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Comments
For your own sanity, try to divert her to Atlantic Blue. Regal Blue would be one tough color for OCD standards (damn near black).
Craig
Hey, what can you say -- she's got great taste.
Tell her she's welcome to an extended test drive the next time you guys are out here in the Bay Area.
Ken
To this OCD-er, owning a dark colored car and being OCD is like Jedi Knight training for OCD-ers. If you can master keeping that dark colored car clean, then you most certainly can do the same on all other colors.
-Brian (who has a Java Black F-XT)
You'll be even luckier if she lets you drive it! ;-)
tom
The only thing is she wants Nav, pretty bad, too. She goes out to see new clients and gets only an address, so it'd be perfect.
Besides that we're not in the market right now, so we'll probably wait a year or two and then consider our options then. But a GT with Nav would be hard for her to resist.
-juice
I have a 2005 Outback VDC with daytime running lights. Is it possible to turn the daytime running lights off, yet activate the parking and fog lights? I was driving in thick fog the other night and I wanted to turn off the running lamps, yet leave the fog lights on. I didn't know how to do it (the parking light switch on the steering column DID NOT do the trick).
Thanks!
Steve
Craig
well, if that's the case, you're better off making one. Truly effective CAIs are very rare (and usually pricey), IMHO.
'11 GMC Sierra 1500; '08 Charger R/T Daytona; '67 Coronet R/T; '13 Fiat 500c; '20 S90 T6; '22 MB Sprinter 2500 4x4 diesel; '97 Suzuki R Wagon; '96 Opel Astra; '08 Maser QP; '11 Mini Cooper S
My wife went into the dealer to test drive the Forester since they sent her a $25 debit card. She also tried the OBXT Ltd Wagon and that sold her. We purchased the OB and have been delighted with it.
Bob
I'm with 'qbrozen'...out of curiosity, what "need" are you looking to fulfill with a CAI; a more audible engine sound under full-throttle, or do you truly believe your OEM airbox is somehow restricting your motor's performance? Are you planning on upgrading your AFM, too?
Tim G.
'05 OBXTL-5MT
Changing it will often cause sensor misreads causing any of the following: lower performance at part throttle, poor economy, lean/rich condition, poor driveability.
Get a sporty muffler instead.
~Colin
The reason is that the turbo heats the intake air up quite a bit (the turbo itself gets very hot, like hundreds of degrees C). The intercooler's job is to cool it back down. Compared to this huge see-saw in temperature, a few degrees change at the intake is not even going to matter. On a turbo motor, the best place to work the cold-air angle is at the intercooler -- meaning bigger flow passages, more volume, etc...
On top of that, Subaru uses an intake resonator, which tunes the standing wave pattern in the intake. This effectively cancels out pressure losses due to friction in the intake. I doubt any other intake system will do better; in fact most will do worse. I believe that either Cobb or Vishnu has dyno data showing the stock intake performed the best on a WRX.
Craig
I noticed a considerable amount of used 2005 Outbacks on the market that were used as demos by the Subaru dealers. A smart buyer could buy a new one for the price they are selling the cars at with 5-10K miles on them. Does Subaru North America sell these cars to the dealers for less than the other cars so that the dealers will have them available to drive? Can you negotiate below invoice?
Also, I saw a 2.5I (non Limited) with the larger wheels and leather. I had a chance to walk around the car and it was a base model 2.5I (no sun roof, non matching door handles, etc). Is it possible to buy this car with the larger tires and leather?
Thank you.
I got my OB XT Ltd for invoice price back in July. Nowadays, you can often find Outbacks for a few hundred less than invoice (depending on supply and demand).
A good place to check prices is at www.fitzmall.com -- I actually bought there, but in the past, have asked other dealers to meet these prices. I have found fitzmall to be a good barometer of pricing.
Craig
Thanks for the note. I will check out that site. And yes, I do think they must have swapped with an XT. Car looked great but not as good as yours. Are you happy with it?
Matthew
Sly, good tip. Thanks.
Just to take it one step further, I put the Auto on, then pressed the A/C on, then off again, and it seems to have the same effect. In otherwords, there is no need to wait for the HAL to go thru the routine. I started my car after work, and the fan was on low and slowly increased as the engine warmed up even though the "AUTO" was not displayed. Give it a try and let me know if this works for you. Perhaps I'm missing something and don't know it.
Cheers,
Jay.
But we took some GTs to the Las Vegas Motor Speedway and drove them pretty hard. Pro drivers took them around the oval at 125 or so. The tires were history.
Slap on new tires, sell it as a program car.
Then again, some say you should drive hard to break 'em in, and the warranty is the same. Plus, if any problems were going to creep up, they'd be more likely to creep up at 125 mph vs. with you driving it.
-juice
Craig
Sly
Maybe Bruce or Joe can pop in and comment -- they have 2.5i models.
Craig
tom
As I put miles on, the car does feel more "broken in" and seems to have more pep. It was sort of a step down from my previous vehicle (2004 Malibu MAXX that did have 200 horsepower but moved out very nicely. Looking back, maybe should have gotten the V6 or Turbo but I was afraid to even try one for fear I would have fallen in love with either. But, I really don't need the turbo or the extra power of the 6. With my present employer I pay for all car expenswes including gas, put a lot of miles on & wanted respectable gas mileage as well as only requiring regular unleaded.
For the few times I did more local driving, my impression is that I would get somewhere in the low 20's. I got a little less than that one time, but it was bitter cold and several mornings of warming up vehicle first. I would expect that vehicle would get at least the gas mileage advertised.
I like the vehicle, and am finally getting use to lousy armrest. It is way too low and I am not about to spend $150 to get the extended version. Only other problem is trying to get comforatable on long trips. lGetting better....
