At least on the east coast, most early Subarus sold in areas where roads were salted, and they rusted out. I grew up in NC, and up until the Outback and Forester came out in the late 1990s, Subarus were pretty uncommon and a bit of an eccentric car to own. I remember they exploded in popularity at the end of the 1990s (once they bothered to advertise and come up with the outback SUV wagon theme), then they got a cult following when they brought things like the WRX to the US. I'm not sure where the reliability claim comes from, but they've been using it a long time in their advertising. To me they don't seem any more reliable than anything else, and in some cases MUCH worse than an "average" reliability car. I don't know, I guess they feel they have to present their cars as a smart, sensible choice above all else.
