Every car has its story...

Part I

On Sunday, February 3, about mid-afternoon, I was driving into Tacoma, heading north on I-5, exiting to take I-705 into downtown, and when rounding the slight bend on the 705 underpass, I felt the rear of my Legacy wagon break traction and the back end of the wagon swinging-out toward the passenger’s side. The front lost traction and instead of being parallel with the lane markers, I was perpendicular to them by 10 degrees and could feel the car drifting through the slight bend in the underpass.

I should note that I’ve taken this exit and underpass hundreds of times before, in vehicles with less traction and in worse conditions and NEVER had I lost traction.

As I drifted through the underpass, my better instinct said not to brake, but to instead feather the throttle and power through the drift. Giving the car a little throttle through the drift corrected the car by 5 degrees, but it was still 5 degrees off from being parallel with the lane markings, and being off by that much pointed the front driver’s side straight to the jersey barriers that lined both sides of the underpass.

The contact with the concrete jersey barrier was soft. The airbags didn’t deploy. The sound of my front bumper grinding against the barrier was the same as dragging a loaded, wheel-less Rubbermaid garbage can across a driveway. From the driver’s seat, I could see shards of the white front plastic bumper being sprayed into the air in front of me.

The impact of clipping the jersey barrier slightly slowed the car down and I was able to get the car to straighten out, however the car straightened out right up against the jersey barrier resulting in a gouge down the entire length of the drive’s side of the car. The car eventually straightened out, I was able to regain control, and then casually continued on to my destination.

In my head, the whole sequence of events plays out over a couple of minutes, when in reality, it occurred over a span of 3 to 5 seconds. There were no other cars on the road sparing me from potentially injuring anyone else and the embarrassment of grinding up against a stationary object.

For a few days after the collision, I thought I would just fix the car, again. We’ve had this Legacy since October 2008. We bought it used with 125,000 miles on it and when we bought it, the car had a handful of things that needed fixing. We fixed those things. In the ten years that we owned it, my wife ran it into another car, a couple of cars had hit us, and each time something happened to the car, I’d just fix it. The car refused to die. Once the odometer rolled 300,000 miles, I was determined that the only way I’d stop driving the car is if the wheels fell off. Fortunately, the wheels didn’t fall off that day, but my determination to keep fixing the car sputtered out. That and I found another Subaru Legacy wagon.

Part II

There are many things that I love about our Subaru wagon--the solid reliability of it, the relatively low-cost of maintenance, the fact that we own it and don’t make payments on it, and most importantly, the utility that the wagon provides. The wagon perfectly fits our family of five. There is plenty of cargo space in the hatch to carry our family’s week worth of camping equipment or a combined Target, Costco, and Safeway run. If you leave the family at home and fold down the rear seats, there is ample space for moving small to mid-sized furniture, two adult mountain bikes, enough 2x4’s to frame an 8’x8’x10’ shed, and a lot more. As I’ll explain later, there is enough space in the hatch for two grown adults to sleep comfortably. Naturally, the only choice for replacing my Legacy wagon was another Legacy wagon.

I am very particular about the cars I like. I liked the second generation Subaru Legacy (1995-99) and that’s why I bought ours when we needed to replace our Aerostar van (a vehicle we were given). I didn’t care for the first or third generations Legacy’s. The first generation being too squarish and the third generation appearing half-cooked. Subaru absolutely nailed the design of the fourth generation Legacy (2005-09). This generation of Legacy has always been a car that has caught my eye, especially in wagon form. For several years, I’ve kept an eye on Craigslist, OfferUp, and local listings for a fourth generation Legacy wagon, hoping to one day find a deal.

When it comes to finding a fourth generation Subaru Legacy GT wagon in the Pacific Northwest, there are three types of Legacy’s you will find: the used and abused, the Ugly Ducklings, and the immaculate. The used and abused have been run, hard their entire life. They show visible signs of wear inside and out and there is usually something mechanically wrong which helps explain why the owner is selling. They often come with a long list of items that need to be repaired and are not worth what their owners are asking.

