My new to me car! (86 Subaru GL hatch)

[BrianAbington]

It is an 86 Subaru GL hatch back with 163K on it. Body and interior are nearly perfect and engine runs great. I looked in the owners manual to find a lengthy list of oil changes and other routine maintenance.







I filled it up last night and can't wait to see what I average

Today I had the oil, transmission gear oil, and the rear differential gear oil replaced.

It also sounds like the rear drums are dragging so I need to do that in the near future.

[arcosine]

Those old Subarus were under powered and don't get good gas mileage. I had an 86 GL wagon and got 25 on the highway with a 1.8L engine. It's the Subaru boxer engine design, too short a stroke. The 4wd is great, though and they are sturdily built cars. I liked the adjustable height suspension. They are great straight ahead in the snow, and don't get stuck easily , unless you have to turn, no center differential. You have to pop it out if 4wd or else it skids out. The high/low range is great too. I think the only mods I did was putting on 185/80R13 tires on and I put a wire in the air correction jet to richen up the secondary. I replaced the cam shaft seals once because oil started pouring out of the engine. After that it didn't use any oil.

Looks like the body is in good shape.

[Jim-Bob]

Nice find! I don't think the MPG will be all that great with it but I don't care. I love those old Subarus and if I had it there would be no "eco" to the way I would "mod' it. I'd probably be looking for a wrecked WRX STI, a stand alone ECU, my welder and some time to myself...

P.S. Have you thought about adding the cyclops eye to the grille? They are quite rare but it's one of those things I have always wanted to have on a vintage Subaru ( Preferably a Bidrive Recreational All Terrain)

[BrianAbington]

My job situation just changed and I will now be working only 1 mile away from home so once the weather is nicer I can walk...so I'm not totally concerned about the 28 MPG rated average.

I mostly plan to restore the few minor issues with the car and keep it looking as new as possible.

It may be kind of weird doing an airdam and side skirts on a car with 8" of ground clearance.

[dennyt]

Originally Posted by arcosine

Those old Subarus were under powered and don't get good gas mileage...

Perhaps they don't excel, but I'm having a hard time finding something better for my needs. Just did an overnight trip to Mt Rainier for some backcountry skiing and snow camping with 3 friends. Got 30mpg round trip (down from my new winter norm of 33mpg). The ski rack, extra weight, and 50ish miles of snow probably contributed to the drop.

Find me a car or SUV that seats 4, has room for 4 overnight packs and pairs of ski boots in the back, has 4WD or AWD so I can pass all the people taking their chains off and get a table at the Copper Creek Inn. The new Outback is looking promising, but I'm not ready to shell out the cash.

It's disappointing to me that my 16 year old car is just now being matched, in terms of MPG for 4WD wagons.

[endurance]

25-30mpg from an ol' 'buru sure beats what most folks do when looking for an economy snow car; buy an old pick up truck. 25 beats 16 any day of the week.

[Nevyn]

Thing is, it's a lot cleaner and has more features (safety and otherwise). Some features *I* would appreciate cars not having, but I don't mind some of the safety ones and I certainly don't mind cleaner.

[Kyleyadon]

Nice to see I'm not the only one working with an older car. Though I do believe that despite having 63k more miles than my car, your's has the edge on economy. I look forward to seeing what your average ends up being.

[BrianAbington]

I just now got my car down under 1/4 tank...living much closer to work really helps.

We are looking at getting a new out back for my wife in about 5 years after we get her grad school paid off.

[some_other_dave]

A friend of mine had a 70s-vintage (I think?) Scooby wagon. Not sure exactly what model or trim level. He used it as a ski car.

His take:
"It's pretty slow, but to make up for that it gets really crappy gas mileage!"

Evidently engaging 4WD cuts the economy quite a bit. But it never got stuck in quite a few years of heading up to the snow, so it did what it was supposed to.

-soD