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Comments
I now have my Forester!
I have a question about warranty service. Looking through my booklet when I got home from the dealer I noticed that only the mileage points for service are mentioned, unlike my previous Subarus where both mileage and number of months are given for each service checkpoint. Why is this? Have service requirements changed? I drive to few miles/year to go by mileage. For example, it would take me more than 2 years to get to 24,000km checkpoint(15,000miles?) Of course, the Forester is so much fun to drive that I might just exceed my usual annual milage.
-juice
-Colin
TWRX
1. Clutch disk
2. Flywheel
3. Throwout bearing
4. Pressure plate
5. Differential side bearings
6. All transmission gears
7. All transmission bearings
8. Main transmission shaft
9. Transmission synchros
Yesterday I went to pick the vehicle up from the dealership only to learn that there was still a problem. There has been an irregular whine at 45 mph that sounds like a bad bearing, but the dealer's mechanics simply can't track it down. The whine seems to turn on at around 40 mph and disappear at 50 mph, but is most audible at 45 mph, and it's pitch varies even when the vehicle speed remains the same. It's not engine related since you can disengage the engine and it will persist just as before.
So, the dealership is now contacting Subaru corporate. What would you ask for? How would you handle the situation?
-Ty
Dan
IMO your patience establishes a goodwill with the dealer, and hopefully to SoA as well. Maybe they'll get a master tech in there to help out. There's always a first time, though, for an odd or rare problem, yours may be it.
Document everything as best you can, keep a folder of records, even jot down notes about the converstations you had (date and time, with whom, etc).
It doesn't seem like you'll need it, given the dealer seems to be trying every possible way to solve the problem. But still.
-juice
Juice: Point well taken regarding documentation. The dealer has genuinely tried their best to resolve this, so I've been VERY understanding and pleasant about the whole issue. When Subaru corporate gets involved, what happens? The dealer's best mechanics are at a loss, so I seriously don't know what else they can do other than start replacing every moving part until the problem is fixed.
SoA can send a chief mechanic out to help them, or authorize bigger replacements (whole tranny, things like that). At the extreme, they might offer to replace the car or give you major incentives to get a new one.
I've seen it happen, and your case seems as justified as any to deserve that kind of help. We'll get Patti involved if it comes down to that.
-juice
Some questions answered here...
read my post on the first page (ColinL).
Abby, the girl I met about a month ago riding my motorcycle, isn't even mentioned there. I called her once and she never called back... later on I didn't call again because things were going nicely with Pattie (girl#1 in the nabisco thread linked above).
-Colin
Just got back from North Carolina, where I had to move my daughter out of her college apartment. To do so, we thought it best to rent a truck, rather than use my open trailer. As it turned out, this was a good move as I drove 450+ miles through the remnants of tropical storm Bill.
After visiting all the major truck rental sites on the Internet, we decided to go with Budget, as they had the best price. I wanted to go with Penske, because every Penske truck I've seen appeared to be brand new, and in very good shape. That can't be said of U-Haul or Budget. So the bottom line won out...or so we thought.
So I reserved this 10' Box van from Budget, to be picked up in Wilmington, NC on July 1, at 9:00 AM. We drive down to Wilmington, which is a 7-hour drive, spend the night in the motel, and in the morning head over to Budget rent a truck. Guess what? We get there, and they don't have any trucks for us!! I said we have a reservation, and I showed the guy my confirmation number for the reservation. The guy shrugs his shoulders, and says, sorry, I don't have a truck for you...
Well, at this point my wife was about to leap over the counter to strangle this guy. Here we are, 450 miles from home, we have to get a truck now, because the apartment lease is up... What do we do?
I quickly asked is there a Penske truck rental nearby? He said yes, just up the road, and: "Would you like me to call and see if they have a truck?" I said yes, and it turns out they didn't have a 10' truck, but they had a 15' truck. Even though this was a much larger truck than we needed, I said yes.
So we motor up to the Penske place, expecting to be gouged with a price. To our surprise, and to our favor the price they quoted was about half what the previous online Penske quote was. We were delighted, to say the least! It turns out, because I rented it on the first day of the month, rather than towards the end of the month, I was able to get such a good deal. The pricing on these rentals is dependent on supply and demand. Keep in mind apartment leases (which is what these vehicles mostly used for) usually end at the end of the month, therefore there is a huge demand for these vehicles towards the end of the month, not at the beginning of the month. We rented it on July 1.
The Truck
A late model GMC G3500 15,' dual-rear wheel, box van, with a 10,000 pound GVW. The "G" model signifies it has the cab from the full-size van, not pickup. As per my instincts, the truck was presented in excellent condition. It was an automatic, had A/C and radio, cloth reclining seats, and that's it. It also had a ramp to help load stuff, a real necessity!
