Subaru keeps hoodwinking us all.

Take a look at the slightly overexposed photo of a Legacy and an Australian spec Toyota Camry 2.5 Atisse above. Try to guess which is the Scooby and which is the ultimate uncle-mobile before reading the next paragraph below.



Both are extremely slab-sided and both have the same blunt nose. The only difference is the C-pillar kink in the Subaru. There, the Subaru is the one in front and the Toyota is the one in the background. Even if you add a bonnet scoop it still looks like a Toyota. In fact, if you compare a Camry with big-ass wheels it looks better. Just compare the two photos below. This generation's Subaru Legacy does not have the looks to back up its performance credentials or its price (a list price of over RM240,000)..

Granted, the Subaru with its AWD drivetrain and better handling will run rings around the Toyota but there lies the problem with Subaru's design these days. What Subaru have done is forget about being the slightly unique, eccentric, weird or ugly designs like previous Subarus have been (think SVX in the late 1980s, the early Foresters and the early WRXs) and have gone mainstream, common and slightly dull.

Now some of you may have seen photos of the recently previewed Subaru Legacy Concept (above) and it looks like it is sporty in the right places. It looks real good and shows you and I that they can design nice cars. But I am not buying this one bit. Now remember the recent Subaru WRX Concept shown recently?

The car was one that a whole lot of Malaysian JDM enthusiasts would have wet dreams about. It was stunning. It has everything you ever wanted in a sports sedan. I still get weak knees looking at pictures of the car. It was one car most would go 'Fuyiohhhhhhh!!!!!' if one passed by with a burbling flat-four boxer. This concept car basically tells us that Subaru can actually design a beauty. But what the heck came out in the end?

This very normal looking 2014 Subaru WRX sedan (pictured above). Why???? It may not be ugly but it sure isn't the WR Blue concept car shown earlier. It isn't the car most would have wanted after viewing the concept car. Sure we wouldn't mind buying it as it isn't drop dead ugly or opinion polarising like some cars but it isn't a beautiful piece of work like the Concept car.

Subaru had basically hoodwinked us all. Their concept cars will look nothing like what they're going to produce. It's like thinking your friend has set you up on a date with Selina Gomez but you got George Lopez instead. Yes, it's that bad, unless you prefer men that is.

For God's sake Subaru, give us something beautiful that we can actually buy. I know Subaru seems to sell by the bucket loads in America but it is more for its engineering and AWD practicality instead of looks. But since you can actually design beautiful cars can you at least give us one rose, just one rose every decade among all the thorns that you seem to love giving us. Is that too much to ask?