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Subaru Impreza Outback Sport & TS
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Comments
bcohen - I have been very happy with my OBS so far. I drove the Subie up to the Keweenaw Peninsula of Michigan's U.P. and I had absolutely no problems even in snow that was several inches deep. I look forward to not doing too much shovelling this year ! This is my first winter with an AWD vehicle. I feel a lot more confident driving around in the snow, especially when turning corners. By the way, it handles great through rain and standing water as well.
Thanks to bob (rsholland) and juice for your suggestions with my manual tranny. I have been putting it in first before engaging reverse and it has been working.
Cheers!
My Forester broke 30mpg on one trip. One guy got more than 33mpg in his Forester.
How 'bout you OBS owners? Anyone break 30? It's the same engine, and more aerodynamic.
-juice
-juice
Any pointers for the first time AWD snow driver, Besides a healthy respect of the snow? How deep is too deep?
Bob
I was out last winter in an 18+ inch storm with no problems.
Have fun and don't run over any Harris Teeter stock boys.
-Dennis
Drive carefully, with plenty of room for error - not yours, but other drivers who haven't practiced in the lot like you just did. ;-)
-juice
Bob
I thought someone said keeping it under 2500 rpm' on the road gives better gas mileage.
Heck, though, I really don't worry too much because I know the AWD will never have this car competing with Echo's and the like!
I LOVE my car even more now! Never thought it was possible to handle that good on snow. I spent most of my playtime tooling around with no problems. Taught my wife how to drive in the snow. Looks like all that time invested in Gran Turismo 3 has finally payed off;) Wouldn't my Mom be proud.
-juice
He'd bumped the switch for the parking lights! Never had used them before and didn't even notice the switch was there!! Har-de-haaar!!! The little brother is taking classes at vo-tech for auto tech. I joked with him that his first class must have been on how to turn off parking lights!!
Then told older son he needed those classes too!!
-juice
if anyone wants to see a pic of a stock silver '02 OBS, or my doggie, I finally have access to a digital camera...
How about the doggie in the cargo area of the Sport?
-juice
I have an outback sport that has a problem w/ the A/T oil light flashing when driving on the highway. This has happened to me about five times in the past two years. Last night, it happened twice, and the check engine light also came on. Took it to the dealership and apparently there are two TSBs for this problem, involving parts that cost about $500 each. One TSB is covered under 80,000 mile warranty, the other one is not.
To me this really doesn't seem fair as the two issues are tied together. I was also told I shouldn't drive the car as the computer problem could cause trouble with shifting.
Has anyone else had this problem? Anyone have any success fighting to get the second TSB part paid for?
Much thanks...
Lynn
P.S., of course, I was just yesterday telling my sister that I've had very few problems with this car!
think the silver would minimize the look of the two-tone effect but would like to see some pix. saw one on the road the other day...it looked quite sharp. price in canada is within a few hundred of CR-V AWD LX, so don't know if I could convince my wife to go for it over the much roomier cr-v
The CR-V is much improved, but let's see. The OBS has 4 channel ABS, while the CR-V LX (at least in the US) does not have ABS at all, only the EX does, and even then it's a 3-channel system. Subaru's warranty is longer in the US, but I'm not sure about Canada. The OBS also handles much better.
The Forester competes more head-to-head, so let's see what the 2003 model looks like.
-juice
I recently took my 2002 obs in for its 7500 mile service. All went well, though they brought up a tire issue.
At about 1500 miles, I managed to pick up a long screw right on the outside curve of a tire. I managed to get it to a local Goodyear shop. They did not have the exact tire, but had one that matched tread and was the proper size. Seeing as I was a bit "up the crik" at that point, I went ahead with it. (Yes, I've been appropriately noodle-whipped by various friends since then...)
I've had absolutely no noticable problem with this different tire... no wheel shimmy, no drifting to one side... has felt just as rock steady as always.
The Subie dealer where I had my 7500 mile service done said they noticed that this odd tire was bigger than the others, and it could cause the awd system to overwork and I could burn out whatever in the system, and the sky could fall and yadda-yadda.
I measured it after getting home. Tire height is exactly the same, the space between the rim and the road (I know there's a name for that...) is exactly the same. The width -- area of the tire that actually is on the road -- is maybe 1/4 to 1/2 inch wider. It's hard to be exact. It is a little wider but not much.
So, my question... can such a small difference in my situation here really cause a big problem? It has been 6,000 miles ago that I had this tire put on, and I never noticed the slightest change in how it felt driving. Any thoughts on this?
Many thanks,
Kim
paisan (from this forum) developed problems with his Trooper's differential because of tires not being the exact diameter.
