otis

I would argue that maybe 1% of drivers would be better off without traction control. you may very well fall into that catagory, but I know that I would prefer to have it. I know in my bmw, it's saved my butt more times than I realized. one winter i was pulling out of my driveway and the DSC light was flashing like crazy but the car was just driving straight. I pulled back and tried again w/o the DSC on the same stretch and spun around like someone was pushing my car from the side. besides, maybe on this car there will be a switch to turn it on and off.

I'm not sure what to say because I'm not really sure what you're looking for. Both cars you picked were quite different (age, miles, price pt, body, options). the only thing they apparently had in common was they were both sedans. To me $7.5 seems high- but I have no idea what the market is like in your area. It seems like this seller is banking on someone who wants a loaded legacy gt with reasonably low miles. if this is exactly what you are looking for, then you may have no choice but buy it at his price. but if you just want a cheap "sedan," I'd probably just keep looking.

it sounds like you already made up your mind. Outback: "Perfect condition...every luxury... smooth... powerful..." Forester: "little noisier... less well built... clunkier..." looks like you jsut have to decide which features are important to you. We had a hard time deciding between an outback and a forester. but it came down to a few things for us... the ride hight was PERFECT for egress/ingress for my wife (she was pregnant at the time). The forester had more cargo room. We didn't like the way the 2nd row seat folded down on the outback (had to raise the bottom cushion). and (this was actually a major point) we HATED the 2-tone color schemes of the outback. while the forester had it too, at least it was silver and grey, a combo we could live with. Funny thing is now, those reasons are all irrelevent... wife's not pregnant anymore so who cares about egress/ingress. car seats occupy the 2nd row so we never fold down the seats anyway. and now subaru has FINALLY done away with the 2-tone color scheme. So it all depends on what you like. BTW all those descriptive words you used above to describe what you liked about the outback, also describe the tribeca.

why is everyone giving this guy a hard time? he had the car for 8 years and 250k miles. I see people come on this board and criticize after 20k miles. also how long are you supposed to keep a car? I bet MOST people here don't drive anywhere near as many miles on a single car as this guy did (I know I don't). Does everyone here think a car (even a subaru) is as reliable at 250k miles as it is at 250 miles? I guess what he's getting grief over is that he picked a new rav4 over a new forester. If I was in the market now for a new compact suv, I can't say that I wouldn't seriously consider the new rav4. There are features in the rav4 that are appealing to me (although I can't say that having a timing chain or belt makes a difference to me personally). And let's talk about "cheap plastic parts" for a moment- I have to gingerly open and close my cup holder because I'm always afraid I'm going to snap that thing off. I don't regret my decision to buy a forester, because at the time it was the best small suv around (IMHO). but now, I think the playing field has changed and subaru is no longer the clear leader in this segment. maybe this is a wake up call for subaru to follow in the lead with its tribeca and "buff" up the forester with more features, while letting the OBS fill its utilitarian small suv niche.

I'm thinking about doing a brake bleed (just hit 100k miles). my questions are: what's the proper order? How do you know when you've bled enough fluid? Do I need to jack up the entire car to do this? If so, I have a jack and jack stands but no idea where to put them. I've read you jack the car up using the jack points on the side of the car. I've also read that's where you put your jack stand- how can you do both?

my father in law does the same thing with his toyota minivan- toyota recomends premium. he runs regular for around town, and premium when he's going on long highway trips. I asked him, "shouldn't it be the other way around?"

If you look below, there's the "Similar Thread" box and the first thread is titled "6 cyliinder- do I need premium gas" in that thread there is a letter from SUBARU that says you can use regular octane gas on a REGULAR BASIS if you want. the only down side is that you won't have all the performance. So don't worry about "hurting" your car if you run regular gas. just curious- why do you want to run regular gas?

I guess I could say, "my car gets between 22 and 100 mpg," and I wouldn't be lying. as far as the price it was purchased at- dealers rip people off all the time. who knows if an ext warrenty or rust proofing aren't some of the options that added to the purchase price- maybe that was an out the door price including tax and fees. I never understand statements like "it 'only' costs $2 to replace the button." well, if it "ONLY" costs $2, then replace the button. he went through the trouble to get the car cleaned. anyway, I think this seller may be following the "letter of the law" when it comes to honesty- but certainly not the spirit. anyway when someone makes it a point to say "driven by a little old lady," that just raises red flags for me personally. maybe this is just my skeptical nature. but then again, with only 50k miles, it's hard not to at least consider.

