When this is over I will tell you a long story about why I think this (RME) is better
(than a nice new Crosstrek)
Well. It’s not over yet.
It’s only … 93 percent done or thereabouts.
Here anyway is a start on the story, if not Most of what I know about it so far.
One, I can’t stretch out full length to sleep in an unmodified Crosstrek, so we’d be talking about a new base Forester or Outback.
Two, and this is the main thing, Mr. Subaru says (and others say it too) that 2000-2004 was the pinnacle and apex of Subaru engineering. Before that, they were a scrappy little auto company who were still perfecting their tech. And, after that, they started slowly sliding toward being just another corporation and profit machine.
This was epitomized by their 2010 decision to move to CVT(ransmissions) and to begin phasing out stick shifts.
The slide deepened in 2011 and 2012 when I was buying the Pearl. Their engines started to secretly burn oil, and more oil faster as they aged. And Subaru knew, and said nothing.
Worse still, the car itself didn’t say anything either. Even the simple low oil light didn’t come on until the engine was already cooked dry and destroyed from the inside out.
That happened to me at about 130K–the first time.
Like a maroon, I slapped another engine, flawed in the very same way, into it, with six grand of mostly family charity money.
It failed for the second time last month.
Subaru is coasting on its outdoorsy, dogloving, queer-friendly image on the one hand, and its legitimately superior Symmetrical All-Wheel Drive (arguably the only AWD worthy of the name) on the other.
The new ones, even the lovely hybrids and the proud bearers of Wilderness trim badges …
I honestly believe they will turn out to suck, and mainly due to end-stage capitalism.
Just like a Boeing.
So I’m honestly supporting wife’s intention to go with a Kia when the time comes for her to buy her forever car.
Pending further review of the evolution, and in the case that the new and superior Chinese automakers continue to be cock-blocked in the US.
And as for me, I’m headed back to the golden age. The ’02 RME is not flawless by any stretch.
But a manual transmission is far cheaper to fix than a CVT.
An old EJ 251 engine predates the oil burner issues, and their documented head gasket issues at least give ample warning long before the point of catastrophic failure.
If I go through with the purchase, I’ll be spending $6300 to acquire, $2200 on a timing belt and spark plugs and wires and a number of other do-it-now issues, probably twelve hundred more sooner rather than later on the rack and pinion, and, someday, whatever a head gasket costs (too much, but the independent inspector/mechanic says it looks quite solid for now).
And, in three years, a 2002 will be eligible for its own historic copper plate.
Thus enhancing its already substantial retro cred.
***
Further notes
sUbArUs aReN’t ReLiAbLe OvEr 100K MiLeS
Avoid This Engine Like the Plague
2002 Subaru Outback – That Weird Time GM Owned Part Of Subaru!
Buying A Used Subaru Outback Or Legacy?! Here’s The Good And Bad Over The Last 20 Years!
Should You Buy a Used Subaru Outback?