Phil_SS Unified Fleet Thread

[Phil_SS]

I coulda sworn I had a thread here but I guess I don't. Anyways. the current fleet is composed of:

2012 VW Jetta Sportswagen (47000 miles)
2013 Subaru Impreza Sport Premium (34000 miles)

2012 VW Jetta Sportswagen

The Jetta was under the care of VW for the first 30k miles for any scheduled maintenance. When we bought it they had some sort of deal that for the first 36k miles that all maintenance would be handled by them. Including yearly safety inspection though it didn't include emissions (1) inspection. Plus oil changes etc. I thought we may be able to get a new set of brakes during that period but they seem to be made of adamantium. More on that later.

So other than oil, oil filters, air filters and wiper blades the car has not needed anything. Even brakes. My wife keeps complaining that they shudder when you brake hard. And they do for a split second when traveling at high speed coming down a mountain due to warped rotors but the brake pads still have good life on them. When I check them with a handy dandy Brake Lining thickness gauge they are just into the yellow. Even after 47k miles. Blows my mind. I'm still preconditioned from my 1985 Pontiac 6000 STE needing new brakes about every 17-20k miles. I have agreed to replace the brakes and rotors this fall.

This car is a highway machine. The inline five with 6 speed auto just chews up the miles and does it with damn good gas mileage. We average about 33-34 MPG during our yearly trip to Myrtle Beach. Not bad for a car with 2.5 people and a full cargo area through the Appalachian mountains.

(1)They stated it was against the law to offer that for free. And of course to make up for it they charge $80 for emissions inspection. I didn't know it wasn't part of the deal til I brought the car to the dealership for the inspection. Only got me once on that. I can take it to my local garage and get Safety and Emissions for around $60-70.

2013 Subaru Impreza Sport Premium

I bought this to replace my 2005 Impreza Sport. It has the 2.0L with CVT. It performs it's duties well but in an uninspiring way. You can check the MPG I have gotten since I bought the car at Fuelly dotcom.

It has been reliable and mechanically has needed just the usual care. This past spring I did have the dealership replace the driver side seat back cushion under warranty. It had deteriorated and I was basically resting my lower back on one of the cross braces for the seat.

Unlike the Jetta I did replace the rear brake pads on this car a few months ago. I plan on replacing the fronts in the next few days. Luckily, it has and does not need new rotors for the brake replacement.

This car does reasonably well on the highway. It's a bit more loud though, not just the engine but the wind noise. I don't think they did a great job with sound deadoning material. Especially compared to the Jetta. Gets decent mileage on the Highway around 32MPG and I get around 26MPG in the city. Not bad for an AWD car. Both are about 5-6MPG gain on my 2005 and 1995 Imprezas. Though in this day of cheap gas, I kinda wish I had bought something with a bit more power.

No major accidents. I did back into my parents F-350 van a couple years ago. Left a deep scratch down the driver's side quarter panel. All it did to the van was left some red paint on the bumper. Had it fixed by my insurance. And a couple months ago a piece of metal was in the middle of my lane on the highway and was picked up by a car in front of me. With cars on both sides I just had to hope it didn't hit me and while it went under the front of my car it came flying out the side hitting the under side of the car and then bouncing off the ground and then back into the driver side door. Leaving a 2" diameter dent and a deep scratch. I have to get around to fixing it.