Sounds like they might have got the timing belt off a notch which is easy to do. That will make it run rather "doggy". Otherwise, the 2.5 is by no means a rocket, but you should be able to move well enough to avoid being rear ended.

 

Ejvtic:

You are right, these old Subarus are "dog slow".

I had to learn to give myself plenty of "lead time" when coming off an entrance ramp, etc.
But where I live we aint got many of those.

 

I'm the original owner of a 97OBW ... not a speed demon car, but I've never felt there was a problem with acceleration onto a highway, even with 4 adults on-board ... and still don't after 200k miles and a lot of the same work done as the OP's car. As jbwood5 wrote, maybe there's a problem with the TB alignment, or intake is dirty, etc.
Hopefully, when the HGs were done, they also adjusted the valves.

 

Put a possibly a partially clogged cat conv. on the list of suspects too.

Find a similar vehicle for sale and take it for a test drive. maybe you are expecting too much from the car. But, more likely there is a problem somewhere. Is the CEL on?

 

what he just said - find a similar car and drive it.

they aren't fast, but they are not slow - they're just the same as all the other average late 90's era stuff. it should perform fine, what you're describing does not sound right.

does the check engine light work?
is it on?

aftermarket plugs and wires do not fair well in this particular motor. i've seen brand new spark plug wires cause them to be nearly undrivable, bucking, hopping, no power. but you *should* get a check engine light for cylinder misfire.

 

0-60 is listed at 10.4 seconds. No sports car, for sure... but if it makes you feel better, that's about the same as a 1968 Porsche 911 Sportmatic, and about a second faster than a 1982 Mercedes 380SL (V8 powered roadster).

Of course, there could be something wrong with it. You got some good suggestions already.

 

Define slow. Was our old 1996 and our current 2003 2.5 wagon compared to my old V8 Thunderbird or my dad's Mustang? Yup.

Fast compared to the V6 van I drove at work.

0-60 is in the 10 second range on these cars.

 

Nope they are slow and the old 4spd AT makes it even worse. They have never been viewed as fast cars LOL - durable and capable and easy to fix yes - fast no..

 

the check engine light does work, but is currently not on. the abs light is on, but doesnt seem to be a problem. slow to me is losing a light to light "race" with an 18 wheeler..it does seem to get a little "quicker" when warmed up, but still not what i was expecting..it does kind of feel like the cats might be clogged, not sure..im already thinking about getting uel headers, and possibly doing an exhaust to match..for now, i might pick up factory plugs and wires and see if that helps..im also planning on doing a seafoam treatment now that the car passed inspection, but ive got to pick some up..any other suggestions?

 

Is it dogamatic? I loath the 4EAT AWD driveline. It robs so much power and weighs 100lbs more than it's 5-speed counterpart. If it's an auto there really is no hope to liven it up. Mid to high 10's for 0-60 I even drove one that did 0-60 near 12 seconds... Nothing wrong with it.

5-speed you can do loads of stuff but you still won't get it to accelerate that much faster. Stock form does mid 9's to low 10's for 0-60, depends on how well you can launch it.

Do a 0-60 time to see where your car is. If it's slower to these times I posted than do some routine maintenance to bring it up to speed... If it's dead on to these times than no amount of maintenance will make it faster... Modifications is the only other route.

I did a bunch a head work and bolt on engine mods. Complete high flow exhaust(with headers). Port matched and polished manifolds. CAI with TB spacer. Weight reduction the whole nine. 0-60 was still only 7seconds. It was a allot fun to drive though, these cars are rally inspired so my outback would fly on the dirt roads. The 5-speed transmission is geared high so you shift more often and it can't go faster than 115mph. However it's perfect for dirt roads! Especially if you liven up engine!

It will never be as quick as you Accord. But it really isn't suppose to be a light to light accelerator. It's made to eat up the loose gravel...


Good luck!

 

i did a seafoam treatment, cleaned all of the grounds, and put the stock airbox back in (i bought it with a cone filter on the maf sensor), and it seems to have a little more pick-up then before..gas mileage seems to have gone up too! oh, and after cleaning the grounds, the abs light went away!

 

Brakes dragging? the abs light WAS on...

 

brakes are all good..just checked, and they arent dragging or hanging up or anything..im pretty sure the abs light was just a dirty ground..

 

Thats great man! If you haven't tried engine restorer before, I recommend it.
[ame]http://www.amazon.com/Engine-Restorer-Lubricant-Cylinder-engines/dp/B0002KL6FQ[/ame]

Just pour it in the oil and it will help with scoring on the cylinder walls.

 

car now seems a little peppier (is that a word?) now that i had a 4 wheel alignment done...i was told the specs were really off..i decided to do the alignment after i almost got into an accident this morning when my hand slipped off the wheel and the car immediately veered into the left lane, with a car there!! thats how bad the alignment was!! as a bonus, the steering wheel is no longer cocked to a 30 degree angle while going straight!

 

The 97 Legacy OB, I just bought with 200K will spin the tires from a stop. You are missing something. No, mine is not a race car (already have one of them) and when I feel the front tires start to slip I just let of the go pedal, but it is in no way a slow car. I was actually surprised going from a V8 truck to a V4 car, but the little car is peppy.

 

interesting...seems you got the only fast outback on here..

 

Not sure about fast. LOL
But going from a 6000lb Suburban to a 3000lb Subaru. I have to say I am impressed with this car and it having 200K on the clock, it is a peppy little thing and it gets 25+mpg.
And the tires are not brand new(probably 1/2), but they were put on just before I bought for inspection.

 

The only time my old 1996 would spin the tires would be when they were about totally worn out.

These are not high torque vehicles.

 

Downshift.

 

i think the only way id be able to break the tires loose in mine is to drive on ice..

 

Just found out today my AWD is not working, so that is part of my problem.
You can read about in my new post. Hopefully someone can help me out. :29:

 

update:
unclogged the cats this weekend (both were solid! couldnt see one speck of light thru them with a flashlight!), did the o2 sensor spacer to make sure i didnt get a check engine light, and also added a borla knockoff from ebay. what a difference!!! car is now quite a bit quicker, idles smoother, and no longer almost stalls at red lights! i do plan on replacing the cats at some point, but right now, $500 is far too much to pay...

 

Aw man. . . don't ever gut cats without at least saving the 'biscuit' material you rod out. It's worth some pretty serious dough. $100/pair for subaru cats at the moment.

www.sellyourcatsdirect.com

 

i still have a couple of cats from other vehicles that i could sell them..besides, if i did sell them the cats off the subaru, i would have nothing to replace them with.

 

i own a 99 OBW to and it has a pretty good pickup getting on the interstate so there has to be something wrong with your car

 

my subi pulls on my buddys wifes vw jetta with a 2.0 ..... i was impressed :29: