Ranger83

Ditto on the spray silicone. I use Rain-X on the glass, it makes it easier to clear frost off them. Do you have the cold weather package with block heater?

Linking the gas pedal to the engine electronically instead of with a mechanical advantage has immense advantages in adjusting throttle response for driving condtions, and integrating throttle setting with other driver input like steering angle. It enables much more capable traction control.

So, have any of you ever gotten water in your fuel after refueling while the tanker was there? I've never had a problem.

Those Goodyears have very similar specs to the HydroEdge, so if they perform at all like mine they should be just what you're looking for. How much are they compared to the Michelins?

Do you mean, what is the deepest depth of snow I've driven in, or how often, or? The depth of snow I've driven in is entirely academic, since the worst snow conditions here are Northeasters that pack relatively heavy, wet snow with 30-45 mph winds. It's like wet concrete, and can often immobilize a car with 6-8" down. If that answers your question. The only time I've driven in CO was a two week ski trip years ago to Steamboat, including a trip through Rabbit Ears pass in a goodly snowstorm at night. We almost never get that kind of light, fluffy powder here. I wish we did, it would make driving a lot easier. When we do, I can plow with the front of my Subaru - about once a season, usually in early March, and usually in VT. If that answers your question. I've done a lot of driving in the German, Austrian, Swiss, or Italian Alps, and didn't find the CO driving conditions to be especially challenging, but I don't live there.

I have had the HydroEdge tires since last year. New England snow isn't the same as CO snow (it costs less, apparently) but they have worked superbly well in all conditions from Poividence RI to Monreal to Sangerville, ME and back to Boston. I have driven them 26,000 mile so far, which has worn them 1 1/2 32nds (off the new 11/32nds) tread depth.

mtsmiths has it right. There are driving lights - often the same shell size - that project a beam for long distances and work with your high beams. When I rallied I also used Hella, but there are ithers. I just wish the owner's manual had aiming instructions for the factory fogs. Fog lights are for fog, something I wish those tools that drive Audis, Volvos, and Mercedes on clear nights with their foglights on would figure out. They have high intensity taillamps that go on with the fogs and are dazzling to the driver behind them. In Germany they'd ticket you for this, here brain-dead drivers are the norm. Sylvania Xtravision bulbs will greatly improve your low and high beams, for $18 a pair at WalMart and almost no time to change them.

Spark plug wires

A petroleum company can't afford a newer car than that? It seems crazy to start with an old car instead of a new one. My friends in AK had a second battery they brought inside with them for the night. Then they brought it out in the AM to jumpstart the car. But I think big pickups are the vehicle of choice up there, partly because of their fuel capacity, partly capability on very, very rough roads, and partly because everyone else has them.

1. a HG job on that engine is $1,200 or so. Sure you've ruined the block and lower end? 2. The 2.2 has less power, that's why they went to the 2.5. Do you really want the slowest GT around? Get a second opinion. $5K is high for a rebuild job. You might contact CCR and see if they can suggest a local shop experienced in these transplants. http://www.ccrengines.com/ I replaced the HG on my 97 OBW with 139K and it was $1250 with some other work.

I use Castrol High Mileage as well, it's much quieter on cold starts. Engine has 146K on it.

Ditto on HydroEdge. I've had them for 26K miles so far, including last Winter. Best passenger car tires I've ever had. They are good in snow, haven't had any problems. I considered dedicated snows but they don't seem to be as good in rain or last as long.

Racing engines are built with larger tolerances than passenger engines because they operate under full power and extreme heat. When I raced a Scirocca years ago, even with the heater turned on full, it would start to move the nedle after 3 laps or about 5 miles of racing. So the full-race breakin doesn't really apply. Here's the nub - regardless of what you do, you'll never know if it worked, or not. Most subarus run well over 100K without rebuild. I'm aiming for 200K. More importantly, take 30 seconds after you start for warmup and drive gently the first few miles after each cold start. It's estimated that about 1/3rd or all wear is caused by cold starts. And just warming up the engine doesn't help the rest of the vehicle. Just don't beat on it until fully warmed up, whci can be 10 miles. If you have the block heater, use it. As far as the honing on cyliner walls, I had my head gaskets replaced preemptively at 140,000 miles. You can still see the honing cross-hatch in the cylinder walls. Cyclinder bores don't wear evenly. If you think about the pressures that occur during combustion relative to crank angle, you'll realize that champer pressure is maximum during a certain portion of th downstroke. So that cylinder wall and portion of the piston wears more. You have to check the piston and cylinder bore in a couple different planes and the length of stroke to see if it needs boring.

