[Nickshu]

Yes the Outback is made of EXTREMELY thin sheet metal skin. I keep the paintless dent removal guy on speed-dial and in just over 1 year and 14K of ownership I have had to call him twice to remove dents. He says he makes alot of $$ on new Subarus and they have one of the thinnest skins of all the cars he works on.

Just watch your hood when going 80mph on the freeway, it literally is "flapping" in the breeze b/c its so thin. At least it saves weight for gas mileage...

 

[Nickshu]

But the of course then, VW, Audi, Volvo, Mercedes Benz, BMW, and of course Porsche are actually cars that are generally undependable (people do have exceptions, but generally low reliability ratings), overpriced (except perhaps VW), full of unnecessary bells and whistles and cost a fortune to own and repair. Actually, the thinner the metal, the better it is for the planet. Generally, lightness in design is useful up to a point, (think laptops, airplanes, carbon-fiber, bicycles, etc.

Off-road you find very few if any of the European cars, generally Asian and American, unless someone wants to take their MB up trail which happens once in awhile. So press on the side of your Porsche as much as you want, even if you have to drop the exhaust to change the oil, but don't drive it off-road.

Very true. I owned MANY european cars before my Subaru. They were mostly OK with reliability, but once you hit 60-80K miles the gremlins showed up and the nickel and dimeing started. They were much nicer and more refined that my Outback, but not by much. I do miss some bells and whistles, but having the Outback keeps more money in my wallet to spend on my old Porsche (fun/track) car.