Quote:
Originally Posted by Fat Charlie
It's not that heavy for a Subaru, but it is quite heavy for a mid size car.
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No, it's really not. It's about the same as a Maxima of the same year or a base model Accord wagon, and it meets that standard with AWD and all of the basics including PW and PL standard. By the standards of many on here running Civics, Saturns, and Metros, yeah, it's a heavy car, but it's actually a light vehicle for its size.
OP- As others have mentioned, the AWD is basically permanent and pretty nearly indestructible. It is possible to remove components and convert it to FWD operation. I had a neighbor growing up who had a FWD '95 Legacy. It had been a program car of some sort, and it was that way from the factory, so it certainly can be done reliably. But it's probably not worth it to take the driveshaft, rear diff, and axles out just to gain a little bit of MPG for the summer and have to put it all back for snow driving.
Bump starting never caused any trouble for me when I had an Outback. I wasn't doing a whole lot of hypermiling back then, but there was a long hill on my way home that was perfect for EOC, so I used that technique a fair amount. The engine and transmission worked great until I totaled the car around 200k miles.