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Comments
I think this happened to quite a few of the VDC's; at least I remember some discussions last year.
Mike
You have mentioned on your earlier post that you have documented the door panel removing process for the new Legacy. It would be great if you could tell me how you have done this since I'm also planning on changing my speakers. Thanks!
-Kazuo
Which LLBean speakers did you upgrade? And did it improve the sound alot? Do you feel the speakers contribute more to the weak link OR the amp/receiver unit? Thanks,
Ralph
http://members.cox.net/craig.hunter/window/
The Bean comes with the upgraded speakers, and they sound pretty good to me. They look like decent speakers too, based on what I saw inside the door. The radio also seems to have a decent amount of power.
My WRX came with the standard speakers, and they totally sucked. I replaced them with Rockford Fosgates, and they sound a heck of a lot clearer, but not as loud. Seems that the WRX radio probably doesn't have enough power to drive them hard. But, it's generally enough for me. I also put the OEM subwoofer in the WRX, and it helps quite a bit. Interestingly, the Bean system has at least as much bass with no subwoofer.
Craig
Did you happen to notice the make of the speakers in the Beaner?
The Bean has the subwoofer as part of the standard audio package, same as the Outback limited. The subwoofer for the system is located at the far back on the right side, in the luggage compartment.
-mike
Bob
Thanks
senturi
Greg
senturi
Alland
Cheers
Matt
I didn't actually pull the speaker out of the Bean, but it looked like a decent unit (plastic cone, no whizzer). The WRX speakers didn't have any markings on them at all.
Craig
Thanks for the door panel removal info, but I still have a few more questions if you do not mind me asking.
How did you remove the power window switch bezel and the door handle trim trim ring? Are these snap on items as well?
Thank you
-Kazuo
The trim ring around the door handle is a royal pain to get off. In fact, I thought it was a pain on the Bean, and the WRX was significantly harder (actually broke one of them). The easiest way to get it off in my opinion is: remove all screws and pop all the door panel fasteners around the edge of the door panel, so the panel is just hanging from the top of the door and held back by the trim ring. Unscrew the whole door handle "cup" assembly (with trim ring attached), and slide it towards the back of the car. It will release from the door frame (still attached by linkages). At this point, you can pull the door panel slightly away from the door (let it still hang from the top however) with the cup assembly. This should allow you to get a much better grip on the trim ring, and it comes off easier. It's hooked onto the cup by tabs around the outer edge and a tab near the lock buton. When the trim ring is off, you can lift the door panel off the door frame. At that point, reattach the cup assembly, making sure the linkages are in place correctly and the handle and lock operate properly. Worst case, if you break a trim ring, they are about $5 each for replacements at Liberty Subaru.
Good luck! Let me know if you have any other questions.
Craig
-juice
On another subject, I'm getting ready to take my bean to the dealer and demand a new set of front rotors, the car shudders whenever you make a stop from 30mph or more.It's been that way since new, and also squeaks like heck when backing out of the garage first thing in the morn, or whenever the brakes are cold.Only have about 13000 miles on it so far.
And if anyone remembers my posts from last year about the lousy firestone tires, they never did satisfy me on that complaint, and I'm still driving on tires that shimmy at high speeds.
Luck to all---Jack
Another note: back a couple 100 posts, we had a brake failure issue that was unsolved. Having not gotten more info from the poster maybe it never will be. But I had an interesting occurance last night. Pulling into a parking spot my brakes didn't seem to work! After lightly hitting the curb, I realized I was pushing on both the gas and the brake. Seems I didn't slide my foot fully onto the brake peddle. When I pushed the brake I got a little gas too...Instant sensation of no brakes.
Next oil change I'm going to see if the brake possition can be adjusted a little higher.
--jay
There's a braks master cylinder recall on the 2003 that I found but that poster ignored. Oh well.
