JT95

Thanks for the info. I did a paint job on my 81 El Camino when I was in college and decided to do the bottom portion of that car in a metallic charcoal. (The car was silver.) My dad, who was a mechanic for years and used to do some body/paint when he was younger and is also a perfectionist when he does something, told me I needed to do it "the right way" and paint the door jambs to match. So, I removed all the interior stuff and painted to jambs and the inside of the doors to match the exterior two-tone. The pinstriping even continued over the jambs and disappeared under the first encounter with interior trim when you opened a door. It looked really nice, but was an ultimate pain in the butt to do. Now, I don't have to fool with painting anything but the exterior of the car that second color and I can still "do it the right way" and not hear my dad's voice in the background the whole time...

$525!!! Wow, that's a pretty penny. I wish I'd known you were looking earlier--my local u-pull-it-yerself junkyard just crushed a 91 Legacy wagon. I had actually considered pulling its engine and just hanging onto to tinker with for fun. Now it's in a stack of flat cars. They wanted $150 for it when I inquired a few months ago. Wonder how much of the engine survives when they smash a car? :-\

I would imagine that pouring in some gas and dropping a battery would be your best bet and a lot quicker and easier than pulling off pieces to inspect the interiors of the engine. If the engine is shot, you'll hear the problem. Assuming they have the ignition key... I'm curious to find out what they end up asking you to pay for it.

Here are a few pictures of the snow I got to drive in while visiting in northern Ohio. Here I am in a driveway that first night after it had snowed all day. We kind of waited too late to head back out in this stuff, but the car did totally fine while the snow was still just snow. Here's a trench I cut out with my car in this particular driveway. We were the only car using it, and you can see the nice center rut the underside of my car cut out--made some fun scraping noises every time I drove through after a nice layer of ice crusted everything. And, here's a clean driveway after a snowblower hit it. Here is a picture of a shopping center's parking lot we went to on night 2 of the snow. We drove 20 miles to get to a restaurant only to discover the snow storm had closed it. In front of the huge snow pile you can see what the parking lot was like. Almost every bit of all the roads looked just like this parking lot. There's pavement under there...somewhere... I'm sure some of you have seen stuff lots worse that you drove through, but it was good to see what the Legacy would do in bad conditions. Snow travel was much smoother--even the deep stuff--than the ice over packed snow travel was. The AWD transferring power was a bit freaky the first few times I felt it on the ice. Anti-lock brakes worked excellent. My tires are pretty much shot, so I think things went well considering that. My wife grew up in this stuff, and she said the Sube drove really well in it.

Mine is a 95 with the 2.2, so this is not an issue for me. Best of luck with the action, though. I'm curious to find out how many owners end up jumping aboard. Where all you going to "advertise" it? I'm curious--why has this issue never been discussed by used car buyers guides and other publications? Consumer Reports rates these models highly--with strong reliability marks--and part of their evaluation comes from owner feedback. Has there ever been a common denomonator discovered for the cars that have had this issue, as there are plenty that have not?

