Seduced by stand-out Subaru

Subaru. I greeted him and he said: “This is the first time I have come close to a Subaru; I actually did not think black people know of such a car. Go do your shopping, I will look after the car.”

I saw big white men in huge 4x4s opening their windows slowly to check out who was driving – it was me, the black village boy, with a funky hairstyle.

At one garage, the petrol attendants started pushing each other to offer me their services.

I asked one: “What were you guys fighting for?” He replied: “We hardly see Subarus here, and we were actually shocked to see one with a bright colour like this, and we were more stunned when we realised that it is a young black man behind the wheel.”

My village has mostly gravel and sandy roads, but the XV’s capacity to pull with all four wheels and its generous 220mm ground clearance gave me the push to take on the roads with ease.

This led me to take it to the car wash sooner than I expected. The guys took more than two hours to wash the vehicle. After all that, I must say it was not as clean as I expected. Clearly there was less cleaning and more admiration.

“We wash a lot of cars here. But a Subaru is unusual. Thanks for making my week,” one said.

A downside is that the boot space is small.

My mother and aunt said it wouldn’t work for them. My aunt said: “It’s surely a car for single men like Fana (as she affectionately calls me).”

You do not drive over 100km/h when you are with these ladies. But because of the comfort of the car, even at points when I went just above 120km/h, they did not feel that I was “speeding”.

At the end of the test, the XV had grown on me. Getting into a Renault Clio, I missed the Subaru’s push-button start and its reversing camera.

It’s so easy to love the XV. I enjoyed the car as it had a CD option as well as USB. Heck, I’m still old school like that at 25.

I love automatic cars – the best thing for me after Oros juice.

As much as I grew attached to the car, I think it’s for someone like me who has a girlfriend and not a wife and kid(s). It is perfect for people in my age group who are big on travelling and who enjoy mountainous country and driving to far-flung and different places.

This is because it’s a reliable car and indeed I have confidence in motion when I am in a Subaru. I love it, and I would like to own one soon because, as my family said, ke Rra Tsela.