Subaru Crew Cafe

hondafriek

Don't if it is the same situation in the States but up here it is much worse to insure a boy than a girl, now thats discrimination that needs to be addressed, maybe in years past the female was the gentler of the sexes.

 But now the young female is as likely as the young male to be a bit on the wild side.

  Cheers Pat.

p0926

Pat- Yep it's the same in the States but I believe that statistically young males still have more accidents. You're right though that the gap has definitely narrowed.

-Frank P.

ateixeira

<shameless controvery starter>

That's because women are better drivers.

</shameless controversy starter>

-juice

p0926

<shameless controversy continuation>

Yeah but they're more likely to be distracted from talking to friends in the car or yacking on the cel phone :-)

<shameless controversy continuation>

-Frank P.

ladywclass

ladywclass

what about the men driving down the road reading newspapers on the steering wheel? ... or with a laptop on the passenger seat open and running?????

p0926

what about women driving down the road while applying make-up?

Frank P.

P.S. "Cel" is an acceptable abbreviation where I come from :-)

lucien2

Boys take reckless chances.

Girls are easily distracted.

Choice A results in higher dollar damage and injury.

ladywclass

paisan

There are no more cell phones unless you have an analog-only one. All the digital phones use non-cellular technology.

-mike

ladywclass

we haven't dialed a number in ages either but tell me when that will go out of use ....

rsholland

http://www.media.subaru.com./

ateixeira

I think that goes on both sides. I routinely see drivers reading books, newspaper, men shaving, women applying makeup or plucking eye brows, it's incredible the roads are as safe as they are.

-juice

kens

Here's an idea:

Develop a single-seater vehicle with safety features galore, a stereo that can't drown out traffic noise and a special sheet metal coating that blocks mobile phone transmissions. Make the insurance premiums for teens for this vehicle super-low.

Ken
(already worrying about when his daughter drives)

hypov

give it foot peddles to drive the wheels for fuel efficiency.

-Dave

hondafriek

Know I did not intend to start this discussion but since I appear to have done that anyway, I have to admit, that here in Canada at least women seem to be the most discourteous drivers on the road.

  Most of them seem to use a car like a weapon, here a male driver is more likely to let you pull out of an intersection than a female, same in shopping centres a female is more likely to drive over you than to stop and let you cross from the parking to the store.

 I think part of the reason is that people, females in particular are just too stressed out from juggling too many things.

  Cheers Pat.

ateixeira

The single-seater I like for teens is a bicycle. ;-)

-juice

rsholland

is much better looking than the Durango. They don't share the front end clip!

http://www.wieck.com/public/*wieck_search?ws4d_nav=true&opera- tor=and&source=wik&source=wka&source=wkt&Page=1&a- mp;search_criteria=Dakota&submit_button=Search

http://www.wieck.com/public/*wieck_search?ws4d_nav=true&opera- tor=and&source=wik&source=wka&source=wkt&Page=2&a- mp;search_criteria=Dakota&submit_button=Search

Bob

ateixeira

Yeah, it's not ugly, LOL.

Headlights still seem oversized, and boy, do those fenders recall the Titan or what?

Overall package looks good though.

-juice

rsholland

Forester up. Impreza down. Legacy up slightly. Baja (don't ask).

http://www.media.subaru.com./

Bob

ateixeira

Impressive that the Legacy was up with a design in its last year. Forester got the turbo.

WRX saw few improvements, just a nose job. Sales would tell you it could benefit most from some changes. Twin scroll turbo? Moonroof and AWP on wagon? 2.5T?

-juice

lucien2

probably because of the great job SoA has done getting the word out about the new model, like those great features in the NAIAS articles in Autoweek and such.

Not.

Oh well. At least they shifted some lame ducks. Heck, Mom and Dad went for it. All the snow helped speed their purchase.

nygreg

is right. The seller was SNOW.

Greg

ateixeira

Well, Loosh, you could argue SoA did *exactly* what dealers wanted from them, to maintain interest on the current models.

I don't think for a minute that your parents made a mistake, the H6 is dead-on reliable and they got a bargain price. Add up the options costs on competitors, and you're up into the $30s easily in a Passat or A4.

Good as the new Outback will be, it'll surely be closer to that Audi in terms of price.

-juice

jfl

The seller was Subaru.
The CLOSER was snow. 8~)

Jim

nygreg

There is nothing wrong with buying the "old" model. The automotive world is littered with new models that are worse than the ones they replaced. Although we all want the new Legacy, we don't have any SOP information and experience yet. I am sure Loosh informed his parents of the pending model change and they made an informed decision with that in mind.

Greg

lucien2

Hell, I was trying to hold out myself. But the continuing radio silence on pricing, vombined with the fact that I found a buyer for my GT, meant I could wait no longer.

damish003

Last weekend I finally got actual snow tires for my OBS, since sliding around for an hour the morning of the purchase was no fun at all. Wow, what a difference! The Subie now lives up to its reputation as a "go anywhere in any condition" car. Those RE-92's are fine for the dry/wet, but for real snow...forget it. So once they were on, I had to go find a safe area to really test them out. I went to a local park, found a deserted open area, and tried to make the car lose it's grip. It really took some doing, even on an iced/snow packed lot.

If anyone else is debating about getting snows, quit waiting and get them. You'll never regret it.

-Dan-

declansdad

What snow tires did you get for your OBS? I bought some Dunlop snow tires/rims back in Sept. and they have worked really well for me; especially with the foul weather we've had on the East Coast.

