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So despite having the Legacy as my fun car I drive my 97 Impreza on a daily basis. I live 1.5 miles from work so I don't put too many miles on and it's a little over 190,000 miles. I've been contemplating what to do with it because there is a bearing in the trans that is bad and making a bunch of noise. It's been like that for a couple years, but seems to have gotten worse this past year. The steering rack needs to be resealed and more than likely just replaced since it was driven with a torn boot. With all the rain we've had this weekend I noticed a small leak on the passenger side door.

I do enjoy driving it around town, especially with the 02 WRX seats, but I just don't have the time to put into maintenance and all the little and some bigger things that need to be done to it. I've considered getting a newer Impreza wagon, but haven't driven it to see if I'd even like it. I want to stay with a wagon, AWD, & manual trans. With those requirements I'm basically down to Subaru & Audi. I tend to keep my cars for a while and really don't want the maintenance headaches of an Audi. A wild card in the mix may be the Ford Escort, but one issue is that I want a wagon rather than a hatch. The "hatch" cars really don't have shit for storage room without the rear seats down.

I really need to do some research online regarding the newer Impreza's, storage space, maintenance issues, etc. and then go drive one. I'm fine with staying non-turbo for my daily driver or would consider a turbo if I found the right car.

Right now, it's more about finding a car with the requirements I'm looking for and I enjoy driving. It doesn't have to be new, but would prefer it to be newer so I don't have the maintenance and wear like I have on the Impreza.

Thoughts?

Saaburu?

Get a Crosstrek, that's what I'd get.

Just for a comparison, and I know its not a impreza, but I am rocking a 2005 outback XT with a 16g and Primitive 1.25inch lift spacers. The 215/70/16s General Grabbers AT2's only rubbed a bit on the front lip of the rear wheel well while fully loaded and under full compression. Nothing a minor grinding couldn't fix. But I can literally take this thing anywhere and is still fun drive. Just my 2 cents

Na Forester should meet your needs. Available with a manual.

Depending on the year right? Or are there still MT foresters. I thought they ended up going to CVT. But definitely second on the forester.

Thanks for the feedback everyone.

I've kind of wanted to stay away from the forester and outback as I'm not really looking for an elevated "SUV" type, but rather a wagon. I do like the styling of the crosstrek, however haven't driven one to know how it's going to handle.

I think my "goldilocks" car isn't really out there in the current models so I'm just going to have to figure out what I'm willing to compromise.

My short list would be:

2005 Legacy GT 5-speed wagon (last of the "normal" size legacy wagons w/5 speed and turbo)
'02 - '06 WRX wagon (last of the original EJ chassis cars)
'99 Legacy GT Limited wagon (one of the best looking Subarus ever)
'99 - '01 Outback sport (light weight, perfect platform to improve if you ever decide to)

Slightly oddball choices:
'01-'04 Focus wagon (w/SVT swap?)
Volvo V70R series wagons
'00 - '04 H6 Legacy/Outback wagon w/5 speed swap (maybe EZ36 swap too)

The only Audis that interest me would be a full-on RS Avant wagon. And those don't make good Dailies.

For new vehicles:
The Crosstrek, Fiesta ST and Focus ST are all great cars. All are simple hatchbacks though. New WRX is a spectacular choice, but a sedan. I would buy a Crosstrek with the WRX drivetrain in a heartbeat.

lol, how long are you willing to wait? Maybe we'll get the levorg at some point.

And, despite the fact that you're trying to move away from doing more work on your cars, what about a suspension swap on an sg forester to lower it back down to wagon size. I was under the impression that the sg shipped into the US under the wagon designation/classification.

Well the plot thickens. I got more water in the car than I expected with all the rain this weekend. The padding under the carpet was wet. If it doesn't dry readily I'll probably pull the carpet tomorrow and run around rally style.

Here's a pic




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I looked at the specs for the new Impreza & Crosstrek and only two models of each come with the manual trans. So that makes looking at options a lot easier...haha

Get away from Subaru, far too many good cars to be stuck on a single brand.

Fiesta ST is easily the most fun car I've driven in a long time. And I did a 24-hour test drive with that when I owned my supercharged Lotus Elise! Seriously considered getting that after the Elise, ended up with a truck for towing the race car.

Plus they are easily had around $16-18k for ones that have less than 15-20k miles. Lots and lots of worry free fun.

I agree with Mr. Conte. So many good cars out there by other manufacturers. I like to poke around on Car and Driver's website to get an idea of various cars in each category.

Stay away from GM tho. They're recalling like a mother f****r right now.

^ same with Chrysler. but I suppose you wouldn't be interested anything from those manufacturers.

^^ And some Ford SUVs now too.

So basically what we're saying here is don't buy "American"

Or VW... Or anything with a flagged Takata airbag, or Kia SUVs, or Hyundai Sonatas...

But since you want a wagon and MT, why not look for a used Impreza wagon? Where I live there are always a few on Craigslist for ~$6000 or so, but I don't live in Texas.

Volvo makes turbo wagons with 5/6 speed manuals. The V50 is alright, kind of plain looking though. The V70 would be better. And the V70-R would be the best. Better engine, brakes and suspension. Volvo haven't made a car in a manual since 2011 so I would start looking before then.

Thanks for the continued comments!

I am open to other brands, but seeing that I do travel a lot I drive a lot of rental cars and get a decent feel for what I like and what I don't like between brands. I'm not a huge fan of GM. Ford has really stepped up their game and have been happy with most of the newer Ford's I've driven. I like the styling, handling, and performance of some of the European brands, but don't have high confidence in their longevity and don't care for the higher cost of ownership. That's really the primary reason I'm looking....I don't have time to fuck with my daily driver if it needs fixing. An oil change and checking fluids, etc. are fine but just don't want to walk away from a car I enjoy driving but needs maintenance into another car that needs maintenance that I don't know the history.

I'll have to take a look at the fiesta and how much space it has; that's the other thing I'm not too keen about the newer "hatch" cars....they have shit for rear cargo space.

If you hang on to the legacy and your impreza, do you really need to worry about maximizing storage capacity in the commuter? Maybe just get a Thule box for when you need more room in the fiesta.

Should I pipe in with my newfound admiration of small Honda 5-doors?

Everyone I know with a Honda Fit raves about them. Great gas mileage, reliable, good handling and good usuable space with the rear seats folded down.

Imprezive wrote:If you hang on to the legacy and your impreza, do you really need to worry about maximizing storage capacity in the commuter? Maybe just get a Thule box for when you need more room in the fiesta.

I wouldn't hang onto the 97 Impreza if I get something else. So that's my dilemma. If I had the room I'd have a small truck and commuter/daily driver car....but I really don't need to register and insure three cars. I barely get to drive the two I have now

DLC wrote:Should I pipe in with my newfound admiration of small Honda 5-doors?

What model?

The thing that severely narrows my search is wanting AWD.