2000 Subaru Outback limited from North America - Comments

At 25,000 miles the power window switch broke.

I have the 2000 Subaru outback station wagon limited, which I purchased new in February of 2000. Previously I had a 1991 Camry station wagon 4 cylinder, which I kept for over 200 K miles with absolutely no problems. I would have bought another Camry in 2000 but they stopped making wagons long before then. I didn't need an AWD car, but at the time Subaru seemed to be the only maker of a descent size, reasonably priced station wagon (Volvos were too expensive for me and I wasn't pleased with the Ford Taurus reviews).

This was to be my first Subaru, and my first AWD car and my first car with leather.

I decided to get the limited version of the Outback because I wanted a sunroof, which I enjoyed on the old Camry. Going with the Limited Outback meant by default that I would also be getting leather, which I soon discovered that I really like a lot (cloth seats - never again!)

After 46,000 miles I am pleased with the Subaru Outback. I am more disappointed at the local Subaru dealer than the car itself (more about that later). The car has a nice solid feel to it and it's fairly quiet on the highway considering it has a roof rack. To make the ride even quieter on the highway I removed the two roof-rack cross bars (its very easy to do with the hex driver included with the tool kit) and I keep the cross bars inside the back of the car so that they are handy when I need them. Doing this really cuts down on wind noise.

The AWD is a nice convenience, but not a necessity for me. The interior controls appear to be logically placed, but a little on the small side for my fat fingers. They could have been designed to be a little bit bigger. Acceleration on the 4cylinder engine is OK for me (not much different from the old Camry), but other people may want some more pep. Shifting and overall handling is very controlled and comfortable (I was worried at first because I heard complaints from others).

Problems so far: At 25K miles the driver's side power window switch stopped working. It cost me 50 bucks US to the to replace the switch assembly which can be easily swapped out in 5 minutes. At 45K miles the brake light came on and a grinding noise was heard under the left front wheel when I turned the wheel almost to the extreme left while rolling into a parking spot. The dealer told me that I needed 4 new brakes, and that an engine cover underneath the car had come partially loose and was causing the grinding noise, also I needed a wheel alignment. Fixing all of this, plus a 45K service oil change cost me 650 dollars US, which seems a bit steep (the next time the brakes need replacing I am going to an independent chain - like Midas). Each time during these repairs, the Subaru sales people were a little obnoxious, the repair bill had some errors, and the whole place appeared to be disorganized.

Gas mileage has been good, but not spectacular: around 25 mpg on the highway.

Overall I am pleased with the car (a grade of B+), but not with the Subaru dealership repair costs or service (a grade of D). If/When I need any future work done on the car I will go to an independent repair service if possible.

Just purchased a 2000 Outback and only getting 18 mpg around town. Subaru dealership tells me this is normal, and that I will get much better highway and in summer. I would think that a 4 cyl would do better than this in town. Is this normal for a Subaru, and anyone know of ways to improve this?

To help improve your gas mileage, remove the cross bars on your roof rack when they are not being used. This small effort reduces wind noise, and I noticed a gain of about 1-2 MPG hwy. Hope this helps.

Hello, I own a 2000 Subaru Outback Limited with about 88,000 miles on it, I just purchased the car several weeks ago. Everything on the car seems to be in perfect mechanical working condition, except for a funny smell when the engine warms up, it kind of smells like a burning plastic smell or rubber or something. When I let it warm up in the morning or after a 20 minute drive I notice the odor. If anyone else has had this problem with their 2000 Outback please respond with any helpful comments. I have owned several Subaru's in the past, but this is a new problem for me. Thank you, Philip Himmelreich.

Email me at pitubaby76@hotmail.com

I purchased a 2000 Subaru Outback in February 2007. Brand new engine with 55k miles. But the rest of the body was seven years old. It's a great car. I love to drive with its great handling. But in just over a year, I've put on 20,000 miles. I'm a mom so I do drive a lot. But I do agree on the gas mileage. I can only get 13 mpg. And I did expect to be able to have more gas mileage and to be able to go more than 15 miles. Because that's what was said when the car came out. Especially with gas prices rising.

I never knew about the cross bars! That's amazing that the cross bars can reduce wind noise and stretch out the gas mileage. But should we have to do that just to meet near the 18mpg issue?

