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Comments
-juice
Ross
Since I took these feel free to copy and share any or all of them.
-juice
Ed (you can call me lark if you like; it's just my other car)
Ross
The XT6 there was driven by a wild man. He had rally tires on there, but mostly it was stock, interior stripped down to sheet metal my guess is to save weight. He was all over the trails, in the deepest sand he could find, fish tailing all he could. Fearless.
I was hilarious to watch the engine spit out the water, then see more spitting out the exhaust! I still can't believe I was up and running, and smoothly, after all that. We had to bail water out of the interior! He was beating it to death and it just refused to die.
I was next across the water, with paisan in the passenger seat, but I went slowly. Given what had just happened to the XT6, I thought it was prudent. When people said I wimped out, I had to redeem myself with a quicker run in the afternoon. Then Ed followed, and made an even bigger splash.
An RS made it through, though slowly. It was hilarious. You could really feel the support as new (AWD) and old (4WD) Subie owners united, along with Isuzu owners, to cheer people on through the tough stuff.
I also got a ride in a turbo 2.5RS. It was running 6psi of boost, and with high compression that thing was pulling like a mad dog. We loaded 4 big guys in there, and even with that heavy payload (his coilovers were so low we were scraping the tires), it pulled in 4th gear like we were in 2nd. It absolutely flew down the road. He kept that RS on pavement only, of course.
Dennis made the trip, too. He mentioned they had e-mail problems at work, so I don't expect him to post until later. His Outback Sport drove around like a champ, and I followed him most of the morning. At one point he moved over to make room for the 2 motorcross bikers, and hit a tree stump. His bumper cover was slightly dislodged, but it didn't seem bad considering all the stuff it went through.
After I wash Sandy I'll have to have a closer look, but I hope the scratches aren't too bad. The narrow cars had an advantage in this regard. paisan was able to use his power retracting mirrors feature many times.
For many short stints, the smaller cars drove ahead at a more brisk pace, but Ed and I stuck with the SUVs for a more leisurely ride. The cool thing is that meant there was something for everyone, though.
Man, I'm having fun just talking about it. My adrenaline was pumping when I watched that BRAT go for it over and over again.
Then on Sunday we (my family) had breakfast with the Sesame Street characters. I'm glad to report Elmo and Big Bird are fine, thanks, proving once and for all that everything is going to be OK.
-juice
The rule of thumb we were given on trail rides was to keep lights on and never let the lights of the vehicles in front of and behind you leave your sight. On much of the trip the two Foresters hung together but there were a couple spots where I let juice get a ways in front of me, even out of the line of sight. That was my chance to scoot like the little Imprezas. Driving under those conditions you're not often looking at your gauges - too much going on - but I did hit 50mph on a couple of the easier stages (e.g. where you see Dennis' car in the pix). That being said most of the trip was run at 20-25mph tops, with the real ruts anywhere from a crawl to 5-10mph.
On one spot where we went over a large pipe I whanged the undercarriage pretty good and checked the temp gauge and idiot lights to see if I was leaking anything, checking again at the next stop. No harm, no foul.
Ed
I was in 2nd gear most of the time, but that allowed me to spot and take some of the tougher routes.
I bottomed out in that same place. That was one big pipe we drove over! And that is despite creeping over it slowly. We probably hit the front cross member, skipped and kept going.
In the photo above you can see the angle of approach could be better. My front bumper dug into the mud a few times. No damage, though.
-juice
Great photos, nice write up. Sounds like you had a lot of fun. How bad are the scratches?
Any more stories about the AWD working? Anyone take videos?
Ken
I also have to complement the 2.5l boxer. I was in 2nd gear, sometimes crawling slow, and she had enough torque to pull through the deep sand. I never felt the need for a low range, though in fairness I didn't do the deepest mud pits either.
One guy had a video camera but left early and didn't seem to catch much footage. I'm not sure who else took photos but I expect paisan will post them on his site.
I have not washed her yet, but I'm afraid to look. At one point I got a nice whack on the side, but I'm hoping the roof rack protected her paint. I didn't see any blatantly obvious scratches, but I'll look again once she's clean.
She needs a thorough wash, especially the undercarriage.
