out with the old, in with the outback
Published by james February 27th, 2006 in mr. excitement
where i’ve been: while driving north on the black horse pike last week, the timing belt on my mercury mystique broke. luckily, i was able to pull into the last parking lot before the highway. the estimate for the timing belt and pulley replacement, not yet taking into account if there was any engine damage, was $515. with this being the latest in a long line of repairs, i figured that it’s been a nice eight years with that car but it’s time to move on.
i just bought a new mitsubishi outlander last year and wasn’t ready to commit myself to another $16K relationship with my bank so i started looking for a used subaru impreza (outback sport version). i’ve wanted one since they came out in the 90s - AWD, great gas mileage, a reputation for longevity and room to put all my junk in.
carfax and edumund’s were invaluable in my research. also, bob really helped me decide what i wanted with some great advice on the different subarus. i eventually managed to find one in virginia beach for thousands less than i would have paid for at a dealer around here. i picked it up on friday night. with the savings i got on the deal, i’m looking at buying an 100K extended warranty direct from warrantydirect.com. it’s not a bad deal, they cover most major repairs and it costs about 20% less than what dealers offer for lesser programs.
first impressions: i love the AWD. it’s totally responsive and feels like i’m hugging the road at all times. there were a few times where i had to either swerve or hit my brakes on the way home and i have to say that i never felt even close to getting out of control. the car is really easy to see out of and the gas mileage on my way back from va was awesome. 33 mpg!
the only complaints i have are minor so far: first off, the gears are a lot shorter than i’m used to. at 70-75 MPH it runs at about 3000-3250 RPM. the stereo has a hard time with cd-rs and i broke one of the blower vents. the interior is pretty bare-boned and doesn’t dampen sound as well as other cars, especially on the highway.
it’s awesome so far but as always, i’m keeping my fingers crossed.
3 Responses to “out with the old, in with the outback”
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when you say the gears are shorter, do you mean in relation to past automatics or manuals that you’ve had? i can’t really comment since i’m only on my second car and my first one didn’t even have a tachometer. but my car now runs at about 3000-3200 RPM around the same speed. my best guess is that both of our cars were designed more for the “sport” aspect rather than luxury???
if you want to have some fun, try running your car up to 70mph in third gear. i like doing that when i get onto the interstate. RPM’s usually get up between 5000 and 6000.
compared to other manuals i’ve driven (my old toyota, my parents’, pintu’s), it feels like the gears are shorter but it could be other factors like noise (i started reading some tutorials on deadening the inside of the car yesterday) making me think that way.
there were a couple of times i had to rev up in third to pass a few cars but i didn’t go as high as 70 in it. by the way, does anyone know how to drive in va?!?
mikey was talking about how he deadened the noise in his car. that my be overkill (and over-priced), but you should talk to him about it.
sometimes i think i’m the only one who knows how to drive in va. but you know how people always say that jersey drivers are the worst? well, it seems funny that whenever i go home, i start to think the same thing now that i’ve been away from it for so long.