Subaru Crew Cafe

1…4849515354…343

Comments

  • fibber2fibber2 Member Posts: 3,786
    MTD Corp. makes a two or three models of walk behind leaf vacuum/mulcher/chipper/bagger/blower. You change side shoots and internal 'cheese graters' to invoke the function you want. They sell them under the Yard Machines, Yard Man & White names at the garden centers, as well as a Craftsman variety at Sears.

    I have an older version (the previous generation design) that is absolutely priceless to me. Looks like a high deck lawn mower. Makes very quick work of a big job, having over an acre to deal with. I even added some 4" corrigated hose to the frame that shoots them over my fence and into the woods - sort of a 'leaf cannon'!!!!

    Steve
  • rshollandrsholland Member Posts: 19,788
    The only problems I have with the Expedition is, the size and fuel mileage. Although, the Monty's not a whole lot better. But yes, the Expedition is a legit 8-9 adult passenger vehicle.

    Bob
  • paisanpaisan Member Posts: 21,181
    Yeah it's all BS @ CR. Trust me if the Trooper was rollable, I certainly would have rolled it by now with my 1-2" lifted tires + 1.5" lifted suspension + my rather spirited driving :)

    My guess is that the Monty is as good or better handling than the Trooper :)

    The SUVs I'm looking at currently though if I had to replace the Trooper today include:

    Montero
    4-Runner
    Sorrento
    Used TLC
    4-door 2500HD Duramax Shortbed PU

    -mike
  • rshollandrsholland Member Posts: 19,788
    of your Trooper being lifted, etc.; because your tires are so much larger/wider than the stock tires, your vehicle may actually be more stable than a "stock" Trooper... Your "actual" height-to-width/track ratio may(?) be better than the stock version, and therefore be more roll-resistant.

    Bob
  • paisanpaisan Member Posts: 21,181
    True I went from 245-70-16 -> 275-70-16 on the same rims, but I ran the lift (@ 6K) with the stockers til 22K miles :)

    -mike
  • ateixeiraateixeira Member Posts: 72,587
    Steve: that could be used as a weapon! ;-)

    To qoute Will Smith, "I have GOT to get me one of these!"

    mike: you're probably right, but remember your Trooper was after the update where they widened the track and made some other subtle changes. Maybe those make a difference?

    -juice
  • rshollandrsholland Member Posts: 19,788
    I'm not sure that the Trooper ever got a wider track?

    Bob
  • ateixeiraateixeira Member Posts: 72,587
    I thought it did. Sort of a mid-cycle freshening, I forget what year. CR even noted it was updated and they had not tested the new one.

    -juice
  • p0926p0926 Member Posts: 4,423
    mike- While your style of driving may increase the odds of you encountering an emergency avoidance situation that could result in a rollover, it by no means guarantees that you will ever be in such a situation. In fact, I suspect that many drivers could go a lifetime and never encounter a potential rollover situation. Also, because you are a more experienced driver who is familiar with driving at the limits, you are less likely to place yourself in a situation where a rollover is a possibility. The same can't be said for a typical inattentive cell phone using soccer parent who suddenly encounters a ladder in the middle of the interstate has to swerve to miss it.

    -Frank P.
  • bluesubiebluesubie Member Posts: 3,497
    "...Also, because you are a more experienced driver who is familiar with driving at the limits, you are less likely to place yourself in a situation where a rollover is a possibility..."
    That's the thing. ANYone driving an SUV should know how it handles at the limits.

    Maybe we need a separate license for SUV's. The soccer mom's would be in a panic. :-)

    -Dennis
  • ateixeiraateixeira Member Posts: 72,587
    One of the Land Cruisers in my dad's old fleet rolled. It was involved in a multi-car collision, so all bets are off.

    -juice
  • paisanpaisan Member Posts: 21,181
    The changed the offset by ~2mm on 98->02 Other than that the trucks were the same mechanically.

    -mike
  • paisanpaisan Member Posts: 21,181
    I'm all for em. Less soccer moms with SUVs would be great!

    -mike
  • jfljfl Member Posts: 1,398
    I have thought of all the times when I was tired, preoccupied, eating, etc. while driving. (Aren't we all guilty of this at one time or another?)With all that, my worst accident happened when I was alert, not tailgating, and paying attention to the cars around me.

    Traffic around me was slowing, so I did too. Next thing I see, two cars ahead is someone crossing three lanes on the freeway, getting t-boned, and I end up the fourth car in a five car pile-up. The guy that got t-boned was also an innocent. Someone else, missing his exit, slammed on his brakes, made a "right turn" on the freeway to make his exit; causing the the t-bonee to brake and lose control.

    At least someone followed the guy and got his license number and returned to provide the information to the cops.

