response 25 of 63:

Nov 4 14:31 UTC 1997

There is no good rack for the Subaru Legacy that I was able to find.  The
roof is simply not designed to support a decent rack.  Yakama makes a
little
bent piece of  ~1/8" black painted stainless the measures about 6" X 3" with
two holes in it for 1/4" of 5/16" stainless carriage bolts.  You use standard
Yakama gutter-mount towers with these and you need to *bolt* them to your
roof.  They have another version of these mounts that get attached with
self
tapping screws, but I don't trust them.  Reinforcement between the cars roll
cage and the places where the Yakama pads mount also ads a lot of stiffness
to the rack.  I have the 48" long bars on or rack and you can grab hold of
those, bounce the car up and down with all your might and you won't see the
sheet metal on my roof budge.
 
The Subarus are pretty low to the ground.  It gets a lot worse when you add
a trailer hitch.  However, they are very stable cars!  A good friend of
ours was rear-ended by a Camaro doing 75 while he was doing 55.  Not only
that, but he was towing a full-sized Coleman pop-up camper behind his '95
Subaru!  The trailer was totaled, the hitch was totaled and he needed a new
bumper and tailgate(?) after all was said and done.   The crash sent the
whole "train" careening down the freeway sideways but the Subaru stayed
upright and its human contence intact.  He said his old Jimmy would have
flipped for sure.

response 27 of 63:

Nov 4 20:22 UTC 1997

The Forester (175.2") is quite a bit shorter than the Legacy (184.5"), and
the difference comes out of rear legroom and cargo depth. Roof racks are
also not optional on the Forester. Subaru does call the Forester "The
Sport-Utility Designed for the Real World" (?!). 

The Yakima brackets for a gutter rack would be OK (except for having to
drill into the roof - something I'd prefer a dealer did, like I preferred
a doctor to have removed by gall bladder.. :> ), except they fixes the
front-back span. I shift gutter towers for different loads that I carry.

Everyone's information is very helpful toward my decision(s) - thanks!

response 29 of 63:

Nov 5 05:41 UTC 1997

I saw a Forester today, and it sure looked like a sport utility vehicle to
me.  It may be that just shortening the legacy gave it that shape, and without
other sport utility vehicles around to compare it to, a big size difference
wasn't obvious, or something.

response 31 of 63:

Nov 5 23:17 UTC 1997

The Impreza is Subaru's smallest car & the Legacy their "bigger" car.  The
Foresters that i've seen certainly looked Legacy-size.  

In #28, i didn't mean that the Forester & Legacy share a common shape
(though we're not talking square & round here), but that the Forester is
mostly a SUV-ified Legacy.  It's certainly no (monster-size) Suburban or
(not designed to drive on paved roads) traditional Jeep, but it's a real
SUV.

response 33 of 63:

Dec 1 03:34 UTC 1997

I would say that the Forester is only a partly SUV-ized Legacy. One 
feature common to SUV's, and highly prized by most SUV owners is the 
height of the driver over the road. In the Forester this is only 
minimally greater than the Outback, which is in turn only minimally 
greater than the Legacy. True SUVs are much higher than the Forester 
(compare with Nissan Pathfinder, Ford Explorer, even the small Toyota 
Rav).

It is shorter than the Legacy, as Rane noted. SUVs are not known for 
their length, except in certain extremely large models.

response 35 of 63:

Dec 1 15:15 UTC 1997

Perhaps you should look into the used car marked down south where they
don't spread salt on the roads every winter.  You will have far less
luck waiting for people to come to their senses.
 
I wonder if Linseed oil would make a good rust preventitive?  I read about
someone using it inside bicycle frames to keep them from rusting from the
inside out.  I've been spraying motor oil inside door panels and such in
attempt to keep the rust at bay.
 
Subaru Model     Length     Width      Wheelbase
Forester         175.2"     68.3"        99.4"
Impreza          172.2"     67.1"        99.2"
Legacy wagon     180.1"     67.5        103.5

The wheelbase on the Impreza and Forester are pretty darn close.

response 37 of 63:

Dec 2 00:50 UTC 1997

Re: 35, dunno about linseed oil, but I spilled a quart of motor oil in
my truck's engine compartment about ten years back and that spill is now
the least rusty part.  I imagine grease would be even better as long as
it wasn't tying up any moving parts.  But any oil is apt to be better
than nothing...  

response 39 of 63:

Dec 2 03:54 UTC 1997

Heh, I hear you...think mebbe I'll try that foam car...  Actually, since
my oil spill was in the engine compartment, it's still relatively
protected from the elements.  But compared to similar areas of the engine
compartment, the spill area held up the best.  I don't know what salt
and road grime would do to an oil-coated part--probably wear off the oil
eventually.  But inside doors, where there isn't constant abrasion and
contact with corrosive chemicals, maybe oil or grease would hang in there
(the problem there is in the application).

I know not all rust-proofing materials are created equal (cf. my 83 Subaru
GL wagon, which had rust-proofing but still suffered significant rust
damage) so not even paint or rubberized coatings last.  Probably the
main problem is that once the "seal" or "bond" is broken between the rust
inhibitor (be it oil, grease, paint, whatever) and the metal, then water
leaks in and oxidation starts.  Fiberglas...that's the ticket...yeah...

response 41 of 63:

Dec 4 17:27 UTC 1997

Newer cars are apparently better designed to resist rust.  I haven't done
anything to my Jetta, but it does look like a little oil has leaked out the
door-bottom drains as if Klaus was in there with his oil-fogger.

The problem with using oil on rusty spots is that the soap at the car wash
will remove it...

response 43 of 63:

Dec 20 22:21 UTC 1997

I think the Subarus got better wrt rust when they introduced the Legacy, too.
Based on your requirements in resp:34, Rane, I think the Legacy Wagon
would do the job for you.
My 8-year old Legacy is still doing OK rustwise, except for the 
rear door. I'm inclined to believe I would replace it with another if nothing
better comes along in the next 5-7 years. 15 years is my extimated lifetime
for it.

response 45 of 63:

Dec 24 05:54 UTC 1997

That (low clearance) is a major problem for me with the Legacy, because I use
my cars on unimproved roads. The GL has been fine, but anything lower will
be a problem. The Legacy GL has larger tires - and a bigger engine than
the plain legacy - but also a sunroof, which I don't want.

response 47 of 63:

Dec 24 17:52 UTC 1997

Are there any after-market products you can get to improve the ground
clearance?

response 49 of 63:

Dec 28 21:48 UTC 1997

Power windows are mildly annoying, but we got used to them very quickly. 
They come with the power door locks, and you'd be surprised how handy it 
is to be able to lock up a 5-doored car with one touch as you're 
exiting.

I don't know about clearance. I never evaluated that. It has enough 
clearance for me, so I am happy with it, even on Michigan dirt roads,  
but it sounds like you have more stringent requirements.