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Comments
Dzartman: Where in E. Oregon is your dad? My wife grew up in Baker, before they upscaled it to Baker City.
And to those who have not yet had the pleasure of dealing with Darlene @ qsubaru, you are in for a treat... ordered the bike rack via e-mail, and what a pleasant experience! We are truly fortunate to have her here with us.(See Darlene blush).
Cheers!
Paul
just a short note regarding the OB's Firestone tires, they may be affected. Have a look at this: http://www.speedvision.com/pub/articles/automotive/01CNews/000805a.html
Drew
I met Juice at 8:30 and we arrived at the site shortly after 9:00. Registration was a breeze .. and then it was off to play.
Five separate courses were set up. One each for the SUV's, Performance Lux, Family Sedans, Econo's and Mini Vans. We didn't bother with the last two. Each had an acceleration, cornering (thru cones), ride quality (over a series of bumps), and braking section. The SUV course had the added attraction of an "Off Road" area. While I can't say that you were encouraged to push the vehicles to the max., we did and were not discouraged from doing so. (Personal note .. I would never buy a used car after what I saw, and for that matter did, today)
First stop .. the SUV's. Unfortunately, the Escape was removed from the show (presumably due to the steering wheel coming off problem)so that was a little bad news. We both really wanted to get a chance to drive one.
We drove (as a team, swapping drivers after each lap) the 4Runner, CRV, Grand Vitara, RAV4, Forester, Extiera (sp?), and Durango. (Juice will probably tell some ridiculous story about my crazy driving .. take it with a grain of salt)
My decision to buy the Forester was reinforced by the experience. Of the small SUV's, it is the best handling, fastest, and was the only one that didn't scrape bottom on the "off road" section of the course. Surprise of the day was the Grand V. Given it's truck-like construction, it handled quite well. Better than the CRV and RAV4.
I'll leave the balance of the story to Juice, who also has some photo's of the event. All in all it was a FUN DAY! If you had more fun than this it would be illegal.
- hutch
Bob
Dave
I posted a very detailed report on my test drive of the Aztek at Pontiac Aztek thread here at edmunds.com. If you don't hear from me anymore, it means the Aztek's fans got to me.
P.S. Pontiac dealership was totally completely deserted when I stopped there at 2pm on Sat! And the salesman was offering me discount after discount on the Aztek (they had 2 on the lot).
1. as a american version of the crv, it doesnt ride any better and is worse off road (if thats possible).
2. interior quality is on par with, well, other fords
3. so-so wannabe crv/xterra styling is ho-hum
an suv with no s-u-v capabilities...hmmm, interesting idea...
i like the interior design and i am in line w/ the rest of you that ford's network may sell alot- but for nearly the same you can get a base explorer- ford makes great trucks (F-series) too bad the escape isnt a truck. the escape doesnt have the wow factor(xterra- great truck by the way!:)) to bring em in or the logic factor(forester). Honda and toyota already made its $ off the car-like suv formula and the market is already swinging away from suv's to more on-road packaging (PT cruiser, Aztec-ugly, pleathora of rugged wagons, bmw x5,etc).
say what you will against the forester but it has this going for it:
1. unique (in a sea of homogenity, this is vip)
2. cool factor is very high
3. reliable and (reasonably) powerful
4. excellent package layout
5. wont be yesterdays news in 6 years
someone said the forester is an older design so allowances should be made. but i like the forester on the OVERALL worthyness. in fact, who cares about several hp difference or 1-2 mpg? real world ability is what i crave!
if you want unibody, 4 wheel independent, gobs of room and on-road performance- and the rugged looks than i cant think of any other vehicle than the forester. well, i am sweet on the volvo XC but thats in a diff. price class.
My curiosity is far outweighed by disgust so I won't be doing my own testing anytime soon.
-Colin
Stephen
I always wondered what the motivation for the forester was and, as I recall, so did the press at the time. "It is a trumped up collection of impreza and OB bits..." yadd yadda. True, true, all true. And yet....the Forester is pretty cool, and I think that is because people looking for sport-cute size and shape appreciate the fact the ain't going off road and the Forester plain handles better as a result of it's ride height and stance. Personally I chose the OB, but the Forester will continue to appeal to the same deviant demographic Soob has always appealed to
FWIW, our '91 Explorer (2 door sport, 2WD, 5 Speed) has 120K on it and has needed about $1000 of work, all after 95K. holding up pretty well. It is the wife's. She says she wants to replace it with.................................................... a FORESTER! ack. "hey honey, look at this nice Impreza turbo."
