Subaru Outback Wagon

[Jedi]

TomTom brought up a good point. One thing I noticed with my outback is the RPM's. At 70mph, I am tach'n 3K. That is a little high and does hurt the gas mileage. My wife's 4Runner is tach's something like 2,500rpm's. Could be wrong but I know it's lower than my Outback. Around 85mph, the tach is humming. In the mountains, pulling two bikes (850lbs) on an open trailer, requires you "to put your foot in it" to get up to bigger hills. Again this is the 4 cyl.

Pulled my trailer with 3000lbs on it.

 

Jedi

[tivoli_mike]

Well, if you're going to get the Outback go with the 6. One of my main issues with the 4 cylinder ( outback and legacy ) was the lack of pickup to get into traffic and then running high in the gears in the top speeds. I have got the '03 w/ the H6 and do see a small decrease in mileage over the GF's old Legacy.

[J_Kirby]

Or . . . get one of the new turbocharged Outbacks. They've got far more get up and go at any RPM than any of the naturally aspirated Outbacks (4 or 6 cylinders) and the similar gas mileage to the H6. It also runs at lower RPMs than the non-turbocharged four cylinder at high speeds.

[tomtom]

Geez. Go buy a freakin Hummer, then.

[J_Kirby]

Geez. Go buy a freakin Hummer, then.

 

I paid less for mine than I would've for an H6.

[jon]

High RPMs on an engine has no effect on engine wear, they gear it that way for a reason to maximize acceleration in relation to the RPM where you get max torque. It also doesn't hurt the gas mileage.