The other day I had my first couple experiences with ACC inconsistencies. Example 1: I generally turn off my ACC before turning off my ignition by pressing the OFF button. When I get back into my car, I turn on my ACC by pressing the fan up-arrow. This turns on the ACC using the exact same temperature and vent selection settings as before, with the fan on "low" (e.g., 1 wedgie). This is how it's been working consistently since I bought the car. The other day, this same process resulted in the ACC coming on with totally different settings; although the temp setting was still the same, both "recirculate" and "A/C" were now both enabled, and the vent selection was different. What the ???
Example 2: In mid-40's degree weather, I've been leaving my ACC temp set to 69 degrees (I'm hot-blooded and don't wear a coat when I drive) with the fan on low. Again, I don't use "Auto". On Tues after about 30 mins in the car, I noticed it seemed unusually warm driving home. It was night and approx 44 degrees outside. The temp settings still showed set to 69 degees, as usual. By turning the temp settings down to 66, there was no change whatsoever in the temp of air coming from the vents, but when I dropped the temp down to 65 degrees, it was now blowing totally unheated, outside air (e.g., "vent only"). Eh???
Initially after hearing everyone else's "HAL" stories about their ACC's, it made sense to me that maybe just the temp sensors on these ACC units might be the 'weak' point of the system, but I'm now thinking that these units are just plain unreliable and inconsistent.
I mean, I know that modulating the ambient air temp within the inside of a moving vehicle isn't easy (especially if you're trying to do "dual zones") but temperature aside, why wouldn't the controls work consistently??
Ok, I'm done...thanks for the "vent" (pun intended) ;-)
Tim G.
'05 OBXTL-5MT
8200 miles
Craig
~Colin
-Brian
Craig
I've said it before, but my '93 Taurus SHO has ACC and it does exactly what it should 95% of the time. the ONLY time I have to mess with it is max-effort defrosting (it tries to leave some air on feet).
~Colin
I know the '05 Forester introduced more fan speeds and it seems that has eased HAL's behavior a bit.
-Brian
The user interface is quirky, and the temp sensor is inadequate.
I've learned to live with the quirkiness, thanks in large part to Craig. But there is nothing I can do to make the temp sensor work better, short of making large changes in temp setting, which defeats the purpose of an ACC in the first place!
Sly
The "AC" indicator comes on and means that AC can kick in, but it's not necessarily on all the time. So people see "AC" on when it's 45F outside and are confused as heck even though it's really not running! On my wife's Acura, there is no indicator for AC -- it just cycles on/off in the background and you never know (ignorance=bliss with ACC). However, there is an "AC OFF" indicator when the driver presses the AC button (overrrides it to OFF all the time). Again a case where the Acura implementation makes more sense and is documented.
The worst is the purgatory mode between full auto and full manual. Here, the system will react every time you tweak a control, because it's still trying to maintain the set temp with every new constraint the driver throws at it. In this crazy mode, it would seem like the system is fighting your every move, but in reality, it's just trying to meet your set temp with fewer ways to do it. Again, a case where the manual doesn't talk about this, nor does it talk about the proper procedure to get into full manual override where you truly have control.
All of these things (and more) are examples of why people get extremely frustrated with the system and say it doesn't work well. Once you understand the way the system operates, these issues (and more) become non-events and the system is a lot easier to live with. At that point, the only complaints center around hardware issues -- like the systems tendency to overshoot because of poor temp sensors. In fact, you can't truly notice the real hardware issues until the more troubling basic operation issues are out of the way.
Seriously, if Subaru had better documentation and explained all the modes of the system, it would eliminate most of the complaints I see online.
Craig
But how many people RT*M?
DaveM
But it's actually the correct operation -- 66 is a target temp and 65 means no heat added in winter and max cool in summer.
Then the little display should say max heat or max cool - not 65 and 85. The latter is not intuitive. People see a temp and they expect it to be a target temp.
The "AC" indicator comes on and means that AC can kick in, but it's not necessarily on all the time.
My Ody will also do the same but if I hit the A/C button it displays A/C off.
With the Ody, I can manually control every aspect of the HVAC if I want or leave it alone at a certain temp and it does it's job.
Also, the Ody has 2 temp sensors. One is on top of the dash trying to sense heat on the windshield. The other is down by the driver's knee trying to sense interior temp. Maybe that's what the Subaru system needs.
I find that I use the semi-auto mode the most, and it seems to work just fine.
I don't think Subaru is the only one with problems with it's ACC. I played with a '05 Mazda 6 ACC last week- same problems. Maybe they are both made by the same company? ;-)
tom
That is just hilarious. Sometimes it is really nice just to have manual controls....
I agree, Subaru should label the 65/85 extremes differently since they are certainly not interpreted as temperatures.
Subaru does have two sensors -- one sun sensor on the dash and one thermocouple/vent sensor by the driver's knee. I think it is the latter that is lacking -- seems to lag the true cabin temperature in many cases (and how bad varies a lot).
Fortunately, Subaru's ACC also has a full manual mode which I tend to use when I am skiing -- dressed up with thermals and wearing contact lenses makes me very finicky about HVAC. I normally set it to 66, with floor mode, fresh air, and fan on 1 for the whole trip. Seat heaters do the rest.
Craig
Craig
http://www.dgtalpimp.com/m3_gtr_nurburgring.wmv
If the 250HP/3500lb Subaru Outback is considered "Scary Fast" what do you suppose the driver of the Porsche GT-2 Turbo thought when Hans Stuck blew buy him in his F-16?
Well, in my review, I called the Legacy GT "stupid fast".
So I guess stupid is more fast than scary? ;-)
-juice
-Brian