The Drive
Well for someone who is used to driving an Explorer and 2 Subarus, it takes some getting used to, for sure. The GMC had ABS, but the brakes were lousy. Stopping distances were incredibly long, and the brake pedal pressure needed was substantial. I really was wondering if they were power brakes, because it sure didn't feel like power brakes. Passing was done with extreme caution, because you didn't have much power in reserve, and you had live (or die) by the outside mirrors.
Also, this truck had a fuel cutoff, that came into play whenever you tried to exceed 70 mph. At first I thought the truck had some bad gas, because it kept bucking, but I finally realized it only happened at 71 mph. The first tank I got around 11 mpg, which isn't bad considering the vehicle. I'm returning the truck tomorrow, so I will do one more fuel mileage check.
One side note: Coming up I-95, through Virginia, I had to stop and get the truck weighed (twice), just like all the big-rig truckers.
Bob
I've had the 'too bad about your reservation' from Budget as well a few years ago, just for a trailer. And when we went to Colorado for our honeymoon (wow, coming up on 4 years ago), I went with Budget since they had Outbacks. You guessed it, even though I had a reservation for one, they were out of the 'Outback or equivalent'. Got a 'free' upgrade. :rolleyes:
-Brian
-mike
Jon
-Dennis
Bob: you should write a letter to complain about that. They'll keep doing it as long as they can get away with it.
Thought for the day: is it Doolie, Dualie, or Dually? :-)
-juice
My favorite scene is when Charlie Sheen asks him to change his clothes and take off his ear ring, and Chris Tucker answers something like this:
I'll fix the hair and change the clothes, but I'm not losing the ear rings 'cause I'm still a PLAY-YAH!
I was ROTLMAO.
-juice
Best 'upgrade' I've ever gotten was from Hertz. In MA for a training gig - hauling boxes of materials, projector, multimedia equipment - I'd reserved a Taurus wagon. They were out so they gave me a Volvo XC. That's how I formed my opinion on the XC not being that much more bang for the buck than a standard Outback, much less an H6.
Ed
The styling is nice, it resembles the Expedition. The tall bed is a good idea, as is that mechanism to make the tail gate seem lighter. Baja needs that badly.
Throttle by wire on a live axle truck, whodda thunkit?
Ed: I was not impressed by my XC test drive either.
-juice
Bob
As for pricing, my guess is that you will be able to get an F-150 for less than a Titan. I think the Titan, because of manufacturing limitations, will command top dollar (like the Honda Pilot and Odyssey) for some time to come. Ford, with its huge production capacity and equally huge dealer network, will be discounting the F-150 shortly after its introduction, I bet.
Bob
Bob - have you been inside the new F series yet? Just curious, they've been fenced off at all the shows.
I think the Titan is a little over the edge in styling, some features seem a bit ridiculous (that huge chrome grille for one). The F series is far more subtle.
I don't disagree about pricing, look at the Sequoia compared to its bigger rivals.
-juice
Bob
I'm sure it will be a very popular truck, and it's clearly a notch or two above their current offerings.
Bob
Jim
Not sure if I posted this before...
Bob
http://www.carlynx.com/mak/sub.htm
Bob
Can't wait to hear paisan's comments! LOL
-juice
The STi brochure is pretty classy, with wiro-type binding. It also shows options such as the radio, speakers, tweeters, fog lights, center armrest extension, etc.
It's an interesting read...
Bob
Bob
Ken
-Colin
Bob
Bob
The level of prep I put into the car this time was unprecedented. The day before I put on the carbotech pads, cleaned the brake components (shot myself in the eye with cleaner and had to flush the socket for 10 minutes. Faulty nozzle), mounted my stock rims/Falken Azenis, and aired them up to 45/48. Packed gatorade and snacks, plus the helmets (dad came with me this time) and my numbers. All I had to do this morning was wake up at 6:00am and drive for 45 minutes.
The STi v5/H&R setup really shined too. I am much happier with this setup out there in extreme handling conditions than I was with the AGX/stock set up.
Sounds like a lot of fun Lucien-- other than the solvent in the eye bit. Glad nothing bad came of that! When you're getting faster every run that's a good sign that you know what to do but just need more practice. At this point in my life though, I don't really feel like practicing more...
You've just about convinced me to take the M3 out for another flogging. It's been brutally hot here though, maybe I can put off the urge until September or so.
I'll need new tires soon... 10k or so on them and because I can't rotate (different offset front & rear wheels) the back tires have probably 3 or 4 32nds left. Not sure how they're wearing out over 2x as fast as the front... hmm
-Colin
You are probably right about the agx/H&R, but KYB made very specific warnings about lowering springs and strut damage, and there seemed to be some variation about how low the H&Rs go. Plus I do think the slightly different spring perch on the fronts made the ol' Leg look a little funny.
They loved the Forester XT, did you read that short take? They much prefer it over the heavier and less fun Baja turbo.
C&D has the XT within 1/10ths of the Cayenne turbo to 60mph, and an exhaust alone would fix that.
-juice
TWRX
Sportshift would go a long way.
-juice
Jon
-Brian