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Comments
I am so sorry to hear about your brother. You and your family have had to endure a lot lately. Hopefully they caught the cancer early enough. My wife's cousin had the same diagnosis about 1.5 years ago. He had the surgery and is still going strong. It's amazing the advances that have been made in the last few years.
Know you and your family are in our thoughts and prayers.
Mark
We have a Nissan Quest (you know, Starship Enterprise shuttle, complete with power rear hatch with running boards that light up. It's dark grey, quite menacing looking- you expect Darth Vader to come out!) But it's huge. It's the same size as a Toyota Sequioa.
My other reason for an OB over a GT wagon- in addition to backing into things, she has a tendency to run over things, like curbs. She'd destroy the 17" rims on my GT in no time.
Rob- yeah, sometimes I regret not getting the 5EAT. But shifting yourself is so fun!
Bob and Juice- I was thinking about that Forrester too- maybe even slightly used if I can't find one new. But on top of everything, she doesn't want to buy a 3rd car. (If I were to get an 'extra' car I think I'd do what Craig did!
What do you guys think about the Mazda mpv? I think it might be small enough that she could drive it easier. I'm just worried that the view out the back might still be bad enough that she'll back into things.
Thanks for your help guys
tom
-juice
-Brian
I believe Panasonic makes a really cool double-DIN sized in-dash NAV unit, and the camera is an option. Something like $1600-2000 for both.
-juice
-Brian
Steve
Your wife needs collision avoidance radar, interlocked with the braking system! Seriously, I was going to suggest a rear camera as well. We had the rear motion sensors on our Windstar, and they saved me from nailing a post when doing a K turn in a construction zone. I kind of miss them on our Ody, and have been thinking of adding them.
Steve
That created enough heat that there were some exhaust fires.
So it was user error, but I think Mazda will add a heat shield anyway.
I wish Subaru would build a similarly small and nimble people mover (under 4000 lbs at least).
-juice
Craig
Cheers Pat.
Just past Albany, the car starts vibrating and I get a call from my sis-in-law asking if tires are supposed to smoke
I called TireRack where I had bought the tires Feb '04 - luckily I have the road hazard so now I get to go tomorrow and get it replaced. I now face a few decisions:
1) Do I need new tires all around? I have put about 25000 miles on them since last Feb.
2) Do I have to repalce the donut? This is the second time I have driven on it. How long do they last?
3) I have to find out what is causing the CEL. Depending on what it is, my wife and I are thinking it may be time to get off the fence and go for a new car. Especially since I have 78K+ miles and my extended warranty is for 80K.
4) If it is time for a new Subaru, which one? My heart wants the OB XT LTD, or GT LTD, but I was thinking maybe Forester or Baja? The wife does NOT like the Baja nor the Tribeca (which I think is nice, but a bit much for just the 2 of us.)
Decisions, decisions. I guess I have to see what the CEL says. One more reason to go for a new car now is KBB gives the value of my 2000 OB around $10K. That would make a nice down payment.
Mark
Serge, Susan, Michael, and Dina
La Shanna Tovah! Let everyone have a Health, Happy New Year.
Mark
Sorry to hear about your sister. Hang in there!
Happy New Year to whomever it concerns. I saw in the paper the other day that there's a new sign on the Brooklyn Bridge; "Oy Vey!"
-Dennis
Mark - new tires, for sure. 25k is a lot of miles. Unless you can find a used tire with similar wear (next to impossible). The Duelers on my Forester only lasted 28k to begin with.
I'm sure the other 3 were compensating for the flat (and later the donut), so I think it's time for a fresh set.
The donut? It is for temporary use only. I have an extra spare for a Legacy I'd give you, but the diameter is too small. And you can't fit a full-size spare in that well. So I'd leave that alone.
-juice
That's what I'm thinking. I do have the road hazard on the tire - I'm not sure if that could be applied towards new tires since I bought them through Tire Rack and had them locally installed. It's also worth $35. I think I might also have to replace the donut. I'm thinking of seeing what the local place says, and maybe look to sell this one and look for the OB XT LTD. Only problem with that, there's only one or two in the area., according to the Subaru website. I'm not the kind of person to try and sell the car with bad tires and a bad spare; my wife and I would rather get everything fixed first.