Also, at one point I did smell something like rubber and oil coming through the vents of my car when ever I turned the heat on during last winter of 2007/2008. It's not happening for me now so maybe something was caught underneath.

One last thing, I'm hearing a grinding metal noise underneath my car. It's easier to hear it in the parking lot or if I'm pulling up at a traffic light next to a car to hear the grinding noise and/or some side noise of metal shaking underneath like something is going to fall off while I'm driving. I had a new muffler and a new catalitic converter put on a few moth ago. Now the noise has been going on. Does anybody know anything about that? Is my car worth putting a lot of money into fixing now? It's only 8 years old. Obviously. But I could use some opinions from other owners.

Now, would I make my next car a Subaru? No. Just beacuse I have two girls and there really isn't enough room for families. Otherwise, yes, I love how the car drives. Great handling. Smooth on the road. With kids, everything can't be neat all of the time. So driving through mud, going camping, going to playgrounds all of the time. I need a good car that can support my outdoors/busy life.

Thanks and good luck to others-

Mom in Virgina.

I have a 2000 Outback Limited with 120,000 miles on it, and it is like a new car. I have been getting around 23 mpg in the city, and 29 on the highway. With the gas situation, I've been very lenient on the accelerator, and I drive the speed limit. I was actually shocked to see you are only getting 18 mpg! I also saw another owner stating she gets something like 13! All I can suggest is make sure the car has a tune-up, keep the oil and filter changed, and check the air cleaner filter, and you may need to adjust your driving habits.

We have a 2000 Outback, and that metal "clunking" noise you hear when you turn is a broken sway bar. We had to replace ours... apparently this is a pretty well documented issue as the part is always in their stock... which tells you they replace a LOT of them. Its pretty pricey too so go to an independent mechanic if you can.

We have the same plastic/rubber/oil/burning smell coming from our engine, but do not know where it is coming from. Hopefully an oil change will help. If anyone knows the source of this smell (a belt or something??) please let me know! I don't want to have to run diagnostics on a car that just spilled some oil, you know?

I purchased new a 2003 Subaru Baja. I use Full Synthetic Oil, installed K&N Air Cleaner, removed the roof rack cross bars, keep the tires inflated to 35 psi and drive to work on the parkway 40 miles each way. The traffic moves at 65-70 miles per hour. When the temp. is above 60 I get 25 mpg. Driving in cold temp. I lose about 2mpg.

I have had the rubber burning smell since I had the vehicle. I took it to the Dealer once about the smell and of course the smell did not happen when they had the car. I have tried to find out where the smell is coming from but have not been able to pin point the location of the smell. Reading what you guys have to say, it is not the belts slipping. If they were slipping they usually squeal. The oil leaking onto the top of the exhaust pipe could be the cause. Since I bought the car I usually have to top off the engine oil at 3000 miles. I change the Synthetic oil every 10,000 and change the Fram filter every 5,000 miles. When the filter is changed I top off the oil. I lose some when I replace the filter. Synthetic oil has less friction, which means less wear of the engine.

I hope I can help some of you Subaru owners out there. I have well over 1,000,000 miles of driving with synthetic oil, and this is how I have been changing the oil and filter since 1986 when I started using synthetic oil, and get the best MPG your vehicle can get.

Would you buy a 2000 Subaru outback Limited with 130,000 miles on it? It looks like new and has had only one owner. Of course the dealer says it is a great buy for $9,000.

I bought my 1998 Outback Limited brand new May 28th 1998. It has been a good car, especially in the snow. In the winter I get from 19MPG in town to 26MPG on the highway, and then in the hot weather I get from 21MPG to almost 28MPG.

I have had to have codes reset twice for false readings for the transmission. The white light in the dash flashes 16 times and then goes out. The other thing I read on comments is about the noise under the car. Mine did that and it was the heat shield under the car on acceleration at startup from a stop. I have had all repairs and maintenance done at the dealer even though it's a little expensive. The one thing I don't like with all-wheel drive is if you wreck a tire you buy four tires because they all have to be the same size. I was told not to just replace one tire because the different sizes can wreck the transfer case and that costs $1200. to replace. I have never had the oil or rubber smell that some have had.