THere is really only ONE benefit.... for the shop- in the form of higher PROFIT. Supposed Claims: -Nitrogen is Bigger than oxygen and therefore doesn't diffuse or leak out as fast- FALSE?- I've seen diffusivity papers for various polymers which show a negligible difference- certainly not the 3-4x that some people claim (maybe 1.1x) -N2 holds pressure more constant than air- somewhat true. the problem is really the moisture in the air that gets compressed along with the air. depending on the relative humidity of the air- this could account for a negligible change in pressure. why negligible? the temp of the tire as you drive has a bigger impact on pressure than the moisture as it condenses/evaporates. -N2 keeps the tire cooler- FALSE anyone know the heat capacities of N2 vs air- negligible difference because air is about 80% N2 anyway. anyway the temp is more of a function of friction than the gas inside the tire. So why do race cars use N2? different rubber compound which is more susceptible to oxidation. when you start making turns at 100 mph, suddenly these "neglible" differences in the street tire case become "significant." so if you want to use N2 go right ahead- it doesn't do any harm. but I've seen a place here that "offers" to fill you tires for $20. All the money I save keeping the tire wear even will pay off the cost of filling up with N2 every other month- YAY!

Atomic (or anyone else), did you ever have to change your knock sensor? I also have an intermitant CEL (p0328) with no apparent problems and am wondering if I should change this sensor. How do you test to see if this sensor is working properly?

I bought a used tire when one of my tires blew. I chose a "similar" type of tire with a comparable tread depth. when I did the 40 revolution circumference test, the new tire was about 0.75" bigger than the smallest tire. 2 tires were pretty close (within 0.10"), the other was about 0.33" off. that was almost 2 years (and 20k miles) ago. I should re-check them to see if it's changed at all.

Subaru is in a damn if you do and damn if you don't situation. by trying to be "modern" and attract a larger consumer base, they run the risk of alienating their core base. but by trying to satisfy their core, they run the risk of not selling any cars... what % of older gen subaru owners/diehards are going to buy brand new sube's? I don't think it was a mistake for subaru to make a 4-door baja. look at all the other compact pickups- like the american waistline, they are all getting bigger, have 4 doors, etc. because thats what BUYERS want. and I think they tried to go after the "young, active, and hip" crowd. but for whatever reason, I see a lot of over 50 y/o drivers. so while I think the product is ok, I think subaru failed in its marketing and branding.

I'll probably get flamed for saying this.... but from time to time, i've caught myself driving while drowsy or perhaps paying more attention to the CD I was changing. there were a few close calls, but avoiding the other car had nothing to do with seeing their headlights- instread it had more to do with hearing a horn. That said- I'm not against DRL's (although I deactivated them on my other car for personal preference). In fact when I'm on an undivided 2 lane highway- I kind of prefer seeing them to distinguish which cars are coming (passing from oncoming side) or going as I come around a curve or a hill. I do find it annoying when people deliberately turn on their hi-beams The way I see it (ha- pun:D ), if I'm paying attention, I don't need DRL's to see another car. when my attention is not focused, drl's do nothing for me to draw attention to other cars. If people want to use DRL's, I have nothing against it- I just don't think they help as much as people think. what would be interesting would be to see what % of cars with DRL's get into daytime accidents. IF that # was significantly lower than non-DRL cars, then that would make me a believer.

everybody complains the tribeca is a 38k car- that's the top of the line leather, dvd, nav, etc. I personally think it competes quite well. what other car can you get AWD, 3 rows, DVD, NAV, leather, and (semi) luxury ride? The MDX, Escalade, MB RL class, etc for a good $8-20k more. there are cars like the pilot (cant get both nav and dvd), murano (only 2 rows), or highlander (no dvd) for "comparable" prices. you can get all those features in the sienna, but it costs $40k+. I did find ONE vehicle that matches the specs of the high end tribeca- the Chevy Trailblazer. FOr $35, you can get leather, 3 rows, awd, dvd, nav- probably much less if GM does another "employee pricing" gimick. otherwise the tribeca is a "low 30's" car like friendlyjacek found out. DOes it compete with a rav4 priced $10g lower? depends on what you're looking for. Toyota is in the middle of "raising the bar" with it's unibody suv's- the rav4 is now in highlander teritory (which i think is a better comparison for the tribeca). rumors have next year's highlander being bigger to differentiate it from the rav4 (simialar to Honda Pilot size). Being a forester owner, I think subaru has to bump up the size of this car to compete with rav4 and crv. it doesn't need a 3rd row, but more elbow room. let the OBS fill the small suv/wagon niche. if this current rav4 was available 3 yrs ago, i would have seriously considered it over the forester.

