I recently purchased a black legacy and will be taking delivery soon. I have a nagging feeling that this color will be hard to clean as I live in snow country and show every flaw. I would like to hear feedback from other owners of black subarus and their experience with this color.
Black is without a doubt the best looking color. Would have got it on my 04 if it had been available-almost went for the black GT but the one on hand was auto.. It will be as tough to clean as the dark blue you see everywhere. If you are skittish, go with the silver or gray-they look great too. With the black make sure you get a thick base coat of wax before each winter, then go through the manual wash and rinse it down after every wet spell when it gets build up. About once a week. This keeps my car clean and happy all winter. The powder wont bother it as long as you park inside, and the wash helps keep the salt off the underside...
Black IS pretty good looking on most cars... the last vehicle we purchased was our first black vehicle and it DOES look sharp...as long as it's within 30 minutes of just having been cleaned!
Can somebody tell me were exactly the diode is on my 2002 Lecagy Wagon? Rear gate diode need to find since my interior light wont work when the doors open. I have the schematics and it tells me it under the right side of the dash but were? Any way there is no power to the light on door open, but the light does work with the swich, adn the light does come on when the rear gate opens, so I read the schematics as it being the diode. Fuse are good. Any Ideas. Need the light to work so I can get the alarm working after market alarm
I'm not totally sure what you are saying, but there is always power to the dome light. The switch, and the hatch/door open switches just provide a ground path.
Yes I know the door and the hatchback pin switches provide ground but the center wire to the front dome has no power with any of the doors except for the hatchback. Tracing the schematic it leads me to believe that the rear gate diode is the reason that it is getting no power to the front dome. I need to know were it is to verify that it is the diode and not something else. I'm trying not to rip the interior apart to find a diode! I have the factory schematics to the interior.
Thank you all very much regarding your feedback of having a black car. While the car does look beautiful in black,I'm having a difficult time deciding if I made the wrong choice.
I don't think I made a wrong choice on my black vehicle since the color of the car really isn't why I bought it. And the truth is that those silver cars are just as dirty, they just hide it better!
We now have a silver and a gold car, and they seem to be the best colors for someone like me. I know other people who are happy with their black cars, so it varies person to person. In reality, black is not much worse than dark blue, dark green, and dark red. So it's not like black is particularly evil. Any dark color is going to require more work to keep looking good -- they just happen to show dirt, chips, scratches, and dings more visibly.
There should be three wires going to the dome (based on my 05, but I can't imagine the older cars were different -- domes have worked like this for ages).
1) Constant ground (gets switched by the dome light switch) 2) Constant +12V (always has power) 3) Switched ground (gets switched by the doors/hatch)
So which wire is the "center" wire that you're speaking of ?
Don't fret. Like Craig wrote, any dark color is going to show dirt more than a lighter colored one. Black is the most rewarding when you wash or wax it -- nothing looks classier.
There are lots of great products out there to keep your dark car looking great. My two previous vehicles were black so I would know.
Switched Ground. Found the diode, not the problem though! The light still does not come on when the doors open. Traced the wire from the light to the front windshield pillar then it goes from there under the dash into a hugh budle of wires. From there who knows were they go! Any ideas? Is there a fuse? Relay? I'm missing something?
Hmm, well, I would probably start at one (or all) of the door switches, and trace in the other direction. Test for ground along the wire path (whenever there eis a connector, etc..) when the door is open and see where the "break" is.
If none of the doors activate the light, then I would suspect it's still in the main line.
Does the dash "door open" LED light up correctly for each door?? Then you would at least know that the individual ground leads are working.
As I own a Legacy sedan, I was wondering if the light over the liftgate actually switches on when the doors are opened. On some vehicles, only the dome light comes on when doors are opened and the liftgate light only comes on when the liftgate is opened.
I was wondering if the light over the liftgate actually switches on when the doors are opened
The way my '00 Outback operated: the hatch light (when not in the 'off' position) will turn on when the hatch is open. It is not affected by the opening of any of the doors - only the hatch. If you have it in the ON position (not DOOR), then it will be on until you turn it off (or your battery dies).
Haha! I think Jim meant that since he has a sedan and NOT a wagon, he would not know if the cargo light turns on with all doors or just the liftgate. It only turns on with the lift gate (in the 'door' setting, of course!). The dome light turns on with any open door, including liftgate.
