOT the same as building a one-off car. It just means pairing an alternate set of interior panels (that are probably already grouped by color, charcoal or taupe) with a specific paint code. How difficult is that? They have already done it in the past. It was a collosally stupid move to cancel that.

 

Gee, Japan is not the same market as the US... I didn't know that... MEH.

I already know that. Japan has some serious advantages, and far more configurability, AND more models of the Legacy available. I could only wish that the option list were as long as it is in Japan.

 

SOA can't continue to think that their more Savvy customers are ignorant of other markets, and what is available there. I certainly let them know that I am aware of what Subaru does in other markets, and that the US availability doesn't measure up. I doubt it will make a difference, but I wish it would.

 

"Wait and see, you might like the 07 Legacy GT despite the color combos..."

Basically a "suck it up" statement. Great. That is what I want to be told by a company that I am considering buying a product from.

Suck it up, compromise what you want, and just accept what we offer. That seems to be becoming VERY prevalent, with little compromises, and sometimes big ones.

 

When was the last time you were happy by being told "tough luck, chuck!"

 

I can't blame Samir for saying it, what else is he going to be able to say? I do blame the people who make the decisions that define that position, and put me in the compromise position.

 

 

The offer is still open... anybody want an interior color swap on a Legacy GT from black to taupe? I may want to go the other direction, if I don't buy a competitors product entirely.

[DukeTrout]

Good work, IWSS. Keep up the good fight!

 

I really can't understand their obsession with taupe! Their target demographics in the US are in the Northeast and Northwest. Black leather works great in those climates. Plus, in areas with hotter summers, folks are going to get tints on their windows regardless of interior color, so black is once again, not a problem. Taupe wears faster visually.

 

Plus, I just plain think it looks ugly. If I were an OC detailer (like OC Details) then I might like the Ivory interior that they are offering in the JDM '07s. But taupe is just wrong. IMNSHO.

[Jedi Pimp]

How come on the WRX Limited you get a choice between black and tan leather? Why on the Legacy are you railroaded into a certain combo? That's the real question.

[tantal]

Face it, guys, the problem is lack of advertisement by SOA. If they were advertising this car, it would be selling at least 5x what it is selling now- as evidence I present all of the threads about peeps asking what kind of car this is. If people knew about it many more would buy.

 

With sales volumes up, SOA would have the financial flexibility to give a lot more choice.

 

So, please, join me in campaigning SOA to pay for some Leg GT advertisements!!

[LegGTLT]

I'll donate a couple bucks!

[GTTuner]

Hey guys, take it easy. Didn't you hear? They got all the over run on paint (cheap, cheap,) batches from the Big Three because they have no orders to build more cars because they have to give people cash and free gas just to buy em. Soon, paint will be optional on all Ford's.