The Ugly Ducklings include the Atlantic Blue, Brilliant Red, and Dark/Newport Blue colored cars or anything with a tan interior. These are non-starters for me.

The immaculate Subaru’s you find are exactly that--the body is in excellent condition, the interior has hardly been touched, the car is still mechanically sound, they have been well-maintained, etc. The owners of the immaculate Subaru’s barely drive their cars often showing only 100,000 miles (if you’re lucky). The immaculate Subaru’s very rarely make an appearance on the used market, but when they do they often come with a steep price tag.

Speaking of price, in the Pacific Northwest there is a premium on Subaru’s. It should come as no surprise that a lot of people in the Pacific Northwest drive Subaru’s. They make great vehicles, which helps explain some of their popularity. I believe their popularity here in the PNW is because most people believe that they need all-wheel drive. They believe that by purchasing an all-wheel drive Subaru that they get a better car for the PNW road conditions. While all-wheel drive is good to have here in the PNW, it’s not an absolute necessity.

If you compare prices for a Subaru here in the Seattle-Tacoma area and say Phoenix or even Los Angeles, you’ll find that there is a price difference of $1,500-$2,500 for the same exact car. When it came time to start actively looking for a fourth generation Subaru Legacy GT wagon, there were none locally. There were none in Portland. I broadened my search and there were none in Spokane or Boise or Bend. There were none between here and the Bay Area. The ones that I found in the Bay Area appeared to be used and abused. No thank you. As I broadened my search to a 1,200 mile radius, only one showed up that was in the Sweet Spot.

Part III

The 2007 Subaru Legacy GT wagon that I stumbled upon seemed almost too good to be true. The exterior was mostly immaculate considering it had 144,000 miles on it. I could see from the photos and video posted that there were a few door dings and scuffs, but otherwise the paint still glittered. The interior was pristine. From the photos, there were no signs of wear, anywhere. The wagon was a one-owner vehicle. Not just any owner but an owner who really took care of their car. The owner purchased the car in Sherman Oaks and changed the oil every 3,000 miles at the same Sherman Oaks Subaru dealership, took it in to the dealership per the prescribed intervals for all of its major maintenance, and drove the car ~13,000 miles each year, every year they owned it. All of the major maintenance items had been addressed: water pump, timing belt, turbo, head gaskets, etc. Done.

It took me awhile to fall asleep that night. All I could think about was the car. Would I fly down and check it out before I purchased it? Would I fly down again and then drive it back? I usually need time to process and think about a $50 purchase--would my mind let me justify a $5,000+ purchase in a matter of minutes? If I did purchase the car, would I ship a car? Could a car that low to the ground be shipped? What if it’s sold and the online listing hasn’t been updated? I kept having to remind myself that I didn’t own it yet and not to get my hopes up.

The first-thing I did Monday morning was call the used dealership that was listing the car. The car was still available. While I had them on the phone, I got some additional information on the car: the previous owner had traded it in toward a new Subaru, the used dealer purchased it directly from the Subaru dealership, the used dealer had only had it a few days, enough time for it to be detailed, it’s photos and video taken, and then posted to the website.

After I got off the phone with the used dealership, I started searching online for Sherman Oaks/Los Angeles area auto repair/maintenance shops that offered pre-purchase inspections. After a few calls, I found out that shops won’t drive to a location to perform a pre-purchase inspection--the car has to be brought to them. Sure, that makes sense.

I continued to research pre-purchase inspections and threads about purchasing cars out-of-state when I came across a thread listing some of the more popular pre-purchase inspection companies: Lemon Squad and Your Mechanic, and a few specific to Los Angeles: So Cal Car Check and Iconic Motor Car. After researching these companies, which all provided the same base level of inspection, I found that Your Mechanic could inspect the car sooner than the others. I called the used dealership to confirm the inspection and everything was set for the car to be inspected Friday at 10 a.m., the earliest available time that an inspector could get to it.