2018 Subaru Crosstrek, 2014 Audi Q7 TDI, 2013 Subaru Forester, 2013 Ford F250 Lariat D, 1976 Ford F250, 1969 Chevrolet C20, 1969 Ford Econoline 100
Ok here goes in my final desperation, I got a test light and checked the pin switches to the doors, and low and behold no light. So tracing the White/red wire, found it going into the COMBINATION METER. There lies the mystery, the RED/WHITE wire has to pass through 2 diodes and a resistor that is mounted on the COMBINATION METER. That explains why there was 8 volts to the pin switches when there grounded. The resistor is semi blown thats why there is voltage there with the meter and no light with the test light! Now Can that combination meter be replaced without replacing the whole instrument cluster? If not going to have to replace the resistor only don't want to have to replace the whole cluster. Couple of hundred dollars I'm sure. Any body tear the instrument cluster apart how hard would it be? Any hidden screws I should know about? The way Subaru did this particular wire was stupid they should have fused that line. All other car manufactures fuse there dome lights Subaru owners beware when installing a aftermarket car alarm. I'm living proof and paying for it, I am a mechanic by trade. Yes us mechanics do stupid things too when we go into uncharted territory. 2002 Legacy Wagon
I bought a automatic '04 Outback in June 2004. I did a lot of research before buying the car, and I know several folks who've got Subarus and love them.
Unfortunately, so far, I have not loved mine. I'm interested in knowing if the experiences I'm having with the car are typical, or unique. My current dissatisfaction with the car and the dealership has reached the point where I am seriously considering selling it.
Two weeks after I bought the car, it started failing to start on the first turnover a few times a week. When it did finally start, it would surge and rev itself, which you could hear and see on the tachometer. It has continued to do this for the last eight months, in both hot Texas summer weather and our version of "winter" (30-40 degrees.) The dealership insists that since they're not getting any computer codes from the car, there's nothing wrong.
While the owners manual and the dealership told me the car ran on 87 octane, it does not. It detonates ferociously on anything less than 89 octane, and even then, it still periodically pings. It even pings intermittently on 91 octane. I know higher octane gas is better in general, but I bought this car to be my economical dog/bike/camping gear hauler, and I would very much like it to run on 87 octane.
My previous vehicle was a Z-28 Camaro, and it required 93 octane. That was cool, because it also had 285 horsepower. If I'm going to have to pay for expensive gas, I'd like some torque or a turbo to go with that, you know?
My car averages 16 mpg in city driving. I drive about 3 miles one way on city roads to work every day, and I'm definitely not putting the lead foot down. The best gas mileage it has ever gotten was 26 mpg, and that was on a trip out of town on mostly highways. Is it me, or does this mileage seem very low for a 4-cylinder car? None of my friends with 4-cylinder Foresters or Outbacks get mileage this low. I complained about this issue to the dealership recently (Austin Subaru in Austin, Texas) and they told me the mileage estimates that Subaru gives out are EPA estimates and thus, are mostly fiction. Well, ok.
I asked them to do a mileage test themselves on the car. They did, by topping off my 89 octane-filled tank with 91 octane, driving it 27 miles, topping it off again and proclaiming to me that it gets 31.3 mpg. There is no way in Hades that it gets 31.3 now or has ever gotten 31.3 mpg, but the dealership service manager adamantly insisted that it does and that if I'm not getting this mileage, it must be my driving.
Have any of you EVER gotten 31.3 mpg in city driving in your automatic Outback?
I love the design of the car, the room, and clearance, and the interior. I'm beginning to think, though, that my particular Outback is not so sound.
Three miles one way is barely enough to warm-up the engine. It wouldn't surprise me if you get similar results, in your driving situtation, switching cars with a friend and driving their Forester or another Outback.
In my understanding, octane has very little effect on mpg. And driving 27 miles on a warmed-up car to determine gas mileage sounds like a bogus test. Drive the car one foot and it might calculate to 100mpg!
Starting Subies: many of us have found that allowing the fuel pump to pressurize the lines first eliminates starting problems. Do this by turning the key to "on", wait a few seconds until the fuel pump stops "whirring", then start the car.
