Subaru Legacy

[carlo]

What with all the snow and being cut off down here I've suddenly developed a craving for a sensible 4 x 4, and am drawn to the Subaru Legacy because it doesn't have the usual poxy 4 x 4 image. Anyone any experience of these? Got my eye on a 2000 Legacy Outback automatic at the moment, combination of a gutsy 2.5 boxer engine and automatic is very appealing.

[Rocket88]

Very nice, but like a drink....and spares are a fortunne if you have to buy from Subaru [door mirror £370 plus vat] interiors are a bit dull, but they are pretty reliable

[Lukas]

Very reliable and dependable, they can take some serious beating. I am driving a 2000 Legacy 2.0 5MT at the moment and I tend to say I know a thing or two about Subarus, so let me give you an advice:

 

Keep away from the automatic transmission and get a manual instead. The auto-box is more likely to break down, a friend of mine (Subaru-dealer) has changed quite a huge number of automatic transmissions, but never had trouble with the manual one. The autos start to slip at around 100.000miles and need to get repaired, which is expensive. The early 2.5 EJ25-engine with 150hp had some problems with the head gaskets and the oil supply, but the later one with 156 and 165hp are very reliable and will go on almost forever.

 

But the bet bet would be a 2.0 5MT, with (Estate) or without dual-range (Saloon). The EJ20 is bulletproof (mine´s got ~ 150.000 miles without any problems said the former owner) and if something goes wrong, it will be a lot cheaper to repair than a 2.5 AT Outback because the parts are more expensive.

 

Lukas

[scooters]

quality motors legacys - with Lukas - get a 2.0 if you can find one and ideally an estate.

 

alternative is a volvo 850 AWD - pretty cheap, as they share 850 parts (apart from the 4x4 sytstem) plenty of spares from scrappies around and you also get the 5 cyl Low pressure turbo which ,akes the car a total hooligan when combined with the 4wd - having driven many fast cars in the last 3/4 years on an A road in any condition the 850 AWD is the quickest - the speed you can go round corners is obscene.

 

Heaps of snow here in Scotland and it copes brilliantly

 

would definately recommend it as a truck alternative

[carlo]

Thanks Lukas that's useful advice. Trouble is I can't drive a manual!

 

Makes me wonder if all these 100K ish automatic Legacys I see at seemingly tempting prices could be hiding some dark secret...

To be honest I thought £1300 odd for a 2000 model of these looked too cheap.

[Lukas]

That´s the mileage where the auto boxes start to slip like a worn clutch. Have it repaired for the price of the whole car and you´ll have 100.000 miles troublefree motoring ahead, but otherwise I wouldn´t buy one with an auto. The automatic one isn´t even a real symmetricalAWD with 50:50 torque-distribution, they only have FWD and the rear wheels start to help when the front wheels loose traction. It´s like in a VW...

[greengartside]

My old man had a 1990 Legacy 1.8 estate bought off a mate of ours, paid next to nothing for it. Was a superb bit of kit and was huge - especially with the roof bulge on it!

 

Apparently a few winters ago when there was really bad snow and ice that Legacy was attempting to climb Grapes Hill in Norwich and cars were just sliding down it after revving the tits off to try and climb up. Some guy even went up to my mate and said 'you ain't gonna get up that hill, its way too slippy'...

 

...so he just set the AWD into low and drove up the hill first time, leaving every single bugger behind

 

Buy one, if just for the engine note!

[Lukas]

 

[Tayne]

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[dollywobbler]

I found my Legacy thoroughly dull. It was horrendously boring to drive, had a fidgety ride and did 28mpg all the time.

 

However, I did get to drive it once in the snow and it was bloomin' superb. You really do need all wheels driven. Low box was useful for traffic too - sounds like a rally car if you nail it in low first!

[pogweasel]

This sort has 280bhp. Great for pinning your dogs against the rear 'screen.

Bet they are fugging woeful on juice mind, so something else doomed never to be owned.

[Owain-328i]

Surely an automatic 4x4 defeats the point, as you cant select the right gear in the snow. Ive always found autos woeful in snow.

[woolleyiain]

These things are great. Try and get the 2 litre one - we've seen head gasket issues and burnt plugs / dead cylinders on the eariler ones. The only real common faults that I've seen out here (Phoenix) is that they like they like to eat lower control arm bushings and cv boots, but neither of those things are big jobs. Other than that, I haven't seen the issues with the auto boxes here so much, but there's less stop start driving here and people tend to change the box and diff oil out every 30k. I wish I could buy one for 1300 out here, a decent 10 year old one with 150k + on it is like $6995.....

[Tayne]

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[dollywobbler]

Surely an automatic 4x4 defeats the point, as you cant select the right gear in the snow. Ive always found autos woeful in snow.

 

Put gear lever in position "2", car drives in 2nd until you change.

Nothing wrong with autos if you know how to use them.

Most also have a winter mode.

