Jason,
Not sure what year legacy gt you have. If it is recent, then it is the turbocharged 2.5 liter version (2005 being my favorite year). Basically any turbocharged vehicle requires a higher degree of maintenance than a naturally aspirated vehicle. Just look at aftermarket maintenance/warranty plans and check what they charge for turbocharged vs non-turbocharged vehicles. As a purchaser of a turbocharged vehicle you should be aware of increased maintenance requirements and costs -- just a natural tradeoff for the increased performance.
If your legacy gt is from before they introduced the turbocharged version, then I'm sure you know that they have a well-documented head gasket defect that rears its ugly head around 100k or so miles. If you do the headgasket job with the newer kit (which is now standard) your engine should be good for a long time.
I've had many Subarus that lasted well over 200k with simple regular maintenance. Oil changes ever 7.5k miles, trans and differential fluid changes every 30k miles.
You are correct that if you refuse to do oil changes in a reasonable time or get somewhat close to doing the recommended maintenance in the owner's manual, they will fail.
However, doing oil changes and reasonable maintenance is part of owning a car, not sure a car's inability to survive poor maintenance makes it suck.
I've used properly maintained Subaru Impreza WRXs as my chase and personal vehicles and they have been awesome, especially in the mud. Same goes for snow.
That being said, my brother's 1998 Nissan Altima lasted until 135k miles with only 5 oil changes and no preventative maintenance.
![Big Grin :D :D](data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7)
Of course, good luck getting up a mountain in heavy snow with it.
To each his own, I guess.
Somewhere close to 1000 miles I'm sure. Central Iowa to NE Colorado just to get to the target and START the chase.
I've been missing the last few plains chase seasons so the overall mileage has been low, but a few years there between chasing in the plains, local chases, tropical intercepts, vhf mobile rover ham radio contests commuting, and for a short period a long distance relationship....I was clocking around 45,000 miles per year (personally). I think only in one year was that all put on my personal vehicle...as many years I chased in rental cars.
On the reverse side...when I was first dealt with the kidney issues I had less than 5000 miles for a 12 month period....I didn't go anywhere!
I'm with Scott W. I will never buy a new car...well not for chase duty. My Scoobie (Legacy GT wagon) just turned 100K and I'm doing a boat load of maintenance items and repairs. Subaru cars suck....only last if you maintain them well.