[jwasbury]

This will be the 2nd time I've felt compelled to chime in on a PPOT subaru legacy thread.

Once upon a time when I lived in VT, I bought a '96 (or '97, can't remember now) outback brand spankin' new. Subaru ownership is almost state law up there. This car was a POS, and a lemon. I think the quality may have improved since, but I can never buy another Subaru again or recommend them to anyone.

Within the first 600mi of ownership, a critical bolt in the front suspension/steering linkages fell out. Luckily I wasn't hammering through the twisties between my home and workplace, or else I could have easily been killed. In the 2 years (35k mi) I owned the car, it ate through 3 sets of brake rotors (they would warp badly). Yes VT has hills, but I don't ride brakes, and it was a 5 speed, so I used engine braking mostly going down those hills. The quality of the interior was very poor, especially when compared to Toyota or Honda. Back in the day, the Outback model was 10k more than the stripped down "Brighton" version. For 10k you got 16" alloys, foglamps, a couple inches extra ground clearance, and a 1 micron thin layer of "luxury" applied to the interior, which began to wear away the moment the car is driven off the dealer's lot.