 

Sorry, autos don't work like that. Position 2 means go no higher than 2, so it'll generally still start in 1st and change to 2nd even though you'd actually prefer it to stay in 2nd ie to reduce wheelspin. Mercs are a bit different as on the W126 and its ilk, they DO start in 2nd and have a severe dislike of actually using 1st gear.

 

Found the CX surprisingly capable last time, but even that won't cope with this sort of snow I suspect. Really fluffy, really deep and devoid of grip!

[Guest Leonard Hatred]

I'm pretty sure the Mitsubishi Colt 3 speed I borrowed in Cyprus locked in 2nd gear if selected.

 

I don't buy into the 'OMG SNOW CHAOS NEED A 4X4' argument at all, just stick some winter tyres on your current daily driver if you can find some.

[Tayne]

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[Tonka]

The Stagea has a diff lock button on the dash, press that and select snow mode on the box and away you go the only limit then is the depth of your chosen front spoiler..........

 

 

Stagea, Legacy GT or Legnum, large load carrying beasts far quicker than they have any right to be, they all drink like a man with his booze in a paper bag but will get you, 4 passengers and a wardrobe where you want to go!

[Pete-M]

I have the urge for a Legacy Turbo, but it'd have to be a manual estate.

 

As for 4x4s having a 'poxy' image, that's only amongst the wankers who think nobody should own useful vehicles. Probably started in London with the school run idiots who'd be disasters in anything, been grabbed onto by jealous idiots who don't see why anyone should own anything larger than a Daewon't Matiz and spread until the gullible of this country think that all 4x4s are evil.

 

4x4s are fucking brilliant (apart from Fronteras and Shoguns obviously). If you want one, buy one.

 

Personally, if someone thinks I'm a c**t for owning a Range Rover, I think they're a c**t for judging me by the car I drive. There's a lot more chance of them ringing me when things go wrong than the other way round.

 

Oh, and at the moment, the anti-4x4 mob have gone verrrrrry quiet. Probably stuck somewhere.

[dollywobbler]

If I was in the anti-4x4 mob, I think I've have a lot of justification for whinging about them - so many are driven like the driver is drunk or mentally disturbed in this weather!

 

Obviously not all, and I'm very thankful to the two who've dragged me out of snowy disasters in the past few days, but a LOT were behaving in a disgusting manner on Friday. "Oh, a queue. Well, I'm in a 4x4 so I don't need to wait with the other muggles. I'll just drive down the verge/on the wrong side of the road and fuck them for not being as clever as me!"

 

I do not mind 4x4s (I'm probably going to buy one), but fuck me do they attract some of the least pleasant people you ever meet in life. BMW X5 owners never seem to fall out of the stereotype for a start. I reckon BMW could emblazon WANKER CHARIOT across the bonnet of the X6 and people would still buy it - though you can easily spot the wankiest of the wankers because they'll have an X6 ... private plate.

[Tonka]

What I got fed up with was the Land Rover owners coming in to work saying "I bet you've struggled getting into work in yours" to which I started replying "not really the difference is you've got better ground clearance, but I've got far superior performance and reliability" which usually shuts them up!

 

Our workshop is busy at the moment with Land Rovers not liking the cold, especially the L322 RR's, the air compressor mounted in the spare wheel well would prefer to be sat in front of a warm fire this time of year.

[fotorabia]

My German mate martina had a 1996 2.0 auto non turbo here..we cruised all the way round the islands..all she had to do was the CVs..she loved it..and the Maori boys who got it for $1200 where also very happy..

[pompei]

Hey Pete - lay off the Frontera! It's so bad it's, er ... well pretty bad really Anyway, it's a GR7 deal better than what I'd been previously driving in these frosty times. I'm a 4x4 convert!

[CIH]

My mate has a Hilux Surf 4x4 on hillbilly wheels and tyres. I called him a yokel, redneck etc but it rocks in snow. Autobox doesn't seem to cause any problms too.

Also it's default RWD so can drift-yo in the snow when asked.

[Pete-M]

The other night I had a piss about in an L200 on snow. I hate L200s, they're an even less civilised Shogun.

 

I was rather good in the snow though, and yes, I was one of those twats in 4x4s driving through the deep snow in the lane muggles can't get to. Wasn't going fast, or driving in a manner likely to freak people out (after all, I had to drive the Jag home later and that's not wonderful on snow) but with the L200 having big, chunky mud'n'snow tyres is was more stable on deep fresh snow than the compacted stuff.

 

Bloody awful thing to drive, but it did the job a lot better than I expected it to.

 

As for X5s, they're always driven badly. They're a 2.5 ton, 4x4 BMW, I've never noticed one being driven well, it could have something to do with the steroid / coke / meth intake of the average driver.

[kinkersaab]

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=3 ... 1126932104 the best.

[KruJoe]

I can't speak for the Legacy, but I survived the worst of last winter in this:

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=6597

1.8GL manual, it coped rather well

[Tayne]

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[Richard]

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=31860356&l=518ad9736c&id=1126932104 the best.

 

For those of us not on Faceasebook?

 

[Lukas]

Every real Subaru with a manual transmission is superb on snow! My Impreza was phantastic too: