Ranger83

If manufacturers could get a nearly 10% increase in fuel economy by switching to synthetic oil, conventional oil would have gone the way of the dinos who gave their lives for it..... I have a '97 OBW and usually get combined mpg of 25.5. But I've gotten individual tanks as high as 28.1 and as low as 20.0 in all city driving. So the change you've described is well within the "normal" range. If you'd recorded your mileage for the last 5,000 miles, and the next 5,000 miles, that would be more meaningful. Do you have the accurate mpg #'s for the last 5,000? But changing to synthetic is very unlikely to have made your mileage worse.

You can go to a paintless dent removal shop like Dent Wizard or another franchise and they will massage the metal back until you can't tell it's been hit. Price varies from $50 up to a couple of hundred. You get "package" pricing for going in with a bunch o' dents, so get the parking lot dings taken out of your doors, as well. Lots of new car dealers use this type of service and it really is like new when they're done.

They don't draw any additional current. I'd try them first before you do anything else, it might meet your needs.

Try replacing your bulbs with Silvania XtraVsion - $19 per pair at WalMart and a buck more elsewhere. They are noticably brighter than the stock bulbs.

It's going to be a moot point for us. The Ford dealer doesn't have any stock of what we want. The Subaru dealer does; there's reduced-rate financing; and they're easy to do business with. The point I'm making is that there are people here who routinely trash Subaru in a lot of different areas. People come here, read it, and believe that Subaru is no better. This is in danger of becoming the Ultimate Subaru Bashing Net.

This site should be called the Ultimate Subaru bashing site.

There sure are a lot of Subaru "experts" here who regularly deride the quality of the 2.5l Subaru engine, stating vehemently that the quality of Subaru has actually declined since the early 90's. So to each their own.

You should buy the FWD because selling the Bronco under fire-sale circumstances doesn't make economic sense. It's a specialty vehicle and you should wait for the right buyer. You already have one AWD vehicle so it's not the end of the world if you don't get the AWD vehicle. Subarus are not exactly rare in New England so you can find another one later. I was at the WalMart in S. Burlington after a snowstorrm once and a good 1/3rd of the vehicles in the lot were Subarus. I stopped at a diner in Rt 7 down towards Vergennes and 6 of the 12 cars in the lot were Subarus. You'll find another.... Collecting cars is for rich people. If you really want to collect cars, get rich, first.

Why is it dumb? It allows manufacturers to distribute the development costs over a larger number of users. lowering costs. And it's GREAT for us consumers, since it allows all sorts of new safety, handling, ride, and performance improvements to reach low and mid-price brands like Subaru. Developing a new "platform" costs up to two billion dollars. You have a Scirocco, a low-volume product that was made possible by using the Golf chassis. All SAABs use other platforms. The larger ones are built on an Opel chassis. The "new" Ford Freestyle is develope on a Volvo chassis. The Jaguar X, Lincoln LS and new Ford Mustang all use the same chassis. (BTW, SAAB is an acronym and is all capitals). With the number of manufacturers developing AWD "Crossover" vehicles, Subaru would be road kill without some sort of economy of scale. General Motors is providing that. Think about what a chassis is. It's a big stamped piece of sheet metal with suspension mounting points. The stamping dies required to make them, however, are incredibly expensive and can sometimes take years to manufacture. Humans being roughly the same size, cars tend to be aimed at particular market classes of similar size and performance, so building new stamping dies doesn't make a whole lot of sense. GM and Ford don't have anything like monopoly power. They've lost domestic market share and Toyota is now #2 worldwide, supplanting Ford. GM's global partners include20% ofFiat Auto SpA (who owns Alfa Romeo and Lancia); 20% of Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd. (Subaru), 49% of Isuzu, and 20% of Suzuki. They completely own Holden, Opel, SAAB, and Vauxhall. Ford owns all or part of Aston Martin, Ford, Jaguar, Land Rover, Lincoln, Mazda, Mercury, and Volvo. Daimler Chrysler owns Mercedes and Chrysler, plus six heavy truck brands and has a failing) partnership with Mitsubishi. Renault owns a hunk of Nissan. BMW owns Rolls Royce. And they're all making "new" brands like Acura, Infiniti, Mini, Scion, and Smart. You cannot buy a new car that doesn't have shared technology. Go look at the SAAB 9-2 and think about how many people who buy one would be in the market for a Subaru Impreza. I'd bet a dollar that SAAB 9-2 buyers are generally older, more affluent and probably includes more women, based solely on their market position. It's a no-brainer and road tests indicate it looks and feels a lot different - just like the differences between your Scirocco and a Golf.

He's required by law to give you the name of the previous owner. You're not dealing with artwork, here, cars with over 100K miles are hard to sell so if the dealer isn't cooperating, move on. I called the previous owner on a '97 I bought from a dealer. They didn't even know what she said and dropped the asking price $1,300. She said there wasn't a thing wrong with it, she just bought a new one every three years....

