Arethusa

Thanks. What exactly causes it? Roughly how fast and how many figure 8s should I do to test for it?

I don't get the impression that he has detailed records, so hoepfully can bargain down to 4k with that. It's a manual, by the way; not sure if that avoids transmission issues in that generation or not. What exactly is torque bind? I don't think I know nearly enough about AWD systems.

Maybe I'm just too used to crazy prices. One guy wanted to give me a good deal on a 99 Outback for 8.9k. Are there any specific issues with the 99 OBS that I should be asking about?

I'm looking at a 99 Outback Sport. Haven't seen it yet, but it seems to be in good condition. 139k miles, which is a bit high, but I'm hoping it's not too bad. Guy's asking 4.5k. Don't have many other details on the car yet (seeing it on monday), but, roughly speaking, is this a fair price? (By the way, just in case anyone remembers me, I'm still alive; things got worse for a while and I disappeared; I'll explain later.)

Heh. Now I am completely confused.

Hm. I can post links after all. That seems to be when the problems start. The page for 1997 is not as uniformly negative, but 1998 and 1999 look pretty bad. Why do things go so wrong there? http://www.carsurvey.org/modelyear_Subaru_Outback_1997.html http://www.carsurvey.org/modelyear_Subaru_Outback_1998.html http://www.carsurvey.org/modelyear_Subaru_Outback_1999.html

Then I am really confused. You can check them out at carsurvey (just google it and it's the first hit; I can't post links yet) to see what I'm talking about. You'll probably be able to make more sense of it than I can.

What's the EJ22? I'm not familiar with Subaru (or many other makers', honestly) generation names. The 2.5RS is definitely sportier than I realized when I originally posted. Even without the engine problems, I think it only came as a 2 door hatch, which is probably too small for me to cart all my stuff in. As far as the 2.5L engine goes, though, what's wrong with it? I spent a little while going over these boards, and there seem to be a lot of headgasket issues tied to it, which seems to run against everything I've been told about Subaru reliability. Thanks, man. I'll definitely give you a call tomorrow. Didn't read this until today as USMB seems to go down a lot. I'm not sure what to think of the Outbacks, though. People seem to have them here without too much complain, but I also looked over carsurvey.org and found a bunch of negative reviews for Outbacks (Impreza and Legacy lumped together, I'm assuming) in the model years I could afford. It wasn't just headgasket complaints, either; people were talking about oil filter failures, oil pump failures, water pump failures, etc. The regular Impreza/Legacy reviews were relatively glowing, so I'm not sure what to make of that at all.

A month ago, I left home in Connecticut and set out for California. This was a bad idea. Had everything packed tight into my 98 Altima, had been planning for months, thought I had everything covered— then things started to go wrong. Got a ticket in Ohio. Engine cracked a piston rod in Iowa; sold my car for scrap. Drove an expensive rental to California. Person I was going to stay with and who had promised to help me get settled and into school basically changed her mind and screwed me, which left me homeless with a rental car and a rapidly dwindling bank account. Got ahold of a friend at Stanford who told me I could crash with him. Made it as far as LAX before getting a flat and spending the night in an LAX parking lot. And that is the very, very abridged version. Basically, I'm stranded at Stanford (SF Bay area) without a car, and if any of you have ever been poor and in the SF Bay area— hopefully not at the same time— you know how unforgiving it can be. I need a reliable car with a manual transmission and enough room for all my stuff (basically, enough to equal all the internal space of a compact/midsize like my old Altima) that can make it back to Connecticut and last me. I have about 4-4500. A number of people have suggested Subarus, and I've been looking over various models in my price range. I think a 98-99 Impreza 2.5RS would be good, assuming they were made as sedans or 4 door hatchbacks, but they certainly don't seem to be common cars, and I'm having trouble not getting consistently screwed by craigslist (if you want an overpriced automatic EK/EG hatch, I've seen no better place). I suppose my other alternative is shipping my stuff back and taking a bus, but I'd still have to buy a car in Connecticut. The market in that area's a fair bit less consistently insane, but it's also a lot less active, and it is in rust belt territory. I don't know where I'd be better off, but any advice or connections would be really appreciated.