Subarupusher

Yep the LL Bean deal went dead around June. That is when the Foresters started arriving with weather packages that resembled what you got in the Bean. My sister actually got one of the first Bean Foresters to roll into the area back in April. She actually does not like the "corporate ad" (her words) LLBean badge but it was the only way to get a 09 Forester in April that had heated seats. I told her to keep the badge on there and maybe it will add a few dollars to resale years down the road.

The SVX got vilified up here when one got stolen and the driver tore up a golf course and led police on a chase on and off the freeway and ended up cornered in a residential neighborhood. All caught on news footage about 2 years ago. Since then the local cops have kept their eyes on sporty looking Subarus. I think any of the imps from 1993-96 would be a perfect car for a teenager. The 96 can have the 2.2 engine but that gives it average acceleration in its class compared to the 0-60 in over 10 seconds that I had with my 93.

Yes the turbo engines require premium fuel and there probably is some language in the owners manual about risking the warranty if you run regular. You also are supposed to knock your oil changes down from 3500 miles plus to 2500 mile intervals. My experience with the Subaru turbos of the 80s is that the engine would surge if I put regular gas in. Steady high rev output requires premium fuel.

The WRXs cost more to insure and are cop magnets too. I got pulled over in my base Impreza a couple of times and found out the second time that if the cops see anything remotely suspicious going on with that car (cop confided in me after learning we both work for local government), they pull it over. They are not going to bother to see if it is a Impreza or WRX. So I have given up Imprezas and XTs for now since they are the only cars I ever got pulled over in since I was a teenager. This is from a person that has only been to traffic court once in my life (thanks Impreza) and not for speeding. Maybe some day I will have an older one as a toy, but having it as a daily driver I feel like I would end up in traffic court soon.

Now that strut issue is interesting since they have been very honest with us on replacing the struts. We have 102K on the Impreza and they say the originals are holding up fine. I had the same experience with 80K on another vehicle. If they ever say they need to be replaced, I will probably go to my Subaru dealer. I had the dealer verify the condition of the struts when I took it in for the last oil change and had them quote some prices. Struts I would go OEM and go to the dealer. Tires are what Les Schwab are good at.

Care to elaborate? Their customer service up here in Washington has always been excellent. We have gone exclusively with them for a decade at least. The local Subaru dealers have also started to install tires at competitive prices but I would not recommend the dealer on the Kitsap Peninsula. They are overpriced on all the quotes I have ever gotten from them. I would go with the Les Schwab in Whitefish since the prices will be the same as they are out here and you will all sorts of free services if you buy from them. Whitefish is a small enough town that if the Les Schwab has a bad rep, you will hear about if you ask around. BTW Subaru is moving away from Potenzas and going to Goodyears on their 08s.

Just go down to your local Les Schwab. Decent prices on tires and you will get free rotations for the life of the tire. We have a couple in every town out here too. They have taken good care of our 96 Impreza.

Take her up to 40 or 50 mph on a country road and then do a good controlled hard stop. My 2001 Forester had some rubbing/pulsing (Not ABS on a dry clean surface) sensation that would vary in the brakes when making stops like that. That was in the first year of ownership. Don't know if the rotors were warped. I traded it in after 3 years for something bigger. That is also the first year of the first redesign of the Forester and vehicles in the first year of a redesign tend to have a few more problems. They may have all been taken care of by 175K but it is something to throw at the dealer to lower the price.

I only see an eject button on mine. Yes there is a full function remote. I cannot imagine navigating the DVD menus without it. Check the rear drawer in the center console. That is where I keep my remote and headphones. The remote and headphones were originally located in the rear storage compartment to the right of the jack (when the car was delivered).

I have done the adapter and tried to have one bike rack for my Subaru and truck. The result was a really loose bike rack on the larger truck hitch. Finally bought a similar 2" rack for the truck at a big sale. Easier to buy a new rack and have it fit solid than install a new hitch that may fit (been there and done that too).

Depends on how far north you want to go. There are plenty of Subarus in this state so there should be a good independent in Olympia. I have had good luck with Bernards in Auburn and Superb Subaru above Seattle was pretty good too.

My sister will be picking up a new Forester tomorrow. We test drove a couple of them over the past few weeks and were very impressed. They definitely have more head room and the back opening is higher. Rides pretty quiet and the gages look cool. Took the dealer a few days to find the exact color and options that she wanted since they are arriving in bunches and selling in bunches. I took my 01 Forester on some washed out dirt roads and it held its own. The new Forester has at least an inch more of clearance than the 2001. Get some splash guards and you will be fine.

My 100K 1996 Impreza Outback 2.2 Auto gets 22-24 with the winter blends. Definitely something holding yours back. I think my bearings need servicing soon so maybe that is a possiblity for you if they have never been looked at.

I know the feeling. I still miss my original XT I bought almost 20 years ago. Had it for 5 years and traded it in for one of the first Imprezas. Then I got nostalgic a few years back and went through 3 used XTs before settling on a shiny new Impreza. I miss all the memories and trips I took in those XTs but then I realized that I miss even more having a reliable Subaru in the garage that does not need a diaper under her every night. The wife still has her 96 Impreza Outback wagon with low miles (under 100K) but it entering the years of cranking out the oil smell. No drips yet but give it another 50K and they will start.

60,000 miles in less than 3 years and you tow 2K around too? I think you are wearing the girl out. I think a brand new Subaru of any class could show similar symptoms if worked like that for 3 years. I know Subarus have ratings for towing but I raise my eyebrows when I see one towing anything. I notice a drop in mileage and some drag when I just put a bike on my hitch mounted bike rack. My solution was to buy a truck for towing and hauling heavy loads. Keeps the 2 Subarus in the family fresh for regular excursions.

