What now?
 

Will fill in details later this evening, but I need to replace the Outback pretty much immediately. Short version is transmission is failing, doesn't seem to be cost effective to repair, and the cost of replacing is nuts (and the cost of used transmissions and the amount of time I'd need to find one, get it, then get it in the car makes it an unappealing path). There's a slim chance I can get Subaru to goodwill a replacement or eat enough of the cost that it would be worth doing, but I'm not counting on it.

So I think I need to replace the car. Not entirely sure how that's going to work because there are many scenarios playing in our heads. Maybe something super cheap for her to drive temporarily while we figure it out. Maybe something pretty cheap for her to drive while we figure it out with an eye towards our teenage girls taking it over in the near future. Maybe something that is just a replacement. Dunno.

Inclined to not spend much ($15k or less?) under duress like this. Anyone have ideas? Criteria at the moment is: "Something the four of us can fit in comfortably to get to dinner and back. Or maybe go Connecticut and back in."

Anyone have anything cheap they're looking to unload?

a couple year old mazde CX5 would be my go to in that class / price range.

First gen CX5 would be a good choice. Except... Before we bought the Outback, she drove one and really, really didn't like it. It was a base FWD model, though, and I know the higher level trims would have been okay with me at the time. The base was just really super cheap feeling inside.

At the moment, I find myself looking at Gen 2 Outbacks with the H6 (2001-2004). As Nick put it when I texted him a link to Craigslist ad, "seems like a lot of car for the price." $2800

https://washingtondc.craigslist.org/...850715001.html

Found a couple more that make that ask price look like it's right in the expected range. Of course, dunno how many miles, wrecks, or anything else. Texted the dude about an hour ago. This is the conversation:

8:19 PM Clyde: Can you tell me anything else about the Outback on Craigslist? Wrecks, miles, VIN? Anything? Thanks!

8:30 PM Dude: Let me put it up ?

8:34 PM Clyde: Adding to the ad? Ok. Really interested in the car

Ad has not been updated.

Found a few more. This seems like it could be the way to go, though. Just can't take forever to find the right one.

And when did Carfax get so expensive? Sheesh.

My wife texted me on Tuesday the check engine, an "AT Oil Temp" light, traction control, BRAKE, and cruise control lights went on, but it was driving fine. I put my scanner on and read two codes: P0700 and P2764 which suggests that a solenoid in the valve body has gone bad. Subaru doesn't make the solenoids easily accessible and the normal repair is to replace the valve body, a $600ish part. Clearing codes worked for about 3 seconds.

I took it to a mechanic Wednesday morning. I've gone to him for the few things I've needed over the past 15 years. He's inexpensive, seems honest, quick, doesn't do work if he doesn't think the car needs it. He said the transmission has issues and suggested taking it to a transmission shop or dealer. I did not know that he does not do transmission work.

Drove it home and found another shop I've never heard of but had a ton of good Yelp and Google reviews. Called and set it up for my wife to bring the car this morning. Guy called me while I was on the way home on the Subway and told me that the car needs a new transmission. It was throwing more codes than I had last seen that led him to believe that the trans will shortly be on its way out. He couldn't find any remans, only a few used that he thought were way too expensive and priced closely to what new ones from Subaru would cost. He doesn't think it's worth replacing in this situation. Said he could give me a recommendation for a couple good shops that do transmission overhauls, but is pretty sure that will be ridiculously expensive. He thought the best thing to do would be to drive it straight to Carmax and take whatever they offer.

The weird thing is that a couple years ago, Subaru extended the original transmission warranty from 5/60 to 10/100 (and I must have missed the notice in the mail). For cars that were already beyond the mileage or age limit when the warranty extension was announced, there was a calendar date end to qualifying:

At the time this was announced, the car about four years old and had about 100k. It's kind of weird since the warranty extension would have covered me for just a few days since the original began in July 2013.

I'm going to call Subaru in the morning and see if they might be willing to goodwill a transmission or cover a substantial portion. :dunno:

Without the transmission problem, I figure the car is worth $5000 tops (probably less). It's got a lot of miles, twice wrecked, looks like crap, etc. Mechanically sound until the other day. The only real problem we've had was a bad tank of gas about a year ago. I've had to replace control arms like crazy, but it's not the car's fault my wife treats curbs like I treat cones.

