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Comments
My decision process for choosing this car goes like this. A friend at a previous job told me he was getting a new car and thought he would get subaru. Couldn't figure out why he wasn't getting a honda or toyota but it was his money. He got a used Legacy wagon. Seemed nice enough but it was a wagon and my wife had a stated policy against wagons - too loud inside and you can't hide your stuff. I secretly liked wagons - practical, you can carry lots of stuff, hidden or not, and you can fold the seats down an carry even more stuff. The wagon hatred of my wife's extended to hatchbacks. In fact when we first bought a car together, the civic mentioned in a my previous post, I had wanted the hatchback but she wanted the sedan. So we got the sedan. Actually I wanted the CRX, it had just come out, but the lack of stuff carrying capabilities were pointed to as a serious drawback. But I digress.
A year or so after my friend got his Legacy, I noticed this red thing in the parking lot. Turned out to be an impreza outback sport. I liked the looks of it and AWD seemed like a good idea. I drive in snow about once ever two years whether I need to or not so you can imagine how that might be important to me. Anyway, I started noticing imprezas and told myself it might be a car worth looking at. In the mean time since we got our 94 Toyota camry wagon (used) with the extra seat, my wife has become a wagon believer. We have two kids of soccer age which means you need to carry 5 kids and frankly the 84 accord we had was getting us funny looks ever since that large dog slept on its roof. Accords don't look good with concave rooves. My wife also has a thing against vans - too big for everyday use.
About 6 months ago my car, the 84 civic, died or a least it need something done so my wife persuaded me to go take a look at that impreza I mentioned. When we got there, the first thing I saw was the mean looking black on black bad boy car - a WRX sedan with all the giblets. Really cool looking but as my wife pointed out I'm not 25 any more. Besides which the trunk was very small. Turns out they had a wagon version which was quite a bit more practical but there was the RS and the Outback to choose from and confuse everything. We didn't have time for a test drive, forget why. The salesman gave us the brochure and the magazine reprint about the outback and the WRX and off we went.
Next event in the saga is that my son gets a Sony PS2 for paying just enough attention to his home work to get straight As - some deal my wife made without realizing the thing cost $300 without any games. Anyway, I get enthused and started looking around for cheap games so we'd have a few. Vrally2, a PS1 game looked interesting. Turned out one of the cars was a Subaru impreza and I had a great time driving in various venues around the world. My son thought this game was lame but he knows not of what he speaks. To be honest I couldn't really tell the difference between the subaru and the other cars in the game, except it was blue, but that's not the point. It's cool watching your virtual self catch air and come sideways round a corner. But there was no way I really needed a car like that. Most of my driving is in commute traffic which shows serious tendencies at not going much above 25mph on a good day. Make the most sense to get a used civicaccordcamry car.
That was then, this is now. 500 miles into the break in period our sales guy forgot to tell us about. Fortunately I read the manual before we got too far into the abuse. The way I see it, the manual said we shouldn't exceed 4K rpm "except in emergencies". Well, I'll put the first day of ownership down as an emergency and leave it at that. No clutchdrop starts or anything but definitely the odd emergency. So that's all right then! Been good since though I'm not sure on the exact legal interpretation of "rapid acceleration" which is also supposed to be avoided. Oh well, they're my rings. I estimate another two weeks to go before I can experience some really poor gas mileage in a non emergency situation. Looking forward to it.
Patti
I'll let you know what I can find.
Thanks!
Patti
Thanks!
Patti
http://www.subaruwrxparts.com/per_wrx.html
and
http://www.subaru.co.jp/legacy/g/g2/rsk.htm
I think I am smitten!
IIRC, it was something like ~14,000 total manuals and ~4,000 autos.
edit: Doh! I can't find it, but I know there's a post there with the numbers from an SoA email. Ok Patti, how close am I?
-Dennis
Bob
Dave: some will last 80k miles, others will go 250k miles. I think how it's taken care of, plus luck, are big factors.
Dennis: this is my personal opinion, but champagne colored wheels look liked OE wheels turned yellow. Mazda wheels are famous for that problem, so I guess I already have "champagne" wheels. I prefer Anthracite, or the brushed aluminum look. Just one opinion, FWIW.
-juice
As far as the game thing goes (you're right, your son knows not what he speaks, LOL), I got the WRX 3/26/01 and the X-box w/Project Gotham Racing game a week ago. I like driving the WRX in the game, dressed up in Rally Blue w/all the stickers, just like the Rally car. My other pleasure (ok, I get bored playing by myself) is to play multiplayer mode w/two controllers and have a smash-up derby between the WRX and EVO. Ok...I'm sick! LOL!
Stephen
Stephen
Stephen
good luck,
Phil
If you can't get him to your price...get the new one and enjoy ! I love mine.
Good luck.
Any regrets? Colour I mean.
-Dave
But here in dusty Kansas I've vowed to not have another black car (4 so far)...
-Colin
Rick-
Guess you're the micro-few (the daring ones) that has a Midnight Black Pearl.
Extra washing? I don't think that would be a problem. Dings and scratches, those may get to me.