-juice
Cool pix. too.
Go to futureshop.ca/photo the album # is 716455 and the password is 7917.
The truck and dogs are my daughters, the Accord is all origional paint and body no dings or scratchs after all these years, Juice you expressed one time your hope that she would take good care of this car, well she is way beyond me if it rains the car stays in the garage.
Anyway hope you enjoy the photos BTW.the good looking guy in the white hair is me.
Cheers Pat. PS. I do not know how to post some of these photos in the photo gallery if someone could help out I would be grateful
Bob
Juice, great pixs of the run - I wished I was able to make it back for the run. Well, next time.
Oh, I do recall an AWD tidbit. One time after we stopped, I goofed and left the parking break on. The group started up again, Sandy pulled forward, kind of dragging the rear tires across the sand. It felt odd, and progress was slow, but I guess the AWD system effectively transferred torque to the front axle.
Another note: I started the run at 29psi, which worked but resulted in a really bumpy ride. When the sand got softer and deeper, most of us aired down. I went to 18 psi, and it smoothed out the ride significantly.
-juice
VP of Planning and R&D Larry Burns said that Subaru was doing so well with engineering and positioning its vehicles that "why would we want to take them over, put our leaders on top of it and screw it up?"
Exactly, I say.
For paisan, they also mention that the Isuzu diesel has allowed GM to increase their light-truck diesel market share from 2 to 20 percent.
-juice
Looked into my mail box today and found a "electric" green coloured postcard reading, I quote:
-URGENT RECALL-
OFFICIAL NOTICE
Subaru of America is immediately recalling your Subaru to correct a defect which may be safety related. Beltway Subaru has been instructed to be Absolutely sure EVERY VEHICLE IS REPAIRED. Please bring this card with you. There is NO CHARGE for this FREE correction, which can be performed while you wait. IMMEDIATELY GO TO BELTWAY SUBARU 1819 Cropsey Avenue, Bklyn, 718-232-1900 TO HAVE THIS FREE WORK COMPLETED.
unquote
Then it list "RECALL NO WWE88" and my VIN.
OK, I'm not biting - unless otherwise informed (SoA direct). I understand it is not (SOP) standard operating procedure of SoA to notify customers through dealership network, so what gives?
it's not hard folks...
-Colin
It was a GREAT time! I'm so glad paisan kept it going because it was nice to get away from "things" for a while.
Nice pics, paisan and juice. Looks like you guys got a little bolder on the second run.
Like juice mentioned, my bumper lost a fight with a tree stump. :-( Mainly rivets/screws popped out and there's a little whole where the bumper got twisted.
dave - a former boss of mine drove back from the conference in AZ. Three days of straight driving! Whether or not that notice is fishy - from what I've heard, I wouldn't touch Beltway with a 10 mile pole!
Maybe mike can squeeze another run into his busy schedule before winter.
Ed, that bumper will look sweet when installed. Looking forward to pics.
Dennis
Any prefs?
-mike
Patti
With recalls, we want to get them done and encourage the dealers to get cars in. Some dealers see it as an opportunity to get some service work (which we pay for) and go out and get customers with open recalls.
I actually like the idea. For recalls and/or service programs, anyway we can get them done, the better. Less agg for the customer down the road!!
I'll let you know.
Patti
But this will open your eyes to a whole new world!
The WRX would have been a blast at the pace the smaller cars were running. There were bypasses around all the tougher stuff. The RS did fine.
We could test the VDC's 7.9" clearance claim, for sure. I bottomed out on that huge pipe, and maybe another time on sand, but it skipped and kept going.
I washed her thoroughly yesterday, and the undercarriage has no damage. I lost one plastic rivet in a fender well, no big deal at all. I have one teeny-tiny paint chip on the driver door, but I'm not sure that wasn't there before. On the other side, I got two surface scratches that will polish out easily and one that likely won't.
That may have been my fault, though. We hit a dead end at one point, and I backed into a wooded trail to get out of the way for the big trucks. That's when I whacked a couple of branches, and likely got that one scratch on the passenger side.
Dennis was hilarious - at one point he stopped in the middle of the trail. I was thinking, "what's wrong?" So he walks around his car, breaks a branch that was sticking out half way in to the trail, hops back in, and drives off! Cracked me up!
