Winter Wagon / First Subaru
Discussion
After some investigation, deliberation and advice from the PH forum (see here https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&... I’ve pulled the trigger on a Gen 3 Subaru Legacy Outback.
Its replacing a Mk7 Golf R estate so perhaps a bit of a shock, but the sale of the Golf is pet funding a house extension, so a necessary change. Besides I’ve gone from a nearly new daily 370z GT to a 300tdi Defender before so this should be a breeze!
I was toying with a XC70 or one of these but this Outback came up at a good price and as comfy as they are I’m not sure I’m ready for a Volvo yet!
Back to the Subaru, it’s a 3.0 litre 6 cylinder boxer/flat engine known in Subaru speak as a H6. Its apparently the pick of the range because its chain driven and compared to the belt driven 2.5 the economy between the two seems negligible. Diesels are well documented time-bombs so I steered clear. I regularly park on a beach where an AWD is useful and the Subaru has a well recommended symmetrical system. I love a manual gearbox in a engaging car but in a daily I’ve come to appreciate a slusher like in this. It’s a 2004 car so falls into the cheaper tax bracket to, not something I was overly worried about but a nice to have.
It was a bit rough cosmetically but the seemed in good working order. A deal was struck with the seller and he even delivered it which saved me a trip up to London. At £2.6k it’s wasn’t far off shed money, so I’m not going to go crazy on it but I think it’s worth a bit of TLC.
It’s done 119k though has been well looked after, which is more important in my book than lower mileages. Just been freshly serviced and MOT’d by a specialist to. It’s well specced with heated leather seats, ISOFIX (one of the first cars to have them, important for our household) an ancient sat nav, CD and tape player!
The cosmetics aren’t really an big issue for me, I’ve been constantly fussing over the Golf and between family duties, tip runs and sand in carpets it is a bit of a relief not to care to much about it.
That said it had a couple of bits I have to sort and as the Golf has not been sold yet I’ve decided to get them sorted before pressing the Outback into service. I’m not particularly gifted with the spanners but I don’t mind having a go at things.
First was the near side wing mirror. It has a built in indicator lens which was cracked and glued back in, it functioned but was very tatty. Getting just the indicator section seemed quite a faff so a used wing mirror from a well know auction site was ordered cheaply. Decided I’d cannibalise it. This also meant I could learn how it came apart before taking the one on the car apart.
The used mirror cowling was a different colour (apparently the Pearl White of my Outback is quite rare) so I could of either A) Swap the cowling from the car to the used mirror and replaced the whole mirror assembly on the car or B) Swap the indicator lens over without removing the wing mirror from the car. After a bit of research option A seemed to involve taking the door card off before I could test if the new mirror worked electrically.
So I went for option B. A helpful guide explained I should carefully prize the glass out of the outer casing... erm yeah, that didn’t go so well as you can see! Oh well I did buy it knowing I would break it. Once the glass was out I could easily get at the cowing retaining clips and then take the indicator lens off, two screws of which are under the cowling. It also helped me work out how to undo the clips on the mirror on the car without breaking the glass. I’m quite happy with it now.
It’s sat in my garden at the min so not too many pics.
Next on the to do list is:
Headlight restoration, both have hazing
Leather clean and feed
Scrub up of faded trim
Fluids+filters as required
A new set of winter/all season tyres as it has 2 separate brands on, good tread but ditch finder brands which is not great on a AWD
Possible new stainless exhaust, the Y piece centre section is renowned for leaking on these. Any recommendations?
Maybe sorting the couple of deep scratches on the bumper not overly fussed though
More to follow as I get through it
Whoops
Much better
Its replacing a Mk7 Golf R estate so perhaps a bit of a shock, but the sale of the Golf is pet funding a house extension, so a necessary change. Besides I’ve gone from a nearly new daily 370z GT to a 300tdi Defender before so this should be a breeze!
I was toying with a XC70 or one of these but this Outback came up at a good price and as comfy as they are I’m not sure I’m ready for a Volvo yet!
Back to the Subaru, it’s a 3.0 litre 6 cylinder boxer/flat engine known in Subaru speak as a H6. Its apparently the pick of the range because its chain driven and compared to the belt driven 2.5 the economy between the two seems negligible. Diesels are well documented time-bombs so I steered clear. I regularly park on a beach where an AWD is useful and the Subaru has a well recommended symmetrical system. I love a manual gearbox in a engaging car but in a daily I’ve come to appreciate a slusher like in this. It’s a 2004 car so falls into the cheaper tax bracket to, not something I was overly worried about but a nice to have.
It was a bit rough cosmetically but the seemed in good working order. A deal was struck with the seller and he even delivered it which saved me a trip up to London. At £2.6k it’s wasn’t far off shed money, so I’m not going to go crazy on it but I think it’s worth a bit of TLC.
