New member first Subaru

[jwwbowe]

Hi All,

New member here, never owned a Subaru before but have always had good experiences with Japanese cars. Been lucky enough to drive a WR1 and a RB320 in the past, nearly bought the RB320, but ended up with a Defender, a long story!

During October last year my VW Golf R Estate started having lots of electrical issues I decided to get rid of it and pocket a good sum for some home improvements. I wanted another AWD estate with ISOFIX albeit at a much lower cost, fuel economy isn’t a big concern as I only do 7-8k a year.

Decided what I needed was an Subaru Outback and then convinced myself I wanted the chain driven six cylinder one so managed to source this lovely 2004 Outback 3.0R back in October. It’s done 120k and has been well looked after with almost every invoice it’s ever had was in its history and 12 months MOT. It’s got a couple of cosmetic scars but it gets used and abused as a family/daily hack which so I can live with it.

Had to change over the NRS mirror as the original indicator lens was cracked, got a used one of eBay and managed to reuse the lens off that. After that a wet and dry and polish of the headlights as they had gone milky. Recently I put a set of Michelin Cross Climates on it as the old tires were of a brand I’ve never heard of. Never skimp on tyres or breaks. Unfortunately not had any snow here to give them much of a workout but they have improved the ride a bit and given a little bit more feel on turn in, though it’s still vague. 

So far so good, not done many miles as have been working from home during the pandemic but I’m smitten. I’ve been lucky to own some nice performance cars before, S2000, E46 M3, 370z and the Golf R, but I’d never driven a flat/boxer engine before. Wow! Ok it’s not a fast car per-say but it’s no slouch, but that’s not what it is about, I love how smooth it is, great engineering and the switch gear just feels more robust than German cars I’ve owned. 

My experience in the past of joining other car forums has always been positive, hoping the Subaru forum club is no different. S2K UK OC was fantastic for knowledge, shout out to any S2000 owners on here, though appreciate there maybe some Honda haters to! 

What’s next? Well pending the home improvement cost if I have a little left over a original turbo 2000 would fit nicely in my garage and complement the auto Outback as something more engaging. Dream Subaru would be a Hawkeye 2.0 JDM twin scroll STI, or a S204 or a blobeye S203 but they are mega bucks now so not anytime soon.

Have a question on roof bars but will post in the correct location when I get around to it. Here’s some pics of the Outback. 

Cheers Josh 

 

 

[Jay762]

Wotcha and welcome - My favourite shape of Outback / legacy that one, feel free to get stuck in all friendly on here