Subaru's dotted line keeps car thieves at bay

The Australians have confirmed what Subaru New Zealand has been saying all along - that its new Impreza and Legacy models are among the least attractive vehicles to steal.

High-performance versions have long been favourites of joyriders, crooked dismantlers and crims wanting a fast getaway car.

Now, they're some of the most improved in NRMA Insurance's just-released 2004 New Vehicle Theft Scores.

New Subarus have microscopic DataDots, which contain the individual vehicle's identification number, deterring theft and vehicle re-birthing.

According to Subaru New Zealand general manager Wallis Dumper, no new Subaru equipped with data dots has been stolen. The stolen ones are all used imports.

High-performance Impreza WRX and WRX STi models in Australia also have keypad alarm systems where the driver has to punch in a code to start the vehicle. New Zealand models bypass this feature for an extremely sophisticated alarm system.

NRMA Insurance, which has been conducting the ease-of-theft surveys for years, has listed Subaru among five brands that received full marks for vehicle identification this year.

However, the Subarus could not quite match Mitsubishi's thief-magnet Lancer Evolution VIII. It scored 105 out of a possible 120, putting it ahead of the WRX STi's 100.

NRMA Insurance measures the "stealability" of nearly 200 new vehicles, assigning points for how easy or hard it is to break in, how much trouble the thief has to get it going, and how easily a stolen car can be identified, which is why microdot-fitted vehicles have shot up in the ratings. The research found that large family cars achieved relatively poor scores, particularly around ease of entry and vehicle identification.

Mitsubishi's Diamante is the hardest to steal of any of the Australian-produced large cars, thanks to changes to its locking made during an upgrade last year. The Mitsi came out slightly ahead of Commodore, Toyota Avalon and Falcon.

Top vehicle overall, with a score of 117 out of a possible 120, was the Audi A6 4.2 Quattro sedan, followed by the Porsche Cayenne S (111), Audi A6 sedan (107), the Evo VIII (105), BMW Z4 Roadster (102) and the WRX STi sedan (100).

* You can check how your vehicle fared at www.nrma.com.au/cartheft