Hi everyone,
I've been appreciating this forum a lot in the process of buying a used outback wagon. I'm a first time subaru owner and actually a first time car owner as well, so this is all pretty new to me and I'm eager to learn more. My partner and I decided to look for an outback after borrowing our friend's Honda Civic hybrid for a remote backpacking excursion in Mendocino National Forest. Amazingly, cautious driving was enough to get us out and back on the rugged, washed out forest service roads, but the whole experience had me dreaming of higher clearance and AWD. Oh the places we could go! We are also excited to use it for chores like picking up straw bales and compost (we have a backyard garden and chickens).
After doing some searching on craigslist we eventually settled on buying from Auto World of Fremont. It has been a pretty good experience so far, we got a 2001 OBW 2.5 w/AWP that's in great shape for $4400 out the door. It has 192k on it but the timing belt was done at 188k. Auto World picked up the car at auction after it got rear ended and earned itself a salvage title. Seemed like a good deal to me, especially with their service plan that includes free diagnosis and parts/labor at cost. I'm also hoping to learn to do as much routine maintenance for the car as possible. Ideally this will be a reliable adventure car that doesn't cost a fortune to maintain. Anybody familiar with this dealer??
One question that has come up for me is about keys. The car came with one from the dealer so I wanted a couple spares and had the local hardware store cut me two for $6.50. They looked a little rough to me but were generally the shape of the original. They don't seem to work as well, though. I had a hard time turning the key in the lock and could unlock it (with difficulty) but couldn't relock it at all. It seemed to work much better in the ignition than in the locks, but that won't do me much good if I can't get in. I've heard some places do laser cut keys, is that what I need? I was kind of worried that using the rough cut keys could damage the locks.
I've been appreciating this forum a lot in the process of buying a used outback wagon. I'm a first time subaru owner and actually a first time car owner as well, so this is all pretty new to me and I'm eager to learn more. My partner and I decided to look for an outback after borrowing our friend's Honda Civic hybrid for a remote backpacking excursion in Mendocino National Forest. Amazingly, cautious driving was enough to get us out and back on the rugged, washed out forest service roads, but the whole experience had me dreaming of higher clearance and AWD. Oh the places we could go! We are also excited to use it for chores like picking up straw bales and compost (we have a backyard garden and chickens).
After doing some searching on craigslist we eventually settled on buying from Auto World of Fremont. It has been a pretty good experience so far, we got a 2001 OBW 2.5 w/AWP that's in great shape for $4400 out the door. It has 192k on it but the timing belt was done at 188k. Auto World picked up the car at auction after it got rear ended and earned itself a salvage title. Seemed like a good deal to me, especially with their service plan that includes free diagnosis and parts/labor at cost. I'm also hoping to learn to do as much routine maintenance for the car as possible. Ideally this will be a reliable adventure car that doesn't cost a fortune to maintain. Anybody familiar with this dealer??
One question that has come up for me is about keys. The car came with one from the dealer so I wanted a couple spares and had the local hardware store cut me two for $6.50. They looked a little rough to me but were generally the shape of the original. They don't seem to work as well, though. I had a hard time turning the key in the lock and could unlock it (with difficulty) but couldn't relock it at all. It seemed to work much better in the ignition than in the locks, but that won't do me much good if I can't get in. I've heard some places do laser cut keys, is that what I need? I was kind of worried that using the rough cut keys could damage the locks.