Date:         Thu, 4 Jan 1996 17:01:28 -0800 (PST)
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         David Schwarze <des@teleport.com>
Subject:      Re: why I don't have a Subaru...

GRAZUL@zodiac.rutgers.edu writes:
> 
> have any of you owned a Subaru?   The reason I got into VWs was because
> of my '75 Subaru wagon.  There is absolutely no ambience,  tinny,  
> plastic-ee {real low grade plastic,  cheap at that},  no likable 
> idiosyncracies which means no character...and to beat all they are
> VERY hard to work on unless you have the right SHOP tools. 

I don't know about the tools thing, but we (my family) bought a *brand
new* 1977 Subaru wagon.  8 years and 90k miles later, it was in the
junkyard.  By 50K there was no compression in one of the cylinders.  We
never figured out what was wrong with it, and there was no smog check
back then, so we just drove it till it died.  Besides the bad motor
(which I hear was a common problem due to a design flaw) the entire
exhaust system rusted out in short order, the distributor failed at 55k,
brakes were worn through in 20k, paint faded horribly in only three
years or so, bad CV joints, and the list goes on.  This from a car that
was driven very conservatively in Southern California (no salty roads or
harsh winters) and was advertised as being ultra-reliable.  Their slogan
at the time was "inexpensive, and built to stay that way".  We always
substituted "cheap" for "inexpensive", well, when we weren't too mad at
it that is.  I really doubt I'll ever buy one.

-David

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David Schwarze                     '73 VW Safare Custom Camper  (Da Boat)
San Diego  (Actually La Mesa)      '72 VW Westfalia Camper      (Da Project)
California, USA                    '73 Capri GT 2800            (Da Beast)
e-mail: des@teleport.com           '87 Mustang Lx 5.0           (14.17@99.34)
http://www.teleport.com/~des       '93 Weber WG-50              (Da Piano)
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