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Comments
You wrote, "So, from where I stand, either Kelley prices are still VERY generous, or else Portland dealers are bloodthirsty pirates." The two are not mutually exclusive.
I think one way to get an idea of the value of the car is to shop it around the used car dealers and find out what they will give you, and also to check comparable vehicles.
I happen to think that Kelley prices are very high, generally speaking. And while the two are not mutually exclusive,I'm sure Portland dealers are quite nice.
- Lou
Steve, Host
What are some things that I should look for?
Tire pressure should be? 32psi?
Any other things I should be on the lookout for during the PDI?
- Lou
Steve, Host
No, but she no doubt posted it in the other forum. I'll go there in a few minutes, but thanks for the highlights. If, as she says, the boost gauge doesn't block regardless of side, I guess I'd rather have it on the left. Sure wish I could quickly track down an XT in Portland that has it; there may still be time to instruct the port which side to position it.
"another person says that if you install it yourself, it will mount on either side."
It only appears to cost about $30 above the parts-dept cost of the gauge kit to have the port-of-entry install it. I'd rather if it gets screwed up, they do the screwing...
Thanks for the heads-up.
-jack
Jack, can I send my kids to oregon and let you haul them to a local school for a couple weeks? (they ultimately whined their way into my selling my eclipse convertible...too cramped and too windy in the back seat.)
Mark
I'm afraid they'll be very dull for quite a long time. I'm a fanatic about long, gentle break-ins. That means a minimum of 1,500 miles before I'll ever use anything close to full throttle, hard braking, or more than 4-5000 RPM. I only drive about 750 miles/month, so that's two months away. Until then I'll only be able to describe the ride, cornering, noise levels, and so forth. You'll undoubtedly get reports about the XT's performance much earlier from others.
"i will be wanting the same car, same color , even ,as jack has ordered."
Copycat! Can't you be original? (-;
"Jack, can I send my kids to oregon and let you haul them to a local school for a couple weeks? (they ultimately whined their way into my selling my eclipse convertible...too cramped and too windy in the back seat.)"
Depending on how far back the front seats are set, Foresters don't have any extra space in the rear - especially kneeroom. Have you taken your clan to a dealership and loaded them into one?
- jack
Thanks
Mike
Anyway lots of Subees in my family - this will be my first. My sister just had a problem ($$) with her Legacy Outback wagon (auto) tranny secondary to inequal tire pressures in all 4 tires. Or at least that's what she was told. I was surprised to hear about this. If true, how big of a problem is this & how does one avoid trouble (ie, how often to check tire pressure, how many psi off can one be, what's a good accurate tire gauge, how often to rotate tires, etc).
I've emailed a local dealer - even the owner directly - with this question/ concern - 3 times - and no reply. Is this a dirty little secret? Say it ain't so!
At a "pay one price - no negotiation" type dealer, the opposite may be true, you will pay a rasonable price on your new vehicle, but they will make it up on your trade. The overhead and profit have to come from somewhere. Caveat emptor!
At one "pay one price" dealer, trade-ins are typically bought at 30-40% less than they are sold for, with the dealer explaining that they are bought from you by the new car division and then sold to the used car division and each has to make a profit, plus there are fix-up costs before resale. At this particular dealer, the latter is true, they do replace worn brake pads and tires, etc. But they have to make 2 profits?
Everything was ready at the appointed time and everyone was extremely professional and courteous.
It drove even better than I had hoped for and the only preventing me from really testing it was the traffic I encountered on the drive back.
Oh well, I was relaxing to the soothing sounds of "Rythm of the Saints".
- Lou
- Lou, who knows what penultimate means cause there are a lot of vocabules in his vocabulary :)_
Mike - ask paisan. Maybe in the Subaru Crew - Modifications topic.
Steve: if the Accord has a limited slip differential or traction control, it would have the same problem. Different rolling circumference in modern cars with these features will be a problem.
-juice
This would be a good thing for Subaru to add.
Steve, Host
BTW: I'm swapping out the unit because the OEM CD player died. It was one year and three months old - bought new from the dealer when I purchased the used 1999 in early-2002. My dealer wouldn't fix/replace it under warranty (one year parts and labor only). They wanted $280 (and four weeks) to fix! The '02-'03 WRX units are going for under $150 on Ebay/I-Club.
Does anyone think I should pursue Subaru to get it fixed? I could probably file a claim with AMEX under their extended warranty program, but is it worth it?
Thanks,
burnsmr4
P.S. - Any way I can change my username to something else? I'm tired of this one, but I still want all my old messages.
-Bob
Steve, Host
Steve, Host
The Fram filters aren't so well thought of anymore.
Here's an interesting, if not completely scientific link...
http://www.frankhunt.com/FRANK/corvette/articles/oilfilterstudy/o- ilfilters.html
John
Ed
I've been using Purolator -- cheap, readily available and virtually identical to the OE version.
Ken
Get the 6CD. Don't hassle with getting yours fixed. Why? Because the 6CD costs about $140 nowadays on E-bay or Nasioc.com. Plus you get that back at resale, so it ends up free!
I have two cassette players collecting dust.
I got lucky on oil filters, found a clearance at Target when they stopped carrying them. Bought about a dozen Car & Driver filters, made by Champion Labs and rated highly in that study, for 25 cents each! I bought every one that fit all 3 cars we had at the time, wish there had been more! I have 5 left now.
-juice
I'm going to be buying an '04 Forester this summer with 5 spd MT. A Subaru salesman told me several years ago that the filter on Forester AT is in a different spot than the Forester MT. Is this so, and how difficult is it to get under the SUV to change the filter? Will the Forester have to be raised slightly, or can I shimmy under the undercarriage to change the filer. thx
They complained about the pedal going to the floor and lousy braking....
