Zander Drives Cars

My grandparents have spent half their year in Vermont since the early 1990s. For half that time, I have been coming up to the green mountain state multiple times a summer to visit and escape from sweltering Baltimore. As I’ve grown up and started to be aware of my automotive surroundings, I began to notice something about the cars in this state: every other automobile is the Subaru Outback.

This little “oh, interesting” in the back of my head has recently grown and turned into a “wait, hold on” rapidly. I blame two very important reasons. First: the Outback was the best-selling car in the state for roughly a decade, and second: my grandparents just bought a used one to keep up here. So, I decided to take matters into my own hands, steal their Subie for a few hours, and find out why the hell Vermonters are so into this car.

Let’s start with what the Outback is. The Subaru Outback is a lifted wagon, which in the grand scheme of things is a niche car type. Wait, maybe that’s why they buy so many of them! Well, I’m not so sure.

Aside from Subaru, both Audi and Volvo make similarly sized lifted wagons. In fact, cars like the A6 Allroad, V60 Cross Country, and even the discontinued, but still very cool Saab 9-3 Cross are all popular cars here.

Well, those new Audis and Volvos are expensive. For example, a new V60 CC is $50,000, and an Allroad is even more. So that’s probably why they choose the Outback. But, hold on: In 2022, the best-selling car in Vermont changed hands to the ever-present Ford F150. Now, it would be silly of me to assume that everyone would be buying brand new $50,000+ trucks, but most mid-level crew cabs are about that price. So, enough people here can clearly afford $50,000 cars (trucks), that price might not be this issue. Plus, late-model pre-owned versions of those Euro-wagons are about what a new mid-spec Outback costs.

To give this car credit, it does have a large amount of stuff in it that might justify a purchase over an Audi or Volvo. This particular model has heated front and rear seats, wired CarPlay, adaptive cruise control, a Harmon Kardon Soundsystem, lane keep assist with a full BLIS system, power front seats, and more airbags than there are brands of maple syrups at Hannaford. Plus, for what it’s worth, the quality is pretty good in here. For a 5-year-old car, nothing felt squeaky or worn, even at 50,000 miles.

So, it isn’t a price thing, and it isn’t a luxury thing. Well, what about reliability?

Well, look, for as many jokes about Subaru’s reliability that aren’t true, there are enough that are true. Don’t get me wrong, these cars are reliable, but if you’re really after little to no maintenance for 400,000 miles, why not pick up something like a Rav4 or a CR-V? There’s a reason why scrolling through Facebook Marketplace in the Upper Valley yields endless Imprezas and Foresters sitting at roughly 150,000 miles with descriptions that read “blown motor, parts car, $2,000.”

Alas, enough people do put themselves through Subaru’s iffy engines enough where this obviously doesn’t matter to them, so we’re back at square one.

Okay, to recap, it can’t be price, can’t be the idea of a lifted wagon, can’t be reliability, maybe it’s performance?

Again, this can’t be it. I know Subaru has a reputation for building fast, fun, exciting 4wd vehicles, but the Outback isn’t that. Look, it would be stupid of me to complain about a commuter car with a CVT, a 2.5l 4-banger, and an almost 9-second 0-60 time, but this car doesn’t move like how people might think a rally-bred brand like Subaru would. It drives fine for what it is, and the AWD is some of the best on the market, but, for the umpteenth time: this can’t be the reason.

As I sat outside Broken Heart Burger, a burger join in Fairlee closed for three days a week and only open from 4-8 p.m., it hit me: The reason why this car is popular is because it isn’t normal. I mean, the Outback is a normal car, but the idea of both the Outback and Vermont isn’t normal. This state is quirky. Have you ever been to Burlington? Have you ever seen Ben & Jerry’s tweets? Have you seen Bernie Sanders? This state is about counterculture. It’s about doing your own thing, not caring about big, flashy, normal ideals, and your weird self in a place where everyone is also their weird self. As cheesy as that sounds, the Outback, and to a bigger extent Subaru, fits those ideals.

Subaru is a progressive company, they supported LGBTQ+ rights far before anyone else did, they’re huge donors to the ASPCA, they’re rugged, they’re weird; they present themselves as the perfect brand for people who like being weird, being self-cultured, for just being out there (har-har). It’s much more than a car, it’s what goes along with that car.

Talk to any Vermonter who drives a Subaru and you’ll realize they do it because they like what it represents. They don’t care about middling gas milage or bad acceleration, they care about having a car that speaks to their strange, yet charming values.

Finishing up this article, I decided that, even though the Outback isn’t my first choice of lifted wagon, it gets a dual thumbs up from me. This flatlander supports Subie’s Vermont crusade 100% of the way.

Also, this is my grandmother’s and I don’t want her to think I don’t like her car; because she loves it.