Originally posted to Posterous on 27 August 2011
Finally I'm a real lesbian. I'm a Subaru owner. A blue 2007 Subaru Outback Luxury 4WD [MY07]. See Redbook for the full specs: http://www.redbook.com.au/used-cars/details.aspx?__Qpb=1&__sid=12EEEEB68794&R=98638&ref=Item&__Ns=p_Make_String%7c0%7c%7cp_ClassificationType_String%7c0%7c%7cp_Family_String%7c0%7c%7cp_Year_String%7c1%7c%7cp_SequenceNum_Int32%7c0&__N=2994%204294944089%204294842806%204294965584&__Nne=15.
Leather seats, 2.5l engine with sports automatic transmission, car seat protector for the back seat so our dog can ride in comfort without damaging the seats, an after-market iPod connector hard-wired to the FM radio that charges devices as you drive - iSimple Tranzit (http://isimplesolutions.com), hand controls transferred from my old car by Les Brazier Special Vehicles (http://www.lesbrazier.com.au).
I looked around at fourth generation Subaru Outbacks for a while, there were plenty of 2007 cars in car dealers around Adelaide, but I was attracted to this one because it had only travelled 40,000 kilometres. When I originally saw it, it was listed for sale at $29,990, but it sat unsold for a few weeks, and was reduced in price to $26,660. One Saturday in July, I arranged for my brother-in-law to do a test drive, and I arranged to buy it the same day, after negotiating a good trade-in price for my 2006 Ford Falcon ute.
It's nerve-wracking buying a car that you can't test drive yourself, especially going from a six-cylinder engine to a four-cylinder one. But I have absolutely no regrets. The Subaru Outback is beautiful to drive - light steering, plenty of zip, and an automatic gearbox that is completely responsive. It's nice having my wheelchair back inside the car undercover, although our dog sheds so much hair that having him in the car is akin to driving in a snow dome being shaken vigorously. I definitely notice that I need to shop around for fuel more, having gone from an LPG-only engine at around 60-65 cents per litre to an unleaded petrol engine at $1.30 to $1.45 per litre, but my weekly spend on fuel has not increased dramatically, given that fuel consumption is lower.
Being able to plug in an iPod, iPhone or iPad to the car stereo is not new for me - I had 3.5mm auxiliary inputs in both of my previous cars - but I have discovered Tune In, an internet radio app (http://tunein.com) and have started enjoying international radio in my car. New Zealand classical, French nostalgia, soul, blues, country and gospel from the US. Great stuff.
So how does owning a Subaru make me a real lesbian? It's an old stereotype that lesbians drive Subarus, and that Subarus are lesbian cars, but like most stereotypes, it's not entirely inaccurate. (Hint try googling 'lesbian Subaru' if you don't believe me.) There was at least one other lesbian couple looking at Subarus on the day we bought ours. And Subaru in the United States did run a series of commercials with subtle and not-so-subtle lesbian and gay themes. The clincher though for me is not the number of lesbians I know who drive Subarus of one persuasion or another, nor the gay-themed ads, nor the abundance of women-friendly Subaru dealers. It's the dog commercials. Commercials for Subaru featuring two dogs driving a Subaru. (See http://www.subaru.com/dogs and http://www.youtube.com/Subaru.) My favourite can be found at . If that doesn't say lesbian car ...