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In my ole '98 Legacy wagon I've finished installing a Verge CD/MP3 player I got off of ebay for $36. This unit sounds WAY better than the stock OEM radio, and it brought my CDT coaxials in the front doors to life. I also added an outside temperature gauge from www.egauges.com, a Cyberdyne one. This went in the lower DIN slot. I had to trim the top and bottom of the plastic container in the lower DIN slot to get the gauge to fit. This lets me still use the right hand side of the slot to hold my wallet when I drive. The temp sensor is currently below the pass. headlight where the air intake gives a little air flow at idle. I need to add a little heat shielding to prevent it from giving false readings at idle when the infrared off the engine gets it. My only major complaint is that the LEDs on the gauge are way too bright, even in daylight. I have some sheets of neutral density filter I got off of ebay for $10 that I'm going to experiment with. Once I have the right filter to cut the brightness I'll cut it to fit over the LEDs and will glue or tape it in place. I also would have gotten the LEDs in green if I had known Cyberdyne made that so it'd match the speedometer etc. lighting better. Oh well. The install looks better in real life than this poor quality cell phone pic shows:

I've got Royal Purple Max Gear 75w90 in the front & rear diffs of my Legacy, along with the RP ATF in the power steering. In single digit weather there's nearly no difference in the 'feel' of the car compared at startup compared with warmer mornings. It was definitely worth the small investment in 3 quarts of oil to switch the car over. Redline Power Steering Fluid made my PS system leak like a sieve though, I wouldn't use it there.

Try the Specialty Formulations MTL-R (http://www.specialtyformulations.com). It is getting well-received by Subaru drivers over at http://www.bobistheoilguy.com. It's a full synthetic. I'm using their semi-synth ATF in my Legacy's autobox, it greatly improved shifting.

The rears have new rotors & shoes (drums in the rear) so there's not much I can do about those!

Ok, it looks like my '98 Legacy L needs new front brakes soon, according to my mechanic who is replacing the right front CV boot & axle. The CV boot had split wide open and lost all grease! (no signs of any source of the gas smell either, he reports) I was thinking to use the Brembo rotors ($48 ea) and Satisfied Pro Ceramic pads ($48 pair) from Tirerack.com. Does anyone have an opinion on this combo or recommend something else?

Ah, then I'd say I don't have a leaky injector. The poor mileage is year-round, but the gas smell is worse in cold weather. Unfortunately I don't have a garage to use, so wind makes finding fume leaks tough

Good point. I'll pull out my Haynes manual and poke around during my lunch hour tomorrow...

My latest attempt at diagnosing my '98 Legacy L's lousy highway mileage (20 mpg) involved searching for fuel leaks. I added a fluorescent dye (from http://www.autobarn.net, $6) to the gas tank and following directions let the car idle for 10 min. Using a blacklight I searched all around the engine bay and under the car. There are no gas leaks that I can see. So, there is still the VERY strong gas stench around the front of the car (even thru the interior vents) when starting in the morning, esp. after the car has sat over the weekend. This smell is what motivated the use of the dye. I have not yet replaced the rear O2 sensor (I have done the engine coolant temp sensor, thermostat, front O2, plugs & wires). I suppose I could also have a leaky fuel injector.

The dashboard control? You mean the adjuster for the interior lights? You need to open the hood, and look at the screws protruding from the back of the headlights. These are used to aim them properly. For aiming instructions: http://danielsternlighting.com/tech/aim/aim.html

Actually, you may want to check out a Saab 9-5 sedan or wagon - it has all the options you're looking for, it can run on 87 octane (with a bit less hp), and it's a Consumer Reports recommended car. And used they're quite a bargain. I think the nav system was an option starting in '04. I applaud your commitment to getting the car you want . You should make a web page or photo log about the project.

I dare say it would be a heck of a lot less hassle to buy a different brand of car that comes with the leather, manual tranny, and nav system you want...and it may even be cheaper.

I had the same experience with the front O2 sensor. I'm considering doing the rear with a new OEM sensor. I wonder if these cars are maybe prone to a fuel leak somewhere. I've never seen one in the engine compartment. I get a really strong gas smell on cold mornings, although I don't know if that's any clue.

Did you replace both O2 sensors or just one?

Same here, but I refuse to believe that some cars are 'just bad' - they're mechanical devices, SOMETHING must be different between the good and bad mileage ones. My next step is to do the rear O2 sensor in my '98 Legacy (19 city/22 highway). By way of comparison, on the identical commute where the Subaru does 22 mpg my Saab 9-5 wagon gets 31 mpg, so I'm sure it's not my driving. After that I start looking at the emissions system.

I go to Carmart for my Subaru parts. It's always a pleasant experience - the service/parts guys are quite helpful.