Jim Dunne: 0
Wheel debate:
I seem to remember Car and driver doing a test that showed the greatest benefit to be gained was from a Plus One. The plus two rendered only marginal performance gains over plus one with a ride penalty, and plus three blew chunks- unsprung weight and high rolling resistance became big detractors. Juice, do you recall this test? Must have been a couple years ago. the test car was a stock 528, I think.
O.k., I will now yield bandwidth to what I am sure will be a Magnum Opus about Edmunds Live, including completely accurate reviews of hutch's driving, from the one person around here who seemingly has no job other than to post on this forum, if you know what I mean and I think you do... ;-)
And as usual I like to throw in a few URLs so that Subie owners might spice up their cool cars with killah Subaru stuff. What can I say. I'm young, bored and worth eighty million.
http://www.cobbtuning.com
http://autocaresubaru.com
http://www.writerguy.com/primitive
I had an American (North of Seattle so almost Canadian) friend years ago who claimed he took most folks as he found them but "Southern Californians (read LA) have to prove themselves first!". Australians feel much the same about Sydney. This is a view reinforced by the Olympics which has been one long catalogue of peculiarities from the site selection (on very polluted former factory sites) onward. Please don't judge Australia on the Olympics; you will get to see the flashy bits on TV but take it from me; if you judged the States on LA or NY no sane person would ever visit.
Guttermouth is right about the food which we are pretty good at. Mind you, I've not found a Jambalya or Po'boy (check my spelling?) I fancy outside New Orleans. The real joy of Australia is in the travelling and the different country and people and sites you see as you go. This is one of the big attractions of an Outback as the more secluded areas, whilst accessible in most 2wd's are a whole lot more reachable with the ground clearance and AWD of a Subaru. Yesterday, I took my mother in law back to Geelong, about 45 miles from Melbourne. We lunched on a pier with yachts sailing around us then meandered around the coast to a wildlife refuge where we slipped and slithered to the seaweed covered beach. A mass of wildlife confronted us with pelicans, gulls, terns, cormorants, a heron of some sort and other birds. I got out of my Outback at the office today and noticed the shellgrit from the beach on the guards and the floor mats. Can you think of many cars you'd want to trail down the beach and stil feel happy about parking in the city?
Cheers
Graham
Now I subscribe to Motor Trend, Autoweek and Car&Driver, I'll be going to Edmunds Live on 09/17, I carefully wash and wax cars myself, and can even tell what LSD stands for (in addition to a name for controlled substance). I pay attention to handling and riding. I go every weekend to "harass" yet another dealer, getting yet another vehicle to test-drive... soon they'll have my picture posted everywhere with a sign "Do Not Let Her In!". And I'm not old enough to have a mid-life crisis yet (or so I think)!
Anyway, this is my take on Escape vs Forester discussion:
I tried to get to test-drive the Escape this weekend, but none of the Escapes at the local
Ford dealership is allowed to be driven. The salesman did not tell me specifically why, but
there was a couple of serious problems reported
recently: one with steering column, and another
with a throttle, see more at
Escape on Hold
However, I was allowed to sit inside the Escape. I
think, interior in general is OK, but what are
those "skirts" (made from a thin plastic)
underneath the seats? Not only they are flimsy, I
also almost cut my hand on the unfinished sharp
edge of this "skirt" when trying to move the
driver's seat closer.
I personally find interior of the Forester a bit
more "sophisticated" and more "finished" looking,
but let's face it, all cars in this price category
have rather cheap interiors. In my subjective view, I'd rate interiors in this category: Forester > CR-V > Escape > RAV-4. Outside of this category, my personal SUV interior favorite is new Pathfinder and old (95-97) Grand Cherokee.
Back seat room is definitely larger than in
Forester. Back seats can recline, which is nice (I
miss this feature on Forester'01, it used to be on
older Foresters). However, because of this recline
feature, the bar for cargo cover is placed almost in the center of the cargo space, and looks odd.