Friday morning at 10:00 a.m. I get a call from the Your Mechanic vehicle inspector who is supposed to be inspecting the car informing me that it’s no longer at the dealership. There is no car to inspect. WTF?!?

Vehicle Inspector: “Yeah, I got here at 10 a.m., told them I was here to inspect the 2007 Subaru Legacy GT wagon, provided the VIN and description, and they said the car was out being inspected.”

Me: “…” (thinking to myself: “w.t.f.!? How can it be out being inspected? You’re the inspector! You were coming to the car! I arranged the inspection. wtf is going on!?)

After a few seconds of silence on the phone while I was trying to sort what was going on and to calm my rage…

Me: “I’m sorry. I talked to them Tuesday and arranged for the vehicle inspection. I called them again last night before they closed at 6 p.m. to confirm the car was still available. They said they would call me if the car sold before the scheduled inspection. Can I please call the dealership and find out what is going on and give you a call right back?”

Vehicle Inspector: “Yeah, that’s fine, but if there’s no vehicle here for me to inspect, I need to leave. That’s our policy. I have a lot of cars to get to today.”

Me: “I understand. Just five minutes--can you please give me five minutes to figure out what is going on?” (trying my best not to lose my cool)

Vehicle Inspector: “O.K. You’ve got five minutes. I’ll hang out here. Call me back.”

I immediately called the dealership to find out what the hell was going on. The person who I spoke with confirmed that the car had been picked up earlier that morning to be inspected off-site. I explained to the person on the other end of the line that I had called on Monday inquiring about the car, had talked to someone Tuesday about having the car inspected, had arranged a vehicle inspection for Friday at 10 a.m., called just last night to confirm the car was still available, and provided my contact information in the event that the car sold or couldn’t be inspected.

The person on the other end of the line was unapologetic. He explained the car got double-booked for inspections and chuckled to himself as if: 1) this was a great time to crack a stupid joke and 2) that double-booking a vehicle inspection on Friday morning at 10 a.m. on a 2007 Subaru is a regular fucking occurrence. I wasn’t having it.

Logically explaining my frustration over what had happened to this person was worthless. I rudely hung up and called back the vehicle inspector to let him know that I would have to cancel this appointment and would reschedule with Your Mechanic if the car became available again.

About an hour later I get a call from the used car dealership. This time I’m talking with Stan, who introduces himself as the manager of the dealership. I immediately recognize his voice and accent. It’s eastern European and I’ve spoken to him once before. Stan is apologetic about what has happened. He explained that he was the one who spoke to me on Monday, spoke to me about scheduling the vehicle inspection on Tuesday, had told his co-workers about the inspection, and had a note with the vehicle keys/file to call me if the car sold. He explained that his co-worker was also working with a client who was interested in the car and that they failed to communicate the two inspections. Stan shared that the car had been returned from the other vehicle inspection and that if I could get my inspector back out there, it would be available to inspect.

I was still frustrated by what had happened this morning. I had to cancel the morning’s inspection and while I wasn’t charged the entire inspection fee, I was charged a cancellation fee. I expressed my frustration with the double booking and that I had already lost money on this deal. I was still interested in the car and I told Stan I’d call my inspector and see if I could get another appointment scheduled.

The soonest I could get another inspector out was Monday, 12 p.m. I called the used dealer and this time asked to speak with Stan. I got the inspection scheduled with both Stan and Your Mechanic and waited until Monday.

On Monday morning, I called the used dealer to confirm that the car was still available. Around 11:30 a.m. I received a text notifying me that my inspector was on his way. About an hour and a half later, I received a call from my inspector who had just completed the inspection on the car and he gave me a full, detailed report of the car. To summarize the call, the car was exactly as advertised and described—mechanically sound, interior was like new, the car ran and performed perfectly for his test drive and diagnosis, no leaks, and only a couple of minor items to note. I explained to the inspector that I intended to fly down to LA to pick-up the car and drive it back to Seattle and asked if there was anything that he observed that would cause him concern driving it 17 hours or 1,100 miles--he said that the car was flawless and that there would be no issues driving it back.

