’82 3-Door Hatchback…I don’t think they gave them names back then. It was a standard. I believe that model was true 4WD. Nothing would stop it. After 8 years, it got stolen!
’90 Legacy (first car to have that name, still AWD, but the name Outback was not yet released). I recall the transmission sounded like a turbine winding up and down.
’98 Outback. At about 130,000 miles, the seats had self destructed. Still looked okay, but zero support. The power windows started to fail (I believe it was the controls), but engine and tranny still working perfectly. Traded that for the ’07 Forester.
’01 Outback LLBean Edition. Terrific leather seats, better than the standard leather upgrade. With the new 6 cylinder engine. That car went through a lot of brakes.
’07 Forester Premium. Wonder if I’m the only one who thought that that car rolled fast. It you took your foot off the gas on a highway, it hardly slowed down.
’11 Forester Touring. The only Subaru I was disappointed with. For some bizarre reason, Subaru placed the front passenger’s seat about 4 inches LOWER than the driver’s seat. You could barely see over the dash. It felt like you were sitting on the floor. (They quickly changed it the following year, but it was a huge design mistake.) They also went to a very thin engine oil for better gas mileage that burned and evaporated quickly. We probably added a couple quarts between oil changes. When you would hear the tappets of the engine clicking, you knew it needed oil. That was the only Subaru we traded specifically get rid of it.
’16 Forester. Daughter had the ’07, didn’t watch the engine oil and motor seized at 160,000 miles. (THAT was a fun day.) Bought the ’16 Forester for her and had the garage swap out the engine with one from a junkyard with 120,000 miles on it. That car is still on the road running nicely.
’17 Forester. Wife liked daughter’s Forester so much, she traded her ’11 Touring for it. Still very happy with it.
’19 Ascent Touring for me. While all of the drama was taking place with the succession of Subarus, I had an ’04 Toyota Sienna XLE AWD van. It immediately became obvious why Lexus didn’t have a van. The Sienna XLE was it. With incredibly comfortable leather seats, precise control, all the creature comforts of the day, and 3 rows, I thought I’d keep it forever. But at 14 years and close to 190,000 miles, a lot of the replaceable parts (ALL OF THEM) had to be replaced. I decided it was time to upgrade. I absolutely needed comfortable seats, a nice quiet ride and a seat that was higher than a regular car (got spoiled by the van). Funny that I mentioned the higher seat as I still have a 1980 TR7 convertible sitting in my garage. You are essentially sitting on the road with that vehicle. Some go-carts have more ground clearance. As we get older, it’s a bit more challenging to get OUT of that car. Looking for that perfect seat, I sat in the Highlander (nice seat, but sounded like truck and felt small inside), the Lexus RX350 (very nice seat, but huge hood, incredibly ugly grill and bizarre infotainment/control tablet), the Audi Q7, BMW X5, Jaguar, Lincoln (too narrow and confined), Infiniti (that also have a very comfy seat), Mercedes (was very disappointed in that one) and about that time I found out the Ascent was going to be available soon. While the seat isn’t perfect (it has some pressure points), it’s not bad as some of the competition. Overall, the Ascent offers an excellent package. The headlights are the best I’ve ever seen and that’s comparing with some Swedish vehicles not brought into the US that have a bank of lights for driving in the Swedish wilderness. (The Swedes have a high intensity pinpoint beam light that illuminates about a mile in front of you. I understand that type of light is illegal in the US but they are watching for moose there and need it.)
So there you have my 9 Subies. Along the way, the extended family probably bought another dozen. There were times that at family get togethers, it must have looked like a Subaru fest. One time, we were driving through a small town in western Massachusetts and my wife commented that there were so many cars in one spot that there must be a big party going on. My observant daughter took a look and said, “Ma, it’s a car dealership!” It was, but it could have been a family like ours getting together.
