Ongoing car advice

[RobertInOntario]

Rob I would say at least get one new or even newer car. Something like a awd Rav4 that you won't have to worry much about in the snow and have good reliability for a while.

I know the subaru crowd has many complaints about gaskets/seals leaking oil so pin pointing the problem would take time. Are you blowing smoke out the tailpipe? how much oil are you losing? Is your check engine light on? The misfire you said

-- it may also be in need of a major tune-up soon as it has been running roughly (misfiring) after starting it up, when it's very cold

sounds like a cracked Coil Pack, commonly happens in cold and/or wet weather. the pack could also be faulty, if you replaced it with a newer one that wasn't OEM (original equipment) recently then it might be the cause since they are built to OEM standards. what engine is in the Legacy?

I'm not a honda fan so I can't give good insight on them.

Thanks! The Legacy has a 2.5 Litre, 4 cyliner boxer engine -- that's about all I know! Interesting idea to re the cracked Coil Pack. I should ask about it at our garage.

The car is running fine, that's the weird/confusing part! No blue smoke, no engine lights on, even the misfiring problem has disappeared, etc. Basically, after it's been left on the driveway for 1-2 days, there are a few blobs of oil on the ground, no larger than the size of a quarter.

Rob