We just bought a 91 RWD Volvo 740 wagon for my wife this past year. She loves it, although she wishes it had more power. RWD was one of the main reasons we picked the car (and the fact that it had apparently been garaged and well maintained.) We both hate FWD cars, which pretty much eliminates 90% of all the cars made today. I just started driving my Legacy wagon this past year and love it. Now, compared to the Volvo, the Subaru is a bit lighter duty. Let me tell you, though, my Subaru is a very solid car. The car I drove just before my Sube was 5 years newer and with significantly fewer miles and my Legacy is SO much more solid than was that thing. The only thing that hasn't held up on this car--other than basic maintenance things that wear--is the cup holder that hides in the dash. It doesn't pop out and retract very smoothly and sticks a bit in the process. That's my complaint in durability from a 10 year old car with over 150,000 miles on it. Well--the dash bulb for my climate control switches is burnt out too, but bulbs do that in older cars. As far as the lack of a door frame--that's one of the things I love about Subaru. I've always hated door frames, especially in the summer when you have your window down. Their door hinge assembly is a solid design, but I bet the lack of that door frame compared to your Volvo door makes the Sube seem a bit flimsy, especially if you are in the habit of grabbing the top of your door frame to close the doors. Not to mention the distinctive sound a Subaru door makes when closed. Like I said, we love the Volvo, but my Subaru has more power than the Volvo (and doesn't sound like a tractor ) and does better in messy road conditions with the AWD. Now, if my family were to be involved in a crash and I somehow got to pick which car we were in, I'd go with the Volvo. Compared to the average unibodied vehicle on the road, though, Subarus are pretty safe. They don't give you that old Buick boat sense of protection, but the Subes do better than many cars in their class in crash tests. In short, I wouldn't let a door keep me from driving a Subaru. They are one of few newer cars I would fool with. I was initially impressed with how solid our Volvo wagon was when we bought it, and I have also been very impressed with how solid my Subaru is. The AWD feels good if you hate the FWD tendencies of other cars. Not so sure about the newer ones, but my 95 is a joy to work on the engine. No bloody knuckles and multiple obscenities shouted in trying to change spark plugs or change oil. No stupid sideways engine to fool with. I'd educate myself on the headgasket issue (if you're going used) some of the earlier 2.5 engines had and avoid that if I could. Any new Subaru would do you impressive service. Now there's a car to smack into an SUV in...

Hard luck on that crash. It's one thing to have your car banged up--it's doubly bad when someone else was driving it. How trustworthy is this guy from past experience? I'd hate to accuse a fiend of something and the person actually be innocent. Have you ridden with him much? How does he handle his own car in the snow? Was this his first time driving your Sube on a backroad? Maybe he wanted to see just what it would do compared to his FWD car and tried a little too much. And what do you mean by "the end of the road"? Was this where the road dead ended? I'd be suspicious, but I'm not sure how far I'd press the issue. All I know is when I have borrowed a friend's ride I have been overly cautious--probably too cautious. Sometimes freaky things happen in the snow. And you can lose control at 35mph and hitting a solid thing like a rock at 25-35 can whap some heavy damage depending on how it was hit. Now, that pre-Christmas snow was the first time I have driven my 95 wagon (or any AWD car) in the snow. A lot of the roads were a hard packed snow with a layer of ice on top. It could get squirrely at 35-40 sometimes. We were in a grocery parking lot that had been somewhat plowed and had a solid covering of a good 3" of hard packed snow. I wanted to test my anti-lock brakes out while my wife was shopping and the parking lot was mostly deserted, so I drove to an empty end, went to about 20mph, and stomped the brake pedal. I thought the Sube did a great job of stopping fairly efficiently and staying in a straight line. As far as not steering, at 25-30mph you shouldn't have much trouble in AWD to maneuver a reasonable turn. 25-30 may not be a fast speed, but maybe it was way too fast for the curve he was taking. (If the crash happened at a curve.) Unless the road was hard packed and slick to walk on, my verdict is that he was playing around and goofed. The average person typically is going 10-20 mph faster in a crash than what they tell the cops anyway. As far as air bags--I have no idea how the Subie system works. I bought my Legacy wagon wrecked. The whole front bumper assembly was missing, so I didn't see what it looked like as far as specific damage. The driver's fender and that side of the hood were bent in, and the upper radiator support was bent in on that side. I don't know anything about the wreck the car was in, but both of my airbags were not deployed. (Which was great because that's the most expensive part of a repair sometimes.)

I have a 95 Legacy wagon. I rebuilt the car after it had been hit in the front, so I repainted the hood, bumper, and one fender in the process. (Also patched a gash on a passenger door and painted it. No one other than me can really tell that the car has different paint, but I want to paint the entire car this spring. I plan to two tone it the way the early Outbacks were before Subaru started hanging plastic on them. I've not inspected one other than in a parking lot, so I'm curious from you who own or owned one: The bottom color that was painted on those wagons--did the bottom color and its top stripe carry into the door jambs of your car? I don't really want the hassle of painting the door jambs, and probably won't, but I'm curious whether or not the factory paint job did.

