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Comments
I'm on vacation. Could use a little laugh on a gloomy Friday morn.
Dennis - I think we did work together in IOD.
Have you visited the SOA website from your home computer before this last time you wrote about? Your browser (depending on it's settings) will cache websites you frequent so they appear to load quicker. If in doubt, try clearing your cache (aka temporary internet files). On IE, you can get to it from tools->internet options.
I personally don't have an issue with the SOA site -- cable modem works quite well.
Ken
My favorite is Tung's photo of his Santa Fe traversing a dry creek bed. It would have been alot more effective except for the caption where he admitted that he only made it 50 ft before chickening out :(o)
-Frank P.
Ed
I owe a couple of you e-mails but my non-work e-mail (mail.com) has been down most of this week. When it is up it's running poorly - very slow and messages show up as new that came 3 days before.
Graham: I saw Peter & Midnight Oil in concert in '91. Great band - Garrett certainly doesn't back down from controversial topics in his lyrics. I have several of their discs; the popular "Diesel and Dust" and "Blue Sky Mining" as well as "10, 9, 8,...". The Bananas in Pyjamas are broadcast over here in syndication.
Current CD in the player is the Allman Brothers. Also in the car are Richard Thompson, Jonny Lang, R.E.M. (of course), Stevie Ray Vaughan, Steve Earle, Bryan Ferry, Jimmy Cliff, Shannon Curfman, John Lee Hooker, Susan Tedeschi, Southern Culture on the Skids, and Squeeze.
Ed
Patti - I too agree on Flash/Non Flash option. The freedom of choice, subtle as it maybe, conveys a big impression of the company. Think of the site as your store front in the cyber world, you want to get your customer into the store as quickly as you can. As for the Flash overkill, yup, it is overkilled. Again, the idea of a store front is to capture and to direct attention. Those guys @ web design should take a course in advertising art, mainly window and floor displaying. We've all seen store fronts where we see what we're looking at (or should I say what they want you to look at) and those "going-out-of-business" crowded window display where you don't really know what you're looking at.
"Sugar is sweet, but the coffee would be hard to drink if you load up way too much sugar".
Ross
Thanks again!
Patti
It was cool having you on board at yesterday's chat. Are you going to be a regular now?
Ken
Patti- having the option at your "storefront" is like a handicapped ramp for us dial up people
Thanks for your cooperation.
KarenS
Host
Owner's Clubs
Same with web design; if it's difficult (or slow, or impossible) to navigate, you've (probably) lost a potential client.
So... SOA make your web site "user friendly" to all of us in cyberland.
Bob
Karen - no disrespect to any other posters was intended. I did not know what something was during last nights chat.
Thanks!
Patti
Serge
Here we are... talking about hung...
and tung...
and flashing!?!?!
Cheers! (tongue planted firmly in cheek)...
Paul
-mike
Wait, let me change "flag"
KarenS - I don't think anyone was disrespectful, it just sounded that way.
Am I making any sense....I think I am.
OK, back to my native flag SGP
Patti, it was great having you as a participant in last's night Subaru chat. I hope that you will be able to attend more regularly in the future!
Drew
Host
Vans, SUVs, and Aftermarket & Accessories message boards
Cheers!
Paul
I have just been surveying the contents of the boot of my Outback (trunk to you guys) and am a little surprised at what I carry, although all of it is sensible for what I do. I probably go a litle more off bitumen than many, but found that I had enough gear to get me out of most fixes. The major items are:
20metres of 12mm Polypropylene rope
several hanks of lighter gauge ropes
Two ratchet action trailer tie downs with 1000kg maximum load (passable winch in a fix!)
Several D-shackles
Tomahawk
Entrenching tool (lives under floor mat under one of the kids' feet)
Heavy duty torch with flashing function
Cyalume light stick
Pliers, multi grips and hex fit screwdriver with about 50 bits
Insect repellant
Suntan lotion
Rubber backed picnic rug with eyelets in each corner wnich doubles as weather shelter or ground sheet
Very light cord for stretching groundsheet as a fly if needed.
