Hello,
I'm posting to this group out of interest in the new 2005 Outback Wagon. I owned an 83 Wagon for about 6 years and put 100k miles on it. It was a pretty reliable car, but there were times that I cursed it for some quality issues. It was always splitting CV boots, the wheel studs stripped out in the hub making lugnut removable/tire changes impossible, the carburetor gave us some problems, and it began to rust along the lower edge of the rear hatch. The car had a lot of road noise, it didn't ride that great, and it was slow. It was great in snow,though we get little of that in TN. I bought a 91 Honda Accord Wagon to replace the Subie, and we have put 220k miles on it; unfortunately it was totaled by a 93 Lincoln Town Car. Thank God, nobody was hurt.
Because of the accident, I've been researching cars by safety rating on NHTSA's website, and I've noticed that Subaru Wagons get classified as heavy passenger cars plus they get good front and side crash ratings. I've considered many vehicles such as Lincoln LS, Acura RL, Honda Accord, Toyota Camry Avalon and Highlander, but the new 05 Outback caught my eye as viable car. Has Subaru quality improved greatly since 1983? Are the newer cars easy to service by a home mechanic? What is "Ring-Shaped Reinforcement Frame body structure with hydroformed center-pillar construction"? What is known about these side curtain airbags and injuries, especially children?This sounds like good engineering for side impact crashs, though I suspect it's new and untested. What I'm looking for is a good heavy family car, some sporty looks, reliabilty, decent gas mileage, good engineering, and above all safety. I do not wish to resort to an SUV to protect my family from all the other monster vehicles on the road, though I do own a 92 Land Cruiser which I use off road some.
Thanks, Gregg