The cargo space is good, but it did not look that
much bigger than Forester's. I did not do any
measurements, it was just a subjective visual
perception, maybe because the cargo cover bar was visually "splitting" the space.
In terms of a back seat space, Escape is definitely a winner. Back seat space on Forester is tight. I myself almost bought the CR-V because of that.
The exterior looks... oh such a subjective topic. I basically like the Escape's styling, but not to the point of drooling over it (ditto about the
Forester). My personal favorite in SUV styling is
Grand Cherokee Laredo (not Limited) 95-97, BEFORE
restyling in 1998. After restyling, I hate JGC and
call its looks "pregnant with minivan". Overall I think the Escape's styling is better than CR-V and RAV-4, but close call with the Forester. Escape is more "truckish" and rugged but too bland and too much like every other SUV on the road. The Forester is more elegant and unique, but looks less rugged and more wagon-ish because of the lower stance.
I noticed that the Escapes on the lot had truck
tires with tall walls, on 15' rims: would not it cause a lot of noise and not-so-good handling on the road?
Cannot wait to test-drive one.
Bob
Graham, no need to apologize about Sydney because it was really great just like the other places I've visited. My family and I stayed at Darling Harbour and it was magnificent. It really seemed like I was in Disneyland there because of all the bright lights and great designs of the buildings on the harbour. To link this back to the automotive world, I went go karting in Blacktown which is a Suburb. They let me hire a 9 hp kart for 30 minutes and it was great fun. I don't know which is more fun though, driving a BMW 325i or a go kart. I haven't driven a Subaru, but I'm looking for one so maybe it could be more fun than the go kart. You also went to Geelong? Man, I can't believe you. I went to Geelong during my stay in Melbourne. We went for wine tasting and lunch. It might also interest you that we went to a "Footy" match as you call it. It was North Melbourne vs Melbourne, and what a game. I'm surprised that the game isn't more popular! It has everything good about American sports combined in one great package. Speed, Roughness, and Tactics. It's also fun how much the fans get into the game and even while I was scarfing down my Four 'N Twenty Meatpie I got really into the game as well.
I've been to Jeep101, where you can try all the Jeeps on a pretty rough offroad course (including a straddle-a-pit-on-two-logs, and a foot-deep pothole section), but unfortunately there is a 'chaperone' in the car with you (NOT a salesperson, just some very bored looking 20-something).
I've also been to the GM Autoshow in Motion where you can test all GMs and lots of other brands, without anybody in the car! What a blast, tearing through a coned course, screeching around turns, slamming on the brakes, in a Suburban! heheh! Okay, so I don't always test drive cars that I would consider buying...but what fun! Both are free.
Anyhow, I think I'll go to the Sep 17th SF show (actually in Albany...not even on the same side of the Bay as SF!) if I can get that freedom of no-chaperone-in-car, and if it isn't too crowded.
BTW, I recommend Jeep101 if it comes your way. I recommend the GM Autoshow if you can go on a weekday or EARLY on a weekend. It gets PACKED...the San Jose, CA show anyways.
Dave
- hutch
On that April trip on the Mendocino coast, we did 34 miles of poorly maintained dirt road, almost every bit of it requiring the high ground clearance. AWD was only needed in a few steep parts, but was definitely needed to shove through some 50+ foot long puddles. We were pretty gung-ho and darn lucky --We did not check puddle depth --we said "looks okay" and gunned through. The mud in that area was high in clay content, so it stuck to the bottom of the car and dried. I spent an hour water-jetting the dirt off the car, then another hour jetting the goopy 1" layer of dirt off the driveway, then, because I had filled up the street's gutter with so much dirt, I had to shovel that into a bucket and carry it off. I carried away 6 GALLONS of dirt...and that really wasn't all of it! We also high-centered once when straddling a deep, wide rut. One of the back wheels slipped down into the rut and we were resting on the just-installed differential protector (yay!). I simply kept going --the front wheels dragged the back up and out, with the protector temporarily acting like a little sled.
Also just got back from some offroading in the Lake Tahoe area. Found a lake that was only accessible by AWD. We were the only wagon amongst 5 SUVs. Also did a 2 mile stretch of rocky, steep uphill, definitely utilizing both the AWD and high ground clearance...and the cabin air filter --the roads were dusty!