My wife will pick up the car in the morning and go get an offer from Carmax. I'm guessing they will offer $500-$1500. Hopefully, I'll have an answer from Subaru by then and we'll figure out what to do.

Ugh. Sorry man. Don't really have anything to add but sympathy. That really blows. Way too young a car for that.

FWIW we love our new Mazda 3 5-door. I'm really happy driving it for what it is, I have no real issues with steering, brakes, transmission, suspension/chassis, other than the inherent compromises with FWD, auto trans, and underpowered 4-bangers. (It's really just slightly underpowered, honestly, for what it is)

And you're still looking at Subarus? It's the only car brand that we've lost an engine in. At 78k miles.

Was that warranty extension some type of settlement for a class action suit? If so, very little chance for goodwill exception in my opinion.

Sorry about the car troubles.

CVT or slushy?

As a short term temporary bridge to whatever the long term solution is? Sure.

If I ruled out every make because I or a close friend/family member had a ridiculous catastrophic failure long before reason would suggest, there would be nothing to look at.

Spending maybe $3k on something that relieves the pressure to DO SOMETHING NOW because we're sharing a car so she can take her time to deciding what she wants and us finding the right one seems like a reasonable thing. Worst that happens is we leave it on the side of the road and try again. Best case, it serves her need for a short while, then I use it for commuting until one of my kids gets her license and then she/they drive it until we leave it on the side of the road in a couple years?

What's not to like?

Can't find a specific reference to it being part of a class action settlement. Most of the discussion suggests they took the action to try heading off a recall - but that's internet discussion, so... :dunno:

I hear you on not avoiding specific brands, but I've had so many friends and family with the same Subaru failures (engine / trans) that they're on my official "nope" list.

I'd look at a used Mazda 6. I have to imagine they're cheap, because Mazda resale value is usually pretty bad. The 6 was refreshed before the CX-5 was and is a lot nicer inside than the older Mazda stuff was.

Just called their hotline number for the program. I told them the story, gave them my info and a case manager will contact me. The guy said they work case-by-case so can't say for sure when, but thought it would probably be early next week.

CVT. It's supposed to be a lifetime fill, so it's a real pain the ass to drain and refill. That was probably a mistake on Subaru's part.

I might be less interested in a new(er) Subaru. A 15+ year old one with 100-150k for dirt cheap money doesn't frighten me so much.

The other thing is my wife really, really, really loves the car. I'm not sure why. The idea of getting rid of the car brought her to tears last night in a wistful way.

We looked at new 6s in 2013. I liked them a lot. My wife was lukewarm. Pretty sure we'll include them in the looking again.

I hate to be the guy recommending an SUV, but if her problem is banging curbs and replacing control arms, maybe that's not a bad choice?

The downside is that used SUVs are going to be more expensive and maybe she doesn't like driving them.

The old Outbacks you're looking at do seem like a lot of car for the money, but OTOH if you buy one of those and the transmission shits the bed in a week, you're in the same position you are now except with one more junk car in the front yard.

Honestly? I'd spend the money to get a decent Toyota Highlander. It's a terrible car that I would never want to drive, but it's going to be fine transportation, probably won't kill you on maintenance, and will have decent resale when/if you want to sell it. It's also not a terrible first car for teenagers if it comes to that.

If you can achieve the above with a $3k car that is not going to suck more money, go for it...

I do not disagree on the SUV durability point. She also drives 20k or more miles a year. Something more fuel efficient than a real SUV would be preferable. SUV sizes also bring other issues (a big one for me being that she park far enough on her side of the garage to not make me scream to myself every time I open the garage door). An SUV would also bring certain benefits. It's a compromise and not out of the question, but it would likely be a longer term solution rather than the quick fix bridge I'm contemplating right now.

Anything can shit the bed next week. Maybe if I was buying a late model M3 hundreds of miles away, it would shit the bed that very day before I was even fully on the freeway. The small initial outlay is the mitigation of that risk on the financial side. I'd be walking into it with the mentality that if it happens, I'll just have it hauled away rather than pretending that I'll fix it later like the decorative objects that are already there.

Should I buy something cheap that gives out immediately, I'll probably do it again and hope for better luck.

Going to restate this part for emhasis:
I don't want to "spend the money" on something "decent" without a period of relaxed thinking about it.