    All I'm saying is that it's not just the soccer parents. There are tons of people using cell phones, and not, that are a hazard.

    Jim
  • ateixeiraateixeira Member Posts: 72,587
    4mm more track is not a very significant change, then.

    -juice
  • lucien2lucien2 Member Posts: 2,984
    All hell is breaking loose over on i-club. I am having a hard time getting through the S/N ratio, mostly because I avoid Off Topic like the plague it usually is,but it seems there is a possibility that the future of the site may be in some doubt.
  • artgeckoartgecko Member Posts: 78
    Yea, I was reading that last night. Stayed up WAY too late. Basically, Nick took over the domain registration and kicked Alex out, i-Club #1 and all. Some say for the better, other for the worse.

    Steve
  • kenskens Member Posts: 5,869
    I just read about the fight at i-club. That would be a bummer if the club fell apart. I couldn't understand why Nick and Alex are at odds right now.

    Ken
  • lucien2lucien2 Member Posts: 2,984
    that is, what is the actual problem. Alex has threatened to pull the site down at 4:30pm PST. Hasn't happened yet though.
  • locke2clocke2c Member Posts: 5,038
    Ken,

    It's a long story. Very high level review:

    1. They disagree on vendor involvement and the commercial nature of the site. Alex doesn't care if he pisses off vendors and just wants an enthusiast site, Nick is looking for someone to pay the bills and values professional, businesslike conduct.

    2. The last straw was Alex's closing of OT for 24 hours a week ago Friday after some miscreants flooded OT with inane and inappropriate threads. Taking action was necessary. Discussing it the way Alex did on the homepage of iClub in a news thread was probably not necessary and certainly not very professional.

    3. Nick has been paying the bills for a while. He took up the original collection two years ago to buy the first server dedicated for iClub (impreza-rs.com at the time) after Pat Richard offered free bandwidth and server space on his infrastructure. (Yes, Pat the rally driver. He owns an internet security company.) Nick wanted control then, and he wanted it now too, kicking out Alex yesterday instead of patching up things again. Nick made a very big mistake in telling a disgruntled iClubber about the pending overthrow before he'd actually talked to Alex about it... it leaked out and things got very ugly.

    4. Alex apparently has taken ownership of the domains, so he could change IP address listed in the A record at any time, resulting in i-club.com answering to some other server or nothing at all.

    That's what I saw going back the last 3.5 years and participating in a few threads the last 24 hours.

    -Colin
  • lark6lark6 Member Posts: 2,565
    Guess this may be our only safe venue in the near future?

    I registered at rs25.com a while back but found it even less useful/higher S:N than i-club.

    Ed
  • kenskens Member Posts: 5,869
    Colin,

    Thanks for the synopsis. I see it's quite a complicated affair.

    While it is nice to see so many Subaru enthusiasts at one site, I do miss the quality of information at the old impreza-rs.com. It's a tough challenge most organizations face when they grow.

    It would be a shame to loose it all on account of two guys not getting along.

    Ken
  • paisanpaisan Member Posts: 21,181
    I'm on the inside track here. I was in AIM chats all day yesterday with Nick, and several other people high in I-club.


    I-club isn't going anywhere. It's going to be a domain change to www.nasioc.com


    Alex has been the absentee leader who comes in 1x a month and stirs the pot, then leaves nick holding the bag of problems (along with the rest of the moderators). All nick wanted to do was have alex not come in and mess up the place 1x a month but alex couldn't handle that.


    Anyway it will only make it a better place stick around and see. Nick will be running it more democratically rather than totalitarian than Alex did.


    -mike

    #197 + Tri-state Moderator

    http://www.nasioc.com

  • paisanpaisan Member Posts: 21,181
    In a few minutes.

    -mike
  • paisanpaisan Member Posts: 21,181
    Alex will be prosecuted under the full extent of the law on this. Since the domains are owned by Nick, and Alex illegally changed the DNS routing, i-club will be pressing charges and hopefully deporting Alex at the same time. (alex is an illegal alien apparently)

    -mike
  • paisanpaisan Member Posts: 21,181
    http://216.242.153.40/


    So you can get there temporarily.


    -mike

  • lucien2lucien2 Member Posts: 2,984
    we all got an email explaining the domain changes.
  • bluesubiebluesubie Member Posts: 3,497
    Thanks for the info mike and Colin.

    I didn't know too much about what was going on. There was a link to an OT thread in Tri-State that was removed. Usually, the only time I heard from Alex was when he was kicking people off the i-club for saying that it was going downhill.

    The best thing about the i-club is that excellent vBulletin search function!

