2010 Subaru Tribeca 3.6r Touring 3rd Row Suv W/ Navigation on 2040-cars

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2015 Subaru XV Crosstrek Special Edition shows its shining face to the Detroit crowd

The 2015 Subaru XV Crosstrek Special Edition is an easy model to spot thanks to its bright Sunrise Yellow paint. However, under the lights at the 2015 Detroit Auto Show, the shade actually looks a bit darker than the blazing tone from the original photos. Subaru is only making 1,000 of these shining models, and appropriately, they hit the market in the spring when the sun starts shining. Beyond the bright paint, buyers get a Crosstrek with a power moonroof, body-color folding mirrors and blackened headlight bezels. Inside, there's Subie's Starlink infotainment system with a seven-inch touchscreen and two USB ports. The all-weather package should make things easier on cold days, too, with heated seats and side mirrors, plus a windshield wiper de-icer. The whole package based around the 2.0i Premium trim rings up for $25,290, plus $850 destination and delivery.

Subaru suing CA dealership for alleged false customer surveys

Whenever you buy a new car from a dealer these days or sometimes even go in for service, you can expect to fill out a customer satisfaction survey at some point down the road. The responses are actually quite important to showrooms because automakers require the businesses to keep things at a certain level or face penalties. However, a Subaru dealer allegedly found a way to game that system, at least briefly, and now the Subaru of America has filed a lawsuit in US District Court for breach of contract. South Coast Subaru in Costa Mesa, CA, reportedly falsified 224 customer satisfaction questionnaires in 2014, according to Automotive News. The scheme wasn't that hard to figure out, though. All of the faked surveys were allegedly submitted through the IP address of an Acura showroom managed by the same dealer. Under normal circumstances when someone buys a Subaru, the dealer is supposed to collect the customer's email address and submit it to the automaker. However, South Coast allegedly presented false addresses, and then managers had employees fill the forms out during lunch. Subaru claimed in the suit that by doing this the dealer harmed the company's product reputation and its goodwill among customers. "Defendants prevented Subaru from discovering the actual customer satisfaction level of Subaru retail customers at South Coast Subaru by providing sham customer surveys to [Subaru]," the complaint said, according to Automotive News. Related Video:

Subaru WRX hatchback back off the table

It's fair to see we're rather fond of the new Subaru WRX. That's not to say we don't have a number of issues with the budget sports sedan, though. Foremost among those complaints is that it's short exactly one door. Yes, the sedan-only WRX is just fine, but we'd be lying if we said we weren't missing the long-roofed, five-door model of years past. More pressing than our sentimentality, though, is the business case for a WRX wagon - half of the 2013 WRX and STI models sold had five doors. As a general rule, ignoring half of your former customers isn't the best strategy for long-term success. There was some hope, as recently as a few weeks ago, though, that Subaru would right this wrong and offer a real, five-door WRX. An Australian reporter managed to corner project manager Masuo Takatsu, who said strong interest from the US meant that the Subaru mothership was considering a WRX with a hatch rather than a trunk. Sadly, that doesn't seem to be the case, as Subaru USA is dashing any and all hope of a second body style. According to Motor Trend, the company's US arm reached out to Japan and, despite the statements made by Takatsu, confirmed that there were no plans for a WRX wagon. Sigh...