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New 2008 Subaru Impreza Today
We finally pulled the trigger and traded our '94 Taurus SHO in on a new Subaru Impreza Outback Sport. This is a neat little car, not at all cheap and tinny like the Toyota Corolla I rented a couple of weeks ago. It is pretty well equipped, power everything (except seats), heated everything, great sound system, and very comfortable seats. The only down side is that it's automatic transmission only has 4-speeds, which is sort of behind the times, and the engine has a timing belt instead of a chain. Built in Japan and very solid.
We wanted to trade the Highlander in but the dealer was about 4k low on trade-in, using high gas prices as the excuse. Maybe he's right but I'm sure we can do a lot better selling it as a private party sale. I was happy to get rid of the Taurus, something new was breaking on it every week it seemed.
I'd post a pic but one trip up the gravel road and it's filthy already  It doesn't do as well on the gravel road as the Highlander but we haven't found any other vehicle that does.
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New 2008 Subaru Impreza Today
Just read Consumer Reports latest issue. They think quite highly of the Impreza.
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New 2008 Subaru Impreza Today
There is something rather odd about the Subaru's built-in alarm system. If the door is unlocked with the key and then opened the alarm goes off. That doesn't happen when the door is unlocked with the remote. So if you use the factory key to unlock the door the horn will honk until the ignition is turned on. The dealer says the only way to fix it is to disable the alarm entirely.
That seems sort of poor to me. Other than that the car has been great. Getting 25-27mpg with mixed city/hwy driving.
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New 2008 Subaru Impreza Today
That sounds like an engineering bug. On my CRV if you unlock the doors with the remote but don't open a door in a fixed number of seconds the doors re lock even if windows are open.
If you reach in and open the car door the alarm will sound, which is OK.
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New 2008 Subaru Impreza Today
Subaru is working on a diesel 4 cylinder I am waiting to see. Supposed to have some good power and torque as well as fuel economy.
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New 2008 Subaru Impreza Today
Yeah, our Toyotas don't have the alarm problem. It does sound like an engineering bug. No biggie though.
Randy, I'm anxiously waiting for the Subaru diesel. If it comes out and lives up to expectations I'll buy one, sell my Tacoma and buy an old beater pickup for hauling stuff.
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New 2008 Subaru Impreza Today
This stuff drives me nuts.
We got a '08 Highlander a few months ago. There is only one key hole on the outside of the car..... in the drivers door.
You cannot walk up to the rear hatch or any of the passenger doors with a key and an armload of groceries and get in the car. STUPID.
And the damn key is so thick.... roughly the width of 3-4 normal keys..... that it cannot be carried in a jeans pocket with any other keys.
I got a regular key made and soon learned that the car will not start without the "fat" key because it has a computer chip embedded in it.
If i can't carry the stupid key in my pocket without cutting off my circulation, I certainly cannot carry around the "remote control".
I think they are trying to tell us something.........
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New 2008 Subaru Impreza Today
I hear ya. Personally, I hate remotes. If they're optional that's one thing but when they become mandatory they're a real PIA. Especially the stupid panic button that always gets activated accidentally. I glued a piece over the button on my truck remote for that reason.
Our 05 Highlander has door locks everywhere.
The 08 Impreza has one in the drivers door and hatch but not in the passenger door. That's not a huge deal but indicative of scraping the bottom of the cost cutting barrel. But the rest of the car seems to be very good quality, certainly better than our two Toyotas.
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New 2008 Subaru Impreza Today
Hi Ken,
Looking at the redesigned 2012 Impreza. How are you doing with yours now after three years? Any problems?
I am looking at the hatch which you have, I was concered that the trunk might be kinda small. Did you find this workable?
Thanks!
Dennis
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New 2008 Subaru Impreza Today
Hi Dennis,
Our Impreza has about 45k trouble free miles on it. It has been very reliable. The only problem has been that the front rotors warped twice and were fixed under warranty. I don't know if that's a design or installation problem.
Trunk space has been surprisingly roomy, there is space and then there is usable space. This is very rectangular and flat and usable and the seats fold down for more space. But the trunk isn't exactly the size of a Lincoln Town Car 
Biggest complaint is the driver seating position. It seems like the right seat bolster pushes your leg to the left, away from the accelerator pedal, so there is fatigue on long trips when not using the cruise control.
Mileage isn't quite as good as other small cars due to AWD. For us it's a worthwhile tradeoff and the newer ones have made significant gains in mileage. We get around 24 city up to 29 highway. With studded snow tires the car is a billy goat in snow and about as good as it gets on ice.
We like the car and would buy again.
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06-28-2008, 18:49 
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