I’m giving up on my poor 92 accord. She’s served me faithfully, but it’s time to move on.
At the moment the perfered cars in my price range are 98-2000 Impreza outback sports or RS coupes. I’d like to hear opinions, stories and common problems and pretty much anything else.
I’ve heard about the wheel bearing problem. How bad is it? Do the legacy bearings really fix the problem? How much does it cost to repair?
What did you guys use to cover up that fugly fabric on the seats?
TTT
Where are all the subaru fans?
2001 Impreza S wagon owner here. That was the last model year for that particular body style and pretty close to what you are looking at, except for it having a 145hp engine rather than the 165hp mill of the RS and (I think) the Outback Sport.
I purchased mine new in November 2000; it’s a manual and has the only set of factory alloys I’ve ever seen on this specific model. I’m now up to 82K; the only non-scheduled maintenance so far has been to replace the battery and right front CV boot. The service writer at the local dealership claims the latter is a common problem as the exhaust header passes close by. I’ve never heard of the wheel bearing problem you are referring to. The clutch chatters a bit when cold and has done so since about 40K miles. I plan to have the timing chain replaced when it hits 85K, although the service book claims it’s OK to 105K.
Except for the above, basically nothing has gone wrong with the car; original exhaust, original shocks, original brakes: at the 60K service, it was reported to me that the brake pads were only 25% worn(!).
My only criticisms are these: 1) I could definitely use the extra 20 HP of the bigger RS engine; 2) even Fifth (an overdrive) seems a bit low-geared, giving around 3200 noisy rpm at 70mph; 3) there is considerable road noise at highway speeds; 4) the radio is complete crap; 5) the cloth seat fabric wears quickly; 5) the body picks up minor dings incredibly easily, despite there being substantial rub strips on each side.
Oh yeah, the plastic bezel around one of the fog lights fell off a while back, and the correct replacement part doesn’t seem to exist. The local dealer has ordered it twice by what is supposedly the correct part number; both times the part that arrived was indeed for a fog light but was clearly for a different vehicle.
Nevertheless, my little Subie steers and handles superbly, as well or better than an Audi 4000 5 + 5 that I had owned previously, and is by a wide margin the most trouble-fee vehicle I’ve ever owned. I plan to keep it until at least 120K miles.
Is it really that underpowered? it has a better HP/weight and Torque/weight ratio then my 92 accord and I never thought it was all that slow at all.
although I suppose the outback sport has a pretty crappy aerodynamic body.
Could you define slow?
The wheel bearing problem I mentioned is that apparently the bearings sometimes prematurely wear(they really should last the lifetime of the car…) causing increasing noise and eventually failure.
Actually, some of it has to do with the environment I drive in, which is heavily populated with angry middle-aged males in full-sized pickups, driven at extremely high speeds. They seem to treat my car’s presence in front of them as some sort of personal affront.
But seriously, it’s not that it’s all that underpowered, it’s more the relatively low gearing I mentioned. It’s rather noisy and feels strained (IMO) at any speeds above 70 or so.