oooh didn't pay attention to where you were from... my bad. yeah, much of what I said would be meaningless depending on engine availability and price- both items I know nothing about. so basically if the H6 is not available or is absurdly priced, then just ignore what I said before.

If you are willing to spend the money, I think the easiest way to increase power is to trade it in on an H6 outback- or even the newer XT. I can understand if you like to wrench around with your car why you may decide to go the tuner route. But I think for the money, it would be tough to beat the performance gains of simply trading in your car.

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why don't you just order through amazon? I think they have a gazillion cargo carriers.

we took a trip a couple of years ago and regrettably had to get one. we got a cheap canvas one from target and strapped it on top. it worked ok. we opted for the cheap one ($20 or $30 maybe- can't remember now) instead of the more expensive sears kinds because we knew we'd only use it once- and that's all it was good for. after 1 week, the "weather proof" coating started to flake off the canvas. It still kept everything relatively dry- but we didn't drive through any downpours either (just occasional light or moderate rain). I just don't like cargo carriers- they're awkward to use and I ended up loading and unloading it every night because I was so paranoid somebody was going to steal it. If I had to do it again, I would have just rented a minivan (which is what I do now)

Ok, I'm looking to replace the pads/rotors on my 00 forester and I'm just looking for "regular" brake pads. after years of driving around with squeeky brakes, the ONLY criteria that has to be met is NO SQUEEK (followed by price being a close 2nd). things like dusting, bite, performance, etc are secondary. So I price out OEM from subaru and they're $90, while my local O riely parts store has a brand called Wagner for much cheaper. he claims the ceramic WON"T SQUEEK and will replace them if they do. this runs contrary to some of the things I read on this board so a) does a $43 wagner ceramic pad set fit my bill? what is the material for the OEM brake pads? the guy said they were semi-metallic. if that's so, there's a "middle" of the line brake pad for $39 that are supposed to be OE replacements. would these work for me? thanks

I thought the problem with having mismatched tires was that the VC or center differential overheated or got over worked because the different wheels were turning at different rates due to differing tire circumference. so wouldn't running at low speeds be "ok" while running at faster speeds just compound this problem? is this TCU thing yet ANOTHER problem?

We had a 96 imprezza my wife bought new. within the first 10,000 miles, my wife got a flat and she changed the tire. every 10-20k miles, another tire would go and we replaced it. at one time we had 4 different makes of tires on the car with 4 different tread depths. we continued our trend of always replacing 1 tire at a time (but we started using the same tire brand) and at 90k miles (and 8 years later), the car ran like a champ. is that mechanics story BS? no- it's based on sound reasoning as people will tell you here. can you get away with not changing all your tires at once? maybe? I sold the car so I dont know what happened. I don't know WHEN your transmission is supposed to blow up. some people say it happens on the drive back home. others say it takes 100k miles. maybe we sold our car just "at the right time" becuase in another 100 miles the transmission was going to fall off. But I think, if there was going to be a problem, it would have happened within the first year/10k miles- maybe even the first 2 years or 20k miles, and MAYBE WITHIN THE 7YRS or 80k MILES??? Still waiting for an angry phone call from the person I sold the car too. In fact I even saw the car around town. I'll have to assume everything is ok.

I did a google search too and I only found 2 references... one was a for sale ad for a safari edition outback in RI and the other was a post on NAISOC about rims on that car. As to whether it adds any value to the car- it all depends on your buyer. I personally don't like wood trim and those rims, so it would do nothing for me, but there's probably folks out there that might like it.

yup, you scared me away from doing it myself . I'm more impressed that you got that done with a 1 and 3 y/o in the house. When you sell the car, make sure you have the "before" pics on hand. If I saw that car with the "new" headlights and repainted bumper, my first instinct would be to think the car was in an accident.

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