Subaru safety, performance, and affordability at their best
Written: Apr 09 '05 (Updated Apr 14 '05)
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Pros: Safe, comfortable, sporty, fun to drive, fun to own
Cons: back seats crammed, stereo doesn't adjust to speed/noise, close gear ratios
The Bottom Line: Sporty feel, affordable to drive, fuel efficient
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| MultimediaMan's Full Review: 2004 Subaru Outback Wagon |
When searching for my first car, one thing I was more concerned about than features in the car were the blindspots. Needless to say, first I thought a wagon was out of the question. The dealership however didn't have any of the 2.5rs sedans I was looking for, so we started discussing with the dealership about informing us of new arrivals of those sedans. We practically were discussing right next to the 2004 Subaru Impreza Outback Sport Wagon that I was about to drive off in, but didn't know it. Since it was mid-march or so, of 2005, they were really pushing to sell this car off, so my dad noticed the price was way down to $16,800, while the MSRP was $21,000. I stepped inside and grew to love the way this car felt and looked inside even more than the sedan.
Interior : color
The first advantage of this vehicle over the '05 sedans and wagons I was looking at, is that the interior is composed of light, medium, and dark greys, and almost no black. Living in Texas, this was far more appealing than the almost completely black interiors of the '05 models, since it gets so hot here, any shade lighter you can get means a cooler car during the summer.
Interior : controls
The next thing I noticed were the controls. Everything from the cruise control to the way the seats operated seemed quite nice to work with. The only thing that I didn't quite care for was that the power mirror adjustment was on the center console rather than next to the door operation controls. It's taken me some time to get acquainted with the vehicles, but my only complaints now are with the cupholder in the console being a bit small, but at least it still holds the cups like it should, and there's no cupholders in the back seats.
Interior : cargo area
The back gate lifts up quite nicely, as it's got some nice hydraulics behind it. Once you look in the back, you'll notice that you've got a nice shade you can pull over your cargo, say, if you've got something you don't really care to have potential thieves noticing back there. The seats in the back also fold down for more room. Being slightly more room in the back than in the sedans, packing for vacations might be a little lower stress than in the 2.5rs sedan. The gate window has defrosting filaments printed onto it, which seem to kick in right away, and also has a wiper, which is big enough to clear enough room to see well while it's raining, plus it can use the window washing fluid.
Interior : seating
The back seats can seat 3 people, though only 2 can seat comfortably, unless they're youths or younger. The back seats are comfortable, and reasonably spacious. The leg room is okay unless the driver or front passenger have their seats all the way back, then it starts getting a little crammed.
Some drivers may mind the way your feet fall while driving this car. I drive with both feet, so my left leg usually rests just below the door's armrest, but if you drive with just your right leg, then your left leg usually is up against the armrest. The console in the front goes all the way to the dashboard, so your right leg is usually resting against that. Those used to driving trucks might not be fond of that either. One noteworthy design feature is that, though your gas pedal foot tends to rub against the console/firewall compartment while your foot is on the gas, Subaru has conveniently put plastic in that area, so you won't have a gaping hole worn into your carpet there, as my previous vehicle had.
The front passenger is the most comfortable, with more than enough leg room, headroom, and if no one's behind them, or if they're just feeling mean, they can lean their seat back and have a very relaxing ride.
Interior : in motion
The ride of this car feels incredibly sporty. You feel the road even more than you would in a vehicle like a '98 chevy camaro. Some might not care for this type of ride, but when a car handles like this, it's so much easier for me to get a feel for the road, and the road conditions, so I must say I love the ride.
Interior : comfort
The seats are comfortable enough to endure a 2.5-hour commute in traffic that hardly moves, and at the end I feel just as good as when I started the commute. The headrests are just tall enough to be all the way down, not obscuring vision, and not feeling so low that you'll get whiplash if you get hit from behind.
Exterior : color and bodywork
The color scheme of the Subaru Impreza Outback Sport Wagon is two-tone, providing more style, in my mind, than the 2.5rs sedan/wagon, and the available colors are a bit more than the 2.5rs has to offer as well. So far the people I've talked to like the color scheme better than the 2.5rs, so that's a positive side as well. The body shape is pretty nice as well. It's got slightly different brake lights than the sedan has, but for a wagon, the styling of the rear end feels closer to the sedan version than any vehicle I've seen so far, which is also a plus. I can't find fault with any of the design aspects of the 2004 model, as far as looks are concerned, and haven't noticed anything that's stuck out in my mind as poorly constructed either.
