Hi, Barry. I'll try to give some kind of useful reply. I'd always heard that Subaru's were good cars, and they are quite popular in my area. I bought my '85 GL wagon in fall of 2004 for a Courier route gig I had then. My Subie had NO power when I bought it, but ran reasonably well for 4 months, then the engine started a bad knock. Long story short- I rebuilt it, new pistons/rings/bearings/gaskets. That took a year. The flat-4 design is unusual- some things are harder to do on it, some easier.
The 80's and early 90's Subaru's have a reputation for reliability and good economy, but are getting scarce. IF you got one of those, and do most of your own work, then I'd hope a local junkyard has a few of whatever model you bought, as a parts source.
I advise a manual trans version of ANY Subaru, clutches are far cheaper to fix than automatic's. 1.8L and 2.2L engines are OK, but when you get into the 2.5L ones, esp late 90's- early 2000's, head gasket failures are to be expected. From what I know and have experienced, expect the head gasket(s) to fail sometime above 100K miles.
If you want to really research Subaru's look at Subaru online forums and groups, much better info is in those.
for what it's worth, Subie, my '85 GL wagon, averages 28+ MPG in combined driving, more on the highway. One summer night 5 years ago--after the Groove was done to the replacement Weber carb, Plasma Jet Ignition upgrade, Higher tire pressure, Friction reduction treatment to the engine, and other tricks,...Subie returned an honest 72 MPG on a 50 mile flat highway test. Steady 60 MPH, with no wind and little traffic. Test track type conditions, of course, but that is what it could do under near-perfect conditions.
I'd say6 my '85 is still closer to old-school cars from the 70's and 80's. Meaning it has a carb, a distributor, the ECU is just along for the ride since the stock feedback carb was replaced. So my knowledge from older cars could apply on it. The '02 Outback is modern ECU, EFI, factory emission controls, etc. But still, not to complex or techie to understand. Today's cars are more like appliances with wheels.
So there's a few short examples of my thoughts on Subarus. Hope this helps!
Tracy G