First off, I know there's nothing wrong with my brakes, they work fine, as does the anti-lock feature.
But tonight coming home I had to make a detour and part of that involved decelerating around a corner at about 30-40mph (gradual corner, I wasn't pushing it, but was braking steadily). This corner had a series of small potholes that caused a lot of wheel bounce and caused the brake pedal to go much lower than normal. It also caused the anti-lock's to kick in (I could feel the pedal pulsing at the same time). It was an interesting experience - for someone unsure of their brakes or how the anti-locks worked it would feel like a loss of braking.
I wonder if that's what they experienced?
Larry
Greg
Craig
congratulations on your new Forester. You can find a lot of useful information on Foresters and other Subarus at the Owners Club Subaru Crew thread here at Edmunds. Stop by, and please post some pix of your new Forester. I think you won't regret coming from Accord to Forester. We have both Forester S+ and Honda Accord EX wagon in my family, and I find Forester a lot more fun to drive.
--Kate
The dealer is also offering an interior protection package for $200. Guards against spills
and fading of interior surfaces for 5 years. Are these prices worth it?
Also, can I buy a cabin air filter and install it on an X model?
Please reply.
What kind of protectant should I use?
Thanks,
- Lou
P.S. At the subaru site, the rear differential protector is $105
As far as the cloth protectant, save yourself $195. Buy a can of Scotchguard or similar type spray that you'll find in any Wal-Mart or K-Mart and spray it on your carpet and upholstery. It's the same thing that the dealer will do. I'd do it every couple of years though.
Wife's '91 Grand Caravan has a mediocre ABS system. Anything that triggers the ABS (slick spot, bumps, etc) drops the brake pedal about halfway to the floor. Very disconcerting, especially for my wife. What's worse, the on-off cycle time of the ABS seems like at least 2 seconds between lock and release. I can pump brakes far faster than that. Newer ABS systems are better (including the system on our '97 Concorde), but I'd rather we hadn't ordered it on the van.
- jack
That price seems outrageous to me. The 2004 Forester Port Packages May 1 2003 list shows the differential protector installed price (part P3A) at $69 (dealer cost) and $105 (MSRP). A reasonable price to have the dealer install it is probably a bit above these numbers, but $395 sounds like highway robbery. I'd check with another dealer...
- jack
Thanks for the oil filter information. Looks like I'll stick with Purolator or the OEM, esp. if the OEM only costs me $4. I use a PureONE filter on my wife's '98 Volvo S70. No trouble yet from it, and it fit perfectly.
By the way, I'll be back when I read the 700+ messages I missed BEFORE I posted that oil filter question. Jeez...you guys talk to much and too fast. ;-)
Later,
burnsmr4
But the price? Outrageous! I could see $60 for the part and maybe 0.5hr for the labor, but when I bought mine at the same time I took delivery the dealer installed it at "cost", $58.00. The mechanic said that they do so many of them it rarely takes a half an hour.
If I were going to pay to have it done after I bought the car I would expect to pay the going rate plus labor - but still no more than $125.00 or so total.
But... since you just bought the thing you should feel free to let him know (nicely of course) that you're not thrilled with his pricing model and ask him if he'll reconsider. Especially if he'd like a happy customer.
Second the motion on the Scotchguard - used it and had great luck with it. But there's the caveat of making sure it agrees with your fabric in terms of colorfastness. Colorfastness - did I just mis-invent a word?
HTH
Larry
The auto does have a 2nd filter for the tranny itself, maybe that's what he meant?
Jim: I installed the diffy protector, $395 is OUTRAGEOUS. They should be scolded for even quoting that absurd price. It took me a couple of hours to install that plus the hitch, and I'm a novice at home with no lift!
2 hours labor is reasonable, maybe even just one hour. Even at $80 per hour your price quote is more than double. The part itself wholesales for about $70 IIRC, still nowhere close to $395.
-juice
HTH
Larry
Cabin air filter - according to the web site I looked at all the 03's have the spot for the cabin air filter. I'd check with your parts department. Filter costs in the $30-40 range depending. You do have to pull out the glove compartment however - 7 or 9 screws I think, and be sure to pull straight back as there are a couple of plastic inserts that fit in holes.
juice - bet you're right on with the transmission filter theory.
Larry
-juice
I got the protector at cost (or close to it) from Quality Subaru, back when they were still in business. I think you can get it for about $55-$58 from online dealers now.
bit
Like most Forester enthusiasts, I really had my heart set on the XT. (Again, thanks to the Subie forum) My wife and I decided this probably wouldn't be the most economic vehicle with a baby coming in Aug.
I did my 3-4 quotes through the internet and was able to get a price at $23,890.00 with the following options added: Popular Equipment Group 1D, Group 2, Premium Sound Package 2, air filter, and Armrest Extension.
We went back to our first dealer, who said over the phone she would be able to beat that price, to make the final purchase. When we got there, the car was parked right out front ready to go. (We pretended not to notice.)
After the test drive, we discovered that every option we asked for were not installed. In the end, the dealer was able to match our price (we were hoping to hit $23,000) with everything specified. (We thought this might be possible since the 04's were coming and most dealers had plenty of 03's in stock.)
Since they weren't able to beat our lowest price, (they actually wanted $26,000 and said our price was in the "negative") we were able to negotiate a free dinner and use of a loaner car upon installation of the remaining equipment. Finally, we decided this was fair enough.
We later decided to add window tinting and a 3m ClearShield protection film to the front. This added approx. $1000.00, which we paid in cash.
More to come on the overall driving experience. Anyone have any info to share on ClearShield/StoneGuard/etc.? Does it work?
-juice