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Comments
For the record, Dra and I have never been to Cancun. A surprise, but a very happy one. Still early, and keeping our fingers crossed.
Nicholas
Greg
I forwarded an e-mail I received from Jesse's Mom
-Dave
I was just flipping through it while eating breakfast today and came across a witty letter pointing out that the 9-2X center console is the same as the FXT's.
Nice work, Loosh!
Ken
-Brian
WTLW, Ken. Where you been? ;-)
Saw Hutch and Bob on Friday, at the Mercedes event here in DC. Bob was late but I hung out with him to catch up a bit.
The 4Matic area was fun, and clearly demonstrated the following:
FWD + (all the technology in the world) < AWD
The new SLK320 is a hoot, but for $45k it should be.
Complaints? Unusual amounts of wear to the cars, including very obvious paint fading. They blamed a detergent, but sounds like an excuse to me. Reminds me of when the Mazda6 has "staining", i.e. RUST, due to some spiked soap they used during assembly.
Wassup with these cheap finishes?
Their little G-wagon adventure convinced me that I would never, ever need that kind of capability in my lifetime. ;-)
Any how, it was good to see Hutch, since it had been a while, plus I caught up with Bob.
-juice
PS No leaks this time riding with THE CAT! I wore Depends!
-mike
Now you've owned all 3! ;-)
-juice
Mike- I guess you missed the XT6, huh?
Mark
He's had an MR2, MX-6 turbo, Integra GS-R, Millenia, Volvo 850, and now the Legacy.
He's not much on owner loyalty! LOL
Interesting, though, that his last two cars were near-luxury cars, and he's replacing it with the Leg. Subaru really nailed it with this customer.
-juice
a millenia is definitely not near-luxo even though the supercharged miller-cycle V6 was neat in the S.
volvo depended on the year. just before the S80 rename, yeah maybe.
~c
It did have a neat feature, the steering wheel would tilt out of the way for ingress/egress. In the 626 threads, Millenia owners would get a bit defensive when you compared the two and they'd rattle off a whole list of features that you could not get on the 626 that the Millenia had.
Any how, that'll be a conquest sale if he does end up in a Legacy. He said he liked the Volvo but got really tired of the expensive service and repairs. It was the little stuff that kept malfunctioning.
-juice
At 110k, I have probably spent a couple hundred dollars out of pocket, along with replacing the tires at 40k, and brakes all around at 80k.
My neighbor has sunk thousands of dollars into the Volvo - to the point where he won't part with it. It now has an oil leak that will cost $2500 to repair. Ouch!
-juice
-mike
Steve
-mike
Steve
-Dan-
-juice
I first saw the term "decontented" used by Phil EDmunston, the premier used car guide guru and consumer advocate up here. Through those years, all manufacturers came under intense pressure to add ABS, air-bags and more HP but keep costs level. No magic, something's gotta give, so door and floor insulation, upholstery quality and other tidbits less likely to become evident during test drives got axed. I'm presuming the true tilt and "jump" (flip away steering wheel as it was called on our 92 Pathfinder) features on steering wheels were another casualty.
-mike
PS: I hated the tilting wheel found on the GM and Ford cars where only the wheel would move, I prefer the tilting column.
You take a part that costs 25 cents, and they decide few people will notice.
Then you calculate the savings, it's 25 cents per unit, but they sell 180k units per year, so that's still a whopping $45,000 extra net profit.
Problem is, at some point you begin to lose buyers, or at least there is an opportunity cost in not getting new buyers that wants those things.
A telescoping wheel probably isn't that cheap, but you get the idea. They can save millions by cutting something like that.
-juice
-mike
I don't recall any lawsuits against us for this issue, but sometimes if another auto company has been hit with similar litigation, Subaru will take the conservative path.
The adjustments the seat is one thing, but if that steering wheel is pulled up tight, it may cause a concern. Just a guess. I'll snoop and see what I hear back for the "decontenting".
My guess work is done on this puppy for now (aren't you relieved?)
Patti
Patti
so, if it's a news article go for it. very sad.
~c
Bob
http://www.subaruprimalquest.com/race2004/index.cfm?tabSection=ne- wsArticle&news_ID=%23%2B%2EE5%0A
I hope that works as a link. If not, you can go to Subaruprimalquest.com for more information.
Patti
Ken
Steve
This year's "magic" treatment (vet and internet) is a cocktail of hydrogen peroxide, baking soda and dishwashing detergent, followed by a rinse with Scope mouthwash. It did a respectable job on him, although he still spent the night in the garage. Problem is the hit was close to the back deck, so the stench permeated the house, and he (and we all) got re-contaminated again today. That stuff is nasty!
Steve
Hey Patti, just got the Subaru Speed magazine, any chance that you could work some magic to get an article written about http://TeamIAC.com since we are a subaru oriented team and get out there with our subies?
-mike
Steve
I recall when the 626 was redesigned, it lost about 8 or 10 minor items due to cost cutting.
Having said that, moving upscale will require some of those things to be added back. I think the new Legacy is taking aim at cars that have things like a telescoping wheel (Passat, Audis, Acuras, Volvos, etc.)
Sorry to hear about Nigel.
I recall about two years ago we had a chat with a couple of women that compete in one of those types of events, was is the Primal Quest?
We kept talking about pasta and carb loading.
I hope Nigel felt no pain and that his family finds comfort in the fact that he was doing what he loved. :-(
-juice
Anyone have less at that time?
-juice
Maybe Steve's van is the workhorse in the stable like ours is?
Steve, Host
I tend to _want_ (definitely not need) a new vehicle at around 5 years, but I may keep the Forester longer as it has been so trouble-free. But I'm finally going to test-drive a Legacy today, for the $25 reward certificate, so that's bound to set off some new-car fever.
Faye
Steve, Host
~Colin
Faye: Yay! Welcome to The Fence. I'll move over to make room.
Actually, there is *plenty* of room as people have been dropping like flies.
Stick around for a little while if only to keep me company.
-juice
So, is there a commemorative detailing in the works?
Ken
The Australia athlete killed in the Primal Quest was from the next suburb and a friend of friends. Apparently an all round nice guy and super athlete. The attitude described in the press is essentially that he died d0oing what he loved but biggest regret would have been missing the barabeque the teams held as a wake.
Cheers
Graham