I agree with juice, it sounds very much like your ECU is fouled up. Get them to reflash it, or if you don't trust them, try pulling the negative terminal off the battery for 30 minutes and then hooking it back up. At least that will reset some of it.
16mpg for a 3-mile city drive on a cold engine? Sounds about right. AWD extracts a mileage penalty, and it is most noticeable in stop-go and slow speed driving. Your commute is probably the worst possible set of conditions as far as gas mileage is concerned.
Actually, the gas mileage does get that bad when driving that little. I have a friend who bought a 03 OBW brand new. Almost from the start, he was averaging 13-14 mpg. He finally admitted that he was driving only a couple of miles at a time, if that much. When he took it on a road trip, he did get 26 mpg. Like previously stated, the car has no chance to fully warm up in 2 miles.
I'm in the market for an '05 Legacy 2.5i, and was thoroughly impressed after the test drive. However, upon checking with the IIHS, it rates side impact safety for the wagon as "poor" for the driver. I find that hard to believe with both driver side and curtain airbags standard for the driver. This is enough to be a dealbreaker for me, however, and I was surprised to hear that the smaller Forester had better side impact safety than the Legacy. Any thoughts on why this might be, or any word from Subaru on how they plan on improving this rating?
Well, the Outback is the same body only with higher ground clearance, and it appears to ace the side impact tests (perhaps not the same exact test as IIHS, but it has aced 2-3 tests in multiple countries).
I believe ground clearance works in the favor of the Forester and the Outback -- it puts their floor structure higher into the impact area where it offers structural integrity. Since the IIHS test simulates being T-boned by an SUV, it would stand to reason that higher vehicles would fare better.
There is some black magic in the side impact tests -- many manufacturers put reinforcements, beams, and simple straps inside their doors to perform better in a particular test. This helps in ratings, but may have zero relevance to any given real-world crash scenario. So you really need to understand that when looking at the ratings. A car might do great in the IIHS test, poor in the NHSTA test, and excellent in an Australian test. But none of those tests are exactly what you may encounter on the road!!
I would say to do more research on this, including looking at other tests of the Legacy and those done in other countries. And then draw your own conclusions.
In my opinion, knowing how well my Outback rated, I can't see a reason why the Legacy would be that much worse -- so in my opinion, I would say it's a peculiarity of having 2" less ground clearance and the specifics of the IIHS test. In certain real world accidents, the Legacy might actually do better than the Outback!
I was very close a week ago to buying an Outback wagon with the 2.5L. Loved everything about it. Researched the web a bit and got scared to death by the seemingly infinite web sites and postings regarding the "2.5L headgasket leaks from hell" issue.
I've seen posts affecting the 2.5L from ~1999 through 2003. Nothing on 2004 or 2005 models, but from what I can gather nothing much has changed in the engine over these years.
I deeply want to avoid any sort of hassle factor of a 10 issue arguing with the dealer over this sort of stuff. Esp. considering it is such a major part - not something like a strut or a rattle.
So please educate me.
My salesperson claimed the whole issue was originally a bad batch of gaskets that they worked through. I took that as total BS given I've read people having to replace the gasket at 60K and then again only 20K later. Why wouldn't the replacement gasket be the "better" one if true?
I can offer up a part of the explanation, but maybe one of the other regulars can finish the story.
'96-'99 - DOHC 2.5l (phase 1 engine). There is some truth to the change in gasket design and materials used here. Replacement gaskets seem to be holding up ok.
'00-'04 - SOHC 2.5l (phase 2 engine). There was talk about various tests on gasket change, but don't think anything was really done. The problem is in the upper block (deck) design, and how much dimensional change the 'open deck' goes thru with heating cycles. It is apparently enough to scrub the gasket into failure over time. An 'additive' is used (kind of a stop-leak) to prolong life, but time will tell if it is effective. Yes, there have been reports of repeated failures but it is unclear if when those gaskets were changed, if the additive was used. My '02's were changed at 15k miles, but the dealer (and later Patti) told me that the additive was not needed in my case. Why? I could never get an clear answer....
Turbo motors: These use a different (closed deck) upper block design that is more thermally stable, and seem to be immune to failure.
Newer 2.5l without turbo: Very good question! Did they change the block, or just relying on the additive? Maybe someone else can complete this chronology....