Yep, that is why I gave up on the "big" Subarus and got a Chevy truck. I had a Forester or two and was excited when I first heard about the Tribeca. The original Tribeca with the caveat of only Premium gas made the operating expense the same as my truck. I still stayed loyal to Subaru by getting an Imp for commuting. BTW my sister loves her Turbo Charged Forester and it meets 95% of her hauling needs. My truck gets called for the other 5%.

Thanks for the heads up on another station opening here in Washington. They are getting closer to Seattle. I would not risk putting it in my Subaru but my truck is flex fuel capable. I have burned several tanks in it and your mileage does go down 20-25%. Does not matter to me as long as the price is at least that much lower. It will never replace all the fossil fuel use in cars for the US but it will make a sizeable dint especially when the enzyme production gets going that allows other plant materials to be converted. There was also a bacteria discovered that produces fuel.

97K on the wife's 96 Impreza Outback Wagon Automatic. No major rattles. The rear window always had a little rattle when on the freeway. It happened on a few of the same model we test drove before we bought it. It has been through two water pumps and has had the typical cam seals and a few other front end seals put in. Brakes have been redone. The stock stereo failed around the third year of ownership. I stuck a Forester one in and that lasted another 5 years. We then stuck a Kenwood in with Sirius Sat and the stock speakers are still working well. The one component that has failed twice and been a pain is the harness that is exposed when you open the back door. That wiring powers your rear washer pump, wiper, and rear door lock. I think total maintenance costs over the years have been about 3K and it has never left us stranded.

Lack of life and thus no locking up of carbon was the point I was making about Venus. Boy did I go on a tangent. Liberate all the carbon that has been locked in the ground by life and the CO2 in the atmosphere goes up and the planet gets warmer. Our planet is currently in an ice age compared to most of its geologic history. Maybe the planet would have melted everything in a few thousand years before swinging back, maybe not. The result is that we have to adapt to temperature changes in decades instead of centuries. I am for keeping the carbon buried in the ground and use as much fuel as possible from what we grow on the surface. E85 burning hybrid Subarus are what I am looking forward to in the next decade.

Carbon neutral is defined by the impact on civilzation. If we keep liberating more locked up carbon into our atmosphere, then the temperature goes up. If humans can live in a Jurassic climate and sustain the current population growth, then global warming is not an issue. The previous posts definition of the carbon neutral tally for earth is also true for Venus (a planet which once had oceans before the greenhouse effect went wild).

The wife's car seems to have lost a light or two. I do not drive it enough to remember if the automatic shift indicator is illuminated on the center console. Seems to me it would be. How hard is it to replace the light? It was a real pain to get into the console and replace things back when I had XTs to play with.

I would like it if everybody burned food instead of fuel to commute. I am the lone biker that commutes from the exurbs to the train station in my area. 1 Power Bar per 7 mile trip. That being said, E85 driving up the price of corn is fallacious. The main reason why your food is more expensive is that the petro products used to fertilize it and transport it have gone right up with the prices at the pump. They are estimating this will be the largest corn harvest in US history and the prices will spiral down next year. Other plant sources of ethanol are also a few years away from helping the production. Big oil is actively scaring consumers with the food for fuel arguement but secretly working on ethanol production too. They know that there is a finite amount of oil to be pumped out of the ground (and sand in Canada). I do have a flexible fuel Chevy and the fuel delivery systems are supposedly armored against ethanol corrosion and the computers are programmed to optimize igniton when E85 is present. The Subaru fuel system probably can compensate for the higher octane but will eventually corrode. All relatively new cars can burn E10 with no long term problems. E10 is a much better oxygenator blend than the crap that California poisoned its groundwater supply with last decade.

I had the base manual Impreza 06 for a year and upgraded to an auto Impreza 07 4 months ago. I calculate my mileage every fill up. Here is what I have noticed. The manual under optimum freeway conditions got me the mileage estimate on the sticker (29). The best I have gotten on the auto is 28 which also matches the sticker. Under mixed conditions the automatic does as well or better on mileage. The manual would get 24-25 and the automatic gets 25-26. I think there is more efficiency using an automatic in stop and go traffic which happens a lot in the Seattle area. I also noticed the automatic sticker city mileage estimate (23) is +1 compared to the manual sticker. So it is a matter of your driving environment. Long open highway drives favor the manual and urban driving favors the auto. The auto is also easier on my middle aged knees when you have a lot of clutch play in stop and go traffic.

I think the results are are more skewed by what type of person buys those cars. A few of the models look like realtor or sales cars and those pile up the miles. Another group look like the stereotypical high gas mileage cars that commuters pile mileage on. Do people buy Subarus to pile the miles on due to high gas mileage? No. Can you picture sales people or realtors buying Subaruas in droves? No. I always picture us Subaru owners as moderate commuters that like to take their cars into the outdoors (thus not being in immaculate condition to impress clients). The miles take a few decades to pile on and we are not reading or responding to CR about our cars since worrying about replacing them is not on the radar.

It will make it easier for the two dealers I usually go to. They have twin VW dealers next door. Just line those barfy new Imprezas up with the Jettas and sell them to the kids. Call them AWD Jettas. The design change is why I went for a Special Edition 07 Impreza sedan with all the bells and whistles. I think this is one of the best cars ever made by Subaru and it still resembles the 1996 Impreza wagon that my wife drives.