Subaru owners, apart from WRX vape bros, are a very specific type of person. They’re outdoorsy, granola and folksy in a corporate sort of way. That means they fit in perfectly in places that represent those same sorts of ideals and aesthetics, places like Portland, Oregon. Needless to say, they’re everywhere in that Pacific Northwest city, and “everywhere” isn’t even hyperbole.
One TikToker decided to see just how inundated Portland is with Subarus in an admittedly not deeply scientific experiment. Basically, he opened up Google Maps and Street View and just kept clicking on random areas until he didn’t see a Subaru. He called this little game, “Explore Portland until I don’t see a Subaru hatchback.” After four attempts of immediately seeing Subarus, the TikToker, @forsaleinportland gave up and declared that it was “impossible.” He may have had a point.
The thing is, I didn’t think four tries were enough, so I went in and replicated the same experiment. After 10 random selections of the Portland area, I’ve gotta say, he was onto something. Eight out of the 10 random places I chose did indeed have a Subaru somewhere nearby, and the two that didn’t still have Volvo wagons in them, which are sort of just Subarus for chicer people with more money.
In another video, the TikToker tried the same experiment with Subarus in Seattle, Washington, and it was a similar result, though after a handful of tries, he was finally able to find a place in the city that didn’t have a Subaru in it. That’s huge.
Subarus have really built up a reputation for themselves and the people who drive them, so none of this is particularly shocking. Still, it’s wild to me that Subaru, a company that sold only 630,000 vehicles in 2023, can dominate some areas of the country. That’s love, I guess.