I have been told that the 05 MY 2,5 turbo motor has the "closed deck" which is definately more rigid. The non turbo 2.5 engine apparently does not have the closed deck design. I have a 2.5 with no turbo in my Legacy. The intake manifold is definitely changed between 04 and 05, but I could not see any block or cylinder head changes. Jim W.
I think Craig provided a great response, but I wanted to add my two cents worth:
The IIHS side-impact test is brand new and is more severe than the NHSTA side-impact test. The IIHS test uses a dummy representing a small female (4'11", IIRC) whereas the NHSTA models an average male.
While it is dismaying to see a "poor" rating, consider these things: - Crash test simulations test results represent just one data point involving numerous variables. - The Legacy and OB have faired very well in other tests around the world(actually, the OB has not been subject to the IIHS test yet) - Higher seating position does help against impacts vs. SUVs (explains OB and Forester performance), but it subtracts from dynamic stability (ie. increases rollover risk) - The Legacy received poor marks for side intrusion but scored well with head protection on the IIHS test
I have a MY00 Legacy GT with the SOHC 2.5L (Phase 2?) engine. Somewhere along the line I must have received the coolant recall and dutifully had it performed; to be honest I don't really remember. About a month ago, at 80,000 miles, after complaining for the past couple of winters about smelling coolant when the car was first started on very, very cold days, the dealer replaced the left-side head gasket under warranty -- at no charge to me. Warranty coverage was due to my having had the recall done.
There was seepage to the outside of the engine. No internal leaks or internally "blown" head gasket problems (to the best of my knowledge). The car ran perfectly right up until the gasket was replaced.
The seepage had gone on for years but only recently became enough of a leak to be noticeable in terms of losing fluid capacity. Even at its worst it only lost a small bit of coolant over a very long time period -- I'm talking thousands of miles here, multiple oil change cycles. The real issue for me was that it leaked onto the exhaust system and vaporized, so I could really smell it. I never saw any spots on the ground.
When I discussed it with the dealer I really expected them to recommend adding sealant to the cooling system. I was a bit shocked to have them come back and say they'd replace the gasket, under warranty no less!
Hi - I have a 03 Outback Sedan 4 cyclinder I bought used in 04. When I first bought this car fuel mpg's were 31.5 mpg. That was the one and only time mpg was ever over 30. Mileage dropped to 27, then 25-26 and now is at what I consider a miserable 22-23 mpg. I realize winter driving has some effect but I am getting 100 miles less per tank than when I bought this car. The only thing I've done is to add a front bug schield to the car. I've just had a 30,000 mile tuneup, this has resulted in only 23-24 mpg. Not much of an increase. Could a bug schield effect mileage? And why is it that this car never seen 31 mpg again? I drive moderately, 55-65 85% highway/country miles When at the dealership waiting for my tuneup, I was speaking with someone who has a Forrester she told me she has never gotten Less than 31! And the motor is the same ( I think) as mine.
Three months now, 7500 miles on my 2005 OB. Mostly highway miles. Recent trip over two fillups computer showed 27mpg actual was 25.6. Most I have ever gotten on a long trip was 26. Hoping the gas mileage will improve in warmer weather. What I don't know, but am hoping, is when the vehicle is broken in (7500 miles not enough???) that is another reason gas mileage will improve. Actual running average since purchase is 24.8.
Never less than 31MPG?!? Pardon me, but, hogwash. Unless she has it towed to the tops of mountains and then drives it back down, there is no way she is averaging that kind of mileage. Someone needs to help her with her math!
I have a 2000 Legacy GT sedan with 5 speed manual transmission. Mileage-wise it should be fairly similar to an Outback, although an automatic Outback wagon might average a tad (1 or 2 MPG) worse than I do. I keep the tire pressures between 32 to 36 pounds, depending on whether they are my summer or winter tires and what the prevailing road conditions are; the fairer the weather, the higher the pressure. I'm not exactly a lightfoot on the throttle, but neither am I prone to full-on drag race starts. In traffic I'm pretty quick to pop the car into 5th gear and just trundle along with the crowd. On highways I tend to push the legal speed limit, doing 65-ish on 55 mph roads and so on.
I average 24mpg on secondary roads, and 26 to 28mpg on freeway trips (the car is so much fun to drive that we don't always take freeways to get where we're going). I can't give you a good "city" mileage rating because I do very little driving in city conditions.
