For less than $20 I purchased four sets of coil spring spacers to lift my Subaru Legacy wagon. With the spacers nearly at their maximum extension, my Subie has about one and a half more inches of ground clearance. Since the spacers limit the spring travel, the ride is a little less soft, but the handling is tighter. This is the cheapest way to get the Subie further from the ground. The next step is to get 15-inch wheels and slightly bigger tires. After that I'll have to spend $732.60 for a 50mm body lift kit from Scorpion Automotive. Then the only remaining way to get it higher is to grab some steel and a welder. =P

Before: After: Additional photos and full-sized versions of these photos are here in my gallery.

During my second trip to Centralia, PA in the summer of 2005, I removed the front spring spacers after one of them assisted in the deforming of the driver-side strut hat. Photos of the evidence are here in my Centralia 2 album. My best guess is during some aggressive driving over rough terrain the suspension bottomed out, but where it normally would have had two more inches of travel, it stopped at the spacer which put pressure on the strut hat bending it down against the tire.

Additionally, the spacers effectively reduce the amount of spring that is useful which created a harsh ride even on paved roads. I removed the rear set when I returned from the trip.