The only real change appears to have been the replacement of the Signature Cafe sign with one for Drive Up & Go, and even that happened a while after the remodel itself. It's interesting to see that Quest Diagnostics got its own, lit-up exterior sign at this store, and a bit strange that it's all the way on the opposite side of the building from the pharmacy sign! And for the car people on here, it's fun to see a first-generation and a current-generation Subaru Impreza hatchback parked right next to each other!
That light blue 1990s Subaru wagon is actually a Subaru Legacy and not an Impreza! I can't fault anyone for misidentifying them as the Legacy and Impreza did look similar back then...and even somewhat so today. Plus, a modern Impreza might not be much different in size than a 1990s Legacy...at least in sedan form.
ReplyDeleteWhat is impreza...err...impressive is that the Legacy is a true wagon and not the 'Outback' faux SUV trim. Even more impressive is that the Impreza is a true hatchback and not one of those XV Crosstrek faux SUVs. I'm not sure why anyone would pay a couple grand more for the XV Crosstrek over the regular Impreza when they both have AWD and are otherwise similar other than body cladding and maybe a little bit of height. Oh well, I can't explain the appeal of SUVs, ones that aren't even off-road cars, but good for that Safeway shopper for buying the 'proper' version of the Impreza Hatchback! The same could be said about the Legacy buyer.
Huh, I even looked it up beforehand and still thought that was an Impreza!
DeleteThe Crosstrek is super popular around here, but the standard Impreza hatchback is fairly common too, as is the original Legacy wagon -- both of those are probably more common than their sedan counterparts (though far less common than the SUV versions), even with the Legacy wagon having been discontinued quite a while ago. Personally, I don't mind the Crosstrek, since it seems to satisfy people's desire for a SUV without them buying something giant (and it still manages to have better ground clearance than some much bigger crossovers); if they were to introduce a Wilderness version with proper ground clearance (as they have with the Forester and Outback -- my parents recently bought one of those), it would be really nice to have a true off-road tiny SUV again.
I see what you're saying about the XV Crosstrek filling the desires people have for an SUV without having to buy something very big that actually has less ground clearance than a regular Impreza. There certainly is some merit to that, but the problem is that when cars like the XV Crosstrek become more popular than the regular versions of those cars, it seems to convince the automakers to drop the regular versions. Thus, the person wanting to save $2-3k by not buying the plastic cladding version is left without that option. This is what sadly happened to the Legacy station wagon.
DeleteOf course, I might be in the small minority, but I wish Subaru went back to selling regular FWD versions of their cars along with the AWD versions. Here in Houston, AWD is functionally useless and only adds to the cost of the car upfront and in terms of added maintenance and fuel costs. People still buy a lot of Corolla/Sentra/Mazda3 type cars here and I think Subaru is losing potential sales by not having a 'thrifty' option for those who buy thrifty cars.