The inspection, the inspection report, and the conversation with the inspector was the reassurance I needed to call Stan and make an offer on the car. In a matter of minutes we had a deal, I put down a deposit, and could officially say that I’ve purchased a car over the internet.

Part IV

That week between locating the car and having it inspected, I had looked into vehicle shipping and requested a couple of quotes. The going rate for shipping a 2007 Subaru Legacy wagon from LA to Tacoma is between $1,000 and $1,600. The shipping company that provided me the cheapest quote could have the car picked up within three days, but it would take about another week before it could be delivered. The shipping company that provided me the highest quote could have the car picked up within three to five days and then delivered two days after picking it up. After what I had gone through in trying to schedule a pre-purchase inspection on the car, my confidence in working with the dealership to schedule a vehicle pick-up was low. Plus, there was a little pressure to get a replacement vehicle for the ’97 Subaru to get back and forth to work. I could afford another week of a rental car, but the cost of renting a car for 10-days was starting to add up. I needed the car in days, not a few weeks.

If you’ve read this far into the story and haven’t figured out that I’m the type of person who likes to save a dollar, I like to save dollars. After figuring the cost of a flight; an Uber to the dealership; three to four full tanks of premium fuel; a night in a cheap motel; and miscellaneous food,snacks, and drinks; I knew I could get the car back to Tacoma for a lot less money than the cost of shipping it.

In the days leading up to the flight down to LA, I was feeling a lot of dread, anxiety, and worry about the decision I had made to drive the car from Los Angeles back home. There was certainly some worry in the car itself. The car had 144,000 miles on it, but it had been well-maintained, as noted in the Carfax report, and the vehicle inspection report and my conversation with the inspector helped assure me some about the potential for a mechanical failure. Still, my mind wandered exploring all of the plausible things that could happen to a car—the alternator or battery dying, a fuel pump going out, a thermostat or radiator failing, etc. that could leave me stranded on the side of the highway. To torment me further, my mind couldn’t leave out all of the external factors like an errant driver, a large animal that could decide to cross the highway in my path, an unsuspecting pothole in the road blowing out a tire, etc. that could leave me stranded.

There was also the weather between the northern California and southern Oregon border. Earlier in the week, the area was hit with a huge snowstorm, prompting CalTrans to shut down I-5 between the border and 10 miles north of Redding. The immediate west and east state roads to the border were also closed due to the snow. I knew the car could handle the road conditions, but if the highway was closed, it was pointless. I’d be sitting doing nothing while waiting for the roads to open. There was the possibility of taking the coastal route, but it would add an additional couple hundred miles and two to three hours to the overall trip. While I have always wanted to drive through the Redwoods, this wasn’t the time or the trip.

Part V

Because I was trying to save a dollar (and time), I found a deal on a last-minute, basic economy flight from Sea-Tac to Los Angeles. Even with a 40-minute layover in San Francisco, the flight would arrive earlier in the afternoon and I would be saving a couple of hundred dollars than flying direct and arriving later in the afternoon. It seemed like a good deal at least…

The connecting flight from San Francisco to Burbank was delayed two hours due to weather. I had originally planned on arriving at Burbank around 1 p.m. and getting to the dealership before 2 p.m. I figured an hour to test drive the car and to complete the transaction. In my planning, I figured I’d get a jump on the LA traffic and if everything went accordingly, I’d be out of LA before rush-hour and in Redding, the half-way point between LA and home, by 10 p.m. I’d find a cheap motel, sleep, and then get up bright and early to check the weather and road conditions and determine if the next leg of the trip would take me up I-5 or if I’d be looking for an alternative route.

