So I'm in a 2017 Premium lease. I've seen the new "refreshed " front end. To me, it looks cheap. Black plastic is cheaper than painted parts. Therefore, cheaper to make. That black plastic, unless you maintain it, fades and looks like **** if it's not shiny. It also looks as if they've removed the foglights too. This is obviously just my opinion. Some may like it. All car companies do it. Little cost cutting measures to make the car for less. It's minor, I understand. Just voicing my opinion.
Black plastic isn't hard to maintain, just keep it sealed while it is still in good condition, and it will stay looking good. It will also be easy to replace down the road, and you won't have to worry about color matching.
With how crappy Subaru's paint is, it is good to have some black plastic on the front bumper, as protection against rock chips. At 10k miles my front bumper is covered in them. The only thing I don't like about the new front is how the corners of the fog light surround come to a point over the actual bumper. They are trying to go for a more aggressive look, but it just doesn't look right.
Anyways, with any new change, just look back to the release of the 2015s, everyone complains how ugly it is, then in a few months it starts growing on people, and eventually they will admit they like it.
I do like how the headlights have low and high beam LED on the 2018s. If they were really "Cheaping Out" they would have retained the LED lows and Halogen DRLs/High Beams.
