As I was considering buying an 05 OBW for my wife, I asked a friend of mine who had owned several Subarus where he bought his. During the conversation, he answered my question about his old 83 Brat by telling me this story: he was going down a country road near his house in TN and came upon a woman walking about who had parked in the road. He swerved to miss her vehicle and got off the road causing the underside of the Brat to catch on something. This caused the Brat to start rolling 2-3 times. It came to rest with the engine still running, so he shuts it off and climbs out to hear the woman cussing at him. He returns the same and proceeds to push the Brat back onto its wheels and drives it home. He later continued driving it until he noticed that the side window, which had been cocked up at an odd angle, was once again back in place. He realized that the car body was probably bending, so he parked it in the fence row before, as he said,it breaks apart leaving my a$$ hanging out going down the road). This car has probably over 300k miles. He wife also drove a 95 Legacy to 280k miles. He said it still runs, but the tranny seems to be going. She now drives a Forester. I'm beginning to like the feeling of soon owning a car that inspires almost a community feeling of loyalty. And, it's an interesting car to boot.It seems that if you do your home work and look beyond the skin deep attributes of Subarus at the engineering/safety,etc., they are an obvious good choice.
Gregg