Don't own a Baja but wish I did. Consumer Reports did not give the Baja as high a rating as other Subarus when the Baja came out, but I never figured out what their gripe was with it. I'd feel safe buying any non-tubo Baja. I can't see a Baja seeing the same use as a Chevy truck on the farm or construction site, so I wouldn't worry too much about it being roughed up from "working" more than a regular car. The ground clearance over my 95 Legacy wagon is very nice--wish I could jack up my wagon to match. I have test driven the Baja and must say that I would opt for the 5 speed, especially if I were not getting a turbo. Have you talked with a dealer? I'd be willing to bet that you could buy a new Baja for just a little bit over an 04 or 03 model. From what I hear Subaru has made more Bajas than they have demand for and they are moving really slow. The Baja sports, specifically, offer a decent discount incentive from Subaru. Car and Driver magazine reported that the Baja is moving so slow at dealerships that Subaru is planning to discontinue making it. If you aren't in a hurry to get one, I'd see what my nearest Subaru dealers have in stock and then see which particular Baja(s) is/are living on the lot longer than a sales manager wants...

Bad news--I called the junk yard to get a price for that roof rack and they said they crushed that car last month. Grrrrrr. That was a real shame because the body on the car was in great shape except for one small bit of damage--interior was stripped though. It was an AWD car and I was actually considering buying the motor to tinker with for fun. Oh well...

Any time you buy a car with a rebuilt title you probably can get a secure loan for it. However, almost every auto insurance policy states in the fine print that for full coverage claims on a total they only have to pay 60% of the book value of the car. When you buy a car that has been wrecked, the price should reflect it. Value does go down if a car had a salvaged title that was rebuilt. A replaced fender from a K-Mart mishap is not a big deal other than mismatched shades of paint. For a six year old car with a rebuilt title that still needs some cosmetic work, I think the price is a bit high. I bought my 95 Legacy LSi wagon wrecked and had to get a rebuilt title for it. I did 90% of the repair work myself and I have a nice, solid Subaru with $1600 at the most invested in it. Doing repairs yourself is usually the only time a wrecked car can be a value. If a wreck is rebuilt correctly, they can still be good cars. They will never be just the same in all little way, though. If fixed incorrectly (usually by someone wanting to turn a quick profit) they can be a nightmare to own.

Thanks--just wanted to compare to mine. I've got a 95 2.2 auto. I run right at 2800 at 70mph, though I'm not positive my speedo is dead on or not.

Yes, the hood will work. I had to buy a new hood for my 95 and I wish i had gone the Outback route. If I were you, I'd check with aftermarket body parts suppliers. Factory replacement and salvage yard will be more than you want to pay. I bought a Taiwan hood that fits well and, hey, I figure foreign sheetmetal is foreign sheetmetal.

