TOM WALKER wrote in a message to ROY J. TELLASON:

RJT>Which is why I've (mostly) never done any business with dealers, 
RJT>excepting
RJT>buy parts that only they would stock.

 TW> Well I own two Subarus and I am still looking for a little shop
 TW> that  knows what they are doing. they have soem unique quirks and
 TW> one  should use a Experienced Subaru Machanic. The guy that did
 TW> some  transmission work on my S-10 pickup looked promissing,
 TW> althouhg not a  real subaru maehanic, but Failed the Test. His
 TW> mechanic tightened the  upper radiator hose so much he Crushed the
 TW> plastic upper tank fitting  after changing the timing belt and
 TW> doing the 30,000 maintenance. They  were nice and gave me a NEW
 TW> radiator FREE but I am not inclined to go back.

I hear a lot of cars are going to plastic there these days,  though I don't
own one of those.

There sure are some quirks with those.  We had one a while back (till it
started to rust out).  That horizontal 4 needed to be set up differently
than a regular straight 4,  and one time my brother ended up setting the
idle up too high,  thinking he was doing the right thing.  Backfired pretty
good,  that did.

 TW> Since I plan to have my current car last the rest of my life I am  
 TW> trapped into doing proper maintenence at the Dealer since I cannot 
 TW> do it myself. I have 6 months ago installed a set of 80,000 mile
 TW> guranteed Tires and only drive about 3,000 to 4,000 miles per
 TW> year. The vehicle is a 1999 and only has about 32,000 miles on it.
 TW> Since my other Subaru is coming up on 190,000 the odds are with me
 TW> this will be my last car.

I tend to drive stuff until I can't drive it any more,  myself.  That
190,000 sounds like one of mine,  though in this part of the country the
rust gets them more often than not.

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