2012 Subaru Outback 2.5i on 2040-cars

Auto blog

Autoblog's ultimate holiday rides

Over the hills and through the woods, it's the time of year when many of us visit family and friends for the holidays. But getting there can be a chore. It's cold and snowy across much of the United States, and even if the climate is favorable, the drive to grandmother's house often is not. Think back to holiday road trips of yore: They probably included crying babies, antsy children, hungover adults and frequent bathrooms stops all around. Now, we're all at different life stages here at Autoblog, and the perfect car for one staffer might be as useful as a team of Budweiser Clydesdales to another. Some of us bounce from family event to family event with children and a labrador in tow, while others prefer a quieter, simpler holiday. But whatever the endeavor, we all need wheels. With that in mind, here is the unofficial Autoblog list of the ultimate cars in which to tackle the holiday season. 2015 Ferrari FF To borrow a chestnut from Top Gear presenter James May, "As you'd expect, I've done this properly." That oddly voluptuous ruby bolide in the photo above? It's a 2015 Ferrari FF – all 652 all-wheel-driven horsepower of it. What makes a Ferrari the ideal for holiday time in PaukertLand? My Midwestern winter breaks are wonderful, but they're typically frenetic and slushy, involving a lot of schlepping from house to house and even city to city, not to mention inevitable last-minute runs for forgotten presents and dinner ingredients. Needless to say, a powerful V12 is a welcome ally for such duties. And this one isn't just a friend when the road is clear. The FF has been gifted Ferrari's novel 4RM AWD system, and despite sitting lower to the ground than, say, an SUV, it's a pretty effective tool for real winter driving, especially when outfitted with a set of snow tires. Unlike other Ferraris, it's also a rather practical thing, with legitimate seating for four adults and 15.9 cubic feet of cargo space – that's precisely as much room as a Mercedes E-Class – and you can fold the rear chairs and cram 28.2 cubes-worth of holiday cheer in the back. Okay, so it's far from cheap and fuel economy isn't that great, but who cares? Just drop a paddle-shifted gear or two, bury the throttle and Repeat The Sounding Joy. Ain't the holidays grand? – Chris Paukert Executive Editor 2015 Chevrolet Tahoe My Mom gives out more presents than any other human being I've ever encountered.

Junkyard Gem: 1984 Subaru GL 4WD Wagon, Colorado Stereotypes Edition

I live in Denver, which means my local junkyards are well-stocked with used-up Subarus. These days, that means mostly Outbacks from the 1995-2005 period, but sufficient 1970s and 1980s Subarus remain in service that they show up from time to time. Here, in a Denver self-service yard, is a second-generation Leone wagon, from the era when this car was called just "the Subaru" in the American market. It appears that this car's final owner named it The Little D. Right next to the rag being used as a gas cap, a Yoda-ized Steal Your Face skull. This sticker from Incredible Extracts is easy to find in and on the cars in Denver-area wrecking yards. Someone made a pretty good Hunter S. Thompson stencil for the right-hand rear side glass. Neither of the two other members of the Male Hipster Holy Trinity (Kerouac and Bukowski) are to be found here, but then those two didn't live in Colorado. Anonymous is everywhere, even the junkyard. In 1984, the GL was the top trim level of the Subaru wagon, and the MSRP on this car was $8,168. That's about 19 grand in 2017 dollars. The going rate for a hooptie '84 GL wagon in 2017 is about $250. This car has manually-actuated four-wheel-drive, rather than the center-differential-equipped all-wheel-drive you'll get with your 21st-century Subaru. This meant that drivers were supposed to use front-wheel-drive on dry asphalt and four-wheel-drive on snow or dirt, but many didn't understand the concept and tore up their tires and/or powertrains by running 4WD at all times. These cars would get you to the slopes every time, and they'd do it cheaply enough for you to afford your preferred intoxicants once you got there. This car's 34 years on the road are done, but many of its kind remain. Related video:

Subaru might build WRX hatchback after all

The 2015 Subaru WRX is awesome. Really awesome. We told you as much in our first drive of the new sedan back in December. Honestly, our only complaint about Fuji Heavy's new performance machine is that it's no longer offered as a hatchback - the new WRX is a sedan-only affair, despite the more functional five-door variant accounting for some 50 percent of sales in the car's last generation.
But there's hope on the horizon, if a report from Australia's Motoring.com is to be believed. Speaking with Masuo Takatsu, Subaru's general manager for the WRX, the company is now re-considering putting the "hatch" back in its hot hatch.
"We have received strong interest from the US, where the hatchback was 50 percent (of previous-generation WRX sales), so we're now considering," Takatsu told Motoring, noting that the United States is Subaru's main target for this car. Additionally, Takatsu said the company's decision to only offer the sedan was the result of limited engineering resources, echoing statements we've previously heard from Subaru's US arm.