PeterD

little rallycross action. I did quite terrible :-\

An amsoil rep came into my work to get his tires rotated and brakes inspected. He did 1 year 25,000 mile oil change intervals. He was driving a 2000 Explorer 5.0L with over 230k miles on it, owned since new. I found that impressive.

I was hoping the MT fanboys wouldn't chime in. :-\ thats the beauty of a CVT. no set gears it just does its thing always giving you the power when you need it. :cool: Some people just don't wan't to use a clutch anymore. From a guy who has always driven a manual trans car... I wouldn't mind an auto for my daily.

When I hear how much R&D has gone into a handful of Ford's new products it surprises me how many problems still come up. You would think after Subaru has had problems with the 2.5 they would fix it. I wonder how much testing went into that new CVT. Since most companies who made them no longer do I wonder why Subaru chose to make one as apposed to a 6 speed auto or double clutch auto. the CVT is like a Mazda rotory engine. Brilliant idea but never really worked that well.

Yeah. I was a bit surprised by there purchase, Its still covered under power-train warranty after the 3/36 is up. If its anything like there older 98 outback it made all sorts of noises and all sorts of check engine lights but went to 280k before they traded it in.

Motorcraft FL1998 filter and Motorcraft 5w30.... ok I work at a Ford Dealer.

So my parents bought a 2010 Outback. Styling and size aside its a really nice car to drive. My Father tends to be very sensitive to little rattles and noises. There CVT equipped outback is now making some strange noises at idle in neutral. It almost sounds like the CVT chain is slapping the transmission case. it dosn't happen under load. He has taken it to a few dealers and they keep saying nothing is wrong. He has asked for them to lift a new one up and listen and they have done that. I hear the noise It doesn't sound normal. I understand CVTs are completely different but this noise doesn't sound right. Does anyone have experience with these. Any recommendations for Subaru Techs in the Greater Seattle area.

my parents were getting 36mpg or so on the heads up display on there 2010 Outback on a long road trip. My friends Justy gets over 30mpg all the time. With a tail wind and flat roads I can get nearly 30mpg with my 2.2 Legacy. Im rounding up. :-\

I will admit I was shocked at the new design of the Legacy/Outback. The 09 was such a stunning car, at least in wagon form. But I have slowly grown to like the new design. It does blend in a bit but its still a Subaru. My parents traded in there 98 outback for a 2010 outback and i have had the pleasure of driving it a hand full of times, I am impressed. It has much much much more leg room in the front and back, it's quiet, the doors shut like a vault. The new 2.5 with the CVT is a great match with plenty of pep. My few gripes are the handling, it has numb steering. You cant corner like you can in the old 98. The stereo, especially when using an ipod through the usb port ( un-intuitive and a huge distraction when driving )

Volkwagen is now making some of the best cars they have ever built. I have a love hate relationship with VW. I think there cars are great looking and well built. But they still cant fix problems that have plagued them for years. Subaru made some well built cars in the 80s and up to the mid 90s with the birth of the Legacy. When the Outback came out for the first time I felt Subaru had gone down hill. Poor ergonomics, cheap leather, cheap plastic, road noise like you won't beleive, and transmissions that cant make up there mind. Still reliable cars though. Fast forward to the 2000s with the new redesign and I feel they made some big improvements. My parents just traded in there 98 Outback with 260k miles on the clock. The transmission was shot and had EGR codes, Knock sensor codes, and the O2 sensor light came on. It had one set of head gaskets replaced by my father at 180k miles. They wanted to get a Toyota but finaly settled on a 2010 Outback! 2.5 with the CVT. Its a fantastic car. Somehow my Dad was convinced that Subaru makes one of the best cars on the road.

nice find indeed

I was thinking of the little plastic sockets that conect all the linkage. I had a similar problem. Now I make it a habit to scrape ice and snow off the window all the time.

Well since I do my own repairs I can't say they are expensive to fix, if you ever have to turn a wrech on the car they are fairly simple and inexpensive ( not as cheap as my scirocco, but still cheap ) the cool thing is that they are very reliable. at least all my subarus have been.

filled up today. 204miles on 8.9gal just about 23mpg :-\ its not horrible for commuting to work but not as good as it was. maybe my engine has given up. 230,000 miles and most of that i have no idea how well the previous owner maintained it. It does use a quart or so of oil between oil changes.

im well aware of the car he is speaking of. something interesting i had saved in my favorites is this filter flow test. though the test is based off a mazda miata the idea is there http://www.bobistheoilguy.com/airfilter/airtest2.htm read it if you like, take what you want from it. I have never seen an aftermarket filter or experienced any gain in power or fuel economy with a k&N type filter. that being said i could never recomend one. That being said if you like them go for it, I just don't see the point. I was a kid once and though all the aftermarket stuff was great but i have now realized I was wrong.

stock(oem)... the brat most likely doesn't have an MAF sensor. what people don't understand is these types of filters still let grime into your engine, oil can get past these filters. Its marketing at its finest.

stock ... you asked whats best.

I never even considered the mileage of my engine. It has 230,000 miles or so by now. Im actually curious now on what my compression numbers would be.:-\

to be totally honest with you guys, i really don't care for the build quality of any Subaru after lets say 1995. my parents outback rides like a truck, the road noise is unbelievable, the factory stereo is terrable, the switches are in the wrong places( window and door lock switches ), the trasmission cant find the right gear. The interior plastics are cheap, when you shut the door it sounds cheap. Don't even get me started on the twin cam ej25.... My 90 legacy on the other hand feels like its put together better, the switches are in the right places, the facory stereo with its aux imput is suprisingly good for a 18year old car. the ej22 engine is a tank. I know i can get in my car and not worry about what tools i need to bring, and i know it will return better fuel economy than most "sport utilites" and it has a hard time getting stuck in the snow. I wish Subaru would build cars like they used to. I drove a 98 forester we got in on trade yesturday. its not nearly the car my old legacy is. So if you want my answer, I don't like the Forester at all.

factory original... except for some computer mods:rolleyes:

than you haven't driven a new ford lately i have only chained up my old 82 GL once and I was on a snowmobile trail. other than that i have never needed chains on my legacy, all you need are good snows and common sense:)

I hearby vote you out of this thread:mad: please leave your off topic comments out of my thread:)

On friday I installed a new O2 sensor, took it on a 270 mile trip this weekend and managed 26.8mpg. Considering the snow conditions and slow speed for the first half of the trip I believe the 02 sensor is what was wrong. i can usually get arond 27-29mpg if im crusing around 70-80mph.

the reason I suspect a problem is due to the fact this is my 3rd winter in the legacy and the first time I have seen the mileage drop this low. Though I have never replaced the O2 sensor. Tires are good, t-stat is new, there is no A/C so using the defrost isn't an issue. thanks for the ideas, i have searched and it seems an 02 sensor could me my problem. Maybe i'll leave it alone till the weather warms up a bit.

I have been keeping track of my fuel mileage for as long as I can remember with all of my cars. Lately I have been seeing a huge drop in fuel economy. My legacy will average around 25mpg commuting to work and running around town. On long highway drives I have seen it peak at 28-30mpg. My last three fill ups I have seen my average mpg drop from 25mpg to about 22 and one fill up 21mpg. Now the weather out here in western Washington has been quite good for Subaru owners and I have been playing alot in the the snow with the car, but after owning two legacys for a few years I have never seen my mileage drop below 24mpg even in the bitter cold of an eastern washington winter. my first thought was o2 sensor is going out, but maybe its ethenol blend fuel:confused: