Howard Ritchie raises an interesting paradox in this piece: Subaru’s reputation for quality doesn’t translate into mass market dominance. The Outback review suggests we’re witnessing a broader cultural shift in how consumers evaluate vehicles.
The Value-Over-Status Paradigm
The central thought here is that car buyers are increasingly prioritising functional value over aspirational appeal. The Outback embodies this philosophy—it’s built well, performs reliably in challenging conditions, and offers genuine comfort —but it lacks the fashionable edge that drives showroom traffic. This disconnect reveals something important about consumer psychology: we often claim to want practicality, but our purchasing decisions still skew toward image and status.
“Work for Us” vs. “Add to Our Outgoings”
This framing is particularly revealing. It suggests a maturing in how we think about vehicle ownership—less as an identity statement and more as a tool that should justify its cost through utility. The Outback’s quiet cabin, solid construction, and all-weather capability represent genuine functional benefits that reduce stress and increase usability. Yet these tangible advantages often lose out to intangible factors like brand cachet or design trends.
The “Least Fashionable” Badge of Honour
The reviewer’s embrace of the Outback’s unfashionable status is noteworthy. It implies that fashion itself might be the problem—a premium we pay that doesn’t correlate with actual satisfaction or utility. In a market saturated with vehicles designed to project image, the Outback’s unpretentious competence becomes almost countercultural.
What This Means
If there’s a growing segment of buyers who genuinely prioritise how a car “works for them,” manufacturers like Subaru may be well-positioned for long-term success, even if they never achieve mainstream popularity. The question is whether this practical-minded segment will grow large enough to challenge the fashion-driven dynamics that currently dominate the automotive market.