A bit of money over the course of a little while is okay. My thoughts are $3k purchase, up to $2k on "repairs" and up to $1k on "maintenance items" (excluding tires which will factor into negotiated price of vehicle) by the end of the calendar year. If/when I reach those thresholds, it goes on Craigslist and first reasonable offer takes it. "Reasonable" meaning that it won't cost me money to get rid of it, a total bed shitting not withstanding.

Overall, the car gods dealt me a shitty hand this week and it's going to cost me one way or another. Spending more, quickly, and under pressure, on something that may not be right for us is not the path I want to choose. Spending a little more over a slightly longer period on something that's right for us seems like a better choice.

Something that keeps popping in my head is that there are tons and tons of people daily driving old pieces of shit that they keep running and they work well enough despite constant repairs.

I drove that NA Miata every day for 5 years with next to no maintenance before it stopped running and it was not in good shape when I got it. What failed on it would have been a cheap and easy fix if I'd done it at the time, but I was lazy and looking for an excuse to get something else.

We're kinda car snobs here and our minimal acceptance standards are frequently unlike most people. As I age, I see less and less value and justification for newer and more expensive cars. Even "under warranty" holds less and less appeal every year whether I would fix it or pay to have someone fix it. It's been an interesting phase of my automotive development.

:dunno:

My wife just texted that Carmax offered $3,000.

I told her to drive the car home, use my car the rest of the day and we'll talk this evening. Kinda want to wait to hear from SOA if they'll cover it, but that's a tempting offer given circumstances.

If she drives 20k/year, I think something new is more than justified. It takes just as much time to find something good at the sub-$5k price point. But yeah, finances cannot be argued with.

Could I interest in you an 6-speed manual, 535i, 56k miles? J/K

You can find 2002-2004 Highlanders all day long for $5k. That’s wha I had in mind.

As I cruise listings between while on conference calls and between work tasks, I am finding it a non-trivial task to clearly look at cars as a short term beater solution or a long term "this is her car for the next three years" solution. The line keeps blurring to the point I'm looking at a 2011 (same gen as my wife's) 3.6R Limited which is the loaded version of her car with a pretty powerful H6 and a regular non-problem plagued automatic instead of a CVT with similar miles for $7k. That doesn't seem to be a good idea. Yet I keep looking at them. :rolleyes:

I'm now sitting with beater type cash in my pocket in case that happens this weekend.

And yet you won't buy that kick ass W126.

https://bringatrailer.com/listing/19...enz-300-sdl-2/

W123 ftw.

https://bringatrailer.com/listing/19...00td-turbo-14/

Neat!

You made a comment about driving older cars. And something about spending money to maintain them.

This is my experience with the E61.

I love it dearly but I always think “whatever happens next is going to cost me”.

So, choose wisely. But st the same time you know what an older car costs to maintain. Something with some resale so you can unload on when you need to?

The W123 was the first one I sent him but he passed on that too

Short term? how short?

Swap a lease?

wtf

I talked to her about diesels tonight. She's not into it. i'm getting more intrigued by the hour.

In other news, I'm looking at a 2002 Outback LL Bean H6 3.0 with 190k tomorrow that looks nice in CL pics. Carfax looks like it's been regularly maintained. It reports damage to the left front and front. (Guessing that has something to do with why one of the headlight lenses looks like a 17 year old car and one looks newer.) Ask is $2800
https://washingtondc.craigslist.org/...850715001.html

Sunday, I'm looking at a 2003 that looks pretty similar in pics, but with only 114k miles. Seller is a tech and former detailer. He's given me some really detailed answers and said he found prior paintwork when he bought it that wasn't listed on Carfax at the time. Carfax still doesn't show anything, but does look like it had all scheduled service done at two different local Scooby dealers through 110k miles, which was about two years ago. It passed VA safety a year ago with about 1200 more miles added. Current owner bought it with just a few more miles on it in October. He's asking $3800
https://washingtondc.craigslist.org/...850506188.html

Curbstoner, except for being up front about it when I got there. Car needs power steering and brake work. Also a slight and subtle high pitched whine under load coming from somewhere. A good little bit of Subaru rust on the underside. Otherwise, meh?

Looking forward to seeing the other car tomorrow.