How is Fitzmall? They have several OB XT LTD's on their website to make it interesting. On the other hand, I received some sort of settlement thing for Flemington worth $250 towards a new car, plus I have some Subaru Bucks.
I have to think. I don't want to rush too quickly off the fence here. I do feel myself slipping though.
Mark
-juice
Your experiecne sounds a little like mine. I found that the frequency of moderately expensive repairs to my 99OB increased from about 100,000km (62,500 miles) and by the time I sold it at 142,500 (about 85,000miles) the cost of repairs was getting prohibitive. Suabrus are very long lived and I know many that have gone 200-300k km, but I think the cost of keeping them in top notch condition does start to climb sharply after about 100k km. Its a good argument for buying a long warranty (say five years)
Cheers
Graham
Do you know what caused that tire to fail? That is really peculiar. Glad you caught it safely! I am real curious to see the pics. What kind of tires were they?
I can't say enough good things about my OB XT Ltd, it's the best of the three Outbacks I have owned, by a long shot. The only downside, and this is important, is the gas mileage. Don't expect more than 20-23mpg on a regular basis. It's the "tax" you pay to get the turbo rush! The main downside to me is that the gas tank is too small, and I have to fill up a lot.
I second the recommendation for Fitzmall, had great experience there last year and would do it again (well worth the 120 mile drive for me).
Craig
Firestone?
Ba-ha-ha-ha.
OK it's late and I'm sleep-deprived. My daughter has a stomach bug.
-juice
Your doughnut? Well, it's supposed to be a 50 mile usage tire - guess you exceeded that. But check the inflation pressure. If it's near 60 psi like it's supposed to be, put it back in the trunk (after you looked at the amount of wear). If not, look for cracks and such. If you find some, it's probably best to replace it.
Hope this helps.
Inspect the condition, if it looks OK I'm sure it could be used again.
-juice
I received the same thing. Some guy sued the owner (Clinton Auto Group?) for not being up front about documentation fees during a new car purchase. I don't think he purchased from Flemington Subaru since my receipts always mention it.
-Dennis
Mark - glad to hear you made it thru your ordeal OK...
Pat - agree - enough already!
Steve
I feel as if I haven't been in chat with you guys for ages ... I'm going to make a valiant effort for Thursday night!
I'm heading out for a retreat at work - 3 days so I don't know if I can make the chat, depends on our schedule and if there is internet access in the room or in a business center of some kind.
This should be another good test of the NAV system, which has worked quite well for me so far.
-juice
Finally free of GM
hang out at multi-national banks and rag on them about small they are?
make plans on renaming itself to the Universe Bank?
start initiatives to establish the first Antarctic branch?
Ken
Who knows, it just may help in getting our favorite "friend" back here where she belongs.
Bob
I'm not sure it's an improvement. Although my guess is Ken is right about a Hybrid Subie.
tom
First, sorry for the delay in getting back to you. I had been out for the holiday, so this is the first oppourtunity for me to post.
Do you know what caused that tire to fail?
The tire shop was not sure. They think I must have picked up a nail or something on the road (as capriracer described), but they could not find anything as the sidewall came right off the tire.
What kind of tires were they?
I had BF Goodrich Traction T/A on the OB that I purchased from TireRack in Feb'04. At least the road hazard came in handy - I am getting $35 back form TireRack.
I wound up replacing the tires with Nitto NT460's that the local tire shop recommended. I didn't want to go too crazy on tires since it is looking more and more like we might go the "upgrade" route. I'm still thinking of the OB XT, the only problem is there apparently are not too many in the area. I emailed one dealer whose website listed them having one on stock, but they never responded.
As for the gas mileage on the OB XT - I figure 20 -23 avg in city driving is about right. I'll have to play it by ear and see what we do.
One more thing: the tire shop said the donut was still good, so they put it back. It seems that because I inflated it to the 60psi after I put it on helped extend the life of it.
Mark
How did you like the Traction's? We just ordered a set of V-rated from Costco for the RS (3 Subes now
-Dennis
I took photos and put up a slide show for the people and got some great feedback for my work. Strategy is up to other people.
Can't stay for the chat but had to pop in to keep up on the *big* news.
TTFN.
-juice
They handled great all around. They were a little noisy at first, but seemed to quiet down.
Mark
Please keep him in your prayers.
Cheers Pat.
Craig
Ken
Ken