These numbers have been very, very consistent over 75,000+ miles, after an initial break-in period of maybe 5,000 or 6,000 miles. Subarus are well known for loosening up with age. When the car was new those numbers were 2mpg worse, i.e. 22 and 24-26mpg.
My best-ever tankful was 32mpg, driving down out of the Rockies; it was mostly downhill for 200 miles. You could have picked me up off the pavement when I did *that* math.
I just purchased an '05 VDC Wagon and would like to put in a GPS system. Any suggestions on what kind and where in the car it will work best? I would like to put one in where the hole is above the digital display on the center console, but it looks like a tight fit for most GPS units.
Comments
I have been abused for some of my posts.
Huh?
Thank you
Be prepared to have your car washed at least once a week in the winter and still have it look dirty all the time.
Sly
It will be as tough to clean as the dark blue you see everywhere. If you are skittish, go with the silver or gray-they look great too. With the black make sure you get a thick base coat of wax before each winter, then go through the manual wash and rinse it down after every wet spell when it gets build up. About once a week. This keeps my car clean and happy all winter. The powder wont bother it as long as you park inside, and the wash helps keep the salt off the underside...
Any way there is no power to the light on door open, but the light does work with the swich, adn the light does come on when the rear gate opens, so I read the schematics as it being the diode. Fuse are good. Any Ideas. Need the light to work so I can get the alarm working after market alarm
Craig
Craig
1) Constant ground (gets switched by the dome light switch)
2) Constant +12V (always has power)
3) Switched ground (gets switched by the doors/hatch)
So which wire is the "center" wire that you're speaking of ?
Craig
There are lots of great products out there to keep your dark car looking great. My two previous vehicles were black so I would know.
Drive it with pride!
Ken
Black is like Jedi training for OCD!
-Brian
-juice
And yes black is worse then dark blue, not by a lot, but it is worse.
Sly
Found the diode, not the problem though! The light still does not come on when the doors open.
Traced the wire from the light to the front windshield pillar then it goes from there under the dash into a hugh budle of wires. From there who knows were they go! Any ideas? Is there a fuse? Relay? I'm missing something?
If none of the doors activate the light, then I would suspect it's still in the main line.
Does the dash "door open" LED light up correctly for each door?? Then you would at least know that the individual ground leads are working.
Quite a mystery.
Craig
As I own a Legacy sedan, I was wondering if the light over the liftgate actually switches on when the doors are opened. On some vehicles, only the dome light comes on when doors are opened and the liftgate light only comes on when the liftgate is opened.
Jim
The way my '00 Outback operated: the hatch light (when not in the 'off' position) will turn on when the hatch is open. It is not affected by the opening of any of the doors - only the hatch. If you have it in the ON position (not DOOR), then it will be on until you turn it off (or your battery dies).
-Brian
Did you mean wagon?
Our wagon's cargo light turns on when it's open in the default "auto" mode. But you can also set it on or off manually.
-juice
-juice
2002 Legacy Wagon
Unfortunately, so far, I have not loved mine. I'm interested in knowing if the experiences I'm having with the car are typical, or unique. My current dissatisfaction with the car and the dealership has reached the point where I am seriously considering selling it.
Two weeks after I bought the car, it started failing to start on the first turnover a few times a week. When it did finally start, it would surge and rev itself, which you could hear and see on the tachometer. It has continued to do this for the last eight months, in both hot Texas summer weather and our version of "winter" (30-40 degrees.) The dealership insists that since they're not getting any computer codes from the car, there's nothing wrong.
While the owners manual and the dealership told me the car ran on 87 octane, it does not. It detonates ferociously on anything less than 89 octane, and even then, it still periodically pings. It even pings intermittently on 91 octane. I know higher octane gas is better in general, but I bought this car to be my economical dog/bike/camping gear hauler, and I would very much like it to run on 87 octane.
My previous vehicle was a Z-28 Camaro, and it required 93 octane. That was cool, because it also had 285 horsepower. If I'm going to have to pay for expensive gas, I'd like some torque or a turbo to go with that, you know?
