My wife and I are in our early 50s. We live in Colorado and do a lot of snowshoeing and mountain hiking, (Check out the report of our first 14er we climbed here.
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) We need to get a =four wheel drive vehicle to get us into the mountains better than our =Volkswagen Jetta can do.
We don't want a great big SUV, so we have been considering used Subaru Outbacks or Forresters, (Seems like every other person in Colorado has one.) Ford Escapes and Jeep Libertys and perhaps, Grand Cherokees.
We also could lease a new 2004 Jeep Liberty for approximately $1300 down and $249 a month. We would be driving the vehicle less than 10,000 miles a year.
We are concerned about the roll over factor with the Escape, Cherokee and Liberty.
Are any of the Subarus made in the US?
Any advice on the reliability, safety factors, etc. on the vehicles mentioned above, would be appreciated.
Yes. The Legacy/Outback platform is made in Indiana. The Impreza/Forester platform is imported.
I looked at similar models and the test drive made all the difference. Ford Escape was very very peppy, but it's finish was just cheap and flimsy, and handling more akin to a truck than the lower slung Outback. Jeep's reliability record is pretty dismal if you consult Consumer Reports reliability surveys, so I didn't consider them.
Best Regards,
-- Todd H.
2001 Legacy Outback Wagon, 2.5L H-4 Chicago, Illinois USA
Do you want a car you can keep til you're 60? if so, get the Subaru. Keep up with the oil changes, timing belt stuff and keep it garaged and you'll still be driving it happily 10 years from now. Subarus get better with age and are hardly broken in at 50k miles.
I don't think you'll make it that long with the others.
I'm early 50's too and I'd rather set aside money for retirement than buy another car in 5 years.
While Subaru is not the most reliable vehicle it is very close....the Jeep IS the most unreliable...tied with Volkswagen here in the US TG
My wife and I are in our early 50s. We live in Colorado and do a lot of snowshoeing and mountain hiking, (Check out the report of our first 14er we climbed here.
formatting link
) We need to get =a four wheel drive vehicle to get us into the mountains better than our =Volkswagen Jetta can do.
We don't want a great big SUV, so we have been considering used Subaru Outbacks or Forresters, (Seems like every other person in Colorado has one.) Ford Escapes and Jeep Libertys and perhaps, Grand Cherokees.
We also could lease a new 2004 Jeep Liberty for approximately $1300 down and $249 a month. We would be driving the vehicle less than 10,000 miles a year.
We are concerned about the roll over factor with the Escape, Cherokee and Liberty.
Are any of the Subarus made in the US?
Any advice on the reliability, safety factors, etc. on the vehicles mentioned above, would be appreciated.
Last year I rented a Ford Escape and travelled about 500 miles. I found it very unstable (like a truck) on the highway during bad weather. I bought an Outback and I could not be happier. By the way, my 2003 Outback is made in the US (Indiana, I think).
My '01 Outback is grest. For 3 years it has been very reliable. The wife has a '01 Forester and hers has been just as reliable. We are very pleased with our choice.
But doesn't common sense say that when you're comparing vehicles the smaller versions are usually going to handle more like cars and the larger ones more like trucks? I would expect an Outback to handle better than an Escape, but maybe I need to extra space the Escape provides?
I'm struggling with a new car purchase. I'd like to go with a Sub but I'd also like to get 3 people in the back seat for a cross town trip every once in awhile. Doesn't seem possible in a Sub but already know it works in a CR-V or Highlander. But I'm not claiming that's a fair comparison - they're different kinds of vehicles.
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Look at the usable cargo volume numbers...the Escape isn't that much bigger actually. I remember looking at this when I was shopping. The lower height of the OBW is offset by it's longer cargo area if memory serves.
You're right though, they are different vehicles.
The CR-V (on the Civic chassis) I believe is narrower than Legacy platform vehicles. I take 3 in my Outback not infrequently, and they're not that tight. Bring a friend to the showroom and hop in the back seat with a sales rep. :-)
-- Todd H.
