Ray Ho 07/26/2026

Subie, a well-known slang nickname for the Subaru car, attracts car fans all over the world. Sure, Subaru may not be as popular as mainstream brands like Toyota or Honda, but its cars, especially the WRX, have a cult-like (the good kind) following. In recent years, Subaru has marketed itself as a lifestyle brand: Safe, reliable, and great for the outdoors. It is backing that up, as Subara have been ranked at the top in terms of brand and reliability. Subaru was known to have exclusively 4-wheel drive cars until the BRZ was introduced back in 2013. Their exclusive boxer engine offering, along with Porsche, is also quite unique among car manufacturers.

If you like Subaru or car shows in general, you don’t want to miss Subiefest, a multi-state car show where thousands of car enthusiasts enjoy a full day of fun with all Subaru-themed festivities. There are hundreds of modified cars (with many of them in the spectator parking lot), classics, specialty cars, vendor rows, and mandatory food trucks. There are also autocross and contests, including rare categories such as the best engine bay and the loudest exhaust, which exceeds 120dB, BTW.

This year’s Subiefest California was held at the Santa Anita Park parking lot last Saturday. It offered a festive environment to say the least (minus the crazy hot weather of course). Special shout out to the friendly and helpful Subie staff!

Wanna learn about car rallying? There is a tent for that. Wanna just be a fan? There are official gears from Subaru, specialty T-shirts, and car accessories of all kinds. Wanna modify your car? Just listen and feel the excitement among the fans and vendors discussing mods and setups: Is your car naturally aspirated? Upgrade it with a turbo kit! Oh, your car already comes with a turbo? Put in a bigger one! Want more? I see an engine swap in your future!

Don’t know where to start? Go check out the hundreds of modified cars on display to get some inspiration. Then there are plenty of vendors to provide you with “budget-friendly” options; aside from the usual suspects like Blistein, HKS, and Liqui Moly, vendors came from all over California. Do you need help in the SF area? Folks at PLM can talk your ears off about down pipes, mid pipes, and even headers (or uneven ones). Closer to home? You can get your Subie serviced and tuned at Yimi Sport Tuning in Santa Clarita or get some serious performance upgrades from EDO Performance in Garden Grove. Heck, why stop there? Get your car converted for flex-fuel at Delicious Tuning in San Diego. Bro!

Don’t have a Subie yet? No worries, there are numerous Subaru dealer booths that are more than happy to hook you up.

Interested to see what is new for Subaru? Even if you missed the LA Auto Show booth that was offering free tickets to the upcoming show in November, go check out Subaru’s impressive outdoor-themed display at the show anyway. Hope to see some of you there. It Subie fun!