Although I've never shopped for Bridestone RE92's, I believe they would be fairly easy to find. Your Goodyear shop should know that and not try to sell you a different tire. Unless they measured the diameter/circumference of the Goodyear.
-Dennis
You also may do a search at i-club.com as their site has quite a past history of posts and the search engine there is easy to use. That is an impreza club, which of course includes outback sport.
-mike
tidester
Host
SUVs
http://clubs.yahoo.com/clubs/subaruimprezaoutbacksport
but I checked myself and I couldn't find them...maybe you could post a message there and ask where the owner put them - his moniker was "dazl" something.
I'm hesitant posting stock photos, but if you really want to see them, I will. I've never seen a red one if someone wants to post that!
Personally, I went with silver because I think the two-tone is garish, I wish we had the option of getting at least one color in monotone (like the Baja)
Thanks for your input. Honestly, I couldn't imagine such a small difference in tire width could potentially cause such problems. What a drag... I hate these expensive lessons (though it sounds like the expense potential is a lot greater than just another new tire).
Should I take it back to the Subie dealer to have the differential checked? (In asking that, I don't know anything about the differential, and if it is something that can be lubricated or serviced in some way or whatever.)
Thanks again for all your help,
Kim
Also interested in the Matrix, but despite the somewhat attractive pricing, it is way underpowered (esp. AWD version) when compared to the Impreza.
Yes, the dealer can drain and refill your rear differential. It's just 75w90 gear oil and two drain plugs. The bottom plug is magnetic, so ask them to check for any metal shavings on it - if so your rear differential could be damaged.
But my guess is because you haven't reported any grinding noises or tire scrubbing that you're ok.
decho: consider the silver OBS, because the two-tone really doesn't stand out as much as with some colors.
-juice
juice, she just got the tire. Symptoms of a diff going bad may not show up for some time. Correct?
paisan - how long did it take for you diff to start acting up?
-Dennis
The OBS has an open rear diffy, so it's less likely to have been damaged (i.e. it designed to tolerate a bigger difference from side to side). I bet you're fine.
-juice
-mike
Funny, I was trading off my 2000 OBS and was sorta going to get the same color if they had it and yes, there was silver, like mine, then, smack! right there was a black one in front of me very eyes. I wasn't asking for it to happen but the fever hit and I got stars in my eyes over that color--deep bluish actually with sparkles under and in the black. I never thought I'd own a black car in my life!
My tint all around is actually illegal (too dark in front) which makes it good that the car's black, I think it hides the darkness of the tint better!
You know for 20 years we've had illegal tint on many Volvos (white wagons mostly) and even though I've been pulled over a few times by the cops, they NEVER questioned my tint! When rushing to the corner store to retrieve my wallet from a shopping cart in THIS car (black paint, DARK black tint), a cop pulls me over and never mentions the tint--and get this--my windshield on this car is also tinted!!
Just a little anecdote about my little black Subie who had been christened "Juju" after a wise and industrious old Jamaican man my son had the privilege to work with on a construction job.
Congrats, kd. I gotta admit, I have not seen a single green one yet. Black and silver are the most common around me.
-juice
1) Don't take your wallet/paperwork out until asked for
2) keep your hands on the wheel
3) interior light on
4) tell the office where your wallet is, and that you are going to get it when asked, same for paperwork in glove box
5) Lots of Sirs/Ma'ams go a long way.
So far I'm 27/3 on traffic stops, with the 3 moving violations being out of state and less than 20mph over so they never came back to NYS.
-mike
another shelter doggie! Lucky for me she had been "returned"
-Dennis
I also think this car needs the spoiler and splash guards to jazz it up a bit.
I do get snow and ice packed in the wheelwells so you have to watch that but this happens in other cars as well.
I also have a shelter dog who was "returned" once before. He's a lab-pit mutt with a five foot vertical leap. Of course we found that out AFTER we built the fence.
But in court I'm undefeated. Twice the officer didn't show! Lucky!
John: all you should need is oil changes ($25 or so), tire rotation (not much) every 15k miles, and the 30k and 60k services, a couple hundred bucks each or so. I do it all myself so I don't have exact costs.
Nice pix! It almost looks monotone in silver. Cute doggie, too.
-juice
Training her was (and is) very frustrating, but she turned out better than anyone expected.
Plus she fits in the hatch area for short trips. Love that rear bumper cover!
(no offense to owners of two-toned dark-colored subies...The bronzish bumper with silver is still tacky
oh well, the longer I own my Subie the less I like to look at it and the more I like to drive it!
p.s. he jumps 5ft? Whoa!
-juice