Thread: Subaru Outback

Don't know about cruise control on the GT Dingo is looking at, but the XT I have is a manual and has cruise control.

Doughboy: Been there with the Geolandars on two new Subarus, replaced them with Bridgestone Potenzas in both cases for much better mileage.

Wife (ex) bought my parents Outback when they bought their new Forester. I have always been a fan of Subys and have had 4 or 5 of the old 1800 wagons. BUT. The Outback of the wifes' uses more fuel than her supercharged Holden Calais used to, it eats bloody tyres, the power steering pump got a squeak in it and had to be replaced for $1200 as it was not a repairable item. The radio has never worked and it keeps running into things, like a post Friday night and a roo on Saturday night.....

wasnt there a problem with them "losing" their spare tyre in their middle of the night recently?

Hello,
I have a 2005 H6 3.0L outback. Fuel economy 70km/Litre.Can take 95 Octane or 98 octane fuel,but not regular unleaded. Great car for camping and driving,loves a country drive. AWD is a bonus,but it's not built for real off road 4WD (unless it's your hertz hire car of course) I am very happy with mine and looking to the upgrade I would get another one as long as parts etc stay as easy to get.Cheers ALjenit

Originally Posted by aljenit

Hello,
I have a 2005 H6 3.0L outback. Fuel economy 70km/Litre.Can take 95 Octane or 98 octane fuel,but not regular unleaded. Great car for camping and driving,loves a country drive. AWD is a bonus,but it's not built for real off road 4WD (unless it's your hertz hire car of course) I am very happy with mine and looking to the upgrade I would get another one as long as parts etc stay as easy to get.Cheers ALjenit

70km/Litre? I'd like to see that!

Originally Posted by Big Shed

70km/Litre? I'd like to see that!

A lot of time behind a tow truck

Subaru's are top cars, and very reliable, but if you get one that has been even slightly neglected they can begin to cost you money, especially in the drive line department. My advise is get it checked out by someone in the know before you buy it, make sure it has service history and look for any signs of damage or accident repair.

Mum and dad own a Rav4 and its a top little car, i dont really like toyotas but for value for money they are reliable, have good resale values and have good parts availablilty. Matt

The mate had one,
I can say one thing for them ,and that is they do not waste space.
I counted no less than 20 odd pockets recesses and spaces for knicks and nacks.
Lovely vehicle.
Grahame

THanks Guys my faith in humans has been restored. Ive placed roughly the same Q in 4 different forums including 2 Subby specials and got no answers, so thanks

I have a 2006 2.5l Outback and it's a great car, smooth and tight to drive, 5 star safety rating and good on the juice. I have had similar issues to others with the tyres. The Geolanders only lasted 22,000km due to excessive wear on the outside shoulders. Replaced them with cheaper Pirrelis and these are lasting well with regular wheel alignments. I will use the slight over inflation idea to see if this improves the wear.

Around town we use on average 9l per 100km and down to 7 litres on the open road. My mechanic services someone elses 2004 Outback that has done over 400,000km and he said it runs as good as new, here's hoping mine does the same!

Tonto I couldn't recommend it more highly.

Anyone looking at a new or 2nd hand car would find the money well spent on the independant The Dog and Lemon Guide.

It's an annual publication; I picked up my 2007 issue in the newsagent.

Its subtitle is The world's toughest car buyer's guide, written with wit and style by complete cynics!

It covers safety ratings, recalls, common faults, used values etc, and summarises models as either Avoid it Like the Plague, It's OK, or Recommended.

One of the things it says about Subies is that they're good and reliable until things start to go wrong when they turn expensive. IIRC about 150,000 km is the watershed.

As for the Liberty/Outback, they give it a Recommended rating but list four recalls for models from end 1999 to March 2005.

http://dogandlemon.com/

I have an '08 Forester.

I wasn't quite accurate in my post: models up to and inc. 02 are rated as OK in the Dog and Lemon Guide. Current models 'Recommended'. This is from the 07 edition.

Interesting thread

I would be ever so careful buying 2nd hand cars right now especially the Forester so many were photographed caught in recent floods with water well up to dash level and some beyond.

How did so many of us miss Shanes return

Dear Tonto,

From what I can remember when I was looking into that model, keep the oil changes up, and they're pretty much bullet-proof...

Seem to recall that there might be some "good oil" on them, so to speak, over at drive.com.au. Do a search over there...

They stack up, that's for sure. Pity you can't get the Forrester GT motor in them. Would be ideal for me except that you couldn't stand up a row of chairs in the back of one like you could in, say, a Carnival, or a Vito, or one of those new Hyundai iMax (rear wheel drive...) You can get a 4wd Ssangyong Stavic by the way (Mercedes drivetrain - petrol or diesel) but you'd have to a careful look at the seating versatility pretty closely to see if it suited...

Good Luck,
Batpig.