I firmly agree --everybody should do some offroad in their Subies. Sadly, only 1 in 25 SUVs is EVER taken offroad (For Jeeps, it is still a lousy 1 in 12). Don't be a poseur --use the capabilities of your Subaru! You paid for those features after all
Dave
Also, if you are ever in this area, I recommend Zachary's pizza (the deep-dish variety -- I have never tried their thin-crust, in fact). It is not exactly the same as a Chicago deep-dish pizza, being more "calzone"-ish somehow, but it is worth the time and effort.
There are only two Zachary's stores, one in north Berkeley (near Albany and Kensington) on Solano Ave, and one on College Ave at the Berkeley/Oakland border. Both of them tend to be packed -- I usually just call in an order and pick one up to take home. Even that can take a lot of effort: the phone tends to be busy with all the other people doing the same thing I am doing. :-)
(The only on-topic bit here is the mountains, and maybe hauling your scuba gear out to the beach. Note: coastal CA water is chilly, so you need the thick wet suits.)
Chris
Herb: get the bigger Outback, since yours isn't really a small family. Put the dog in a harness and secure him. Only the Outback offers the built-in child seat, another reason to choose it.
Kate: LOVED the minivan dipped in plastic review. Please, share other creative writing with us!
To Forester or not to Forester? To me it was simple. It's the lightest wagon with the 2.5l engine. The short wheel base also makes it more fun and tossable. Of course, that matters more to me than to others.
Lucien: I vaguely recall that wheel/tire test. This is why I did a Plus One, and not an overkill application like those slammed Civics with 17" wheels and cut springs.
Hutch is a wild man. WILD! I wouldn't describe our driving as "legal" either! I took each course easy the first time to familiarize myself. He, well, didn't. I was the geezer!
I drove first, in a 4Runner, nice and smooth. Then we swapped, and Hutch became - THECAT! He was ALL OUT, ALL THE TIME! Get those silly cones out of my way, I tell you! They were merely suggested paths!
When he came to a full stop, I had to check my pants. We seriously thought I had lost it, only later we found that smell was the tires!
The Edmunds guys were true car guys - they told us to give it all we got, and even gave hints on certain models (trac off on the IS300).
My mini-reviews will follow in a seperate post.
-juice
PS I learned two important lessons: don't let a bias keep you from testing a certain vehicle, we both picked the Grand Vitara as our 2nd favorite SUV. The 2nd? Well, I'll never let thecat drive my Forester, that's for sure!
STRONGLY recommend it to everyone, if for no other
reason than to satisfy your curiosity, and for the
chance to autoX cars for free. I simply could not
believe how unrestricted the test drives were -
SWEET!
All models were automatic, but that was OK. I
drove all the small SUVs, a few bigger ones, most
mid size sedans, and a few sport/luxury sedans. I
went with Hutch, and we drove ALL OUT, even
knocking a few cones and nearly spinning out a few
times.
The course included a short acceleration test (to
about 40mph), then some turns, then a slalom with 6 or so cones, more turns, then an off road section.
Next came a bumpy section to test the ride, and
last was the brake test.
Quick impressions:
4Runner: too heavy to be fast or to handle.
Almost felt silly to push it on slalom. Hutch
actually scared the wits out of me by taking it
hard. Walked through the off road section. Ride was OK, braking OK too.
RAV4: poor power, tires ruin handling, great on
short off road course (I was surprised), though still could use more torque. Stiff ride but good brakes. Narrow cockpit.
CR-V: slow off the line with auto, tall tires
leaned onto sidewalls on slalom. Suspension
bottomed out on the off road section, and we
scraped bottom and wanted more torque to climb the
steepest hill. Great ride, good brakes stopped
straight.
Grand Vitara: surprised both of us in every test.
Good torque off the line, excellent in slalom
(and this is a truck?), must be the tires and RWD. Surprise again, it was LOUSY off road, bottoming out repeatedly, and trade-off for the handling was a stiff ride. Brakes locked up severely, despite ABS. Cockpit is very narrow.
XTerra: good torque down low but runs out of
steam. Worst handling of all SUVs, tires howl in
protest of anything resembling speed. FANTASTIC
off road. Good torque to climb. Ride is also
poor, brakes OK.
