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Wagons Subaru Crew Subaru Legacy & Outback All-New 2010 Legacy/Outback?
617 messages, Last post on Nov 06, 2009 at 7:24 PM
You are in the Subaru Legacy & Outback Forum. Your Host is kcram
| Now that's the way Subaru should have done the roof rails in the first place. Great looking and I would think well work much better for those that use them. | |
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I'd consider myself a pretty regular user of the roof racks on all of my cars over the years -- my garage looks like a Yakima warehouse sometimes. Anyways, carrying bikes, tandem kayaks, cargo boxes, etc. has always been priority with my car purchases, and from the looks of it, the 2010 Outback rack is just pathetic. Not only is there WAY too much plastic up there, the [non-adjustable] crossbar spread of less than 2 feet is just silly for carrying anything bigger than a couple of bikes. My 2001 Outback and 2004 WRX wagon both had simple, elegant side rails with easily removed crossbars that your could configure any way needed to handle the load. The best part was how easily you simply unbolted the bars with all the accessories in place and stored it, leaving a clean, uncluttered roof. That's just not possible with the 2010 Outback design, and it just looks SO bulky and plasticy too boot. The aftermarket solution (link above) certainly looks like it SHOULD have come from the factory, but at an additional $1000 it's a pretty steep modification. I'm a huge fan of Subarus, but this latest design is a big FAIL in my opinion. Brian
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Replying to: tee_el_cee (Oct 29, 2009 4:40 pm) I fully agree with you Brian. That new rack was change for the sake of change rather than improvement. |
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Replying to: bkaiser1 (Oct 30, 2009 7:52 am) I thought the spread was actually 30"?  October sales are out - Outback outsold the Forester for the first time in years. Both are way up, though. |
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Replying to: ateixeira (Nov 03, 2009 1:13 pm) But, for people who want to mount their own crossbars (and leave the stock rack in its "stowed" position), the exposed length of the stowed bars is only about 21" or so. (This is if you were wanting to mount your own cross bars to the stowed bars, using them as the rails.) If you look at the design of the stock 2010 rails, they could have positioned the rails such that they were farther apart than 30" in the crossed position. I don't know why the designers thought that a 30" spacing was optimal.
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Replying to: rschleicher (Nov 03, 2009 6:06 pm) 
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Replying to: xwesx (Nov 03, 2009 6:26 pm) Yes, I think you're right. In order to have the start and end points of the two rails line up, the geometry of the pivoting racks leads to a 30" front to back spacing. On the other hand, since only part of the stowed rail is exposed/visible from the side, you'd hardly notice if the end points were staggered a bit to increase the rail spacing. Who knows, maybe they were also worried about having them too far apart for some purposes.... |
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Replying to: ateixeira (Nov 03, 2009 1:13 pm) From the article: "Bad news now–the crossbar spread for the above options are an almost pointless 21″–less than you will need for boards or boats over 8′, and too narrow for any cargo baskets or boxes." Still, even with a 30" spread, I think this rack is a major step back for Subaru, and a major eyesore on an otherwise appealing car. What's more, this big plastic rack HAS to cost them more to make than the old rails, which were more practical. Brian
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Replying to: bkaiser1 (Nov 05, 2009 7:38 am) There's always the Forester.
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Replying to: ateixeira (Nov 05, 2009 9:02 am) One of the service guys told me they had a seminar with company reps and after driving them for an hour, they had a big meeting. He said the service guys blasted the reps about the things we've been talking about. And they really hated the electronic E-brake. (apparently, if your battery dies, you have to stick some lever under the car to release the brake). That sounds safe!  Anyway, I was looking at the Forester. To equip it close to what my wagon has, I'd need the Touring package, which brings the cost above what my Legacy was when I leased it. Around: 30 grand. I'm not sure if I'll do it. I'm also looking at the Volvo V50, and the Saab 9-3 wagon, though they're more, and really hard to find here. GM Canada isn't bringing any more in since they're selling the division.(which doesn't particularly inspire confidence). so I'm not sure what to do. I asked about finding an 090 Legacy wagon, but the guy said there aren't many and they wouldn't lease one anyway. so it's back to the research..... cdndriver... I think Subie really burned a lot of people on this one. |
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