1 week in the Outback 3.6R dislikes - likes

[NoFlyZone]

Here's my impressions after a week of ownership. I bought the car used with 6433 miles for $23,995.

My other car(s) are a pair of Audi's A6 and A4.

It's been hot here as we've had temps up past 100. The AC just can't keep up. It doesn't really seem to blow cold, just cool. My 3 month old sort of gets cooked.

Spoiled by the Audi's (my other car) pull down window screens and the cold AC. This will hopefully be fixable by a dealer (AC that is).

Duck. The ass end feels a bit like I'm driving a duck. I ordered the STI rear sway bar and will probably add some shocks as well. The shocks will go all around as I don't want to upset the OB's balance. It feels like it was made to impress out of the showroom with "wow great ride!". NOT. To be honest, it may be because I'm used to driving glued to the road quatro's with high performance suspensions.

The motor makes good power. I like the regular gas fillup. I haven't had a car that I could pump regular gas into since the 90's.

Brakes feel mushy to me. Think I read that elsewhere in this forum. Maybe SS brake lines will help.

It's a handsome car to me. Someone debadged the car. Dealer was clueless (it was a Ford dealer). I think they were clueless about the price too. I mean 23 nine for a 2010?

I want to replace the MPG guage with something that matters.
Only problem is - it just doesn't matter.

The materials remind me of a Japanese American car. **** Audi...

It's easy to get Jr. in and out of the car seat and the hatch opens wide to swallow.

It's a lot of car for the money I paid. Big plus is its native 4 wheel drive system that Subaru doesn't add 3K dollars for. I think this car will go places others won't and we want to go to those places

Rack on top is excellent

I like the loyalty here. It speaks volumes.

I'm hopefull the Subaru will hold up and be as reliable as my A4. A4 has 221,000K miles, it's chipped, fast as ****, never breaks, and that's a lot of miles on a turbo that still feels brand new.

[iliveinyourhead]

i came from an B7 A4 S-Line and an SRT8 Chrysler.

1.) get the sway. it is worth it!
2.) the brakes scared the crap out of me the first time i NEEDED them. i am used to the monster brembo's on the SRT8.

[subcon]

Originally Posted by NoFlyZone

It's been hot here as we've had temps up past 100. The AC just can't keep up. It doesn't really seem to blow cold, just cool. My 3 month old sort of gets cooked.

ours blows cold all the time
tint the windows .. one of the first things i did when we got it.

[iliveinyourhead]

i think the thing with the AC is that you can't make the inside passenger vents hit the driver like you can in other cars. i know that is what i noticed first.

[pgh]

Audi is an upscale car division that competes with BMW and Mercedes. Subaru while more of a nitch automaker than lets say Honda is still a mainstream auto company. Why would you compare an A6 interior with a OB? What's the price difference between the two? Even a base A4 is considered more upscale and more expensive than an OB. It's an unfair comparison but it does show how good the OB is

[Space Wrangler]

Originally Posted by NoFlyZone

Here's my impressions after a week of ownership. I bought the car used with 6433 miles for $23,995.

My other car(s) are a pair of Audi's A6 and A4.

It's been hot here as we've had temps up past 100. The AC just can't keep up. It doesn't really seem to blow cold, just cool. My 3 month old sort of gets cooked.

Spoiled by the Audi's (my other car) pull down window screens and the cold AC. This will hopefully be fixable by a dealer (AC that is).

Duck. The ass end feels a bit like I'm driving a duck. I ordered the STI rear sway bar and will probably add some shocks as well. The shocks will go all around as I don't want to upset the OB's balance. It feels like it was made to impress out of the showroom with "wow great ride!". NOT. To be honest, it may be because I'm used to driving glued to the road quatro's with high performance suspensions.

The motor makes good power. I like the regular gas fillup. I haven't had a car that I could pump regular gas into since the 90's.

Brakes feel mushy to me. Think I read that elsewhere in this forum. Maybe SS brake lines will help.

It's a handsome car to me. Someone debadged the car. Dealer was clueless (it was a Ford dealer). I think they were clueless about the price too. I mean 23 nine for a 2010?

I want to replace the MPG guage with something that matters.
Only problem is - it just doesn't matter.

The materials remind me of a Japanese American car. **** Audi...

It's easy to get Jr. in and out of the car seat and the hatch opens wide to swallow.

It's a lot of car for the money I paid. Big plus is its native 4 wheel drive system that Subaru doesn't add 3K dollars for. I think this car will go places others won't and we want to go to those places

Rack on top is excellent

I like the loyalty here. It speaks volumes.

I'm hopefull the Subaru will hold up and be as reliable as my A4. A4 has 221,000K miles, it's chipped, fast as ****, never breaks, and that's a lot of miles on a turbo that still feels brand new.

you may be the 1st person that actually likes the rack. ..i think it blows. you can't adjust the spread of the cross bars.

[subiesailor]

Originally Posted by iliveinyourhead

i think the thing with the AC is that you can't make the inside passenger vents hit the driver like you can in other cars. i know that is what i noticed first.

This is probably my only pet peeve the center air vents can't be deflected away from the driver easily they only go strait not away. I wear contacts and driving with the air blowing in your face for a few hours is no fun on the dried out eye balls.

[NoFlyZone]

Originally Posted by pgh

Audi is an upscale car division that competes with BMW and Mercedes. Subaru while more of a nitch automaker than lets say Honda is still a mainstream auto company. Why would you compare an A6 interior with a OB? What's the price difference between the two? Even a base A4 is considered more upscale and more expensive than an OB. It's an unfair comparison but it does show how good the OB is

This isn't a knock on Subaru, it's what I have to compare with. I mentioned at the bottom of the post that I felt that the Suby offered a lot of car for the money. That's why I bought it, and a few other things.

Once I get the few area's straightened out like brake modulation and some suspension tuning which will be easily accomplished, and some colder AC, we're good to go.

I kicked the other manufacturers tires (some fell off) and didn't like the price or the half baked 4 wheel drive systems. Honda's and Toyota's, to me lack soul, personality?

Price difference?
Paid $18,900 for my 05 A6 4.2 Now it's for sale

[NoFlyZone]

Originally Posted by Space Wrangler

you may be the 1st person that actually likes the rack. ..i think it blows. you can't adjust the spread of the cross bars.

LOL! uh oh, only had the car for a week and haven't actually used the rack. Wonder what I'll need to get may Yakima box up there.

Hope it doesn't blow that bad...

[mpnret]

Originally Posted by NoFlyZone

and some colder AC, we're good to go.
(

Good luck with that and be sure and post if your dealer is able to do anything. But, this is a known issue with the premium and base model that when the A/C is set to max you will get very cold air out the vents (approx 42degrees) for about 10 minutes then it ramps up to over 50 degrees. If you just power off the A/C for a few seconds and turn it back on the air temp will go back to very cold for 10 minutes until the process repeats. The Limited doesn't have this issue. It can below the very cold air all day long. This has been verified by a Subaru factory rep and is not considered a design problem, just the way it works. A search will find a lot of discussion on this issue.