I won a rubber cargo mat from a '99 Legacy Wagon off eBay and I plan to use that instead of getting new carpet. However, I wanted to have some sound deadening mat to absorb exhaust and road noise. I looked around on various Web sites for replacement mat, and all I found was expensive mat for car audio purposes (i.e. Fatmat 2'X4' floor liner for $50 + $18 shipping).
So I went to Lowe's.
What I found was carpet padding for 49 cents a square foot (or $4.50 a square yard) for the thicker stuff. The thinner stuff was about half as much, but it was too thin. Here is a comparison of the old sound deadening mat (on bottom) and what I picked up at Lowe's:
![Image](http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b166/ImgladImnotagirl/matcomparison.jpg)
As you can see, they are about the same thickness. However, the carpet padding is much denser and has a blue plastic coating on one side.
So I used the old deadening mat as a stencil, outlined it with a Sharpie and cut away. Here is what the cargo area looks like:
![Image](http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b166/ImgladImnotagirl/rearmat.jpg)
It's not perfect, but it gets the job done. I purchased about two square yards, and the guy gave me a foot extra for free because the end was kind of cut up. It ended up costing me $8.82. With what I had left over, I used underneath the rear seats, as seen here:
![Image](http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b166/ImgladImnotagirl/rearseatmat.jpg)
And with the carpet in place:
![Image](http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b166/ImgladImnotagirl/rearseatmat2.jpg)
I haven't driven it yet, so I can't comment on how much it helped, but I like to think that it will make the cabin a little bit quiter. There were even a few odd-shaped pieces left over and I stuffed those around the rear wiper fluid container/scissor jack storage area and around the spare tire.