I traded in my ’01 Nissan Pathfinder today. Just about had a tear roll down my face when i saw my trusty vehicle driven off amidst the pouring down rain today. Kinda like loosing a good friend who’s been there for you without asking for too much in return. Ok, now that I got that out, I’ll move on to the positive. Hopefully, I met a new friend today named Mr. Subaru Outback 2.5i.
I should state for the record that I’ve been a “car guy” for a long time. Probably has something to do with my dad’s interest in cars and my fundamental interest in just about anything mechanical. I’m regularly reading numerous car blogs and auto magazines when ever I get a chance. But I must admit that I’ve changed my outlook over the last few years. Maybe it’s that gas now costs $3.50 a gallon or just that I’ve become a closeted treehugger, but I had enough with driving a SUV. I’ve flirted numerous times in the last 6.5 yrs of SUV ownership with getting something new and I’m not sure what was so different this time, but I went ahead and bought a new car. I had thought about many other wagons and hatchbacks (almost required when you like my pasttimes and a dog), but decided that the Subaru offered the right balance of everthing I was looking for.
The “old” Chris would have likely bought the turbocharged Outback, but the “new” Chris decided to get the naturally aspirated version after appreciating the fact that it’s powerful enough for everything but stop light drag races and is better for the earth and my pocketbook in the fact that it takes regular gas (vs premium) and gets better mileage. I originally wasn’t a huge fan of the two-tone blue / silver combo, but Kara seemed to like it and I think it will grow on me (and I got the black interior and 5spd which were the musts for me).
Though, I must be getting old since I just bought a station wagon!! Ahhh!! The irony of it is that I was driving a jacked up, gas hungry, poor handling station wagon (SUV) ever since I bought the Pathfinder in July of ’01. And a friend of mine told me yesterday that it’s ok if you buy a station wagon if you have a dog so at least I have that going for me (while trying to keep my male ego intact as best I can).
Brief review: Since the northwest is getting battered right now with a Winter storm (50mph winds, rain, cold temps), the Outback basically got driven straight home from the dealer today, but I can already tell that it’s substantially more fun to drive with the 5 spd manual than the automatic pathfinder ever was. And with the all wheel drive it should provide just as good of transportation for camping, mountain biking, and especially skiing. All that and I’m expecting a solid 5 to 10+ mpg above what the pathfinder would do so now we can justify taking it on trips where the civic would only go before. I’ll likely post up some more pictures and driving impressions once I get a little more time behind the wheel and the rain stops blowing sideways.
Silent K\'s Thoughts and Happenings 