My car averages 16 mpg in city driving. I drive about 3 miles one way on city roads to work every day, and I'm definitely not putting the lead foot down. The best gas mileage it has ever gotten was 26 mpg, and that was on a trip out of town on mostly highways. Is it me, or does this mileage seem very low for a 4-cylinder car? None of my friends with 4-cylinder Foresters or Outbacks get mileage this low. I complained about this issue to the dealership recently (Austin Subaru in Austin, Texas) and they told me the mileage estimates that Subaru gives out are EPA estimates and thus, are mostly fiction. Well, ok.
I asked them to do a mileage test themselves on the car. They did, by topping off my 89 octane-filled tank with 91 octane, driving it 27 miles, topping it off again and proclaiming to me that it gets 31.3 mpg. There is no way in Hades that it gets 31.3 now or has ever gotten 31.3 mpg, but the dealership service manager adamantly insisted that it does and that if I'm not getting this mileage, it must be my driving.
Have any of you EVER gotten 31.3 mpg in city driving in your automatic Outback?
I love the design of the car, the room, and clearance, and the interior. I'm beginning to think, though, that my particular Outback is not so sound.
I'd at least reset it to get a fresh start. If mileage is that bad something is not right. Knock sensor maybe?
-juice
In my understanding, octane has very little effect on mpg. And driving 27 miles on a warmed-up car to determine gas mileage sounds like a bogus test. Drive the car one foot and it might calculate to 100mpg!
Starting Subies: many of us have found that allowing the fuel pump to pressurize the lines first eliminates starting problems. Do this by turning the key to "on", wait a few seconds until the fuel pump stops "whirring", then start the car.
HTH,
Jim
16mpg for a 3-mile city drive on a cold engine? Sounds about right. AWD extracts a mileage penalty, and it is most noticeable in stop-go and slow speed driving. Your commute is probably the worst possible set of conditions as far as gas mileage is concerned.
Good luck,
-wdb
Mark
Krzys
I believe ground clearance works in the favor of the Forester and the Outback -- it puts their floor structure higher into the impact area where it offers structural integrity. Since the IIHS test simulates being T-boned by an SUV, it would stand to reason that higher vehicles would fare better.
There is some black magic in the side impact tests -- many manufacturers put reinforcements, beams, and simple straps inside their doors to perform better in a particular test. This helps in ratings, but may have zero relevance to any given real-world crash scenario. So you really need to understand that when looking at the ratings. A car might do great in the IIHS test, poor in the NHSTA test, and excellent in an Australian test. But none of those tests are exactly what you may encounter on the road!!
I would say to do more research on this, including looking at other tests of the Legacy and those done in other countries. And then draw your own conclusions.
In my opinion, knowing how well my Outback rated, I can't see a reason why the Legacy would be that much worse -- so in my opinion, I would say it's a peculiarity of having 2" less ground clearance and the specifics of the IIHS test. In certain real world accidents, the Legacy might actually do better than the Outback!
Craig
I've seen posts affecting the 2.5L from ~1999 through 2003. Nothing on 2004 or 2005 models, but from what I can gather nothing much has changed in the engine over these years.
I deeply want to avoid any sort of hassle factor of a 10 issue arguing with the dealer over this sort of stuff. Esp. considering it is such a major part - not something like a strut or a rattle.
So please educate me.
My salesperson claimed the whole issue was originally a bad batch of gaskets that they worked through. I took that as total BS given I've read people having to replace the gasket at 60K and then again only 20K later. Why wouldn't the replacement gasket be the "better" one if true?
'96-'99 - DOHC 2.5l (phase 1 engine). There is some truth to the change in gasket design and materials used here. Replacement gaskets seem to be holding up ok.
'00-'04 - SOHC 2.5l (phase 2 engine). There was talk about various tests on gasket change, but don't think anything was really done. The problem is in the upper block (deck) design, and how much dimensional change the 'open deck' goes thru with heating cycles. It is apparently enough to scrub the gasket into failure over time. An 'additive' is used (kind of a stop-leak) to prolong life, but time will tell if it is effective. Yes, there have been reports of repeated failures but it is unclear if when those gaskets were changed, if the additive was used. My '02's were changed at 15k miles, but the dealer (and later Patti) told me that the additive was not needed in my case. Why? I could never get an clear answer....
Turbo motors: These use a different (closed deck) upper block design that is more thermally stable, and seem to be immune to failure.
