[svxistentialist]

Originally Posted by nutshell

Just thought I'd update this record. All positive.
The 4WS took me about 18 months to get really comfortable with.
Now it makes me wonder why Subaru dropped it after only 500 vehicles.

Ian, as you know the active AWS model was released only in Japan. The top of the range models were the CXD variants, which came "fully loaded" with practically every available option as standard, including AWS.

Feedback from Japan suggests that poor sales of this top model resulted in the CXD variant getting dropped from the lineup early on. Looking in from the outside it seems that most Japanese buyers are wary of complexity, at least of over-complexity. They already have a regime that forces them back to the dealer after a few years to replace seatbelts and other expensive components, or the car does not pass their Shaken test. It looks like this test is fashioned to make it expensive to retain an older car, thereby making it cheaper or more economically advantageous to buy a new car. An imposed inflationary measure to boost the economy.

Combined with teething problems in some of the early release AWS cars, I think this may have put the seal of doom on the more advanced hi-tech SVXes as far as customer sales were concerned. I could be wrong in this, but that's how it looks.

Enjoy your car,

Joe