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Subaru Outback

B

Bobber

Well-Known Member
Apr 12, 2006
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Hudson, Iowa
Anybody got one of these and how's your experience been?

In a couple years am going to need a new vehicle and always have been kind of curious about Subaru's

I do a fair amount of driving on gravel roads and farm fields with my job so need something with AWD. Have a Dodge Durango right now and it's been great, but won't need that big a vehicle anymore as my kids will be starting to leave the nest by then.

A pick up truck is a natural choice and will consider one but here's the thing; I need 4 doors and am concerned most big pickups won't fit in my garage and the last thing I want is a vehicle that have to park outside. Small pickups could be an options(I think the new Honda Ridgelines are really nice), but not sure they really are as well built or nice to ride on the road as a big one is.

Will need something that will last as well. Will drive it 200,000 plus miles.
 
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I've driven a rental Outback in Northern California. Performed pretty well thru the hills.

Chevy has a turbo diesel Colorado now, not sure what Ford has but they are bringing back the Ranger.

I owned a Tacoma years ago and it was a great truck. Maybe look at something like that.
 
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BCClone said:
Know a couple people who had them. Lasted a long time and they said they were work machines. Have to be married to own one though. No man picks up a woman in an outback.
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Ha Ha. Very happily married and don't have much of an ego to worry about..Very practical is what I'm looking for..

We also own a Honda Minivan and my wife has no problem driving a soccer mom vehicle. Can't beat that thing for it's practicality. It works like a pickup in so many way for us.
 
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I used to work across the street from the #1 Subaru dealer in the US (boulder, Co). They would sell Outback wagons like it was their job. Transports would arrive every day full with a different color.
 
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flynnhicks03 said:
I thought only hippies and lesbians drove Subarus? Are you a hippie or a lesbian?
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You get lots of this response. We bought a basic model years ago and live on a gravel road. It's never clean and suffered some damage but drives great. Everyone said we would need a truck to get around but that has been bunk. If you are driving some real bad roads / field the Forester has better clearance and probably a little more towing power.

Subaru is the brand that has the highest average Credit Score of buyers.
 
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JP4CY said:
I've driven a rental Outback in Northern California. Performed pretty well thru the hills.

Chevy has a turbo diesel Colorado now, not sure what Ford has but they are bringing back the Ranger.

I owned a Tacoma years ago and it was a great truck. Maybe look at something like that.
Click to expand...
I am going to be seriously considering one of these next year. Will probably wait a year to pick up a used one though.
 
Bobber said:
Anybody got one of these and how's your experience been?

In a couple years am going to need a new vehicle and always have been kind of curious about Subaru's

I do a fair amount of driving on gravel roads and farm fields with my job so need something with AWD. Have a Dodge Durango right now and it's been great, but won't need that big a vehicle anymore as my kids will be starting to leave the nest by then.

A pick up truck is a natural choice and will consider one but here's the thing; I need 4 doors and am concerned most big pickups won't fit in my garage and the last thing I want is a vehicle that have to park outside. Small pickups could be an options(I think the new Honda Ridgelines are really nice), but not sure they really are as well built or nice to ride on the road as a big one is.

Will need something that will last as well. Will drive it 200,000 plus miles.
Click to expand...
Outback owner here. Have a beard and love women, so I guess you could say I'm in the hippie/lesbian demographic.

Great car, amazing traction on gravel/snow, gas efficient for an all-time AWD. I would recommend you get the 6 cylinder if you're likely to go through many hills or towing anything. Acceleration on the 6 cilinder is smoother and quieter. If you're not loading much, the 4 cylinder will do just fine (I have a 4 cylinder and a family of four and haven't had any issues). Don't know if you use your truck for towing anything heavy, but can tell you that the tongue weight for towing is a 3,500lbs max, so keep that in mind.
 
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I know several people with them and everybody loves them. Good fuel efficiency, safety, reliability, cargo space, and AWD system.
 
We do have about 100k miles on the thing now and the only problem was a recall on the windshield wiper that eventually failed before I got it back to the dealer. That and tires, not many options and they really make a big deal about having the same on all four wheels. When you run over like 20+ nails in those 100,000 miles that becomes a big problem. The 4-cylinder does fine but I don't drive it hard. Would probably recommend the 6-cylinder if you drive it hard.
 
They are incredible on snow. My ex had one and we would always take it when the roads were snowy.
 
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ArgentCy said:
We do have about 100k miles on the thing now and the only problem was a recall on the windshield wiper that eventually failed before I got it back to the dealer. That and tires, not many options and they really make a big deal about having the same on all four wheels. When you run over like 20+ nails in those 100,000 miles that becomes a big problem. The 4-cylinder does fine but I don't drive it hard. Would probably recommend the 6-cylinder if you drive it hard.
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Yeah the tire thing is a problem for all the AWD vehicles Happened to me on my Durango where I ruined one tire and had half the life left on the 3 remaining tires and they said I needed all new tires(reason for that is if you put one that's a different size than your other ones it causes your AWD sensor to sense slippage and use your AWD and can cause transmission failures).

I am stubborn and cheap enough wasn't going to do that so found a couple used ones at junkyard that had the same tread wear as my other tires and kept the odd tire as a back up(which I ended up using about 5,000 miles later). It was not an easy process as Dodge has odd sized 18 inch tires which are hard to fine.

Point well taken...
 
Bobber said:
Yeah the tire thing is a problem for all the AWD vehicles Happened to me on my Durango where I ruined one tire and had half the life left on the 3 remaining tires and they said I needed all new tires(reason for that is if you put one that's a different size than your other ones it causes your AWD sensor to sense slippage and use your AWD and can cause transmission failures).

I am stubborn and cheap enough wasn't going to do that so found a couple used ones at junkyard that had the same tread wear as my other tires and kept the odd tire as a back up(which I ended up using about 5,000 miles later). It was not an easy process as Dodge has odd sized 18 inch tires which are hard to fine.

Point well taken...
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The issue with tires (and it is true with anything that will have 4 wheel drive) is that having uneven tires will rip differentials out. All four need to be at the same wear, rotate your tires often, or one tire or more will cover just a little more distance each turn and when all wheel drive is in, it can put too much pressure on the drive train and mess it up.
 
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CloniesForLife said:
Last time I was in Colorado people either drove an Outback, a Wrangler or a truck.
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I have an Xterra Pro-4x which I really like because it has higher clearance and a locking differential which has come in very handy and possibly saved me from a $2000 tow a couple of times. Definitely sketchier on slick roads. The subies just fly past me.

Next purchase will probably be a small truck, because I want to be able to sleep in the back of it :).
 
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