Congrats on the car, it's beautiful! I don't like the Atlantic Blue Pearl we get here, the one you guys in the US get seems much nicer, ours is too drab and grey.

 

Thanks for the welcome. It's nice to have a bulletin board to come to and see what other folks have experienced.

 

Nice car. Looked the Outback's over before deciding on getting a smaller car (Impreza Outback Sport) instead of a small SUV. Better interior and features in yours, but I had also decided to save money.

I'll welcome you, too, even though I'm almost as new here.

 

What price did you pay for your car. I have a dealer in San Jose, Ca who is quoting a price of 30,170 plus tax and fees. Is this a good price?

 

Looks great! Welcome aboard.

 

Thanks for the welcome from everyone.

In response to jaoutback, that price sounds very good if you looking at the LL Bean. Mine ended up slightly higher because I had them install the subwoofer. I bought mine at Livermore Subaru - really good experience.

I've had the car for about a month now and I just love it. No buyers remorse at all.

Look forward to hearing how you make out on the decision.

Craig

 

Craig,
I have test drove the LL Bean at the Livermore Subaru. The salesperson who has helped me his name is Wayne. I haven't talk price with him yet because I am in the process of installing a new garage door. My 00 OB limited barely fit in my garage. Until the door is installed I will hold off on buying the Subaru because the 05 OB is a little longer than the 00 OB.

 

Got mine for 33.5K out the door (tax lic. everything) It has the subwoofer upgrade and Some other thing I can't think of right now. I bought it from Stevens Creek Subaru. Not a great deal but I'm happy seeing how happy my wife is about her new baby. Life is good for me right now.

 

Well it's been about six months since I bought mine and I'm happy to say that I still love it.

Was at the SJ Auto Show a couple of weeks back and noticed that t hey are now offering Home Link as an option. That was one of two options that I really wanted but they didn't offer (the other is a telescoping steering wheel).

Well, I just had Livermore Subaru swap out my mirror to the Home Link one. I'm a happy camper again!

Have to say that the new B9 Tribeca sure looks interesting.

Craig

 

We've had ours (same model and color) for about 5 months now. What are you getting mileage wise? The only thing thats starting to bug me is the crappy rear shocks. Did you keep the RE 92 tires or replace them yet? At 4400 miles, we still absolutely love the ride. We've got yhe best subies of them all Don't we!:2:

 

Mileage is not quite what I had hoped for. Approx 20 MPG average although I noticed this last tank is at 23 so I'm happy about that. But I guess considering the power the car has, I should have expected somewhat lower mileage.

It seems that hills just kill the mileage, and since I live in a valley, I'm constantly going up and down hills. Oh well.

I still have the stock tires and am pretty happy with them. And I haven't noticed anything with the rear shocks. Maybe you should have them looked by your dealer.

Gotta agree - awesome ride!

 

I also think the rear suspension is not too great. It's fine 90% of the time, but there are a few situations where it gets overwhelmed. It's probably even more of a problem on my OBXT given it's high level of performance

I've been talking with a couple of perofrmance shops and we should see both a bigger reaer sway bar and better shocks coming on the market soon, like around spring time. I'll keep you all posted!

Best Outback? In your dreams! If you had the VDC we could argue, but a ******? Ha! The XT is far superior :whip: :18:

 

I knew that would get a response from you sly. No No My subie is better!:bootyshak

 

You guys talking about shocks:
You do realize that stiffer does not translate to better. Especially for handling. You want your tires to go in and out of every bump, not skip across it. You might consider different springs to alleviate "porpusing". As far as upgrading the shocks, I would go with a road sensing shock. I put them on my Grand Cherokee and they are great. Soft when you want them to be and stiff when you need them (yes, I'm still talking about shocks). I have the beefy shocks on my F-150 and the only time it rides comfortably is when it's loaded down all the way so that the weight of the truck over-powers the ridiculously tight valving in them. Getting your car to handle at it's potential best is more than simply throwing on sway bars and stiff shocks.

 

Personally I'm not looking for stiffer, but shocks with more damping. Shocks should not allow more then one up and down on a large bump. These can at times, behave like shocks that are no longer damping.

