I was thrilled to be invited to join Subaru's inaugural Fantasy Rally last fall. They invited a handful of journalists and me, a mere blogger, to New Hampshire to learn more about the Subaru brand and drive their latest models while picking up some mad driving skillz at the O'Neil Rally School and Car Control Center.

The Rally and Car Control School trains rally drivers as well as others who need serious defensive driving techniques. Rumor has it the Department of Defense provides many students.

A sunny morning provided the perfect light for viewing the Subaru  lineup. My eight-year old Outback is so pockmarked; it's filled with dents and dings that attest to its long, useful life. I drooled over the shiny new Impreza, Forester,  Outback and Tribeca. So clean. So very, very clean.

After an overview of the models, we headed in for a bit of classroom instruction. We talked skids, line breaking, apexes, target fixation,  oversteering, understeering, evasive maneuvers and more.
Then we headed outside to drive. First, the instructor demonstrated a given technique, then we students got behind the wheel to execute it ourselves. We drove the new cars I'd admired earlier in the morning, switching it up to try them all.