It’s done 119k though has been well looked after, which is more important in my book than lower mileages. Just been freshly serviced and MOT’d by a specialist to. It’s well specced with heated leather seats, ISOFIX (one of the first cars to have them, important for our household) an ancient sat nav, CD and tape player!
The cosmetics aren’t really an big issue for me, I’ve been constantly fussing over the Golf and between family duties, tip runs and sand in carpets it is a bit of a relief not to care to much about it.
That said it had a couple of bits I have to sort and as the Golf has not been sold yet I’ve decided to get them sorted before pressing the Outback into service. I’m not particularly gifted with the spanners but I don’t mind having a go at things.
First was the near side wing mirror. It has a built in indicator lens which was cracked and glued back in, it functioned but was very tatty. Getting just the indicator section seemed quite a faff so a used wing mirror from a well know auction site was ordered cheaply. Decided I’d cannibalise it. This also meant I could learn how it came apart before taking the one on the car apart.
The used mirror cowling was a different colour (apparently the Pearl White of my Outback is quite rare) so I could of either A) Swap the cowling from the car to the used mirror and replaced the whole mirror assembly on the car or B) Swap the indicator lens over without removing the wing mirror from the car. After a bit of research option A seemed to involve taking the door card off before I could test if the new mirror worked electrically.
So I went for option B. A helpful guide explained I should carefully prize the glass out of the outer casing... erm yeah, that didn’t go so well as you can see! Oh well I did buy it knowing I would break it. Once the glass was out I could easily get at the cowing retaining clips and then take the indicator lens off, two screws of which are under the cowling. It also helped me work out how to undo the clips on the mirror on the car without breaking the glass. I’m quite happy with it now.
It’s sat in my garden at the min so not too many pics.
Next on the to do list is:
Headlight restoration, both have hazing
Leather clean and feed
Scrub up of faded trim
Fluids+filters as required
A new set of winter/all season tyres as it has 2 separate brands on, good tread but ditch finder brands which is not great on a AWD
Possible new stainless exhaust, the Y piece centre section is renowned for leaking on these. Any recommendations?
Maybe sorting the couple of deep scratches on the bumper not overly fussed though
More to follow as I get through it
Whoops
Much better
Good choice. Since lockdown I'm doing very few miles, and those few are normally done in my weekend car so I'm debating selling the family barge and replacing it with something big, cheap, reliable and "interesting". I've had a couple of Subaru's before, so I quite like the look of these. I had a test drive of a legacy with the H6, and with the manual gearbox it was a great engine. Be interested to see how you get on with the auto. Does it have the manual shift buttons on the steering wheel?
Luke. said:
Absolutely loved our 2005 Outback Rn. Great fun to drive, though the gear changes can be a little ponderous. Didn't find the satnav bad at all either. Enjoy.
Thanks, think ours is a Rn, not entirely sure what that includes. What did you replace it with, other than a XC70 or a Audi Allroad they are a bit unique. I’m sure the nav works, I’m going to look into getting Apple car play on it though, would be great if I could use the OEM screen for that.Cambs_Stuart said:
Good choice. Since lockdown I'm doing very few miles, and those few are normally done in my weekend car so I'm debating selling the family barge and replacing it with something big, cheap, reliable and "interesting". I've had a couple of Subaru's before, so I quite like the look of these. I had a test drive of a legacy with the H6, and with the manual gearbox it was a great engine. Be interested to see how you get on with the auto. Does it have the manual shift buttons on the steering wheel?
From what little driving I’ve done in it, it seems a very smooth engine. It’s initial idle is about 1100 rpm but it drops to below that after a min. I’ve probably got too used to a 4pot but it’s nice to have the extra cylinder note. Where the pistons are horizontally opposed it has a almost yank V8 rocking motion when stopped, reminded me of the GMC Yukon we had on a trip to the states though it feels more symmetrical in rhythm and way smoother. No paddles in this one, it has a manual up and down shift mode on the shifter across from drive but it is very slow in downshifts, (I’ve probably been spoilt with a DSG in the Golf R) though it does hold onto the gear well. I think the later facelift Outbacks had paddles, don’t think you could get a manual Outback 3.0 in the UK, but I might be wrong.
Now that I like... 
I’ve been looking at Legacy estates on eBay recently, more so the Japanese import versions
Seen a few around the £6-£8k mark that really interest me...
Not thinking of selling my E39 touring at the moment, but I’ve had a few messages recently asking if I’m selling and to let them know when I do...
I’ve a hankering to get back to a manual box and one of these estates could suit my requirements well
I’ve been looking at Legacy estates on eBay recently, more so the Japanese import versions
Seen a few around the £6-£8k mark that really interest me...
Not thinking of selling my E39 touring at the moment, but I’ve had a few messages recently asking if I’m selling and to let them know when I do...
I’ve a hankering to get back to a manual box and one of these estates could suit my requirements well
d_a_n1979 said:
Now that I like...