I'll have to say that I'm not for sure what the difference is between the roof of a non-rack and a rack Subaru. See if you can find one in the junk yard with a factory rack, see how it's attached, and take it home with you if it looks like it'd work. Seriously, someone with that particular generation of Legacy would have to share some of their wisdom. I have seen way more Sube wagons with factory racks than without, and I imagine it would be more cost effective for all cars of the same make to have the same roof structure. I would guess you could just get a factory rack off a junkyard Subaru wagon and go with it. There are aftermarket racks that will have crossbars with clips that fit under your door weather stripping. They don't look as nice, but they support heavier loads than most factory racks. These are just crossbars that people buy to attach their bicycle carriers to: http://www.nashbar.com/profile.cfm?category=71&subcategory=1020&brand=&sku=6424&storetype=&estoreid=&pagename= http://www.performancebike.com/shop/profile.cfm?SKU=1951&subcategory_ID=4410 Know nothing of this rack, but I just pulled it up from ebay: http://cgi.ebay.ca/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=7944917834&category=33651 There used to be a slew of these Mondial racks on eBay that would go dirt cheap. This particular one isn't specifically for your car--I think you need rack #10--but they usually come with a LOT of different clips. I bought one of these for a Honda wagon I had a few years ago. The rack came with mounting clips that also fit my Chevy Caprice and a $600 Cavalier I drove as a temp car. (This is sad--I traded that Cavalier and $100 cash for my 95 Legacy wagon. My Sube was hit in the front, but still a sweet deal.) Anyway, the point is all three cars had very different styles of mounting and the rack for my Honda still had optional clips that fit these other two obviously non-Honda cars. You could take a change and pick one up for $10-20 and see. They are a bit of a booger to put on because it takes attention to center them on the roof--probably why they quit making them. Still, I think they look a lot better than the ones that have bars sticking over the edge of your roof. I'd stay away from this one if you want to remove it time and again rather than put it on and leave it. http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=33651&item=7945942985&rd=1 Personally, I think factory would look the best and be your best bet. If you could get lucky on a Mondial that fit for you--make sure it's not too wide for the Legacy roof (Go at least 5 inches shorter on the rack than is your roof width)--they are dirt cheap on ebay and look more aerodynamic. If someone with knowledge can verify you can swap a factory rack on your car, my local u-pull-it junkyard has a 91 Legacy wagon with a factory rack. If you can't find a used factory one locally and want one, I'll see what the dude would take for it.

I'm assuming you mean 15.8 gallons and not 15.8 MPG...

I'm just curious... What RPM does your Sube run at 70mph? Be sure to list what tranny and engine you have...

Depends on what you call "older". When I was 16 my dad gave me the retired family car--that '70 Monte Carlo I mentioned earlier. It had 150,000 miles on it and had been sitting dead in a barn for five years. I did put a new water pump on it before driving it as pure prevention. We pulled the valve covers to put some new valve stem seals in it and I never looked back. Drove the car for a few years and never had one mechanical problem whatsoever other than a bit of smoke from the tailpipe when I stomped on the gas. A teenage boy rarely abuses the gas pedal of a 300 horsepower car, so that wasn't a frequent occurrence.

95 Legacy LSi wagon here... Luckily I have not had the leaky headlight issue. I did have to replace my driver's side headlight though. (I bought my car wrecked and rebuilt it.) I am always shocked at headlight prices for any car. I lurked on eBay for a couple of months and finally picked one up for $65. It looks better than the one on my passenger side, but I'm not fooling with replacing it... If you do get one from ebay or anywhere used and sight unseen, make certain to ask specifically if it has ever leaked. Or you could just cover all of your headlights with black paint except for two little holes like these teenagers do on their Hondas. :cool: As far as mileage, you sound pretty on. I average 24 (mixed city and highway) and sometimes 25. I did get 26 on a trip two months ago, but the stars were in some sort of magical alignment that day or something. I do have a roof rack and I do usually drive 70 or 75mph on the big road. My car is a 2.2 as well--automatic w/ overdrive. Yours a wagon or sean? I track my mileage by resetting my odometer at a fillup, then at the next fillup I divide the miles that have accumulated by the exact amount of gas it took to fill er up again. My gas gauge is a weird one, so I don't put much faith in it--sometimes I'm at 3/4 tank after 75 miles and sometimes after 150. The car I was driving before my Sube was a V8 Caprice Classic and I averaged 24 mpg on the interstate in that thing, so I was a bit disappointed with my Legacy--was hoping for 27mpg. If there is a Subaru secret for getting better mileage, I've yet to find it... We do have 14 gallon gas tanks, don't we? (I'd have to go out to my car and check the manual and I'm too lazy to do that right now...) Anyone ever tried those gas mileage gauges they used to have in the JC Whitney catalogs? I've always wondered if they worked or sort of worked? It'd be interesting to compare current mileage at different driving conditions. Might slow me down a bit on the interstate.

