Ditched the 2012 Outback Today

[TxTony]

I was heading to a trail today to ride my mountain bike..going down a road about 50 miles from home..all the lights came on..brake light came on and emergency brake applied itself...I pulled over on the shoulder got out and saw radiator fluid pouring out of the bottom of the car..no smoking..no overheating..pretty much pulled over when the lights came on..called Subaru Road Side Assistance and they promptly dispatched a flat bed wrecker. Mine is the 2.5 Premium..

While waiting for the wrecker I examined the radiator to see if something may have hit it..did not see any obvious holes..sat in the car kinda bummed..was mad at first thinking something went south with the car..the more I thought I started thinking something had to have hit the radiator for it to dump all the fluid onto the ground...

Wrecker arrived and hauled it to the nearest Subaru dealer from my location...still about 50 miles from my house.when the wrecker pulled into the lot with the Outback on it almost everyone from inside came out..dude said he hardly ever saw a Subie get towed in,,.while they unloaded her I went into the Subaru office to sit and wait...I started looking at the 2013s while I was in there..yeah..bad idea..but killing time. The dude told me about the changes they had made to the 2013s and said they did drive different but he could not really explain it but there was a difference.. thinking yeah..nice ploy dude..he asked me if I wanted to drive one and thought what the heck may as well while I wait..took one out for a spin and yeah it does drive different..and I can not really explain it...I know the small amount of extra horse power is not enough to make that huge of a difference..plus the seats seemed more comfortable..that could be the leather in this one compared to the cloth in mine.

The engine does not seem as loud..it seemed to accelerate better and even seemed a little smoother..when I got back to the dealership I walked around the thing and really liked the way the front looks compared to the 12..I test drove the 2.5 Limited and after I bought mine last year I had been thinking I should have got the Limited..kinda miss not having the sunroof and things like dual climate control and other things..the dude asked me if I wanted to trade my 2012 in on a 2013..I told him if the number crunching was good I might do it..

About that time the dude from the service department came over and said I had a small hole in the bottom of the radiator about the size of a small bb..something had flew up from the road and punctured the bottom of the radiator..He quoted me the price to fix it and said the radiator would need to be ordered..I told him to stand by and I would get with him..went into the sales office and did some number crunching..they came up with a good deal...and I pulled the trigger on the 2.5 limited..went from white to silver..

The dealer removed my hitch....put my bike rack on a pick up and loaded my bikes on it and followed me 50 miles home so I did not have to leave my bikes there..

So far the 50 miles I have driven it..I like the 2013 much better..maybe it is new car delight..don't know... but the thing seems different. My 2012 was my first Subie and I still was not sure about the whole Subie thing..but after today I think I am beginning to see why Subie has some loyal followers..whole thing took less than three hours and I was back home..

[jesseP]

Wouldn't that be a substantial loss trading in a car you bought brand new a year ago? Curious how they made the numbers work.

[TxTony]

The 2012 was almost paid for

[JAvendan]

congrats!

order your badges... you can get the number two - your second subaru and a bike

https://www.badgeofownership.com/Order.aspx

joel

[Storkiln]

Nice story on getting the new Outback. I know the alignment of the planets seemed to point you to the new car, but I have to wonder what it looked like from amongst the sales reps at that place. That guy must have won sales rep of the year or something after you left, lol.

Also, does the 2012 OB not have a plastic protector plate underneath the front end? The radiator is actually exposed to the ground?

[Cobalt]

Seems like an extreme way to go about fixing a radiator.

Reminds me of the old mechanics saying "Jack up the radiator cap and slip a new car under it"

[TxTony]

I thought it had some type of protection under it..not sure..seemed like a freak deal..I have never had a rock hit a radiator and do that..have known some folks that did but never experienced it...as far as fixing the radiator they were pretty reasonable on the price they quoted me to fix it...but after driving the 2013 I just like the way it felt compared to my 2012 and the options on the Limited. I would never have pulled the trigger unless I got a decent deal..it really came down to after driving mine for a year I wished I had went with the limited from jump street...My payment went up some but I am still nowhere upside on the 2013 so I figured I would get what I really want.I am going to really look at the bottom of the radiator from under the car and see how much is exposed and see about rigging something up to better protect it if there is a place in under there to do that...sometimes things work out pretty good and this was one of those times it did..

[TxTony]

Originally Posted by JAvendan

congrats!

order your badges... you can get the number two - your second subaru and a bike

https://www.badgeofownership.com/Order.aspx

joel

Thanks and already ordered them!

[upflying]

Congrats on your new $5,000 radiator.

[1 Lucky Texan]

Originally Posted by Cobalt

Seems like an extreme way to go about fixing a radiator.

Reminds me of the old mechanics saying "Jack up the radiator cap and slip a new car under it"

yeah, as a teen, I once had a mech tell me to keep the oil and change the car.