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Comments
paisan: so you beat me to it, eh? Fuggetaboudit! :-)
Ken: just drive faster! Or stay at work (the boss will think you're pulling overtime).
Dale: forgetting the chat was bad, but forgetting an anniversary would have been much worse!
-juice
As for carrying lots in my trunk:
- a plastic shopping bag containing a few old t-shirts used as rags
- An old throw rug in case I have to work on the car on less-than lovely ground
- A tire iron
- A couple of bungi cords
- A lead- and plastic-faced hammer, a holdover from my days of driving cars with knockoffs. Very handy tool for a variety of things.
- leatherman (in glovebox)
Cheers,
-wdb
I was kind of silent lately... believe it or not even was not checking Escape or Aztek topics! Still being Forestless... I talked to the body shop suggesting that they tell me which parts are delayed, so I could try to use Subaru Rep's (Patti) or Wholesaler's (Darlene) help to get the parts. They told me they only get parts from the nearby dealership and would not do it any other way. Now I regret I went with that shop. I guess the main reason Subaru dealer highly recommended that shop was because they have an exclusive agreement on parts with them. Arrgh.
On a brighter note, we're contemplating building a small vacation home in Sierras, specifically in Angels Camp area (those damns stocks let us down big time, so it's time to get into real estate, right?). The main reason to stick with Angels Camp is that there is a Subaru-Isuzu dealership right there, called "49ers" I think ;-) :-). Soobs are very popular in Calaveras County.
What do you guys think? Vacation home or a loaded VDC for everyone in a family (plus WRX for hubby)?
Bob
Still no Drive, though.
Kate: buy the WRX. Mortgage the vacation home and make it a rental so you can tax-deduct the interest.
Awards have started for the Rex. Autoweek named it "Most Fun" of the show!
-juice
The writer is amazed at it's control, and says its going to leave some people behind at the lights. Nothing new here
-- ash
Plus the December issue had a shake down and a photo of the STi. Tasty!
-mike
Kate - Hang in there on the Forester. Angels Camp seems like a really neat place, unfortunately I haven't been there in awhile and don't remember that Subaru dealer... (about an hour out of Stockton, right? Oh well.) However, I agree w/ Juice. Get the vacation home, rent it out, and get the WRX and deduct the trips up there for rental maintenance.***
-Dan
*** Of course, you should consult your tax attorney and not count on any of what I'm saying. (Have to protect my bee-hind :-)
-juice
PS paisan: you gotta see "The Pledge". A Trooper figures prominently into the story, since it's Jack's ride, with even a little off road excursion
-mike
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Drew
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I will pass on the leather question, since I have cloth. Hope this helps
Frank
Last winter, in my neighborhood, I watched an Integra driver get absolutely nowhere trying to climb a long hill in the snow. He finally gave up and parked it. My Sube took that hill like it was a dry highway.
Bob
I have a 7yo and 4yo. Both are good kids but accidents happen and I can tell you that leather is a whole lot less drama on the clean ups than cloth. Definitely worth the money.
As to AWD, it is definitely worth it for poor traction conditions and dramatically improves handling in all situations other than dry bitumen where difference is insignificant. It is not however the full on, climbing rutted mountain tracks capability of a lockable diff 4WD. It will take you any place on a track that I have found, limited by ground clearance. If the potholes are car eating size, forget it in anything car based and switch to your Landcruiser or whatever. Perhaps even walk!?
Hope that helps
Cheers
Graham
Cars or vacation homes?? I think I like Dan's approach.
Have a great weekend! Snow is on the way here. Wheehooo! I'm going to hit the road ;~}
Patti
My 2 cents,
-wdb
I just wanted to check in because I've posted a few times but haven't introduced myself.
I bought an '01 Forester S in December (some of you might remember that my windshield was chipped the very next day... ugh). I had posted that I bought it at Fitzgerald's in MD, and had a great experience there and got a great price ($200 under invoice), but that post disappeared during the Town Hall upgrade. I looked at Fitzgerald's inventory on-line, saw the exact car I wanted, called to confirm that it was still in stock, went in the next day, test drove, and had the keys in my hand 3 hours later. Incredible!
I love this website - you all are very helpful! I went to Fitzgerald's because of the recommendations here. This is my first new car, and the first car I've cared about! I had a used '94 Corolla before (a dealer car, no less, with 17,000 miles on it when I bought it in '95 - I didn't know what that meant back then...) My whole experience buying the Corolla was so awful, I mean TERRIBLY awful, it could not have been worse. So all my years with that car were marred. This time I did it right. I read about car buying for a few months, starting in October, and that's when I found this site.
