carljwnc's '01 Outback

Thanks Kevin!!!

The search goes on...kinda' like being on a treasure hunt.

My friend at the dealership called last night, and described the perfect car, I was drooling. 2007 OB, manual, pretty much checked off every box on the list I had given him...then he told me the price. :surprised: I started doing a little research, prices on this dealerships used cars vs. Kelly Blue Book. On average they were trying to get $3000-4000 more than what KBB says is "fair market value". I don't blame my friend at all, he doesn't have anything to do with setting the prices, but sounds like I'll probably be buying from somewhere else.

Escher, I have seen a few OB XT's, including a Baja XT, for sale around here, as well as some Foz XT's, decent pricing too. I just cant have the turbo for MPG sake...and having a kid who will be driving it some too.

The family truck is great to have around, but it is a thirsty sucker. '00 Nissian, 2wd, auto with a V6 (only 61k mi. on the clock), I haven't checked, but it must be in the 17-18 MPG range. Not good when you have a 30 mile commute to work.

NachaLuva, I know the Outback is up-spec. What I'm comparing is the difference over the years. We've had three Foz's. '03, '05, and '09. The two earlier ones were rock solid, the '09 not so much. Back when I bought my XT, I test drove a couple of new Legacys, and then having my '01 OB, the build quality seemed to be good, but not really great. Then when we traded in the '09 Foz and got our first OB ('13 I think) there certainly seemed to be a difference in how well the cars were put together. I know, very small sampling, but that has been our experience. Hopefully, we'll have another sample soon, my next one will be Subie #8 for us. :ebiggrin:
 
The '09 was designed straight after the Global Financial Crisis. Most models from most car manufacturers had a dip in quality as the accountants came out in force. The SH Forester is a good example. Generally models which came out in those years are good ones to avoid. Didn't really effect the Outbacks as much as they didn't release the next generation for a few years. In the latest generation of Subarus the Foresters are almost as high a standard as the Outbacks are.
 
This does make sense, but wouldn't the design process for the '09 have been completed, or mostly completed, before the financial crisis? With the '09 being the totally new design, I would think it took a couple of years to complete, so say it started in '07 which would have been prior to the crises. Perhaps they did though, cut costs on the actual manufacturing process? I have not been in a Forester newer than an '09, so I don't know what they are like. And, I'm merely speculating on my above rambling. :iconwink:
 
GFC started in 2007 and peaked in 2008, so would have been in play during final stages of the SH design. But your right, it wouldn't have been as hard on the Forester as it would have been on any cars released a year later.
 
Makes sense. My GFC timing is off a bit. For me personally, everything GFC related was 2009, the year that I got laid off. :sadbanana:

Kind of glad this all came up though, as I look around at cars, I'm going to look at the '08-'09s a bit more skeptically.
 
Carl, I call our MY10 (2009/2010 build) SH the "Accountant's Pack model" - everywhere I look with my cost accountant hat on I can see where it has been pruned for cost cutting when compared with our MY06 Forester (series II SG) ... :puke:. It is the XS 2.5L NA 4EAT Prodrive version.

In some ways it is a safer, stronger vehicle, but the trim/detail is nothing like the quality of the SG. It also has two slightly weeping head gaskets ... :(.
 
That is pretty much what we found with our '09 compared with both of our SGs.The weeping head gaskets though...I think can be expected on any of the EJ25 engines.
 
Last Monday, picked up an '07 Outback. :cool: 95k miles, new head gaskets, timing belt, water pump, clutch, and a whole bunch of other stuff. One owner car, garage kept, pretty much looks like it just left the showroom.:ebiggrin: It's going to need new struts, and it has a few little other nit picky things that aren't quite right, but nothing that really concerns me. Went way over my budget, but I think it will be worth it in the long run, hoping I can be driving this car for at least the next ten years.
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carljwnc said:
Last Monday, picked up an '07 Outback. :cool: 95k miles, new head gaskets, timing belt, water pump, clutch, and a whole bunch of other stuff. One owner car, garage kept, pretty much looks like it just left the showroom.:ebiggrin:
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That's fantastic, Carl! Congratulations! And welcome to the Green Subaru family! :raz:

That is my favorite generation of the Outback. I love the dual tone green. Plus it's a stick shift! :cool:

Seeing that the mechanic recently revealed that my Forester will soon need the head gaskets replaced, I very much appreciate that the work has already been done on your new Outback. Hope you can get at least another 100k miles out of it! At least that'll be my plan once I get the head gaskets done on Green Bean. ;)
 
Thanks Y'all!!!

Yup, pretty happy with this one. Our first green Subie amongst our eight all together. Let the good times roll...:ebiggrin:
 
Got featured in our local dealers advertisement. :ebiggrin:
 

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Thanks!!!

Helps that our friend is the one that I bought the car from. The other cool thing, this parking lot on just about any day, will have in it a full spectrum of Subies. I have seen it with more than 50% Subie goodness parked at it. :cool:
 
carljwnc said:
Helps that our friend is the one that I bought the car from. The other cool thing, this parking lot on just about any day, will have in it a full spectrum of Subies. I have seen it with more than 50% Subie goodness parked at it. :cool:
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Definitely cool, Carl! Kudos to the dealer for creating his own ads, too.

Love going places that have a high Subie-quotient, whether it's a parking lot or a whole country. Went to see family in Switzerland this summer, and the mountains were alive with Subies. Also feel like I'm seeing more and more newish Subarus here in DC -- surprising number of Crosstreks, and the most recent Forester seems to be quite popular.
 
Even Florida is being taken over by Subies. :ebiggrin: You used to rarely see them, now they are all over the place. Crosstrek, especially around here, really seems to have taken off. :cool:
 
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