I think the days of somewhat decent cars for $2k or so (back in the 90's) have long passed. At least around the NYC area. They have all been driven into the ground. Maybe some would make station or student cars for light use. They may start out as a smaller money pit. Even with spending under control, with heavy use, they'll become a big time pit. They take just as much time to shop for, to fix and to sell.

Why not take a trip to the local Hyundai or Kia dealer and do a 3 year lease on the Sonata or optima. They are great cars, the price for the 3 years is usually in the mid to high $200 per month range and your wife has a brand new reliable safe car.

I was thinking the same.

They only become money pits if you let them. :dunno: Money pits happen when you don't budget or stick to the one you have.

Dunno if it's been clear, but (assuming the car lasts for all this) my wife probably won't drive it more than two months. After that, I may drive it daily to the subway station and back, get my older daughter more miles on her learner's permit, then have her drive it when she gets her license (and repeat with younger daughter).

If the car needs more than I'm willing to spend on it, away it goes. And then I'll start seriously looking for a more quality low cost, high reliability vehicle.

Until earlier this week, I was expecting us to buy a new car for my wife and have her Outback serve as the beater for the kids. If SOA covers a new transmission, that will probably still happen. If I buy something before finding out, maybe we'll keep it, maybe not. I don't need to decide that right now.

My wife would probably be pretty happy with a Sonata/Optima. In terms of a leases...She's driving about 20,000 mikes a year right now (down form 25k/y a couple years ago), adds door dings, dents, scratches, and more on a daily basis, and I'm thinking I probably that probably covers why leasing is not an option.

Seller is a tech at the Carmax in Sterling and said the car came in on trade last October. Employees have the option of buying some cars that come in and he bought this one to use as a daily while getting two project cars (another Outback with a lift kit and a WRX) running. They're both running now and he wants to sell this one and turn the money into parts for those cars.

This turned out to be a pretty nice car. Drove great. Nothing in engine bay or underneath appeared to be leaking (although evidence of minor seepage here and there). Everything seemed to work. Interior was spotless in a well cared for way as opposed to a cleaned up way. No evidence of water leaks from sunroof. Needs front pads, rotors, and tires.

We agreed on $3200 and now all we have to do is work out the logistics. Assuming we make that happen, we'll see how well the car holds up with a little time. I have a good feeling about it.

Wait you didn’t ask to buy the one with the lift kit instead?

Sounds like a good find from a dedicated Subaru guy. Good luck...

Where did I say I didn't ask? I mean, I didn't, but I didn't say that. At least not until this post.

Thanks!

I'm curious how it will all turn out.

Fuckfacemother McFucker ghosted me all week whenever I tried putting together a time to give him money and sign papers for the 2003 Outback. Until moments ago, that is, when he texted that he can't sell the car.

Still haven't heard back from Subaru of America either, which really pisses me off. Just pick up the phone, call me, tell me, "Fuck no, we're not going to cover it," and let me move on.

Earlier today, I talked to my wife to get her mentally ready for choosing what will be her car for the next few years. She finally gave me some info I can use to narrow choices down for her. I think budget is probably going to be about $25k.

Big wagon to medium crossover. Basically, something with similar footprint, cargo, and passenger space as the Outback. Good visibility out.That sounds to me a lot like:

Honda CR-V
Mazda CX-5
Ford Escape
Toyota RAV4 (sigh)

They're all 5-11" shorter in length and close to the same width (Outback is 72" and these are all either 72" or 73"). Outback has 34 cubic feet behind the seats and these all have 31-38 (not sure how much of that space for Outback or the others is above the rear seat height, which we tend not to go over).

Anything I'm missing? Nissans are a no and not sure I want to try my hand at a GM product here. European stuff that hits the size targets is probably too pricey.

My preference would be for a used current gen car, but the current CRVs and CX5s introed as 2017s and they're not that much less expensive than new. The RAV4 became new for 2019 and the Escape is long in the tooth and feels like a bigger Focus.

Anticipate 20-22k/year on it for five years and it being covered with dings, dents, and scratches on the outside and smell a little "what smell are you trying to hide?" (but if you give it a week, it smells normal) at the end of the term. I'm leaning towards new to get "all of the miles" unless I can find something with super low miles and a way low price because of something like a big hail damage discount.