For 2 1/2 months, I was dead set on buying a RAV4. I am so glad I had such an awful time getting SEVERAL Toyota dealers to give me a straight answer on delivery times, cub that's what ultimately changed my mind (and the next day I bought my beautiful red Forester). Key point - I wanted my new AWD car before moving to MA, and the RAV4 was nowhere in sight. I also couldn't ignore the Forester's consistent rating in Consumer Reports. I thought about that everyday during those few months. And now I definitely know I wouldn't feel as safe in the RAV4 without the ratings to back it up, especially with all the snow and sleet we've been getting here in MA. (And we're expecting a foot of snow tonight! Well, I did move here for the cold and the snow...)
So... I'm keeping up with the Subaru Crew, and although I know very little about car care and after market toys and stuff like that, I hope you don't mind my questions! (right now I'm debating whether or not to start using Rain-x. I was all set to use it, but now I'm torn after the recent discussion on that!)
I might become a car nut without realizing it...
Cristina
-mike
Auto Show was great fun, thanks to all who attended. We got snow, pretty unexpectedly, last night. Took Kirsten up to a big empty high school in the OB and had some fun. I am no expert by any means, but I showed her what I have learned so far at performance driving school, and the lot was one big skidpad. We had loads of fun. Spun once, got sideways a lot, but it was a good learning experience for both of us. I got to practice, and she got to feel what losing control is like without risking any damage. I truly understand the benefits of shuffle steering. As I got the car sideways, I was able to bring it back without overcompensating (most of the time
NEway, lots of fun. We must have done 20 laps around the main drive.
Cheers!
Paul
Paul: you'll love the Subie in the snow. You'll actually start HOPING for more snow, which means less traffic! We just got 5" the other night and it simply was not enough to challenge it. Boring, almost. It only gets fun around 8" or more.
Leather for a 6 year old sounds good. Easy to wipe clean. Your front seats are heated to boot.
I'm not surprised Edmunds listed it as a best buy, but that won't change any time soon. As the 2001 model year goes on it's only likely to get better, though you shouldn't expect any rebates (Forester never had any). In other words, now is as good a time as any.
Cristina: congrats. My friend Lisbeth has the same color Forester. She was set on a CR-V until I took her for a ride in mine in the snow and ice.
-juice
We just got 5" the other night and it simply was not enough to challenge it. Boring, almost. It only gets fun around 8" or more.
Juice, 1/2" is all it takes to have fun - just turn the wheel and step on the gas! I was out yesterday practicing using the handbrake to rotate the back of the car in turns. What a hoot!
Although I'm sorry to have missed you all at Baltimore, I had quite an eventful day Saturday. 9" of snow here, plus I got a call from my son in Texas, telling me that I am now a GRANDFATHER. Abigail decided to come a couple of weeks early. Mom and child are fine, and I'm ecstatic.
Cheers,
-wdb
(now officially a "geezer")
Thanks,
Mark
PS.. Christina welcome and congratulations. As you can see you are not the only one in the dark when it comes to cars.
BTW, I've concluded that Sandy does not oversteer any more than before with the 18mm rear sway bar and the front strut tower brace. The thicker rear bar reduces roll, and supposedly can increase oversteer, but my guess is the front brace cancels that out.
Bottom line is the handling is still pretty neutral, with the ability to kick the tail out in turns, all easily controllable with the throttle.
Another conclusion - the Nitto NT460s are not as bad in the snow as I thought they would be. You still have to try to break traction. No problem getting around at all, you don't even notice 5" of snow are even there under normal driving.
WDB: uh-oh, does that mean we'll see a vinyl top on your GT sedan at our next meet?
-juice
PS WRX will be @ Philly!
When you stop, shift into neutral and again release the clutch.
Someone said it best when they said you only put your foot on the clutch when it's on the way down or on the way up.
-juice
http://albums.photopoint.com/j/AlbumList?u=1400062&Auth=false
I gave up on homepage.com. Too slow, servers down often, poor quality pictures. Check out these, they're much better. I'll start putting stuff there from now on.
-juice
One additional note: Try not to rest your hand on the shifter You can cause increase wear on the forks/syncro's.
Well, he backed out of my driveway in the 2 inches of snow, then tried to go up the hill. Nuthin' but spinning for a bit, and about 10 seconds later he finally managed to get going. When I went out about 30 minutes later in my car, I didn't slip AT ALL. *insert wry smile*
After the storm yesterday, my wife took the car to the grocery store. She said the Forester NEVER slipped and that it really inspired confidence that she's never had in her FWD vehicles. She also said the store was practically empty, and that of the 6 other cars that were there, three were Foresters and one was an Outback.
Guess us Sube owners were the only ones confident enough in our cars to head out.