Forester: 2nd best time in acceleration (only
5.9l Durango beat it). By a wide margin the best
handler and quickest slalom, you could drift all
four wheels - YIPEE! Hutch hit bottom twice (roots were sticking up, so it was more like tapping), but my 2nd run we managed to pass slowly without touching at all (without a passenger, though, he was taking photos), and the torque was good for climbing. The ride was OK. Best brakes period.
Durango: great torque gave it the best
acceleration. Surprisingly, slalom was actually
pretty good (!). Good off road. Very stiff ride. Terrible brakes did not stop short or straight.
Keep in mind these are test fleet, and my personal
subjective ratings (though we seemed to agree on most everything).
Conclusion: I absolutely, positively have no
regrets in choosing the Forester. Heck, it even
did well off road on a course far more demanding
than I'd ever require. This was actually a 2000
Forester S, though that does have the phase II
engine and the rear LSD. It was not a 2001.
We also drove these sedans:
Intrigue: hard seats, not very memorable.
Camry: what an ENGINE. I was surprised at how
much I like it. Drew says the H6 feels like this - if so you will NOT be dissappointed.
Maxima: great engine and handling. Cool Bose stereo. Art-deco interior a bit overdone. Ugly styling still bothers me.
Passat: that V6 is LAME! Leather seats are rock
hard. I actually prefer the 1.8T 5 speed with
cloth by far. Also a bit soft. Major
disappointment, given all the great press. 4Motion would be slower still.
Catera: slow, and is this RWD?
BMW 323i: my pre-visit favorite disappointed.
Too soft, too slow. Great automanual, though.
Lexus IS300: pack light and buy this car.
Freaking awesome! OK, styling is infantile in some places (dash, tail lights from a teenager's
slammed Civic), but it was the fastest and the best handling, though you could barely tell it was RWD. Did not like the shifter, which would not manually go down to 1st gear. Still, sweet!
Sorry for the long post, I just had to share the
experience. You MUST go!
-juice
Great review! I'm psyched to go this weekend in the Bay Area!
I thought you had to stick to the "class" of vehicles you signed up for. Sounds like you were able to test a whole bunch!
I'll let you know if the Escape made it back for the Bay Area event.
Ken
One conclusion: never underestimate the importance of good tires. The Grand Vitara easily bested car-based utes like the RAV4 and CR-V in handling. Go for the S model Forester if you value performance on pavement.
Another: in off-road tests, driven slowly and carefully, they all made it through. Torque seemed to matter the most, more than measured clearance or tires, surprisingly. Only driver skill was more important.
Someone actually managed to get a Rodeo stuck! Cracked me up, a REAL SUV, truck-based no less, with low range, light truck tires and all. And our Forester drove right through all day long!
So much for the old "but it's a wagon" argument.
Now, with that in mind, the Escape comes with either 225/70R15 (two kinds, BSW and OWL) or 235/70R16 OWL tires, both high profile tires. I imagine it would pretty much stink in the slalom, given the CR-V and XTerra performances. We'll have to wait and see, but it's food for thought.
-juice
Unfortunately, we just got back from vacation, and I had a whole slew of "honey-do" issues to deal with.
Bob
wasn't the Aztek present at Edmunds Live? Or was it competing with minivans not SUV? The only other reason I can think of is that you were afraid to be seen in it ;-)
Thanks for the reviews, Juice! Sounds like it wasn't so busy that you couldn't try everything you wanted to? I'm goin' for all the SUVs & Near-Luxury sedans that I can get my paws on.
Keep an eye out for GM's Autoshow in Motion. As I mentioned earlier, they have lots o' competitor's cars (even Mercedes, Corvette, Accord...*actual* competitors), no salespeople on board, you can drive hard, its free, and I just remembered: they had free lunch! I got to drive the EV1 also! What a hoot. Very very fast off the line --electric motors can deliver >80% of full torque from stop! Mundane handling though.
Afterwards I got two coupons in the mail for $25 Arco PumpPasses if I went for a test drive in any GM. I went to the local dealer and said "I'm not ready to buy yet, but can you validate these?" and he said, "sure! come back when you're ready to buy". I love a bargain!