    -Dennis
  • paisanpaisan Member Posts: 21,181
    I didn't get an e-mail cause I was talking to nick directly I guess!


    http://www.nasioc.com is up and running as of now! :)


    -mike

  • ateixeiraateixeira Member Posts: 72,587
    I got that e-mail too. Too bad about the politics. Alex did seem to anger lots of folks.

    That's what I like about Edmunds, very no-nonsense. I joke about being a Community Leader and not getting paid, but to be honest, if that keeps the Subaru Crew going I'd rather have it that way.

    Sheesh. Save the drama for daytime television.

    -juice
  • paisanpaisan Member Posts: 21,181
    But the subaru crew over here doesn't have >15k-20k users. The group on here is about the size of I-club when it was first started. Heck I've been there since near the beginning and I'm #197 which is almost 200. Things are much more difficult with that size group.

    -mike
  • kenskens Member Posts: 5,869
    mike -- thanks for the IP address. I'll have to reset my favorites.

    While Edmund's is nice, there are a lot of items that I rely on i-club for including the search function. I need both. :-)

    Ken
  • ateixeiraateixeira Member Posts: 72,587
    But mike, that is EXACTLY why I like it better here. It's still a small, tight-nit group with very little immature behavior, and mostly "regulars" that truly contribute.

    While I use i-Club as a source to do research, Edmunds is far better to post/chat.

    -juice
  • paisanpaisan Member Posts: 21,181
    They are both excellent resources IMHO and I-club has more people who are local to you. I whore around so, I like both :)

    -mike
  • ateixeiraateixeira Member Posts: 72,587
    Guess I missed this before, but here is Edmunds coverage of SEMA:


    http://www.edmunds.com/news/autoshows/articles/77827/article.html


    Of course I can't miss commenting on each car, so here goes:


    Cadillac DTS Icon: c'mon, this is so old school Cadillac. Slamming a full-size FWD luxury car? They need a RWD platform badly. This is embarassing.


    Escalada ESV Platinum: Mr. Puff Diddly (or whatever his name is this week) has a new ride.


    Escalade EXTm: now here are a couple of ideas. The sliding floor is a Saab idea, but I like it. Avalanche should get this too. Heck, Baja should get it. It also gets a power tonneau cover. The one on the Avalanche is a pain, and you have to store it. Baja doesn't even have one. This has potential if it's cheap, light, and doesn't take up too much space.


    What do you think, Bob? Do you like the sliding cargo floor idea?


    -juice

  • ateixeiraateixeira Member Posts: 72,587
    Silverado SS: are those tailpipes in front? LOL, that's what they look like. I don't like the flared nostrils on the front either, the old front-end was better. I do like the monochrome look and the 6 speed, but puh-leeze, a BENCH seat in a muscle truck?

    PT Big Sky: lose the chrome, keep the painted bumpers (which all PTs should have), and offer that sky panel as an option. Question: is that technology borrowed from the M Class? Looks familiar.

    PT Super Cruiser: what an awful spoiler choice. It looks like a 12 year old crazy glued it one. How 'bout something that at least matches the contours of the body? The hood scoop looks silly, too, and hurts visibility.

    -juice
  • ateixeiraateixeira Member Posts: 72,587
    Stratus: how many Stratus owners would even bother? Dodge can't just expect people to want to slam their boring sedan. The wing looks ridiculous and the 240hp would be no big deal, literally.

    Accord Concept: aren't sporty models supposed to have painted rocker panels, monochrome to visually lower the car? This one has the opposite. Remember the beaterz.com motto: yellow = fast. 300hp from intake/exhaust mods? It's irresonsible to even make that claim. The Weapon-R intake salesman are going to have a ball with that reference. The LSD is a good idea, so is the 3 spoke steering wheel. 6 speed paddle shifted auto is cool, too, but wrap it in a less ridiculous package.

    Ion EFX: hardly worth mention. The Lancer OZ Rally finally has competition in the pretender sweepstakes.

    -juice
  • rshollandrsholland Member Posts: 19,788
    Several European companies have this feature. I believe BMW has it on their wagons. I think it's a good idea. it should make loading/unloading easier.

    I'd like to see pickups come with a "factory" dump feature. I was a the landfill the other day, and someone came in with a Ram, and it had an aftermarket hydraulic dump feature, so that the whole bed (fenders and all) tipped, just like a dump truck. That's a great idea!

    I liked that Accord concept.

    Bob
  • ateixeiraateixeira Member Posts: 72,587
    Yeah, it would be just the thing that the Baja might have to stand out from the crowd. Being car-like apparently isn't enough, given the November sales figures.

    The dump feature would be good for heavy duty pickups, maybe. F250s, stuff like that.

    Honda should offer the LSD and realistically 260hp in an Accord coupe. It's already getting a 6 speed manual, so a 6 speed auto would be cool.