The two hour delay would now put me in LA at 3 p.m., at the dealership before 4 p.m., and now leaving LA around 5 p.m., right in the middle of Friday night LA rush-hour traffic. Once I arrived in Burbank, I made the mistake of taking a cab to the dealership, figuring that it would be quicker than waiting 12 to 15 minutes for the next available Uber. On surface streets, the dealership is about 15-20 minutes away from the airport. If you find a cab driver who is using an antiquated, standalone GPS navigation unit and not Google Maps, Apple Maps, Waze, or the countless other smartphone navigation apps released in the last decade, the dealership is 40 minutes away by driving the complete opposite direction of the dealership to get on the 101 and to sit in its traffic.

Once I got to the dealership I stepped into the office to meet Stan. He knew when I was arriving (I had called him after the SFO flight delay), was ready to show me the car, and let me take it for a test drive. After about twenty minutes of inspecting every inch of the car, I was ready to take it for a test drive. Everything checked out. Once I got back to the dealership, I stepped into the office to sign some papers and hand them a check. In return, they handed me the keys, title, and copies of the papers I signed, and just like that, I was now the second owner of a 2007 Subaru Legacy GT wagon.

I left the dealership a little before 5 p.m. I made a quick stop in town to pick up some road trip essentials: a gallon of water, coolant, motor oil, fizzy water, and jerky. After picking up the essentials, I jumped on the 405 and sure enough, immediately got stuck in LA rush-hour traffic. My navigation app routed me around some of it and once I got north of San Fernando, traffic eased up and I was able to drive the car at highway speeds. By that time, it was after 6 p.m. and completely dark out. I couldn’t see any of the landscape around me but could distinguish climbing in to the hills just north of LA and then the subsequent descent into the valley. From there, it was entirely flat, uneventful driving for the next six hours. There were a couple of pit stops: one to grab a quick bite to eat, another to add the car to my insurance coverage (this didn’t dawn on me until midway between LA and Sacramento, oops), and the other to refuel the car and replenish my supply of fizzy water.

I wouldn’t stop again until I reached Willows. At this point in the trip, I had covered 500 miles, a little less than the 550-600 mile target I was hoping to accomplish in the first leg of the drive. I had listened to the 6+ hours of podcasts that I had queued for the trip. It was after midnight, my adrenaline was beginning to wane, and I felt like if I put my head down, my body would let me sleep.

I pulled up to a Motel 6, grabbed my overnight bag, and proceeded to walk-up to the motel office door and saw that there was a paper sign taped to the door reading ‘No Vacancy.’ I drove across the street to the Super 8 and it, too, had no vacancy. I drove further up the road to the Holiday Inn and it also had no vacancy. I found it somewhat bizarre that I couldn’t get a cheap motel room on a Friday night in rural California. I had never heard of Willows before this stop--was it some kind of destination? Was there a huge event going on that I had not heard about?

As I stood there staring at the ‘No Vacancy’ sign on the door, a lady behind the counter appeared, waived me over to a side window, and explained the situation. All of these motels had no vacancy because of the contractors who are either cleaning up or rebuilding homes after last summer’s fires have reserved all of the local rooms. She said that some of those families have been living out of the motels since they were displaced last summer. The no vacancy situation in Willows made sense.

I asked her if I’d be able to find a motel room if I drove further north. She looked at me dishearteningly and explained to me the situation in Redding. Because of the snow storms earlier in the week, many people in Redding and its outlying areas were without power. These people without power were staying at the motels until power to their homes was restored. In the nicest way you can tell a stranger at 1 in the morning that if I wanted to sleep in a room tonight, that I would have to backtrack and drive south to Sacramento where I might have better luck finding a room for the night.

Not wanting to lose progress, I decided I would just crash in the back of the wagon. The parking signs at the motel made it clear that the parking was for guests-only and the posting of the local tow company sign in every parking stall made it abundantly clear they enforced this. I had read or heard somewhere that California was friendly to motorists sleeping in their cars at rest areas, so I got back on the freeway and drove to the next rest area I came across, somewhere between Orlund and Red Bluff. As I pulled in to the rest area, I was a little relieved to see about eight other cars parked along the far side of the parking lot, presumably with other drivers who had decided to crash at the rest area.