IMHO, the GM Show is a BIG mistake. It succeeded in really accentuating the fact that other companies have better and/or nicer looking cars than GM! I drove a big Cadillac El Dorado for kicks. The interior had some of the lousiest-looking fake wood trim I've ever seen. This in a 'luxury' car. Sheesh. Drove like a boat, too, of course.
Dave C (gotta start distinguishing)
I'm going to visit again, this time as a 'tourist' with a license and a few more $$ than I had back then so I can rent an Outback and really see more 'stuff'. The cities are not that interesting to me. The funnest thing I did out there was when we went camping for a week. I woke up one morning , peeked out of my tent, and discovered a kangaroo staring at me! A few of us got up and chased it around for awhile. Sounds mean, but really it was getting away from us without even trying...coupla hops and it was suddenly 100 feet away.
Oops, off-topic, huh? Anyhow, I'd love to tour Australia in a Subie.
Dave C.
Maybe they'll have the Escape back in action by then.
Dave Z
I am surprised by your sedan assessment,though.
* What did you think of the Camry's handling? (I've found it to be a very detached, isolated ride, with not much road feel.)
* Did you get a chance to do some hard cornering in the Maxima? I found that it would hop like a bunny rabbit if you encounter any kind of bumps in long sweepers (probably because of the lack of an independent rear suspension, IMO).
* I'm also surprised that you found the BMW to be "too soft, too slow". It's no speed merchant, but I found it to be reasonably perky, and certainly very responsive; and I thought the handling was exceptional.
Interesting food for thought, anyway, even if opinions differ...
Randy
Bitman
The Aztec was also MIA. I imagine it would have done very poorly in the road tests (it's a van) and off road, since there is no 4WD/AWD yet. Pontiac is better off keeping it in a showroom and showing off the ugly mask, OOPS, I mean tent.
Bitman: time to share a photo!
GM Autoshow sounds fun. I like car shows, but being able to drive makes all the difference. Hey, GM owns part of Subaru, I wonder if they'll have the Legacy and WRX next time?
Here's a *critical* tip: go EARLY! They were supposed to open at 9am, but at 8:55 people were circling the track in the Lexus with NO LINES! Later on Hutch and I had to wait a good 20 minutes to drive it.
Another tip: drive the near-luxury ones first, since lines get long for the Bimmer, the Lexus, and the Audi.
If you stay later and the lines get long, there was no line all day long at the minivans and small cars.
Randy: I though the same thing, having gone in with a bias based on reviews I had read.
The Camry V6 is actually fine, perhaps the tires are better than the 4 banger, which I found soft on a test drive. It is isolated, like a Lexus, but I still managed to fling it around the course as about as quickly as the Bimmer (!).
The course was totally smooth, so perhaps the Maxima's non-IRS wasn't really put to the test. It handled well and had awesome brakes. The engine wasn't as peppy as the Camry, regardless of what the numbers might suggest.
Lastly, the Bimmer was an auto 2.5l with 170hp, not exactly spine-tingling. I imagine with the 2.8l it would be much quicker, or even a 5 speed in the 323i. Still, the suspension simply wasn't all that. Maybe it had the 195/65R15 tires (a joke in a near luxury car), I didn't check, but I was NOT impressed one bit.
Then I drove the Lexus IS300 back-to-back. BMW is in trouble.
-juice
On the mountain road (paved), it handled very well, and after some Chevy Tahoe pulled over, I was free and loose on the serpentine road for good 15 miles!
But the lack of thigh support is killing me on long drives! If anyone has any good suggestions (good seat cushions?), please help.
Meantime, I'm playing with all combinations of seat's adjustments, hoping I can find "my spot".
The Bay Area is now full of billboards saying "Meet the Aztek". The billboard says:
- Seats 6
- Plays 4
- Sleeps 2
I would add:
- attracts 0
- scares 10,000,000
any more funny additions? Once we collected a few, we can ask Chris Kennedy to post it on his site.
BTW, I cannot figure out how it seats 6? I asked the Pontiac dealer, if back seat can accommodate 4, and he said no. Do they count 2 more "seats" on the slide-out tailgate plus 4 passengers?
"Plays 4" probably is for the option of 2 captain chairs instead of a bench seat on the back.
