My Love Hate Relationship with Subaru

I love my car.
I hate my car.

I suppose it's fine. What should you expect from a 14 year old car with 193,500 miles?

I got the car with about 120,000 miles on it about 5 or 6 years ago, I guess.

Since I got the car I've replaced a lot: tranny, rear, several wheel bearings, numerous axles, ball joints, throttle bodies, water pump, timing belt and tensioner, front seals, master cylinder, all the sensors, etc, etc. I've pretty nearly built a new car. I really have to thank Hal and Sharon at Hal's Parts and Service in North Carolina for their parts and guidance over the years.

http://www.halspartsandservice.com/

I guess it's not really a bad car, but I spent the bulk of the coldest winter in NY history with the car laid up. No one was able to figure out that all the sensors had gone bad at the same time. It left every mechanic scratching his head. I also didn't have heat in the car when it was running because the heater core is blocked. That was the start of all my problems that season and it blossomed from there.

Some people try to convince me that a new one would be better. My boss (he gave me mine) has two new Subaru Legacy's and they take turns in the shop. Why would I want that?

If I decide to get rid of this thing, it'll be replaced with a nice Ford. At least the parts are easy to come by and are cheap. The Subaru dealer wanted to get me for a $1200 tune up. Screw them.

I guess more than anything, I feel let down by the car and I have problems trusting it again. How can you go anywhere in a car you feel queasy about?