Michael

damish003

Michael,

I got something called the Champiro WT. Not really my first choice in winter tires, but the selection is very limited at this time of year, especially in P205/55R16. It's not a common size, I found. I could have gone with 15" wheels and gotten P195/60R15's, but the cost would have been more overall. I could have done OK with Tire-rack, or whatever it's called, but after the snows we just had I didn't have the luxury of waiting. It took an hour to get the tires mounted, out-the-door price, including tax, $384.96. Not too bad. The tires seem just great on the snow/ice, and they are not nearly as loud as I expected snow tires to be. I'm happy with them.

-Dan-

njswamplands

will we have anything left fot the chat tonight?

subearu

150 messages in the Future Models thread. Surely a TOP thread tomorrow - WE'RE #1!!!

-Brian

rsholland

Most of you already probably know this, but narrower tires are better in the snow than wide tires. I found this link over at TireRack.com regarding "Minus Sizing" for winter driving.

http://www.tirerack.com/winter/tech/sizing.html

There are also other good winter driving links on this site, at the bottom of the page.

Bob

ateixeira

Make sure there's clearance for the brakes...you can't minus size a Forester, for instance.

Bob - did you lost a pair of pocket size atlases? Somehow they ended up in my Subaru bag.

-juice

rsholland

No, I've got one too.

Bob

rsholland

http://www.lafayettejc.com/news20040208/200402081local_business10- 76216528.shtml

declansdad

It varies on what model Forester you have. I've got the S and I "minus sized" to a 15 inch snow tire (205/70/15 Dunlop Graspics) this winter. I was able to get mine back in September when the demand was low.

Michael

ateixeira

Yeah, I meant the 2003 and later Foresters. Even the X model has 16" rims because the new, bigger brakes won't clear with 15"s.

-juice

rsholland

gets 16" wheels. Those 2.0X models sold in other markets still get 15" steel rims.

Bob

ateixeira

Prolly smaller brakes, too, then.

Someone actually tried to mount a 15" rim to see and it would not clear a 2003 Forester X.

-juice

rsholland

imports Bajas to sell in Japan!

http://www5.ocn.ne.jp/~smsgkit/css-groupe.htm

Ah... and a hilarious Babblefish translation:

http://babelfish.altavista.com/babelfish/tr?doit=done&urltext- =http%3A%2F%2Fwww5.ocn.ne.jp%2F%7Esmsgkit%2Fcss-groupe.htm&lp- =ja_en

Bob

rsholland

a no-no, but I couldn't resist:

http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=5651- 838#post5651838

The Colorado state police have an STi state trooper car!

Bob

p0926

ateixeira

High speed pursuit vehicle? )

-juice

grahampeters

G'day

Sorry to say its for show only in Colorado

http://www.tripleplate.com/vbulletin/archive/index.php/t-7768

I hesitate to post a previous post from another board but the final posting gives the answer as

"I'm a Colorado State Trooper and i'll settle this debate.. The car is an actual State Patrol car however it was only used for the MS150 bike race. Every year they sponser a car and it gets our graphics, last year they used a Saturn, Once the race is over, the car goes away. There ya go!"

Now, if you want to see them really used, come down under where Subaru WRX and Forester GTs are routinely used as police pursuit vehicles and are really loved by the police for their performance and handling. The following page shows some of our local police cars

http://www.acay.com.au/~jbartok/vic.html

Cheers

Graham

lark6

The first car on that page (after the row of motorcycles) is the same as my hobby car, a 1963 Studebaker Lark sedan. No doubt the car pictured had a high-performance V8 rather than my car's sedate six, though.

Graham: I know Larks were run with some success in the Bathurst races in the early 1960s. Do you know of any resources (books, web sites etc.) where I may find more information about them? I am the editor of my regional Studebaker club's newsletter and I'm sure they would enjoy the information as well.

Thanks for the link!

Ed

rsholland

Thanks for the link!

Bob

ateixeira

OK, time to wake up the topic. Let's play arm chair quarter back and comment on each Chicago debut, shall we?

http://www.edmunds.com/news/autoshow/articles/101248/article.html

Jag XK-RS: looks good outside, nice rims, roll hoops, grill. Lose the ground effects, too high school. The interior is bizarre, note the dash is gone, replaced by an LCD in the center of the steering wheel. Dumb idea, it's farther from the road and there's much less space to display info. The shifter looks like an old Atari joystick that was chrome plated!

Kia KCV4 Mojave: a new low for ugly vehicles. Hideous. Tiny cab looks cartoonish, headlights are all wrong, and that C-pillar, yuck! The Sorento is actually attractive, what did they do to it? I hate the VW Beetle single circle dash, too, plus it's way too small. Why isn't the tailgate the same height as the sides? The step doesn't seem placed properly.

-juice

ateixeira

I like the V50 more than the S40. The S40 doesn't have enough rear head room, and the door isn't shaped well. The V50 fixes both problems. AWD on the R models only, interesting.

I guess the V50 will compete with the Legacy GT. 218hp and 60 in under 6.5 is pretty close to what the Subie will manage.

Really the wagons are a closer match. The Legacy GT sedan is a lot roomier than the S40, but the wagons are close, because the Volvo is more squared off.

I wonder how sporty these will be, and also how heavy.

-juice

ateixeira

I still don't like these. They look like very old designs with new styling cues sprinkled on. Seriously, I could see this being mistaken for a Toyota Crown, something like that.

Then again the new Rolls are even worse.

-juice