2003 Legacy: rough ride, poor gas mileage...

N

Napalm

I've got two 2003 Legacys - one is a wagon SE the other a sedan GT. The
sedan drives like a dream, is smooth, quiet and gets good gas mileage - I am
quite delighted with the vehicle. The wagon drives very loud and rough,
with lots of vibration through the body and especially the shifter and
pedals. So far the vehicle has had a couple of repairs including a replaced
rear diff (at about 5,000km) and a replaced clutch (at about 35,000km).
Ever since replacing the rear diff, the wagon feels like a cheap pick-up
truck. It bucks at low rpm in 1st and 2nd gear, it occasionally stalls on
take off, and seems to have excessive engine breaking. On top of this, I
get horrific gas mileage (about 25% worse that the sedan when driven on the
same routes).

Almost from day one with this car (it now has about 35,000km), I have
complained at each of my scheduled service appointments (Marino's in
Toronto) about these issues. Each time they tell me that there is nothing
wrong with the car. I explain that the two Subaru's are like night and day
and that there can't be this much variability with the vehicles. It is
almost as if there is some sort of friction somewhere in the
engine/tranny/etc. that is cause roughness, excessive engine drag and poor
gas mileage - but they are at a loss to diagnose the issue. The only thing
they have offered is that the next time a Subaru of Canada guy is in town
that I bring the car for a test drive. Shouldn't their mechanics be capable
of doing this themselves? I am getting a bit frustrated with this service
department as their first reaction to any problem seems to be deny that
anything is wrong and it always takes several visits before they will
actually do anything about problems (this has happened with blown speakers,
a sterring wheel that was no where near centred, internal squeaks and
rattles, a buzzing from the rear diff, and a noisy and extremely stiff
clutch).

In any event, from the symptoms described (rough ride/excessive engine
breaking/poor gas mileage/etc...), can anyone suggest what may be wrong with
the car and what should be looked at? Any suggestions for next steps to get
this resolved??
 
Napalm writes :
Almost from day one with this car (it now has about 35,000km),
I have complained at each of my scheduled service appointments
(Marino's in Toronto) about these issues. Each time they tell
me that there is nothing wrong with the car...

If I were you I'd try another dealer or two. There must be
at least 4 or 5 in the Toronto area.
 
I've got two 2003 Legacys - one is a wagon SE the other a sedan GT.
The sedan drives like a dream, is smooth, quiet and gets good gas
mileage - I am quite delighted with the vehicle. The wagon drives
very loud and rough, with lots of vibration through the body and
especially the shifter and pedals.

Is the GT AT or MT?
 
Both of my vehicles are MT. I once rented an AT wagon (regular L) and found
it to pull extremely hard compared to my MT wagon.
 

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