From GD's post above

And seriously - get off it about plastics. They are here to stay. I just replaced a broken plastic heater control on an '86 Subaru GL with 130k on it. I also broke about a million plastic bits doing a heater core on a 1990 Corvette last week. Plastic is here to stay and has been for *quite* some time. And some of it is quite good actually - glass fiber reinforced ABS and Nylon has higher tensile strength than Aluminum in some cases and for some applications has greatly enhanced thermodynamic properties.

Some of you may not like to know that many newer commercial airplanes are designed and built with totally carbon fiber "plastic" wings including primary structural spars and wing skins.  Like autos, airplanes need to be light weight so airlines can carry more weight (passengers)

On 2/3/2017 at 12:17 PM, montana tom said:

.... after working on 2005 and up subis I have come to the conclusion that personally I will not own any newer than 04.   They won't hold half the weight the older ones will... they have "drive by wire " throttle , temp control's are sporadic. No cruise control anytime the check engine light pops on ??? More computer interface with the whole car. They put larger more expensive size tires on ... the list is endless.  After 2009 they made them larger and now they look like every other generic suv on the road !  SAD SAD SAD that subi went this direction. All my customers looking for a replacement car now get told to search for a low mile or super clean 2004  back.

I personally prefer older vehicles too.  I especially like the 2001-2004 Outbacks, which in my opinion, are more stylish than the 2005-up models.  I prefer a throttle cable over drive-by-wire throttle.  It is much easier to swap ECMs in the 2004 and earlier models (I believe 2005 is when Outbacks used an immobilizer key that must be programmed into the ECM).  The intake manifolds on the 2004 and earlier H6s are metal, whereas the 2005-up H6 manifolds are plastic ....

Plastic manifolds have not been a weak point. And they don't heat up your intake charge.

GD

4 hours ago, GeneralDisorder said:

Plastic manifolds have not been a weak point. And they don't heat up your intake charge.

It’s funny how this plastic is a “real” issue for some, yet they don’t worry about the plastic end tanks on their radiators and heater cores. I’d much rather have a split intake than a split radiator or heater core end tank. 

The intake manifold is under zero stress compared to the radiator and heater core end tanks! 

Cheers 

Bennie