I picked up a Haynes manual from the parts store for my Subaru and I like it. It covers (almost) everything I ever need. Anything else the people here are really good to answer for you--usually quickly too.

I've never even sat in an Impreza, so I have no personal experience with one. I do have a friend who drives a little Toyota and he does the lay-the-seat-down thing and hauls his bike around that way. However, he only does this with his road bike. I'm not for sure what kind of riding you do, but there are many times I would cringe if I had to stick my dirty/muddy/wet mountain bike inside my car. Most of the mud or debris would wind up in the trunk area, but you'd still get stuff on your rear passenger area. Bicycle grease from a chain or fork can be a real booger to try and get out of carpet and/or upholstry. I have hauled my road or clean mountain bike around inside my Legacy wagon a few times, but I ultimately end up scratching some piece of plastic with a pedal or skewer end. Not a big deal for me, but I would cringe at doing that to a brand new car. Other than causing some cosmetic damage to your car, hauling a bike like that can sometimes be bad on the bike if you're not really particular on how you lay it in there. Nothing permenant, but it can get your rear derailleur or brakes out of adjustment. The Outback Sport, IMHO, looks sportier than the Impreza sedan anyway. I think as an active outdoorsy person you'd appreciate the wagon. I recently got a Legacy wagon and I LOVE it. Subaru makes the perfect vehicles for people who are active in the outdoors. Personally, I'd buy a Baja if I were getting a brand new Subaru. Hauling bikes on bed bike racks is the best way to go--keeps the car-truck clean and protects the bikes. No worry of snagging low hanging branches as with roof racks or pulling into your garage without remembering to remove the bikes first. Trunk racks suck, but if you really wanted an Impreza sedan, I'd put a hitch receiver on it and buy a nice hitch rack so your car can be "normal" any other time. I have a roof rack on my Legacy now. Other than a bed rack, I prefer hauling on the roof. A trunk rack will get your paint rubbed raw and/or scratched (from pedals). A friend of mine scratched and rubbed the heck out of her new Honda's trunk and bumper. I used to have an upright roof rack, which I really loved. (It was an X-Port from the Performance catalog if you want to go cheaper than Yakima or Thule.) My current roof rack is a fork mount. I originally thought it would annoy me, but now I actually like it better than an upright. The bikes just seem so much more secure and it lowers the ride height just a little. I put two wheel carriers on the rack, so fooling with the front wheels is no issue. Mine isn't a Yakima rack, but I bought their Subaru factory rack mounts off eBay for dirt cheap and used them to mount my new roof rack more securely to the factory crossbars. I had mentioned in a post a few days ago that Subaru offers a pretty nice discount for IMBA members, if you aren't one already. http://imba.com/tcc/subaru.html

Yeah--the salesman who went on my Baja test drive with me said that Subaru had some pretty good incentives on the Baja Sport to help move them faster. I thought it was a neat car...truck-car rather. I'd dreamt of a 4 door El Camino for years, so maybe I was a little more excited to see the Baja released than the average joe. It's all in what you need the car for. As a primary family vehicle, no, the Baja is not the best choice. Beyond that, go for it. For the minor wish-I-had-a-truck chores, the Baja would be very useful. Try hauling a new fridge home in your OBW. (I can't dis wagons, though, because I have long admired the Sube wagons and currently drive one.)