Exterior : safety and design
The car doors offer a rather interesting safety feature where the windows are, in that the windows don't have metal around them, and are double sealed from the inside. You can slam the glass part of the door on all your fingers and not get hurt with the doors designed that way. Now, if you get your fingers in where it's metal on metal, then it's a different story.
The car also features disc brakes on all 4 wheels, as well as ABS. I feel much safer braking in this car than any vehicle I've driven so far. The response of the brakes is nice and fast as well.
The all-wheel-drive that subarus use, in combination with the sporty suspension, which seems to flatten out the road in instances that would make my mom's 1988 caprice go completely airborne, and the ABS ensures that the car is going to take turns, emergency maneuvers, weather conditions, and other hazards with superior control than many, many other vehicles out there.
The car has also been noted by several magazines and internet sources I've seen so far as having pretty safe in crash tests. Fortunately I don't have any experience with that. Though the dealership has told me that Subaru is very concerned about safety, and based off of my experiences with this car so far, I'd have to say I agree.
Sound
Sound from the interior while you're driving is actually a bit louder than I'm sure some will like, but it really isn't overbearing in my mind... and at least this way you can hear if someone is driving next to you, or if there are sirens or something approaching you. There are a couple very soft rattles, but I still don't even know if those are caused by something I'm carrying, I've got a few things that could rattle while I drive, but if that's as bad as it gets, then I'm more than satisfied with the interior sounds
The sound from the outside ... well, that's one of the only times you're reminded that you've got a 4-cylinder engine... but it certainly doesn't sound bad.
Performance
I don't like pushing this car, as I want it to last as long as I can possibly make it last, but here's what I've gathered from the few times I did push the limits.
0-35mph = about 3 seconds
62.5 mph = 4th gear, about 2500 rpm (I don't know this is that good, seems like an awfully high rpm)
72mph = 3000 rpm
80mph = 3300 rpm
so judging by that, and it not shifting into any other gears by then, it would be in last gear, which, to me, seems like the top speed of the car wouldn't be too good, so if you get this car to race with, you should probably alter your gear ratios some...
the handling is awesome in this car. I've done stuff I wouldn't think could be done, and I know full well that after taking certain turns, I could've done so much more. But again, I don't want to push the car like that, but if you don't mind pushing your car, then you'll enjoy the fast pickup this thing has, the excellent cornering, and the overall safe feel that it has while doing those actions.
Gas Economy
I am not sure how many miles per gallon I get at the moment, but my vehicle hasn't been fully broken in, or even had its first oil change yet, so I'm probably not getting the best results yet. However, it's seemed to have already been double of what my mom's '88 caprice got... I still have the same commute, and fill the tank up just as often, but the tank is about 16 gallons, and doesn't get as close to the empty mark as the 22 gallon tank of the old car did. Also, this specific car requires just 87 Octane fuel, so that's quite a bit of money saved each week there.
Dependability
The car tends to start up somewhat odd when it's warm outside, and you haven't fired up for about 4 hours, but I haven't had it stall out, or have any problems with it, so I doubt that's anything to worry about.
I haven't had anything go wrong yet, so my experience with this car has been very good so far.
Maintenance, upgrading, and finding information
So far I haven't had anything to maintain, though I have started looking for information about this topic... but I've noticed that this vehicle is a little hard to find information on. My vehicle itself based off an Impreza Wagon, as the only changes from the exterior are the bumpers and lower portion of the car is metallic grey, while the top is a different color. The dealer described it as an Outback Sport package for the Impreza, but the subaru website calls it an Outback Sport, under the Outback category. Not to be confused with the different base Outback models, the 2.5i Wagon, 2.5 XT Wagon, 3.0 R L.L. Bean Wagon, 3.0 R VDC Ltd. Wagon, and the 3.0 R Sedan...
Also, I have had a little bit of trouble finding repair guides, since it's such a new car... Chilton repair guides only seem to go up to 1996 subaru vehicles, fortunately though, I don't need one yet, just looking for that day I do need one.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 16,900
Condition: New
Model Year: 2004
Model and Options: Impreza Outback Sport Wagon, Automatic
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Epinions.com ID:
MultimediaMan
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Location: Texas
Reviews written: 32
Trusted by: 0 members
About Me:
Likes: 3D, video games, music, cars Dislikes: Inefficiency, poorly designed products
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