A dissenter. Not worth it where you live. Nor I. The trade-off you pay in dry handling, wear, and rain isn't worth the relatively small improvement in snow for a dedicated snow tire. Take a look at some of the reviews on tirerack and you'll see the dedicated snows sacrifice significant dry and wet road performance to get that edge. Ice is worse around these parts than snow, anyway. Sure, there might be a couple times each winter where they would be "nice to have," but the best all-year M&S rated tires are very good, last a lot longer, and there's no changeover required. I put Michelin HydroEdge on my OBW last Fall at 120K miles. Just checked the tread depth before rotating them at 146,000 miles, and they have 9/32nds at front and 10/32nds at rear. New is 11/32nds. BTW NTB gave me a neat little tread depth gage last time I was in (to buy $600 worth of truck tires).

If the wear is so significant, many dealers can "shave" a tire, which is also done to true them up or decrease tread depth for better handling.

We had two of them with autos and my sister-in-law has one with a manual. Average city/highway is 25-26. Absolute low is 20 mpg in all city highway driving. High for one tank is 28.4 mpg mostly highway 65-75, 29.1 driving 65. The manual doesn't seem to do better, but it's hard to tell because in VT it's all up-and-down and only about 1/2 her mileage (209K) is highway.

Somewhere between 5% and 30% of these cars, depending on who you speak with, will suffer head gasket problems, usually over about 90,000 miles. So you have to ask yourself - do I feel lucky? I did a pre-emptive head gasket job at 144,000 miles. I did this to prevent the pain, suffering and limited options that would ensue if the head gasket did blow. Namely, having to be towed; missing appointments; possibly destroying the engine and thus requiring a rebuild costing over $3,000 for a car worth $5-6,000; and having to arrange something else to drive while the car was in the shop for 4-10 days. The head gasket job and a little other work cost $1,250 and odds are I won't have to even think about the engine again until something past 200K miles. BTW, my car showed no outwards signs of head gasket problems. But one of the heads was pretty badly warped, which wouldn't have helped the situation. If you don't want to spend the money for head gaskets, sell the car NOW. If you like the car and want to keep it, schedule a head gasket job with your mechanic of choice when it's convenient, and you have alternative transportation.

The OBW is not an off-road vehicle. It is a pretty good bad road vehicle. The advantage the Subaru has over 4WD pickups and SUV's is that most of those had beam rear axles at both ends. The independently suspended wheels of the Subaru spend a lot more time in contact with the ground on rough uphill sections, whether they be mud, ice, or snow. It is NOT fun to be driving a 4WD truck around a corner, hit a couple of bumps, and have it slide two feet sideways. The new Ford SUVs and others are starting to offer all independent AWD, although most of those are far too heavy to go off road. I am fortunate to have spent several years in an Armored Cavalry Squadron, patrolling the Iron Curtain in everything from M151 Jeeps to M113 Armored Personnel Carriers and tanks. We also did some manuevers with the Germans and I've been down the same trails with the German Iltus (aka VW190). Wheeled vehicles can't hold a candle to tracks off road. The Subaru does a great job on bad roads, making tradeoffs in off-road performance for greatly improved handling and economy.

Don't buy an AWD vehicle, then. Subarus cost more to buy and maintain than comparable Japanese mid-sized FWD cars or wagons. They cost much less than most other AWD vehicles, but you'll be dollars ahead with the usual Civic/Sentra/Accord Camry choices.

Some tire shops can mill a tire to a smaller diameter. It's regularly done for competition tires. But unless your tires are very worn I'd put the new one on the front right and be happy.

Martin, I see you made your way from p-net! I bought an OB radio with single CD, cassette and WB on eBay brand-new in box for $159. There's a woman who sells them there. I had a '97 with the stock radio and upgraded it to get the CD, the weatherband was a nice addition. [AKA Garandman]

Who would want a Phase I 2.5l engine? About 600,000 people..... The resale on manuals is substantially less, because they cost less new and because the market is limited to those who want a standard. The Outback is a big step up over the Legacy if you are driving heavily loaded on dirt or other rough roads. Be patient, we are entering prime car buying/selling season as the new models come out and you only need one!

They are not at all confused. They are planning to move up-market ala SAAB, Volvo, and Volkswagon as has been widely reported in the automotive press. The first step was to introduce the WRX, so that they had a car with appeal outside the snowbelt. So, all the people that used to drive SAAB 96's and then moved on to Subarus will wind up in Kias.....

Oh, and how hard was it snowing?