I may be chiming in here a bit late on this thread, but I just read through it for the first time. While I'm not much of a fan of anything new from the Blue Bowtie, I'll have to say that I have had some very impressive experiences with Chevy. Of course, I am aware that my opinion of the brand is based largely on what they put out in the muscle car arena years ago, and the smallblock Chevy is one of the greatest engines built--ever. GM has rolled out some crap (usually when they tried to make a Japanese-like car) so I understand how that smears their name. Still, if I paid $20,000+ for a new Subaru and had an expensive repair bill from a blown head gasket like several have (if that was my main Subaru car experience), I'd call Subarus junk probably. I hate to hear people generalize about all American cars being crap. I've had some pretty negative experiences with Japenese cars along with some good ones. Many of the greatest cars from automobile history have rolled from Detroit. I love Subaru, but in a heads up performance contest, I'd put my bet on a good ol' Buick Grand National from the 80s running against a WRX turbo. I think rebadging the Forester was a good idea. A Subaru in India would not sell because people aren't familiar with it. I doubt they would pull that stunt here in the US, though. GM will probably be good for Subaru. At 20% ownership, they don't really have the leverage to change the Subaru, but they have access to borrow from them. Chevrolet cars built on Subaru platforms/drivetrains (if they ever do that) would mean more $$$ for Subaru and, ultimately, make them a stronger company. In the big world of the auto industry, Subaru is a pretty small player, so it was just a matter of time until someone bigger got a bite of them.

The sporty silver Subaru concept car made me think of an old Golden Hawk. You don't see them on the road much, but when I pulled up a pic to refresh my memory--B I N G O--looks like the designer ripped off a 50 year old Studebaker look. Check it out. Invert that center grille and there you go...

Welcome aboard. I'm a new Subaru owner. (New to the brand--had my 95 Legacy wagon for 4 months now.) I too am traditionally a Chevrolet man. My first car was the 1970 Monte Carlo that my parents had bought brand new in 69. THAT was an automobile--in my opinion the American car died as a breed after 1972... In college and a little after I drove an 81 El Camino with a built up 4 barrel V-6 and dual exhaust with a factory 4 speed that could grab rubber on all gears. I had to stop driving the El when we started having kids as it was a 2 seater. Until recently our family car was a Caprice Classic, which served us very well and went to almost 200,000 miles before we traded it in for a Volvo wagon for my wife. (Who misses her V8, but loves the wagon anyway.) Chevrolet makes absolutely nothing new that interests me. The Equinox seemed like a good idea in the making but they gave it a cheap plastic interior and that stupid 60 degree V-6. I have drooled over the Baja. I don't think I can afford one for a couple more years, but I went and test drove one anyway. I really like it, though it was a little bit tighter for me than is my 95 Legacy. (I'm 6'3") Not uncomfortably tight, but just enough for me to notice the difference. I test drove a 5-speed Baja Sport and loved it. Personally, if I were buying one, I'd go ahead and plunk down just a little extra and get get the Baja Turbo. I think you would really appreciate the extra oomph, I doubt you would see any difference in overall gas mileage provided you don't hot rod around, and the turbo has an AWD split with 60% of power going to the rear wheels, which I think a recovering rear wheel drive Chevy man would like. You into mountain biking or road cycling? I'm a long time mountain biker who just bought a new road bike this past summer. I used to have a bike mount in my El Camino's bed--by far my favorite method of hauling bikes. I currently have a roof rack on my Legacy wagon. If I'm ever lucky enough to get a Baja then I can have a bed rack along with a roof rack for 4 or more bikes. Are you a member of IMBA? Subaru offers a sweet deal for IMBA members--you have to have been a member for at least 6 months, so you can't join right before buying. Subaru does a LOT to promote and help the sport of cycling and you'll see a TON of Subarus parked at cycling events. If you haven't had a Subaru driving experience, I think you'll be surprised. They really are a quality car that is damn durable. My 2.2 engine has 157,000 miles on it and is butter smooth. Now, in reality, what I'm hoping for is that now that GM owns 20% of Subaru, Chevrolet will come out with a Baja-based El Camino in a few years. (Chevrolet already sells a 2005 Chevy Forester overseas.) The Subaru Boxer engine is a marvelous thing and great to work on if you do your own maintenance. After a few weeks in my Subaru I was converted. Now, if I got to choose between driving a new Subaru or a new 66 Chevelle SS, I'd go for the Chevelle, but cars like that will never be made again...

My 95 Legacy has the factory under seat 6 disc changer. It plays CDRs just fine. (Which was a relief!)