OE tires are a compromise, I'd consider replacing them even before they're fully worn. I got rims and tires at 28k and I'm *much* happier with my customized choice.
-juice
Last month, I purchased a new 2003 Outback Legacy LL Bean, black, with approximately 51 miles on it, from Herb Gordon Subaru in Silver Spring, MD at a price of $25,320.
My conclusion: if you're in the market for a new car, consider the Costco program.
[The rest of this is kinda long, but if you're interested in my "Costco experience" read on.]
Costco has a program for buying cars where you just log in to their website and fill out information about the car you are looking for.
[Note: I originally was looking for the Outback wagon with an H6 that just came out, but that wasn't listed on the Costco website -- too new, I guess!]
You also list your contact information and you're told that a Costco authorized representative will contact you.
I received a phone call the next day telling me the price of the H6 sedan, which is what I selected since the wagon was not listed. Since I wanted the wagon, she also gave me the price for the LL Bean, which I thought was quite low at the time, since it was less than what Edmunds said the Outback H6 (non-Bean) would be selling for.
Well, I continued shopping for the car I wanted. I contacted dealerships directly and I also used Auto-by-Tel (which is how I bought my Legacy GT in '99) and AutoVantage. One local dealer had the Outback H6 (non-Bean), but it was more expensive than every other LL Bean quote I received!
Anyway, I actually received two quotes from Herb Gordon: one through the Costco program and one through the Auto-by-Tel program. The Costco program was exactly $200 less than the Auto-by-Tel program. I don't know why there are two different people handling the two different programs, but there are.
So, my wife and I drove up there the next day intending to pay cash for that baby (since we didn't think we'd qualify for the 0% financing with our mortgage payment). Well, we test drove it (during which my wife said, "Why are we bothering to drive it? Let's just buy it."), then said we'd buy it, got approved for the 0% 24-month financing, and drove out of there with a shiny new car and nothing out of our pockets (first payment due next week).
The upshot is that I recommend the Costco Auto program very strongly.
Kory...
Greg
As an alternative, does the AllData site offer decent documentation with illustrations? I perused the 'demo' section but the stuff therein was pretty basic, and did not seem to have many graphics. I was just curious if getting a license actually gets you more than the demo seems to indicate.
So at least you know what that event was about, and luckily you didn't do any real damage by the experience. Property damage and even some deaths surrounded the Audi incidents. I am, however, a bit concerned about the report of pedal sinking when the engine was hot (sorry - I cannot remember who mentioned it, but it was from a legitimate member of the crew...). It sounds like something a bit beyond brake fade / air in lines at play as it was described to recover very quickly, IIRC.
The recall on the '03 master cyl issue sounds to me like a situation where the pressure will not release, not that it wouldn't be applied. There was, however, a recall in the late '90's for a master cyl problem in very cold conditions. I need to check that bulletin for details.
Steve
For example, Wrenchend.com is the private repair shop support publication from Subaru. They have a wealth of articles on a variety of common problems, plus some super general information narratives.
Ravensblade Impreza has put a lot of data together, some of which applies to the current series Legacy/Outback. He even includes some pages from the shop manual.
I occasionally borrow my friends '99 Forester shop set. I have no real needs yet ('02 OBW), but much of the data applies. For me it has just been informative reading....
There are some other strange sources out there, but I have only visited their web sites. For example, autocd.ru is an overseas web site that can get you data for a price. Source and quality unknown....
Hope this overview helps,
Steve
Jim
Didn't mean to give anyone a heart attack!
Kory...
By comparison, factory service manuals for previous vehicles I've purchased (in the dozen range now) were confined to 1-2 manuals totalling 2 inches and covered EVERYTHING concisely and clearly. I have no idea what Subaru is thinking - even the techs felt their factory manual (which, BTW is also what your techs use at the dealerships to work on your car) strategy was nutty. My impression of Subaru factory manuals is that they wrote a normal nice manual, then took all the individual pages and dropped them off the Subaru roof and had passersby stack them up randomly for binding. Before binding, they put them in a blender and randomly copied about 75% of the pages for no apparent reason.