The Matrix is much too small. We need floor space, not vertical height or we'd consider something like a Honda Element. Also none of us have body piercings. The short list was the Ford Freestyle, Mazda 6 wagon and the Focus (which has a five year 100,000 mile powertrain warranty. The Subaru is in it only because I have a $1,000 discount coupon, it's smaller inside than my 97. The vehicles that were too small were the Matrix and Vibe, Chevy Malibu Maxx, Chevy Equinox, and Scion xB. Toyota Highlander and Honda Pilot are out as well for a number of reasons. Ford quality? We have a 1994 Econoline van with 155,000 miles on it. Total unscheduled maintenance is one control module for the trans ($40); new radiator; and new serpentine belt tensioner. This for a vehicle that has towed 3-5,000 lb trailers for at least 25,000 of those miles. So if you want to be a snob, go ahead, it's a free country. I'm trying to make money.

I downloaded the two brochures. Legacy 2.5i Wagon versus Outback 2.5i Wagon specifically - other models are different. - has less ground clearance (I need 8.7" like a hole in the head). - fog lights optional on Legacy. - Legacy has body color mirrors and door handles - heated side mirrors & wiper de-icer. - "aerodynamic" side cladding versus lower body cladding - low roof rails versus elevated. - manual front seats versus powered - OBW has map lights and sunglass storage - OBW has limited slip differential. - OBW weighs 10 lbs more. We're getting a light delivery vehicle for work, it's down to the Legacy versus Ford Focus wagon, which has a little more room, gets better mileage, has Ford quality versus Subaru, and costs about $5,000 less.

Here's one. Most dedicated snows slide too much on dry pavement and don't seem to stick very well in rain, either. I'm on my second set of M&S rated all seasons (now Michelin Hydro Edge) and would not buy dedicated snows for an AWD Subaru unless I lived in an area that has snow all the time. If you're going to keep the car a long time having two sets of wheels and tires might not cost too much in the long run. It's not a budget issue for me, it's all-around performance. Cheap tires are cheap for a reason.

I cannot seem to make sens of the difference between a plain ole Legacy wagon and Outback wagon in the 05 models. I can't find a comparison anywhere - Edmunds compare says a non-turbo Legacy wagon doesn't exist. Is it the to days of yore - bigger wheels, heavier duty suspension, gigantic foglights?

The symptoms you are reporting are more indicative of leaking camshaft or other seals, a common problem at that mileage and not too expensive to fix. In steady-state driving the oil pressure is fairly high and pushes out the front of the engine, where it runs down and the breeze pushes it onto the exhaust pipes, causing that burnt oil smell.

I'd settle for people not driving round with their foglights on, or even worse the high-glare taillights that go on with them on many European cars.

I paid $1,250 at a good garage with additional work done. It was preemptive and I've put another 15K miles on it since without excitement. But there's no guaranty on 8 year old cars wit h160K miles on it.

I always take a lug wrench to mine and "adjust" them to make sure I can get them off!

Baloney. The new tire tread depth is usually 11/32" of an inch. After 8,000, you might have worn 1/32" - probbly not even that. There would be a miniscule difference in rolling diameter, which is very likely less of a difference than a tire with low inflation pressure, not to mention rounding corners. I was overdue for rotation of my tires and found the difference front to rear to be more than 1/32". As long as you replace them with the same brand and size - or at least, the same rolling circumference - you will not have any problem at all. Michelin and some others have diameters and rolling circumferences listed on their websites. The math is very simple and you can easily prove to yourself that there's no issue. I forget the spec that Subaru specifies, but it's a lot more than 1/32" (0.03125"). A human hair is 0.001 to 0.002" for comparison.

Thanks, had it checked yesterday and there are no codes while it is off, anyway. They checked the brake system, so maybe it's just gremlins.

I'm getting an intermittent ABS light on my '97 OBW. Usually when driving on the highway. If I stop for any reason, when the car restarts the light goes away. The brakes function fine, haven't stressed the ABS lately. Is the best solution to wait for the ABS light to stay on all the time?

Subarus are more reliable and less durable than the old Volvos, which were understressed and usually driven in grandmotherly fashion by people who were willing to eat exhorbitant repair bills with the idea that Volvos last a long time - self-fulfilling prophecy. My brother and his wife must have built at least a beach house for the local Volvo dealer. However, Subarus are much more durable than other AWD choices. If you want to drive a car 150 to 200,000 miles, buying one used with 100K miles may be the worst possible way to proceed, unless you know the owner.

You mean, like this? It stands to reason that 2WD cars will last longer, with less maintenance. The original head gaskets on these cars often fail at between 90K and 140K miles. So, sell your car; plan on a preemptive HG job (which is what I did); or chance that you won't be one of the ones that this happens to. Mine has 147K and I'm happy with it. My sister-in-law has 211K and she's happy with hers.

Try the block heater, you'll be amazed at how much faster it warms up, and you'll use less fuel on cold starts and have heat from the defroster almost immediately.