Go out early, before the plows are out, and it's a ball. It's true, the only cars you see are Subarus.
-juice
Cristina, The answer is yes, it happens best of us.
WDB, congrats on the new granddaughter!
..Mike
..Mike
I.e. 1" to 2" of snow is enough to make a parking lot plenty slippery, and do 360s, donuts, etc. You can really get going fast and have a blast.
However, when I took my Outback into a parking lot with a foot and half of snow, I couldn't get moving fast enough to really enjoy it. Yes, I could still do a 360, and four wheel drifts, but the speed wasn't there...
Not to mention afterwards I had snow trapped in the wheels, causing the car to vibrate at higher speeds.
-- ash
a) driven on the wrong side of the road - or -
b) driven on the correct side of the road unplowed.
All the subaru guy have the right answer.... The unplowed side... Although when I was coming back I did drive up the plowed side (there are a few turns that have limited visibility.. and I don't want a head-on)
Naturally there was no problem.
While I agree that its probably good practice to put the car in neutral at stop lights and the like, I'm not convinced that there is any "real-world" reason to favor this over holding the clutch "full in". I'm eager to be better educated, so chime in, but with the clutch pedal fully depressed there should be zero friction on the plates. In fact, when you think about it from a "wear" standpoint, putting the car into neutral at a stoplight requires two additional clutch engagements over simply keeping the clutch fully depressed (in gear or otherwise). I often wonder if that small amount of wear adds up over time.
Personally, I typically pop my car into neutral as I approach the stop sign/light and allow the weight of the car and some light cadence braking to bring me to a "fuel efficient" stop. If I'm at a red light I keep the car in neutral (usually with the hand brake lightly engaged) until I see the other light turn yellow, and then I get ready to move.
BTW, when I moved to me new neighborhood six years ago I was the lone Subaru driver. Today I count eight (not including my two).
YetAnotherDave
Also leg cramping for cars with heavy-duty clutches. ;-)
-Colin
Video clip (1.7 MB - 22 fps with sound): http://www.off-road.com/mbenz/Staying_Alive.avi
Enjoy!
Drew
Host
Vans and Aftermarket & Accessories message boards
P.S. juice, great pictures! FYI, it's the CL-class coupe, not the S coupe ;-)
I put a coat of wax on the new alloys - now it doesn't stick. Try it, works like a charm.
Frank: actually it's secret answer c. You take the long way, on local roads that are completely unplowed. ;-)
I got 107k miles out of the original clutch on a FORD using that technique. That says a lot!
That's right, Drew, they keep chaning their naming scheme. As soon as I figure it out, boom. C240 has a 2.6l engine, for example.
-juice
(I also learned not to work on a wiper motor just after turning it off - they get real hot!)
Shuffle steering works to a certain extent in a skid. If the back end is coming around real fast, shuffle steering doesn't let you correct it fast enough so you have to go back to hand-over-hand. An instructor at Skip Barber showed me that one, 'cos I was trying to use shuffle steering. On the skid pad, Skip Barber uses Dakota pickups, V8, RWD with used race tires. Great fun!
Took the school with my son so that I'd have peace of mind, knowing that he knew how handle a skid or any other emergency situation. Now he's trying to 'borrow' the GT for a rally or rallycross. I knew there was a catch.
Cheers,
grandpa who has driven a WHOLE LOT of clutch cars
I had heard some time ago, that this was the case with several so-called AWD vehicles. I'm pretty sure the Subaru AWD system works in reverse, but what about some of the others, such as: Rav4? Highlander? RX300? and Mountaineer?
And then there's the on-demand AWD vehicles such as the CRV, and MDX—what about them?
Bob
Bob
With no traction management (open differentials), when starting on a slippery (snow/ice covered) uphill slope, I do occasionally hear one wheel start to break loose and spin faster than the other. I've also nearly been stuck a couple of times while driving up my driveway (split mu surface; only the right side of the driveway was snow covered) with power leaking to the wheels without traction on one side. I had to back down the driveway and gain some momentum at the bottom. No such problems with the ML, of course. The large and fairly open tread tires practically "laugh" at 2 feet high snow plowed to the side of the road.
Yes, the RAV4, Highlander, RX300, etc. AWD systems all work in reverse as well. The Acura MDX's system is rather interesting since it is really only a much more sophisticated and faster reacting adaptation of the Honda CR-V's system. The system sends some power to the rear wheels when accelerating, but reverts to FWD when coasting or only until slippage is detected. There is no centre differential, so the system cannot turn on continuously on dry roads, and you're basically 2WD or 3WD during turns. I'll take a permanent 4WD/AWD system anytime, thank you.
Drew
Host
Vans and Aftermarket & Accessories message boards
-mike
Bob