Newer 2.5l without turbo: Very good question! Did they change the block, or just relying on the additive? Maybe someone else can complete this chronology....
Steve
I have a 2.5 with no turbo in my Legacy. The intake manifold is definitely changed between 04 and 05, but I could not see any block or cylinder head changes.
Jim W.
The IIHS side-impact test is brand new and is more severe than the NHSTA side-impact test. The IIHS test uses a dummy representing a small female (4'11", IIRC) whereas the NHSTA models an average male.
While it is dismaying to see a "poor" rating, consider these things:
- Crash test simulations test results represent just one data point involving numerous variables.
- The Legacy and OB have faired very well in other tests around the world(actually, the OB has not been subject to the IIHS test yet)
- Higher seating position does help against impacts vs. SUVs (explains OB and Forester performance), but it subtracts from dynamic stability (ie. increases rollover risk)
- The Legacy received poor marks for side intrusion but scored well with head protection on the IIHS test
Ken
There was seepage to the outside of the engine. No internal leaks or internally "blown" head gasket problems (to the best of my knowledge). The car ran perfectly right up until the gasket was replaced.
The seepage had gone on for years but only recently became enough of a leak to be noticeable in terms of losing fluid capacity. Even at its worst it only lost a small bit of coolant over a very long time period -- I'm talking thousands of miles here, multiple oil change cycles. The real issue for me was that it leaked onto the exhaust system and vaporized, so I could really smell it. I never saw any spots on the ground.
When I discussed it with the dealer I really expected them to recommend adding sealant to the cooling system. I was a bit shocked to have them come back and say they'd replace the gasket, under warranty no less!
Regards,
-wdb
I have a 03 Outback Sedan 4 cyclinder I bought used in 04. When I first bought this car fuel mpg's were 31.5 mpg.
That was the one and only time mpg was ever over 30. Mileage dropped to 27, then 25-26 and now is at what I consider a miserable 22-23 mpg.
I realize winter driving has some effect but I am getting 100 miles less per tank than when I bought this car.
The only thing I've done is to add a front bug schield to the car. I've just had a 30,000 mile tuneup, this has resulted in only 23-24 mpg. Not much of an increase.
Could a bug schield effect mileage? And why is it that this car never seen 31 mpg again?
I drive moderately, 55-65 85% highway/country miles
When at the dealership waiting for my tuneup, I was speaking with someone who has a Forrester she told me she has never gotten Less than 31! And the motor is the same ( I think) as mine.
Any suggestioms?
Thanks much, Ponyrider2
EPA Mileage Estimates: (City/Highway)
Manual: 21 mpg / 27 mpg
Automatic: : 21 mpg / 26 mpg
31 seems to be possible but it is hard to imagine that she had never got less than 31mpg.
Did you check the air pressure? What was pressure when you bought the car? What is it now?
Krzys
I have a 2000 Legacy GT sedan with 5 speed manual transmission. Mileage-wise it should be fairly similar to an Outback, although an automatic Outback wagon might average a tad (1 or 2 MPG) worse than I do. I keep the tire pressures between 32 to 36 pounds, depending on whether they are my summer or winter tires and what the prevailing road conditions are; the fairer the weather, the higher the pressure. I'm not exactly a lightfoot on the throttle, but neither am I prone to full-on drag race starts. In traffic I'm pretty quick to pop the car into 5th gear and just trundle along with the crowd. On highways I tend to push the legal speed limit, doing 65-ish on 55 mph roads and so on.
I average 24mpg on secondary roads, and 26 to 28mpg on freeway trips (the car is so much fun to drive that we don't always take freeways to get where we're going). I can't give you a good "city" mileage rating because I do very little driving in city conditions.
These numbers have been very, very consistent over 75,000+ miles, after an initial break-in period of maybe 5,000 or 6,000 miles. Subarus are well known for loosening up with age. When the car was new those numbers were 2mpg worse, i.e. 22 and 24-26mpg.
My best-ever tankful was 32mpg, driving down out of the Rockies; it was mostly downhill for 200 miles. You could have picked me up off the pavement when I did *that* math.
Cheers,
-wdb
Krzys
where do ya sign up
I am lucky to break 24 or so, and that is exceptionally high for me ('02 OBW 4cyl auto).
Steve