Wifey is bugged by the noise inside our old outback and wondering if any cheap-easy fixes. We have to shout to have any kind of conversation that includes passangers in the back seat...

 

We were thinking  a newer outback might be the ticket and rented an 2012 impreza for the weekend and it too suffered road noise at freeway speeds???

 

Thanks!  Jeff

 

 

My vote is that your tires are creating the noise.

These cars aren't exactly the quietest. The Imprezas are much less insulated than the Legacy or Outback models. You should test drive an actual Outback to get an idea if it will be quiet enough to suit you. Having driven a few of them myself, I do know that the new Outbacks are quite a bit quieter than your 96.

 

There are some options for making your current vehicle quieter, but it means pulling the entire interior of the car out to lay down sound insulation material. It's a day or two of work, and would cost several hundred dollars for the materials, plus labor if you have someone else do the install.

Tires are a trade off on wear, handling, traction, noise. Usually the higher mileage tires are harder and louder. What tires are you running? Have you tried rotating the tires to see if the noise moves (indicaiting an individual tire).