I agree it's not a simple thing to improve a suspension. That's why I leave the engineering to reputable firms like IPD. I had one of their suspension setups on my Volvo 850 GLT and it did wonders to the car's handling with only a minimal deterioration in ride quality.

 

I agree with the "awsome ride" comment cljw. Not the fastest but fast enough for me.
I've had mine since July and enjoy it every day.
One of the nice advantages here in Dallas is that I can easily find my car in a parking lot now. Not many Subies around here. (Try to find a white GMC SUV in a crowded mall parking lot)
My mileage is not as good. About 18 mpg around town. (8 mile commute in heavy traffic)
I added the armrest extender and it made a big difference in terms of confort, and transferred the roof rack from my GMC Envoy.
All I need now is to find a decent way to connect an iPod.

Was the Homelink a good investment? I would like to have one to replace the gate opener and the garage door, but my dealer quoted me $ 230 installed.

 

I knew that would get a response from you sly. No No My subie is better!:bootyshak

Read this excellent review of the OBXT and weep::2:

http://www.canadiandriver.com/roadtest/05outback_xt.htm

 

Hello to the group.

Has anyone noticed about a half second delay in acceleration from a standing start in their 05 LL Bean? And that's pedal down, not easing into it.

Everything else about this car is very cool, but there is that little "think time" before it kicks in. Dealer said it was normal, computer generated. (Pedal is electronic, not cable connected.) Looking for other drivers' experiences on that.

 

I'm getting the same delay. I'm sure the dealer is correct in his assessment. Once it kicks in though, isn't that acceleration nice?
:runaway:

 

Thanks, yeah. It rocks once it gets off the dime. BTW, I test drove the XT (the dealer made me!). TOO much push at the line, I was afraid to be always taking out the car in front! So I'll stick with the Bean, thanks.

On the mileage ?? -- I'm getting around 21 combined city/hwy over the last 1000 mi or so (I've got 1500 on it). Seems about what it's billed as.

How are the Yokohamas better than the Bridgestones?

 

On the mileage, your 21 combined must be mostly highway cause my mileage was horrible at 1500 miles(14-15 city,21-22 hwy) and we're pretty conservative drivers. At 6-7000 miles we began seeing a dramatic improvement(18-19 city,23-26 hwy). On tires, I think that the car handles great with the RE92's, but i've never really owned a vehicle that is supposed to handle very nice so I have no comparisons. I do know that everybody on this site thinks that the bridgestones are crap and that when I eventually do get some new treads that are decent I will be amazed at how much better the ride is.

 

My only complain re the suspension is "porpusing". Corning grip is really amazing I think for a car with off road capability. Try going over a big bump with some speed and hard acceleration though and the ride is less than ideal.

My VDC has the same lag at startup, it's worse than any other automatic I've driven, the deal said it was due to having to "spin up" all the componets in the AWD and transfer power to 4 wheels at once. It does suck getting left a car length behind tho.

 

I have the same car, color and all... good choice.:7:

I added a cargo net, kayak rack when necessary and am getting better tires and may mod the exhaust.

Keep us posted on any mods or whatever... that's what it's all about here.

 

Just bought my 05 ******

All,

This is my first post here. I also just bought my first Subaru, a 2005 LL Bean the same color as the one shown here. I have had it for two weeks and I love it. My other car is a Honda CRV. I feel like royalty now.

I enjoy reading what everyone has to say here and I am learning a ton. My tires are down to 5/32 tread depth so I'll be reading about which tires to replace the Bridgestone's with.

 

Read this excellent review of the OBXT and weep::2:

http://www.canadiandriver.com/roadtest/05outback_xt.htm

The XT is a good choice if you want a manual, live at altitude, or want to modify the engine for more power.

The H6 is a better choice if you want lower fuel costs, higher resale value, more tractable, smoother operation, want the 5EAT, or think the "boy racer" hood scoop looks silly on a station wagon. Prices kind of overlap based on trim level: I paid $26K for my 2006 3.0R but had to add leather seats aftermarket.

From 0 to 75 mph or so the H6 and 2.5T are as close as can be: at 80 or so the XT starts to pull away a bit. The manual trans is geared lower so they accelerate faster, but seem pretty thirsty.