Are there camp sites up around there? The hotel was kind of pricey.
-juice
Any of those dates looks good.
Dave
Apparently the "youth-oriented" 2002 brochure which promotes the Focus, Mustang, etc., has a picture of the NYC World Trade Center on the cover. Ford is going to reprint that brochure with a different cover image. In the meantime, Ford has asked all its dealers to remove the front cover from all the existing brochures, until the new ones arrive.
Question:
Which is a more painful reminder? The existing brochure (as is, with cover in place), or one with the cover removed?
Bob
One interesting thing I've noticed is that there are as many flags on imports as their are on domestic cars.
-juice
juice: Campsites? My backyard - maybe I'll even let you use the downstairs bathroom.
Dennis/all: Yes, I managed to track down an OEM Forester GT grille from Australia. Price less shipping was approx. $210 US. This is the same grille used on JDM STi Foresters and the UK-spec Forester S turbo. I also managed to find an STi "pink badge" to replace the OEM metallic green-black one. I brought it with me to Atsion to show off and maybe have someone help me do the swap but we were too busy trail riding. A couple of comments comparing it to that starchy Southern staple that we can't name but most liked it. I'm also in the process of rounding up a set of 17" Speedline Prodrive P7 wheels to fit in the spring - you can bet I won't use those on trail runs!
30K service is scheduled for next Friday 9/28 (odo at 27,7xx this AM) as I wanted to get it done before a long driving vacation mid-October. Any tips on parts I should buy and bring to install? In particular I'm thinking of spark plugs - NGK copper or platinum. Any problem locating these in common parts stores or would I have to order them and risk not getting in time for the service?
Ed
The plugs are scheduled for a swap at 60k. Unless they do them early, that is.
I'm curious to see what others have used.
-juice
Two other good links are
http://www.campusa.com/nj/cu_nj.htm
and
http://www.web-comm.com/nj-camp
Hope this helps,
Ed
Enclose the next line with < >
img src="http://url-location-of-photo"
..Mike
Notice the shape? A cylinder. Large enough in displacement to please even paisan. ;-)
Also, note the treads on either side of the telescope, i.e. horizontally opposed.
And Patti, tell SoA we want features like the "monolithic primary mirror" and the "active support system". Is the latter part of the self-leveling rear suspension on the Forester S Turbo models? ;-)
-juice
horizontally opposed ... how much hp do you think it can put out?
better be careful, the WRX crew are threatening revolt!
OK, I'll stop. ;-)
-juice
-mike
Gotta get back to browsing...er, work!
Ken
-mike
You missed "extremely accurate tracking mechanism using magnetic driving systems." Wouldn't that be VDC and VTD???
Keith
Anyway, the notice you got from Beltway was legit. It's a new voluntary safety recall. Low failure rate, but better safe than sorry. Long and short - it's for installation of a "spring guard" in a limited number of Sub's (I'll have the specs. later - our PC's were hit by the nimda virus and were down all day yesterday). Basically, in the salt belt states, some (anticipate less than 1% failure rate) springs can fail very low towards the bottom. If it breaks, it doesn't cause a control/steering problem and would probably go without notice. However, if it breaks due to corrosion, it can puncture a tire. The guard will prevent that.
You should get a letter from us later this week or early next week if your vehicle is affected.
Thanks!
Patti
;-)
How could I have missed that, Keith? That can be our chat topic tonight.
Patti: when in doubt about a name, always guess "Dave". You'd be right more often than wrong!
I think the VDC would sell better if it were called the Dynamic Active Vehicle Enhancement (DAVE) edition. They could even put the race-style label with "Dave" on the car, and sales would probably increase! If Subies ever speak, they should go ahead and address the driver as "Dave" too!
-juice
Patti - I, I know for one (pre-coffee) called my Mom by name once... by my girlfriend's name.
Juice - DAVE edition
-mike
Patti - the identity crisis is forgiven... caffeine insufficiency is always grounds (pardon the pun) for temporary insanity!
Cheers!
Dav..ooops... Paul
Cheers! Again!
Paul
-mike