2022 Subaru Outback Premium on 2040-cars

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Junkyard Gem: 2003 Subaru Legacy Outback H6-3.0

Living in Denver and spending a great deal of time in local wrecking yards, I see plenty of discarded Subarus. It's an unwritten law that every Denver resident must own a dog and a Subaru, which means you'll find dog water bowls in front of most businesses and Subarus in most parking spaces. When Outbacks wear out, they end up in local junkyards. With 2 million Outbacks sold, I don't photograph most of them, for the same reason I don't photograph Altimas or F-150s. But a rare H6-3.0 Outback is another story; here's a very clean '03 spotted in a Mile High self-service yard. The six-cylinder Outback debuted for the 2001 model year, and it wasn't cheap. For 2003, the list price on an H6-3.0 wagon started at $26,995 (about $37,000 in 2018 dollars), versus $23,770 for the four-cylinder version with five-speed manual tranmsission. You couldn't get a three-pedal version of the H6-3.0, but fewer and fewer Outback shoppers wanted manual transmissions by that time, anyway. With 212 horsepower, these cars were gratifyingly quick compared to the four-cylinder versions. I own a 2004 Outback with the 2.5-liter H4 and 5-speed manual, and it requires a great deal of patience on freeway onramps and steep grades. Subaru was very proud of the H6 engine at this time, so this car is covered with badges boasting of the six pistons lying sideways under the hood. There's one on the grille, one on the hatch, one on the center console, and a couple under the hood. This car was so clean that I considered buying the seats for my own somewhat battered '04. The original paperwork and manuals were still inside, showing that the original purchaser didn't go too crazy with the options. The car was sold just a few miles from its final resting place. The digital odometer made it impossible for me to determine total mileage, but I'm guessing this is a well-cared-for high-mile car that got traded in on a new Outback, then wasn't worth selling as a used car due to some expensive mechanical problem. This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. "Ah, the rugged outdoorsy type. Nice choice."

2021 Subaru WRX STI to pack 400 horsepower?

The next-generation Subaru WRX STI may boast as much as 400 horsepower from a re-tuned, 2.4L turbocharged boxer engine, making it the most powerful factory STI ever to be offered in America.  Forbes reports that an upgraded version of the engine currently offered in the three-row Subaru Ascent crossover will power the new model, rather than the 2.0-liter unit that powers the current WRX or the 2.5L found in the current STI.   According to the report, which cites an unnamed source close to Subaru, the company's engineers are hard at work beefing up the FA24 turbocharged boxer to coax 400 horses and 361 pound-feet of torque from an engine that currently offers just 260 horsepower and 277 lb-ft of torque in family-hauling tune.  While Subaru has been building high-output WRX and STI models for its home market for decades, this would be the first time a 400-horsepower STI would be offered for sale in the U.S. In fact, it would become the most powerful Subaru sold here, period. That honor currently belongs to the 341-horsepower 2019 STI S209, which is incredibly rare (and correspondingly expensive). It followed closely on the heels of the STI Type RA, which was similarly difficult to obtain, but not nearly as powerful or expensive.  Limited (as its name suggests) to just 209 units, the S209 was offered for only one model year at an eye-watering MSRP of $64,880. Customers are still taking delivery of their cars, as STI's tuning shop can only crank out a small handful per day. If it seems like Subaru has been taking its sweet time introducing a new WRX and STI, that's because development of the hotter models diverged from that of the base Impreza prior to the launch of the latter's latest generation. Subaru considers them independent models, and while they still share platform commonalities, they are no longer treated as a single product line. Current models are still loosely based on the last-generation Impreza, and the best hint we have as to the future of the WRX and STI is the Viziv Performance STI concept, which debuted at the Tokyo Auto Salon back in 2018. Related Video: This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings.

Subaru funds Center For Pet Safety crash testing for dogs [w/video]

Crash-testing new vehicles to evaluate their ability to keep humans safe in accidents is nothing new, but thus far there has been little in the way of crash testing for dogs. Subaru, a company that portrays itself as pet friendly, hopes to raise awareness on the issue of pet safety by funding initial crash testing by the nonprofit Center for Pet Safety, Automotive News reports.
Real dogs were not used in the crash tests; three dummy dogs representing a 25-pound terrier, a 45-pound border collie and a 75-pound golden retriever were used. There are a variety of devices for sale that are supposed to restrain dogs from entering the front-seat area and distracting the driver - tethers, cages, nets and crates - but their effectiveness in a crash is unknown.
In Subaru's crash test, performed at a Virginia laboratory that tests child seats on a device that speeds down a track and stops abruptly, the results show that devices such as dog tethers are prone to break in a crash, sending the dog rocketing into whatever is in front of it. Rather alarmingly, the organization reports a 100-percent failure rate. In other words, "None of the harnesses were deemed safe enough to protect both the dog and the humans in the event of an accident." Yikes.