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Hi, I owned a 98 Legacy Outback with the 2.5L engine, and it was probably the best vehicle I ever owned. I was just offered the oppertunity to purchace a 2001 Outback L. L. Bean with 41k on it and I was just wondering how the 3.0L hold up when compared to the 2.5L.

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Everybody loves the engine and nobody has had trouble with it, but they are not that old yet. The only complaints I have heard from owners has been. 1 requires premium fuel. 2 It seems that a six should be more powerful.

If they offered tham in the Forester I would be very tempted.

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yeah, have been meaning to start a thread asking the same question- what are the pros/cons of the H6? Has taken on new interest for me as in 5 years the Tribecas should be far enough down the depreciation curve to be in my affordabilty range. So they ALL require premium fuel? (bummer). Any other issues/comments from the experts?

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I drive an '03 Outback VDC. I average about 25mpg driving highway and city about 50/50. Like Cookie said, the downside is the cost of premium gas. I can only get 91 in Colorado Springs. Don't know if 93 would make a difference!

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From what I have heard and read, it really depends on what your requirements are. The six sylinder makes the nose heavy, but has plenty of instant power. The alternative is the 4 cylinder turbo, which is much lighter for better handling, but has some turbo lag.

Unless there is a design flaw, the engine should last as long as the 4 cylinder, but will be more thirsty.

The only thing i did read was that there was a huge amount of bolts on the engine to replace the timing chain. The water pump does run off the timing chain, and is supposed to last the life of the car. So i would imagine that it is goinf to bem more costlier to maintaine then a normally aspirated 4 cyl, but I dont know how that compares to the turbo. Here is some propaganda:

"Subaru (2000) developed the compact EZ30 six-cylinder engine with almost the same length as a four-cylinder engine, and installed it in the Outback H6-3.0. It was the first installation of a Horizontally-Opposed six-cylinder Engine in a production vehicle since the SVX with its EG33 engine. The EZ30 offered not only the basic features of superior rotational balance, low centre of gravity, and compact size of a Horizontally-Opposed Engine, but also had the smooth rotational acceleration and engine sound of a six-cylinder engine, and the robust torque of a large displacement engine. This new-generation power unit even offered environmental considerations such as lower emissions of harmful substances in the exhaust. In reducing the size and only increasing the total length of the engine by 20 mm in comparison to the EJ series installed in previous Subaru models, the engineers were able to maintain interchangeably in vehicle bodies designed for four-cylinder engines, and enabled the installation of 3.0-litre six-cylinder engine."

 

So really its just a matter of taste.

 

nipper

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If it's only 20mm longer, is there any possibility that it would fit in a forester?

 

Why premium anyway?

 

Everybody loves the engine and nobody has had trouble with it, but they are not that old yet. The only complaints I have heard from owners has been. 1 requires premium fuel. 2 It seems that a six should be more powerful.

If they offered tham in the Forester I would be very tempted.

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Geez, that thing must *go* with a 3 liter engine...

 

I've never liked owning anything that needed premium but for those that require it, with gas at $3.20/gallon, the percentage difference is becoming less, eg at $2/gallon and 20 cents/gallon more for premium, thats 10% more, but at $3.20 they're only paying 6% additional! Little consolation I know...

 

Foresters are available with them now. It was designed to fit in the same engine bay as a 4 cyl of the same years.

 

Premium becuse its higher compression then a regular engine.

 

nipper

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$4/gal... Ouch! Is that due to local/state taxes?

 

I think if I were doing more interstate driving/long commuting I would want the 6-cyl for better ride/acceleration but for my current needs a 4-banger works just fine. Taking a mileage hit with AWD (My Lincoln V8 gets 21 vs. Forester's 24) but it comes in handy during winter.

 

3.20? hehe here in NY preimum is corssing the 4.00 mark

 

nipper

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As of yesterday (sept 1) gas was bp at 280, exxon at 360 (thats regular...floating around 4 for premium). The county and the state is talking about capping taxes at the 2.00 per gallon point (as the max tax that can be collected).

 

nipper

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the only trouble that we have had here in townsville is people usin the wrong fule and it brings up a missfire code but we have fixed that by geting people to use premium from a repuitable servo and use the subaru fuel additive other than that no dramas and we have some with as many as 150,000Km on them

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Appears we sort of changed the thread topic but onwards anway...

 

$2/gallon in taxes - unreal. We still have a little bit of the "keep the government out of my backyard" spirit here in Indiana so I guess it's a little more reasonable.

As of yesterday (sept 1) gas was bp at 280, exxon at 360 (thats regular...floating around 4 for premium). The county and the state is talking about capping taxes at the 2.00 per gallon point (as the max tax that can be collected).

 

 

nipper

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Foresters are available w/ the H6? Where? Never heard of that before :confused:

 

Steve

 

OOPS my fault, wishful thinking i guess. Swore i saw it someplace.

 

nipper

 

 

(but it looks like it would fit .. not that i would suggest such a thing)

 

 

nipper

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Geez, that thing must *go* with a 3 liter engine...

 

I've never liked owning anything that needed premium but for those that require it, with gas at $3.20/gallon, the percentage difference is becoming less, eg at $2/gallon and 20 cents/gallon more for premium, thats 10% more, but at $3.20 they're only paying 6% additional! Little consolation I know...

 

Relax guys... since 1/9/2005 in israel we pay 5 US $ for a gallon ! and thats for regular ! the premium costs around 5.65$ for a gallon !!!

 

Comparing to other countries, We pay around 0.5$ *more* per 1 liter -> TAX for the ******* goverment...

 

Izik

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and it sure is nice to pull the Forester up to the regular pump. Compared to other countries we have fuel prices that are quite low in the US. We really should not complain when there are folks out there paying twice as much.

 

I see this all the time and I just don't buy it. They pay more because they have higher taxes. I would rather have lower gas prices than subsidize a public transit system that doesn't go where I need it to (the neighborhood I grew up in is 10 miles from the nearest bus stop, and it's been there for 30 years).

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