    -juice
  • lark6lark6 Member Posts: 2,565
    I logged in there this morning using my existing i-club user ID and password and it remembered my profile. Pretty seamless transition from this side. Still similar S:N ratio but nice that it's still there.

    Ed
  • kenskens Member Posts: 5,869
    Same here. Everything seems to have been carried over with no major issues.

    Ken
  • kenskens Member Posts: 5,869
    Saw my first Kia Sorento in person this morning while getting coffee. I must say, it looks very good. Kia did a great job. They've successfully blended styling cues from the MDX, Lexus and Mercedez SUVs. It doesn't stand out in particular, but has a distinct look to it.

    On another note, I've seen quite a few Mitsubishi Lancers especially with the OZ Rally trim. Does anyone know why these vehicles seem to be popular?

    Ken
  • oregonboyoregonboy Member Posts: 1,650
    The Lancer is relatively cheap and (was/is?)heavily promoted: "Zero Down, Zero Interest, Zero Payments for the first year". Zero interest perfectly describes my attitude towards the USA version of the Lancer.

    I used to really like Mitsubishi products, ie: Galant VR4, Mirage Turbo. They were leading edge in high-tech performance. Now they seem to be the Japanese Pontiac. Somebody please shoot the guy that designed the nose on the new small Mitsu-Ute. (The son-of-Aztek).

    -james
  • ateixeiraateixeira Member Posts: 72,587
    Sorento sort of looks like the RX300, I say. Except it's a true truck.

    I've seen a few scathing reviews for the Lancer. We're gonna drive an Outlander one of these days, the wife got some test drive offer for a freebie of some kind. With 140hp, though, it only threatens the RAV4.

    Maybe it'll go with our BMW folding glasses and blanket. ;-)

    -juice
  • lark6lark6 Member Posts: 2,565
    Does anyone besides me see the slight irony in the Mitsu "Zero/Zero/Zero" promotion? I'm just saying.

    I drove a rental Lancer back in July, reviewed it here. Felt cheap but handled pretty well for a small FWDer.

    Ed
  • ateixeiraateixeira Member Posts: 72,587
    That's the problem - they have to give those away. Huge incentives like that erode resale value.

    Mitsu is slowly becoming just another division of Chrysler. Note how far down hill their reliability ratings have gone in the past decade.

    BTW, did you notice that the Santa Fe and Sonata scored "better than average" in CR? Not only that, every other Hyundai and Kia rated scored at least average. No more lemons, perhaps?

    We knew the Koreans were improving, it's finally starting to be reflected in the long-term surveys.

    That Sorento doesn't look half bad.

    -juice
  • ateixeiraateixeira Member Posts: 72,587
    RSX FP: Factory Performance sounds appealing, and is, until you see the price tag. $4800 for rims and springs? OK, and the body kit, but this it still about twice the price it should be. Shame, because I really like it, it makes an otherwise boring RSX look very sporty. Still, bring over the Type R instead. Substance over style.

    Ram Hemi: your truck has arrived, Bob. ;-) Ford has really been left behind in terms of power, the 5.4l is weak compared to what GM and Dodge offer.

    Focus Euro: why bring just the look of the ST170 when you could bring the real thing? I guess Peugoet is winning the WRC, so Ford lost interest. And that color should be called "Construction Orange".

    -juice
  • ateixeiraateixeira Member Posts: 72,587
    SVT Cobra: I heard Ford stopped production yet again with more quality problems. The wheels look like M3 rip-offs, down to the twin spokes and the color.

    MazdaSpeed: they aped the STi spoiler for this one. They don't compete in WRC, though. Yet another dark silver wheel, which I like. Too bad it's 170hp and 450 watts, and not the other way around. :o)

    Bonny GXP: they must've saved 400 lbs by removing all the cladding. Who knew it was actually a handsome sedan under all that? But it's still FWD, and a V8 only makes it even more nose-heavy. Bring on the GTO.

    -juice
  • rshollandrsholland Member Posts: 19,788
    << Ram Hemi: your truck has arrived, Bob. ;-) >>

    That is nice. I love the interior, engine, but have trouble getting used to the Peterbilt front end... Plus, no-full-time 4WD yet. It's offered on the Dakota, but not the Ram. :(

    Bob
  • ffsteveffsteve Member Posts: 243
    Lark - I see it.

    s
Sign In or Register to comment.

Helpful Tools

Most popular vehicles

Your Privacy

By accessing this website, you acknowledge that Edmunds and its third party business partners may use cookies, pixels, and similar technologies to collect information about you and your interactions with the website as described in our Privacy Statement, and you agree that your use of the website is subject to our Visitor Agreement.