So long Subaru

After over 15-1/2 years.
I have to say so long to an old trusty friend.
The first new car I have ever purchased and the only car that I've had since my late 20's.  Is finally getting a new owner.

I've sort of had a love-hate relationship with this car.
My previous car was an awesome driving car.  The 94 Ford Probe GT was a great looking car and had an interior to match.  Why did I go with the 98 Subaru Legacy GT?  Cuz I wanted a Subaru.  It looked great. The non-functional hood scoop is cool looking. And there were some issues with the Probe GT that made it necessary to replace it.

I liked it, was sold on the AWD.  I wanted something reliable and Subaru's reliability record was a major selling feature.  I did lose a couple of things.
1. The interior seemed older than the 94 Probe GT I was trading in. It was a disappointment.  Although it did have cup holders.  Which consistently dripped into the radio and when in use blocked the heater controls.  Whoever was the ergonomics designer for the Subaru in the mid-late 90s early 2000's.  That person should be sent out on an updated design course.  I give it a D-.

2. I had awesome driver power seat in the 94 Probe GT.  Considering this Subaru was badged as a GT.  The seats weren't that great.  And no power seats.  The sales lady was very quick to point out that power seats often fail.  I now know that when I get told something like that.  It's full of BS.  So if you want something.  And they don't offer it.  Walk away.   Whatever the sales person tells you is crap.

However, I accepted it.  Now so many years later.  I feel I deserve more.  And the trick is to find a way to not over pay for that.  Because sales people will sell it to you, but of course it all comes with a price.

I did learn a lot from owning the Subaru.  I was the only owner. I paid a premium for that.  But I had the piece of mind of knowing the history.  And that's a very important piece of info to know when buying a car. Especially used.

After the warranty expired, I decided it was time for me to stop getting ripped off by the dealer servicing and doing the work, or whatever I could myself.  It was time to learn what was relatively easy for me to do myself.  In actuality, a lot of it is easy, as long as you have a procedure to follow or someone has provided a walkthrough.  I enjoyed the satisfaction of doing a lot of work myself, with assistance from my brother and Sam.  Not because I saved money.  But because I accomplished something.  And that's a good life lesson.

But if I can't do it.  Mostly because I don't have a lift or certain tools.  Which makes it easier to work on a car.  I at least have someone I trust.

We thought we would have needed a newer car when we had Kieran.  But the Thule cargo box really expanded our capacity.  This car was my work truck. I've hauled lots of stuff from HD and Rona.  I made it work.  Or more importantly - I made it fit.

The AWD, IMHO is oversold and over marketed.  For city, for Toronto you don't need it.  It uses a lot of gas.  If you have snows. You are good in the worst conditions.  But in 15-1/2 years.  I've gotten stuck 1x.  And that was recently at the cottage and I wasn't paying attention and went into a deep drift.  Good thing we were still at the cottage.  Tresa got the shovel and we dug it out.  And we headed home.

Even with AWD you need snows.  If you don't have snows.  AWD just means four wheels spinning in the winter vs two.  I keep telling people here that.  But some listen and others choose to ignore it.

Our new car has AWD, but it wasn't on my list of requirements.  And AWD systems are not created equal.  Google Subaru AWD test and you'll see what I mean. I know the Honda one is really FWD and provides torque to the rear wheels when it detects spin.  Same with the Toyota.  Subaru is mechanical and they have always had AWD.  It's not new.  When I bought my Subaru, there were basically 2 companies in the AWD space.  Audi and Subaru. Today there are many players.

So today is the last full day we will own the Subaru LGT.
We're both sad it's leaving.  But I'm also excited on the new vehicle replacing it.  I'm excited because I finally got my power heated leather seats.  Also it's a wagon type car.  So it'll enable us to haul some big items and even some not so big items that took some engineering know how to get in the car, plus a kid with a booster.

It's a car we can potentially grow into.  It may not have a 3rd row. But that wasn't a deal maker or breaker for us.  It's wide enough in the back seat to sit 3 adults or teens comfortably.  And I have a hatch.  It's not perfect, but I found lots of non-ideal vehicles.  I simply chose the one that worked best for our needs and it was as close to new as you can get.  And the history was known.  1 owner, off-lease, low kms, interior condition was very good.

And I can put a roof rack on it.  That was important.