-Dave
Rick
I also had 4 black cars before swearing never again, the mind boggles when you think of somebody like me with a black car.
These coatings are the modern day version of snake oil, I would hate you to look at at a lot of scratchs and stuff in a couple years because you thought you had extra protection.
Cheers Pat.
Rick
If today is indeed your birthday, have a happy one! I was supposed to have been born April 1 but I showed up a couple of weeks early.
Ed
-Dave
Regardless, at the 3k mark, I couldn't be happier with the car: no problems, comfortable, practical, and lots of good old fashioned fun. What more could you ask?
Mike
Steve
homepage.mac.com/subaruwrx
From previous posts I gather that the short shift stick is only worth it if you autocross or are for some reason disatisfied with the standard throw shifter. It means you can change a little quicker but it takes a bit more effort. Good for racing but otherwise strictly optional. There are other after market short throw shifters available that may be cheaper. Others may have recommendations.
Tim
PS: I don't have a short throw shifter so this is all hearsay an innuendo.
Pros: Unique color (I dig the bluish hue)
Not many people have it.
Looks a little "tougher" than other colors (my personal opinion.)
Cons: Gets dirty REALLY easily.
Sratches are very obvious (had mine for 1 1/2 months and have a couple of obvious ones on the hood).
But, it's unique, and very sweet looking, especially in wagon form.
Unfortunately a lot of people buy into the hype about all these coatings, in most cases it is just ameans to a very handsome profit for the dealers who traffic it.
They do the same thing with the so called fabric guard.
Cheers Pat.
Incidentally, I am also getting dealer installed leather seats in black with WRX embroidered on the headrests. This set me back $1250, in case you were wondering and can be done at any time. It takes 3-4 days to install. The dealer had a giant bag of leather swatches and can do it in just about any color leather you want. (My wagon. is black, so black leather was my choice). This includes the door panels.
Add something like carbon fiber or aftermarket fake wood and you have your luxe package for under 2k. This was key for me as I wanted everything- speed, amenities, handling, awd, utility of a wagon- for under $26k. I think I found it.
My wife's car is the VDC wagon. McIntosh and Subaru did that right. When I want music, I take that car or stay home. When I want to drive, I take the WRX.
Just my opinion,
Mike
P.S. My wife wanted the black one.......
interesting opinion. what I'm about to stay is my opinion and shouldn't be viewed as criticism...
anyway, you can have good results with aftermarket components in most cars, the trick is reasonable quality speakers but most of all positioning and amplification. the stock locations often are a bad compromise, so you have to get a little creative to make things work. for example, I use rear shelf speakers only for fill, usually running them off receiver power or amplifying them 1/3 to 1/2 what the fronts receive. the fronts should be angled towards the center cabin (between driver's and passenger's heads for best compromise) and this can be done with shimming or build-outs if you don't mind cutting the door and using a cloth grill. sealing the door also helps a lot, there are simple things you can do to help.
anyway, I was surprised that you would like a good--not excellent, in my opinion--factory system like the VDC's McIntosh system (mostly Clarion, truth be told) and seemingly never experienced a good aftermarket system built on a reasonable budget. my current home speakers are B&W 604S2s, and I don't want to spend the money in my cars to get sound that good in an imperfect medium like a car. my Impreza has an aftermarket exhaust, that doesn't help.
but there's definitely reason to bother with mobile sound, if you like music.
-Colin
I disagree on your assessment of the McIntosh system. I think it is outstanding; I think it has McIntosh components; I think it was developed jointly by Subaru and McIntosh. I have seen too many articles on the collaboration and the specs match very closely with standard Mac components.
Mike
-mike
Just my 2 cents :-)
-Dave
You are aware that Clarion (yes, the Japanese electronics company) bought McIntosh a few years back?
-Colin
Actually, I am sure that some of the technology at Clarion is better than that at McIntosh. Regardless, the premise that Clarion owns McIntosh and that therefore McIntosh components are now cheaper Clarion parts by default is flawed logic. In reality, I would like to think that the engineers picked the best components for the application, which I personally think they did.
Oh well, time to get back to the WRX.
Mike
I have another question, after the 1000 mile break in period, I have had a few occasions to race her around the 5000 and slightly above rpm range, the car handled it just fine. But I am noticing a change in the sound of the engine, it almost sounds like I have a performance muffler on the car. Like a louder but a more bass sounding motor, only after I have driven hard with the turbo working at 4 to 6 range, is this a normal thing? I kind of like the way the car is evolving but I don't want to beat it into the ground to soon.
Also any upgrades other than performance tires that I can install to improve the under steering on the wagon? I was thinking about getting the 20mm sway bars? Any thoughts? Thanks, Keith.
After that, you may want to work on the suspension. New springs/shocks are one obvious choice.
I have consistently had good systems aftermarket for many years, while I agree that it is not cheap.and it is probably impossible to match a good home system you can come close.
Just because you feel that Subaru got it close to Right with the Macintosh does not mean you cannot do it with aftermarket.
cheers Pat.