I currently drive a 93 legacy sedan, auto trans, FWD. Its getting pretty ugly with paint issues and whatnot so i've been looking for a change. Plus a FWD sedan just isn't gonna cut it for another ski season. I'm looking at an 87 GL-10 turbo with auto trans. Highway drivability is pretty important to me, though. I know the GL-10 will do fine with the in town and up to the mountain driving, but will it be a big let down when I get it up to speed? Should I hold out for a 5 speed? Just keep the legacy? Buy a new outback(i wish)?

i also drive to mt hood quite a big in my 91 loyale 5 speed. personally what i would like for the mountain is a early legacy 5 speed. thats your best bet. the alltime allwheel is good in snow and ice and the 5speed is safer/more reliable than an auto. and the ej22 engine will get you up those hills nice and easy. and generally the autos out of the loyales/gl/dl are crap and the ea82t's arent reliable ive heard and only put out 115 hp. id hold out for a n/a loyale gl or dl or a legacy manual

 

SG

yeah I wouldnt get an ea82t w/ an auto for going up to the mountain. If it were me I'd hold out for an ea81 4spd d/r for going up to the mountain. Its no powerhouse and it really will sound like a plane taking off going up some of those hills, but compared to the other vehicles I'd regularly drive up there the subaru would do the best as far as reliability and handling in the snow. They also seem to be a tougher engine as far as overheating goes, I've had both my wagons runnin so hot I couldnt drive either much faster than 3-5mph before it cooled down a bit and have never blown a headgasket. Although the transmission is a differant story, the 4spd can take some abuse but my experiance is they cant handle long periods of extreme heat, strain and shock but that shouldnt be a problem for driving around. I've seriously abused both my wagons, the transmissions in both are the weak points and they still drive fine. blew up 3rd gear synchro and some teath on the cogs for 2nd gear, and toasted what sounded like a bearing for the reverse gears the other day in my daily driver and it still runs and drives just fine(binds up a slight amount when coasting in reverse), albeit a bit noisy.

 

a fuel inject n/a 5spd ea82 would be awesome, I've had carb problems with all of my cars up that high.

i sugest to forget the automatic and search for manual, it is bettter

your legacy is a newer generation subaru (one of the first years). the older subaru's that you're speaking of had two different automatic transmissions. the 3 speed auto and the 4EAT (like in the XT6). the 4EAT is a very nice *automatic* transmission. the 3 speed sucks. i'm not sure what EA vehicles have the 4EAT, but just make sure if you get an automatic that it has the 4EAT in it, not the 3 speed. i know the XT6 has the 4EAT and i think 87+ XT's have the 4EAT - not sure which others (if any) have them. it's actually the same transmission that's in your legacy if it's an automatic, just an earlier version. they are very reliable if taken care of, i'm weird - i prefer automatics.

 

an older turbo tends to bring with it more complications though. turbo components are hard on head gaskets and engines when not maintained well. and it's not hard to find an ill-maintained 20 year old turbo vehicle. and they probably have the same horsepower as your legacy or maybe less. they can be modified for more of course though. be sure to check the engine carefully on any older vehicle, particullarly those old turbo's.