I didn’t have a blanket or pillow for sleeping in the back of the wagon. For the trip, I had only packed a small overnight bag. In the bag I had a change of underwear, socks, and another long-sleeve shirt, hardly worth doubling up on for sleeping in the back of the car. The interior of the car was still warm from the drive, so I went about setting up my bed by folding down the rear seats, forming my overnight bag into a pillow, and then using my North Face fleece as a blanket. I was able to sleep for about an hour before the person next to me in a beat '80’s Ford F150 started his truck. The person began revving their motor. I checked my phone--it was 3 a.m. I’d like to believe that the person revving their motor was doing this in an attempt to warm-up their vehicle and not to intentionally wake up the other motorists who were sleeping in their cars at the rest area. By the time the person was done revving their motor and had pulled away, I was awake. I was also freezing. My teeth were chattering and I couldn’t control it.

I put the North Face fleece on and zipped it as high as it would go. I turned the car on and cranked the heat to high and laid there waiting for heat to fill the car. I grew impatient waiting for the car to warm, crawled from the back up into the driver’s seat and cranked the seat warmers on high. The car was slowly getting warmer and at the same time, I was becoming more awake. While sitting in the warming driver’s seat, I searched for a Walmart or Walgreens or anywhere I might be able to find a sleeping bag or blanket at 3:30 a.m.

I found a 24-hour Walmart in Red Bluff and headed there. As I pulled in I noticed that there were about a dozen cars in the parking lot and a handful of people hanging out in the parking lot. I found it strange that there were other people awake and shopping at this time. I made my way through the store grabbing a sleeping bag and some other items I had planned to get: a 3.5mm audio cable, a USB lighter charging plug, and floor mats. For a brief second I thought I would just unroll the sleeping bag in the back of the wagon and sleep in the Walmart parking lot. But the people I had observed ‘shopping’ and who were hanging out in the parking lot didn’t sit right with me. I jumped back in the car and started driving north again. Not even a half hour after leaving Red Bluff, I was already in Redding.

The last time I had checked the weather report was when I had stopped for food, about 7 or 8 hours earlier. It was snowing in the pass, but the roads were open. As I drove through Redding proper, I pulled out my phone and refreshed the CalTrans road conditions and weather report. The roads were open and a winter storm advisory was still in effect. Knowing that I probably wasn’t going to find a motel room in Redding, that a winter advisory was in effect and that snow was in the forecast, and that CalTrans will shut down their highways if they can't keep them driveable, I knew I had a window to get through the California side of Siskiyou’s.

It was after 4 a.m. and still very much dark out as I passed through the mountains. The snow began falling on the climb north of Redding and the higher the elevation got, the more the snow seemed to be piling on the sides of the roads. At some point, the highway lines disappeared under the snow and the tire ruts of the vehicles in front of me became the lines to follow.

There were stretches of highway where the roadway was just a layer of slush, then we’d round a turn and then it was a solid blanket of snow. At no point did the car slip or lose traction. Still, the accident that precipitated this entire car purchase and trip was still fresh in my memory and as I was driving my new prize, I was driving with an abundance of caution.

It was still dark out when I reached the rest area outside of Weed. I had planned on just using the restroom and stretching the legs, but I thought I might try seeing what would happen if I tried crawling into the back of the wagon and into the new sleeping bag. I fell asleep instantly. I woke up either a half hour or hour later to music blasting out of a silver Subaru Forester as it pulled away. I tried closing my eyes and falling asleep again but I was awake. I got back on the road, making a quick pit stop in Yreka to fill-up the tank and grab a cup of coffee.

The drive home from California-Oregon border was mostly boring and uneventful, as it should be. I knew once I got through the Siskyous that it would be just a straight-shot up I5. I had never traveled through the Siskyous during the winter (the two previous times that I can recall were during the middle of summer). Driving through those mountain passes was as beautiful as traveling through the passes in the Washington Cascades. During the last leg of the drive I was reminded how flat and boring I5 is between Grant’s Pass and Portland. Fortunately I had the audiobook version of the Beastie Boys Book which kept me focused and entertained. Note to self: if I ever have to travel by car through Oregon again, it’ll be the coastal route or the mountain route.

