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Subaru mulls motorsports return, nixes small CUV plans

The Subaru WRX STI breaking the automotive lap record at the Isle of Man might be just the beginning of the headlines trumpeting a Subaru racecar. According to the latest rumors, the Japanese brand is looking at taking motorsports more seriously in the future. That could possibly even mean endurance racing at Le Mans.
According to Auto Express, the brand is mulling a greater participation in motorsport, but the big question is where. The World Rally Championship isn't a certainty because it now favors smaller cars like the Volkswagen Polo. Subaru still competes in series like Rally America and Global Rallycross, but there are bigger stages to play on.
What's interesting, is that this commitment to motorsports comes right as the automaker is denying plans to build a small CUV for its passenger car lineup. According to Auto Express, the company has no intention of developing a crossover smaller than the current XV Crosstrek. Even if the sales are there, it would just cost too much to develop. In the US, at least, the XV is doing great with sales up 42 percent in July.

Takata air bag recall list

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration confirmed yesterday that 33.8 million vehicles with Takata airbags are going to be recalled. It's the largest recall in automotive history. The already record-breaking rate of automotive recalls this year shows no signs of slowing down, especially since millions of cars with defective airbags made by global supplier Takata are under ongoing scrutiny. The federal government is warning owners that inflator mechanisms in the air bags can rupture, causing metal fragments to fly out when the bags are deployed. The faulty air bags have already been blamed for multiple deaths. How do you know if your vehicle is safe? The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration released an updated list of vehicles under recall. Sometimes however, the government's website will crash and the list may not be complete. Check your VIN at the NHTSA website to make sure. The list of cars affected by the recall has not been released, but seem to span multiple models over the years for many of the automakers.

2015 Subaru WRX: Road trip to Maine [w/video]

After driving one of the best sport compacts on the market to one of the best-driving-roads states in the Union, who'd have thought that one of my big takeaways would be... great fuel economy? And yet, after putting more than 2,200 miles on our long-term 2015 Subaru WRX, driving from Ann Arbor, MI, to The Great State of Maine and back, my overall fuel consumption figures were almost as baffling as the premium-gasoline prices throughout Canada. In the early part of the now-past autumn, my wife Molly and I were happy to make use of the long-term WRX for our annual road trip from Michigan to Maine. Our goal, as ever, was to fit as much hiking, boating and lobster eating as we could into a one-week span. And, with the sporting Scoobie as our ride this time, I also hoped to spend time bombing down some of my favorite roads through the White Mountains. Anyone that pays attention to the industry knows that New England is a hot spot for Subaru sales, but it turns out that the WRX is just about tailor made for enjoying the best of Maine, too. First up, though – as it was the most surprising to me – is the fuel economy story. I knew going into the trip that I'd log more than two grand on the odometer, but I never expected the returns to be quite so positive as they ended up netting out. My total observed economy over 2,226 miles was 28.38 miles per gallon, or just a fraction better than the EPA estimated highway number of 28 mpg. How'd I do that? My total observed economy over 2,226 miles was 28.38 miles per gallon. Well, for starters, the stretch of Canadian highway between Michigan and Vermont is exceptionally long, flat, straight and dull. Excepting the inevitable traffic around Toronto, the trip is mostly of the "set it and forget it" variety, typically at a cruise of about 72 miles per hour (so as not to attract the Mounties). Doing that haul, I had one tank of premium (15.9 gallon capacity) last for 466 miles, running a trip-best 31.9 mpg. Considering that the Canadian petrol was running me roughly five American bucks per gallon, I appreciated the Subie's newfound frugality. One small issue, tangentially related to fuel, did crop up on the road. The WRX's gas door stopped popping open when I pulled the lever after my second fill up. As it turned out, there is a technical service bulletin out for this very issue, which was looked after as soon as we got back to the States.