2001 Legacy Outback Wagon, 2.5L H-4 Chicago, Illinois USA
We were shopping for a Forester. Can't get three people across the rear seat. No problem with the CR-V. Maybe the Outback is wider? Cargo space isn't as much an issue and seating 5 a few times a year.
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My wife and I are in our early 50s. We live in Colorado and do a lot of snowshoeing and mountain hiking, (Check out the report of our first 14er we climbed here.
formatting link
) We need to get =a four wheel drive vehicle to get us into the mountains better than our =Volkswagen Jetta can do.
We don't want a great big SUV, so we have been considering used Subaru Outbacks or Forresters, (Seems like every other person in Colorado has one.) Ford Escapes and Jeep Libertys and perhaps, Grand Cherokees.
We also could lease a new 2004 Jeep Liberty for approximately $1300 down and $249 a month. We would be driving the vehicle less than 10,000 miles a year.
We are concerned about the roll over factor with the Escape, Cherokee and Liberty.
Are any of the Subarus made in the US?
Any advice on the reliability, safety factors, etc. on the vehicles mentioned above, would be appreciated.
I'm 6'5" and I had a '98 legacy GT. Leg room certainly wasn't a problem. I test drove a few '02 models OB and legacy and I had sufficient leg room in both.
Know the feeling...traded in my '95 GTI for a '98 OBW. It's been great so far. 116k miles, going strong. I thought about the Escape too...but for
99% of my driving (over Berthoud Pass in the winter, etc.) the OB is perfect. It handles really well for 8.3" of clearance. There's a reason you see a lot of Subes around CO. :)
if you can, i VERY STRONGLY suggest you wait until next spring when the newly designed Subaru Outback is released. it has been vastly improved in every catagory. today it won Car of the Year in japan
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out of 152 models from all over the world (i.e., not just japanese cars)
bill, i live in colorado too, and am a big fan of hiking 14ers (except i get altitude sickness and have wandered off the trail before - kinda fun). anyway, i have a '99 legacy gt sedan. I've not been terribly impressed with it, you can probably search for my posts of numerous complaints, so i won't go into that right now. I will say that i've not had a better vehicle for snowy/icy roads than my subaru, it's better than any truck i've driven on snow. However it it absolutely terrible in the approach to 14ers. They always show the subarus doing rally type racing and such, but in reality these cars aren't made to go off road. As a data point, i can't get my subaru up the approach to greys and torreys without severe scraping on rocks (plust you don't have low range and it's really hard on the clutch going that slowly up steep stuff). I just bought an old 4runner to be my mountain vehicle, and am saving my subaru for on-road use only.
i'm not a terrible fan of the jeep quality, but from what i've read the liberty is pretty good off road.
as long as your careful you should have no problems. i've driven suvs and truck all my life. my subaru was the first car i owned. just take it slower than you would in a car and you should be fine.
yes. i believe the legacy is.
i would stay away from ford, i'm not a big fan of them. daimler-chrysler is probably ok, but lately they've seemed to be slipping in the quality control. i'm not very happy with my subaru, but i may just have a lemon, everyone else seems to like their cars.
have you considered toyota? right now the 4runner has turned into a soccor mom grocery getter, but it's still a very good capable off road/winter vehicle. the new ones are kinda pricy, but you could pick up a used 1st ('84-'89) or 2nd ('90-'95) generation 4runner relatively cheap. the 4runners are pretty much bullet proof, don't be scared about high milage. my '89 4runner has 226K miles and starts and runs better than my subaru with 46K. while i'm not a big fan of the rav4 and highlander, they may be more in your size and price range, and are probably made to the same quality standards as the other toyotas i've owned.
Quality, yes. But there would be the not-really-for-serious-offroading problem you mentioned earlier, with no "granny gear." The Highlander is just a tall Camry---I wouldn't go offroad in a Camry. RAV4 is on a Corolla chassis, maybe? Not sure. Offroad in a Corolla doesn't sound good either.
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