I’ve been looking at Legacy estates on eBay recently, more so the Japanese import versions
Seen a few around the £6-£8k mark that really interest me...
Not thinking of selling my E39 touring at the moment, but I’ve had a few messages recently asking if I’m selling and to let them know when I do...
I’ve a hankering to get back to a manual box and one of these estates could suit my requirements well
Thanks! The JDM Legacy looks great, you can get one with a twin scroll 2.0 turbo out of a STI, I think the JDM ones had forged internals to. Lots of potential tuning options! I’ve been looking at Legacy estates on eBay recently, more so the Japanese import versions
Seen a few around the £6-£8k mark that really interest me...
Not thinking of selling my E39 touring at the moment, but I’ve had a few messages recently asking if I’m selling and to let them know when I do...
I’ve a hankering to get back to a manual box and one of these estates could suit my requirements well
The interior of a JDM Legacy might not be as plush as a well specced E39, but it will hold up a lot better. I had a E46 M3 a few years ago with about 40k less on the clock than this Outback and the interior was in far worse a state. All the plastics inside were scratched and tatty and the leather was very worn in comparison. Sure you could argue it was a testament to previous owners care but I’ve since been in another few similar vintage E46s and an E60 and they were all similarly marked.
We had a 05 3.0rn Outback, it was a wonderous thing, super smooth, comfy, decently quick and sounded good too. We used ours for towing a horse trailer, it never failed us with decent power, traction and stability, only issue was mpg in the early to mid teens towing, and at best early 20’s without. They’re definitely thirsty beasts.
Ours was faultless, despite the abuse it suffered, my young son decided to learn how to drift with it, we had all four spinning endlessly trying to right a field shelter blown over in a storm. The only thing I can think of was having to weld up the Y piece in the exhaust, it’d rusted as they all do. I’d have another without a thought.
Ours was faultless, despite the abuse it suffered, my young son decided to learn how to drift with it, we had all four spinning endlessly trying to right a field shelter blown over in a storm. The only thing I can think of was having to weld up the Y piece in the exhaust, it’d rusted as they all do. I’d have another without a thought.
Dunk130TC said:
We had a 05 3.0rn Outback, it was a wonderous thing, super smooth, comfy, decently quick and sounded good too. We used ours for towing a horse trailer, it never failed us with decent power, traction and stability, only issue was mpg in the early to mid teens towing, and at best early 20’s without. They’re definitely thirsty beasts.
Ours was faultless, despite the abuse it suffered, my young son decided to learn how to drift with it, we had all four spinning endlessly trying to right a field shelter blown over in a storm. The only thing I can think of was having to weld up the Y piece in the exhaust, it’d rusted as they all do. I’d have another without a thought.
Yup I can vouch for the fuel economy. For me though I do less than 8k a year and the Golf R was averaging 24mpg (to achieve the 30+ you see quoted for Golf Rs I found I had to be eco mode which made it very odd to drive cutting out constantly to allow coasting and a ponderous stop start, which I’m sure is what started the dash out loom repairs it had to have. You also had to be on a long run), so not hugely different and I’d rather use more petrol than worry about turbos and DPFs in rivals to this. Ours was faultless, despite the abuse it suffered, my young son decided to learn how to drift with it, we had all four spinning endlessly trying to right a field shelter blown over in a storm. The only thing I can think of was having to weld up the Y piece in the exhaust, it’d rusted as they all do. I’d have another without a thought.
Plan to get a few more bits done at the weekend.
The wagon got a bit of a clean today, certainly not a detail, it has far to many scratches for that but it cleaned up nicely. The GTECHNIQ trim restorer worked wonders on the black plastics. Not so good on the faded red seat belt buttons. Any recommendations on that?
I’m super impressed with how well it has held up over the years and mileage, Japanese cars get a fair bit of stick for their interiors but this has held up so well, my E46 M3 if similar vintage but far less mileage was terrible inside in comparison, trim falling off and scratches everywhere. Maybe previous owners not taking as much care but generally it didn’t feel as robust.
Some Michelin’s are on order for fitting next week. Gone for Pilot Sport Cup 2s, Erm I mean Cross climate + They were a good deal and can be used in Europe where snow rates winter tyres are a mandatory. Looking forward to winter 
Stainless exhaust next, any recommendations?
I’m super impressed with how well it has held up over the years and mileage, Japanese cars get a fair bit of stick for their interiors but this has held up so well, my E46 M3 if similar vintage but far less mileage was terrible inside in comparison, trim falling off and scratches everywhere. Maybe previous owners not taking as much care but generally it didn’t feel as robust.
Some Michelin’s are on order for fitting next week. Gone for Pilot Sport Cup 2s,
Erm I mean Cross climate + They were a good deal and can be used in Europe where snow rates winter tyres are a mandatory. Looking forward to winter Stainless exhaust next, any recommendations?
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