"Sleeps 2" is for matress option.
Would you share the cost of tinting your windows?
I have an Outback on order and will want to tint the windows before relocating to Florida next April. I have great faith in my local (Libertyville,IL) dealer who thinks it might be cheaper to do the job in Florida. Any advice will be appreciated.
Thanks,
Don
Were all the cars automatics? If so, then perhaps the Toyota transmission is better than the Nissan. I have this feeling if they were both 5spd you wouldn't have said that.
Back to Subaru stuff,
-Colin
-just another Dave
Stephen
I had a Madico metallic film put on all the windows behind the driver on my Forester and it cost me about $250.
I found that the type of film will affect the price of the tinting job quite a bit. The same place quoted me almost $100 less for a less-expensive non-metallic film.
Ken
Bitman
What about one of those wrist pads used in front of keyboards under your thigh (long trips only)? Sounds nutty but worth a shot. I'm thinking a long and thin pillow, too.
Hmm, what about "Drives 2" for the 2WD. A car pitched at that demographics should really, really have 4WD.
Don: New Again (Silver Spring, MD) charges $170 for the 7 windows, but they didn't tuck the tint below the window seal at the bottom and one is peeling slightly.
Colin: yep, all autos. At least the Soob has the low-end torque to keep going. The RAV4 and CR-V really lost speed when they shifted.
BTW, here are photos of the event. It's a must-see!
-juice
Bitman
My Forester is 2 years old today. 29k trusty miles! I'll have to hand wash it when I get home!
Bitman: nothing specific to suggest, but check out Crutchfield for prices.
-juice
Nice work on the Edmund's Live event. I didn't realize that they were using pre-01 Foresters in the event. Was that a black S you were driving?
Ken
Definitely not underpowered, it outran the 4Runner V6, Grand Vitara V6, and easily put away the CR-V and RAV4.
I'll go out on a limb and say the Phase II auto just about matches my Phase I 5 speed. Now I can't wait to try a Phase II 5 speed!
-juice
-juice
My first instinct was to get an aftermarket unit (which is what I have done in my last 2 new cars), but I couldn't find a radio that looked "nice" enough to match the Legacy/OB dash. Honestly, there are some real garrish looking receivers out there these days. Even once-conservative Blaupunkt has all kinds of lights and colors. And knobs -- you're lucky to find them anymore. I actually wish I had salvaged the circa-1995 Sony CD receiver out of my last car before I traded it in. It was top of the line, and would have blended into the Subaru interior nicely.
Even though they don't always have the lowest prices, Crutchfield is the best place to buy -- they have great customer service and tech support, and they have thoroughly researched the ins and outs of each car. Their price includes any necessary adapters/harnesses, so the install is easy. I've visited Crutchfield up in Charlottesville VA, and they're a first class operation.
Opening the radio/HVAC stack of the Legacy/OB is pretty easy, but it helps to have instructions (provided with the Subaru CD player and certainly from Crutchfield). The fake-wood bezel around the shifter (you have a 5-spd, right?) pops up and back (unscrew the shift knob), and then you have to remove a few screws in the ashtray area to pull off the large center bezel surrounding the radio/HVAC stack. That center bezel has tabs and spring clips at the top and down each side, and is VERY SNUG. It took a while to get mine loose, but it's pretty rugged so you don't have to worry about breaking anything if you're careful. Once that's off you remove 6 screws to get the HVAC/radio rack out, and then remove the HVAC control unit from the rack, leaving it hanging in the dash while you take the radio rack out (the HVAC controls are "cabled" in by the heater valve control). The hardest part was disconnecting and reattaching the radio harness and antenna cable, but you can sort of reach behind from underneath everything. By the way, I permanently jettisoned my ashtray during the install, and it opens up much more access to the little center console tray. Anyhow, you should be able to stick a new radio (or the CD unit) in place, reconnect all the wires, and then reverse install the HVAC/radio stack and trim pieces.
For tools, all you really need is a stubby phillips screwdriver and a regular phillips screwdriver, and maybe a towel or two to protect the center console from scratches. I've installed about a dozen car stereos over the past few years, and the Legacy/OB is an easy job. I would have taken pictures, but I must spend more time swearing and throwing tools than Juice . . .
Craig