IdahoDoug
Jim
Thanks,
Howard
The noise was high enough to me to not want the car, the salesman did not believe it was noisy. This could be because wagons and suv style cars are noisier than sedans and it is accepted.
DaveM
Welcome Howard. To get an idea of street prices, take a peek at fitzmall.com. They're a no-haggle dealer and aren't close to you, but should act as a good baseline for pricing.
Just to give you an idea, they have 22 Legacys at under $20 grand. Keep in mind that mix includes sedans, wagons, 5 speeds, and automatics. They're about $900 under invoice, so I imagine there is a $750 or $100 incentive locally.
As for noise, wagons are noisier than sedans because you have 8 windows instead of 6. The cargo area can also make the noise seem worse. But sample an H6 model, those have extra sound proofing and I found them very quiet. My wife didn't even realize when the engine was running.
-juice
Last time I remember doing this, my wife was in the car and busted my chops. She should be used to me being an idiot by now!
Craig
When the motor spins, a tapered tooth assembly attempts to drive forward to engage the outer toothed edge of the flex plate (AT equivilent of a fly wheel). With the flex plate in motion, the leading edge scrapes along, not being able to engage. Lots of noise, but probably very little damage on a one-time occurance. Just promise your car that you will never do this again!!!
Steve
One fascinating fact I found...if your brake fluid gets low enough to turn the warning light on, the DRLs don't work. I do understand the electrical reason behind this but the real life impact (!) is less than desirable. (Imagine some idiot who's fluid is so low that the brakes might not work properly and who now has no DRLs either.)
But I forgot; idiots don't buy Subarus, do they?
-juice
The edmunds TMV prices seem to be about 4-500 around invoice here in Houston, so I will nose around. That is a far better deal than the IMBA invoice price, but at least its a good place to start.
Any idea what the dealer holdback is for Subaru?
Thanks,
Howard
We paid $750 under invoice for our 2002 Legacy last May under the VIP.
-juice
So bottom line is I am scrwd once again by subaru. I'm still driving on the lousy firestone tires that came with the car and shimmied from day one, and subaru wouldn't help me get them replaced...
Really makes you want to buy another subaru doesn't it....
Luck to all --Jack......
I wouldn't worry about the pads, I doubt scuffing them would reduce their life significantly. Rotors, yes. The surface is hardened to begin with, so once they're cut they won't last as long.
Tires are cheap, why not replace them yourself? Firestone warranties them anyway, not Subaru, that's pretty universal in the industry. Go to a Firestone store and see if they'll give you partial credit, then you could get some Bridgestone RE910 tires, which are quite good.
Just a suggestion. I would not let $400 worth of tires spoil ownership of a $26,000 vehicle.
Try the tire dealer and keep us posted?
-juice
Edit: RE910 tires
Give Subaru Customer Service a call to find out about the rotors. My dealer just went ahead and replaced them, rather than cutting. He said they were too worn to cut (I had about 35500 miles at the time). I'm not sure if that makes a difference or not, but it's worth a shot. They were done under warranty as well.
Mark
-juice
Mark
When I bought my car last summer...I really wanted an OB Limited with sunroofs. My friends talked me out of it...saying that a 27 yo single guy shouldn't drive a wagon. I guess I am far from the typical profile of the OB driver. I ended up with a GT Limited sedan...which is great but just not very practical to haul stuff home from Lowes. I wonder if there is any demographic info out there on my car...every other one seems to be driven by 40ish women. Hmmmm...
I don't care what the demographics say...I love my Subaru and can't imagine driving any other brand. I have had a few problems with mine that haven't been resolved...so I might end up trading out of this one. Last weekend I looked at a new LL Bean edition...and if the numbers work out I might just take the leap! I will let you know!
Brian