The closer I got to Salem, and then Portland, and then Vancouver, the stress and worry of the car breaking down seemed to decrease. There was comfort in knowing that if the car broke down in this final stretch that I was only a couple hours from home and had closer access to help. I made one last pit stop in Vancouver shortly after noon to grab lunch and caffeine, re-fill the car, and stretch the legs. I pulled into my driveway a little after 3 p.m. Google Maps said the drive would take approximately 17 hours or 1,097 miles—I didn’t keep track of my exact time driving, but I would venture to say that I may have beat that time. When I wasn’t sitting in LA traffic or taking it slow through the snow-covered passes or the decreased speeds through Portland, I was probably averaging 75 mph the entire trip. The trip calculator counted 1,120 miles from the dealership to my driveway. This includes the additional miles added-on trying to detour LA traffic and various fuel, restroom, food, and sleeping bag pit stops.

Driving Impressions: A 17-hour or 1,100 mile road trip is a great way to get to know a car. The LA test drive was only 20 minutes or so and covered mostly a few miles of city streets. It was long enough to know that the car ran, drove, turned, and stopped, but wasn't long enough to get a definite impression of how the car was going to perform and handle over an extended period of time.

Overall, I'm very pleased with how the car performed and handled during the trip. Over the years, prior to finding this Legacy GT wagon, I had test drove a handful in the Tacoma area. The driving impressions of this Legacy GT wagon were better than other Legacy GT wagons I had driven. This car's performance and handling felt great the entire trip. The car has good power throughout its powerband. The car accelerated fine and passes other cars at highway speeds with ease. I got to experience a variety of weather conditions (e.g. dry, dry cold, snow, slush, wet, etc.) and the car performed flawlessly. I also experienced a handful of road conditions (e.g. freshly paved highway, pot-holed highway, city and country roads, etc.) and the car did mostly well. The GT model rides a little firm. Hitting potholes and freeway expansion joints while traveling at 60+ mph were a bit jarring.

17 hours is also a lot of in-the-seat time and not once did I get or feel uncomfortable. It's been a couple of years since I've had heated seats which was nice. To be perfectly honest, I was quite comfortable sleeping in the back of the wagon. If I ever need to take this car on an overnight road trip, I may consider just sleeping in the back.

Fuel Economy: I understood going in with the purchase of the GT model that it didn't get the best fuel economy. The best fuel economy I got was during the stretch of the trip between LA and Manteca, where I averaged roughly ~24 miles per gallon. It helped that this was mostly flat elevation and that once I was outside of LA I was able to set the cruise control for long stretches of the highway. It probably didn't help that I was averaging ~80 miles per hour during most of this stretch. I got a little less fuel economy between Yreka and Vancouver, even though there were some mountains to climb and more traffic.

Reflecting on the trip, I’d probably do it again for the right car and the right price. Ideally, I’d purchase the car during the spring or summer, stretch the trip out to four or five days, bring the wife (and maybe the kids if the car allowed), traveling up the California coast, perhaps stopping in San Francisco, continuing north through the Redwoods, crossing over to travel north through Oregon on 97, stopping in Bend, then crossing back over near Portland and taking I5 home. Again, for the right car.

TL;DR:

I bought a 2007 Subaru Legacy GT wagon over the internet. I flew down to Los Angeles and drove it back to Tacoma. It was mostly uneventful but I turned it into a five-part story because I wanted to document it.

*update 3/10*: I sold the 1997 Subaru Legacy wagon. I thought it would be hard to let her go, but it’s going to someone who really needs a car.

*update 3/11*: I found my car’s doppelganger:

The price is a little steep (see my above note about Subaru premiums in the PNW). I shared this with my wife and unfortunately she doesn’t want to be THAT couple that drives matching 2007 Subaru Legacy GT wagons.