Hye guys,

My dad has expressed interest in me getting a suby for my first car

He was thinking of getting a 03 or 04, and my question to you guys is, are there any models of suby outbacks to stay away from?

Thanks!

-CS

The head gasket problem was definitely before 03.

The clearance and struts didn't improve till about 06 or 07.

I assume you are talking about the legacy outback, not Impreza.

There is the ultimate subaru thread in the ethics forum

I've taken my 2003 Legacy some bizarre places.

Tips:

1) get an extra full-sized spare, in addition to the donut spare;

2) carry some carpets for soft sand, a shovel and long prybar.

3) Get thick-walled tires, and learn to navigate over rocks on the flats of the tires.

4) Go to Costco and get a battery charger/pump combo. Deflate the tire 5 lbs before you take on rough roads. A true piston/recharger combo would be nicer, but harder to get nowadays.

MoapaPk wrote:Deflate the tire 5 lbs before you take on rough roads.

Good advice, for sure. But is 5 psi enough of a drop? I was thinking more than that, for example, going from 35 psi down to 20 psi, or even less. So a larger drop than 5 psi.

I'm not talking about "rough" as in washboard; I'm thinking about the roads with sharp rocks, where the low pressure is to prevent a puncture. I think you are talking about the same, because of some flat tires in your past, if I remember correctly.

A few years back, I got a flat on the Racetrack Road because it was particularly bad that year for some reason. (I've been there before, several times, with no tire problems.) That day, I passed probably a half-dozen other 4WD vehicles that had flat tires.

After I finished with the road, I realized I should have aired-down the tires, but without a tire pump, I wouldn't have been able to go down to 20 (or 15?) psi, because I would have no way to reinflate when I got back on the pavement for the 30000-mile drive back to civilization from Ubehebe Crater.

What do you think? Is 20 or 15 psi a good pressure for a rocky road? I usually have my car tires set to 35++ psi for the road, because it's hard to break the sound barrier with soft tires.

Oops, threadjack, I know. Sorry.

DH's point is good; when I see 4x4 clubs about to take on rough roads, they often deflate the tires to 2/3 or less of highway pressure.

But you better have a good piston*, battery-powered compressor if you want to pump them back up 10+ psi before hitting the highway. I choose 5lbs as a compromise; 10 lbs would be better, but it currently takes me 4 min/tire to inflate just 5 lbs. Otherwise at the end of the day, you may decide to say the Hell with it, and get 20% poorer mileage on the drive home, along with squirrelly handling on turns.

This issue is relevant to soobies. Because of the AWD, equalized tires are important. If you blow a tire so it cannot be fixed (e.g. puncture sidewall), and the tires are partly worn, you have to replace all 4 tires.

I've had one flat in the boonies from a sidewall puncture caused by a sharp piece of limestone that flipped up into the sidewall. I know a guy with kevlar-belted truck tires who had the same sort of puncture, on the relatively benign Alamo Road. Beside my donut spare, I now carry a full-sized spare.

--
*I believe most cheapo battery-jumper/compressor combos use a bellows-type compressor, which is a lot less effective.

MoapaPk wrote:But you better have a good piston*, battery-powered compressor if you want to pump them back up 10+ psi before hitting the highway. I choose 5lbs as a compromise; 10 lbs would be better, but it currently takes me 4 min/tire to inflate just 5 lbs.

Nah. If the electric one is really that bad, use a hand pump. My hand pump goes about 50 pumps for 5 psi in an SUV tire, which is only about a minute. It takes me more time to bend over, unscrew the valve cap, connect the pump, and put the cap back on afterward.

The only advantage of the electric pump is that you can do something else while it is pumping.

Day Hiker wrote:The only advantage of the electric pump is that you can do something else while it is pumping.

Do you have a way of jumping the battery by hand?

MoapaPk wrote:

Day Hiker wrote:The only advantage of the electric pump is that you can do something else while it is pumping.

Do you have a way of jumping the battery by hand?

Obviously, use a hand pump that has a glass tube and silk piston.

A note abour airing down tires for trails: Dont do it unless you get to a spot where you need to do it.
On my last outing, I was accompanied by an 06 Outback, which has about 1 or 2 extra inches of ground clearence than my 02. He scraped places that I didn't because he lost an inch and a half of clearence with his tires let down. I was using a slightly taller snow tire, never gave me any trouble.
I always have one of these in my car, and I've taken to handing them out as gifts:
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/d ... umber=4077

I would recomend, if you're not paying, an 05+ Outback 2.5, non turbo... but only because its your first car. I have no turbo, I went from a Jag XJR into this car, and I *sorely* miss the horsepower. lol

If you can find a good deal on an older one, I wouldn't worry at all about the headgasket issue. Just be aware of it and spot the signs early: Head gaskets on these aren't terribly expensive, and if you get a good $4000 car and put $1000 gaskets in it, you've got a bomber $5000 car.

In the desert, we mainly leave the tires soft for long stretches of road with sharp, but not very big rocks. The standard psi for sooby tires is modest, anyway, so probably this isn't so critical an issue. In Death Valley, some problems come when people rent cars in Vegas or LA -- and the rental tires are usually kept at high inflation.

I think it would be really tough to lose 1.5 inches of clearance by underinflating a standard soob 15" or 16" tire. The tire would have to be extremely soft, as the clearance loss would have to be all on one side of the wheel center.

You guys just jacked his thread!

Not much. Discussion of tire inflation and performance on rough roads is particularly relevant to the outback -- because of the modest clearance, AWD uniform tire requirements, the donut spare, relatively small wheels, and incompatibility with light truck tires.

its fine... its stuff that I'll need to know and wouldnt have thought to ask, so its all good

-CS

MoapaPk wrote:I think it would be really tough to lose 1.5 inches of clearance by underinflating a standard soob 15" or 16" tire. The tire would have to be extremely soft....

Like a snow tire? It also helps to have tall sidewalls, like in a 75A/R tire.

Good choice in Vehicle, Climbslacker. Ease into offroad stuff, definately focus on brake control and wheel placement, as that will save the underside of your car.

some shots of mine and others:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1nbYMeQsbTU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CYuS8APPE1c
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CWVh9kQ6OtI