Light cotton blanket (serves multiple purposes including protecting from flash heat radiation in bushfires; approved safety technique here is to get under a blanket, as low as possible while fire front goes by and then abandon the car when the tyres start burning)
Thumping big spanner for tightening tow ball and belting things you don't want to get too close to (we have rather a lot of these in the bush here!)
Waterproof bag with a change of clothes and wash gear.
Waterprrof and warm waxed cotton jacket with rain hood
Umbrella
Dispenser of nappy wipes
Bottle of mineral water (CO2 tends to suppress bugs)
Two old hessian bags for shoving under slipping tyres.
Fire Extinguisher
Several supermarket plastic bags for putting wet/grubby things in.
Think those are the main bits. In theory there should also be a bit of food, but that seems to disappear or melt.
Maybe US drivers carry a few other items.
Cheers
Graham
Drew
Host
Vans, SUVs, and Aftermarket & Accessories message boards
Graham, I've been down under 4 times now, but don't recall lots of Subbies. Of course, that was before I became re-indoctrinated into the Subaru fold, so wasn't paying close attention. Are they pretty much the same as the states?
Kevin
Actually, Subarus are fairly common in Australia, being amongst the top 10 seeling brands. They are particularly popular in the wetter areas where AWD is seen as a good idea. I will try and chase out some figures
Cheers
Graham
Pro's: got to drive several MB's and there was a good free food served (the whole event was free). Con's: event was too short, only 2.5 h, so I could not try all the vehicles out there. Also, the tracks are so short, and those 20 MPH speed limits posted... puhleese!
Well, I'm still very happy with my Forester! below is a short summary of my MB impressions:
ML320/ML430 -- (tried both 2 times): very refined, very improved... XTerra. Really. Too truckish for my taste.
E320/E430 -- good competent sedans, but nothing to blow me away.
S430 -- I guess big sedans are just not my cup of tea. But it's a very very smooth vehicle, no question about it.
CLK55 AMG coupe -- I liked it! It's hard not to. Edmunds TMV is $100K though.
SL500 -- I tend to shy away from convertibles, but this baby made me rethink this. Not practical, but really fun to drive. Edmunds TMV $83K.
Sandy was injured yesterday, coming back from Bob's house, of all places. It just started to rain, so the road was slick, and some goof ball in front of me decided to stop in the middle of the road to avoid missing a turn.
There is no justice, of course, so he/she got away but created a chain reaction of collisions behind him.
Of course, Sandy tossed out the anchors, pressing down on her twin piston calipers with all her might, pulsing the 4-channel 4-sensor ABS to use every bit of traction offered by all four tires, and ... stopped! She, heroically, was the first car to break the "chain" of collisions.
Then some %&#@^ in a Saturn whacked us from behind. No ABS. Skidded sideways, so her front passenger side hit Sandy's driver side corner.
The Saturn was a mess, brand-new, too. Hood accordianed, bumper totally crushed, quarter panel actually broke apart (it's plastic), along with a turn signal and headlights. The wheel well was pushing against her tire.
Sandy's bumper got two punctures, and the white portion of the tail light (for the reverse lamp I think?) broke, though I couldn't figure out how. Amazingly the bumper held in place - it was not pushed in at all (maybe it bounced back, that would explain the broken lens). The quarter panel has a small ding, with the paint chipped.
So I need a new bumper and taillight lens, and a small touch up to the quarter panel. But if her Saturn weren't new, it would be virtually a total loss.
-juice
Anyway, twice I was driving in the downpour with my slicks on. They have a little tiny bit of tread to be DOT legal, but let's just say it was pretty interesting. The cool thing is that if you're not hydroplaning you have all kinds of traction...
Anyway, I had the slicks mounted for an extra week so that I could be lazy and bring the car into the body shop today with them mounted. (so they know how much to relieve the fender.)
Hope Sandy is feeling better soon, Juice!
-Colin
Patti
Glad you were okay. That's my biggest fear --other people not being able to stop as well as my Forester.
I know how it feels. Hang in there -- Sandy will be fixed up just fine.
Ken
The set up was very similar to Edmund's Live. There were informational booths set up with food, vehicles on display and then the test-drive vehicles.
Unlike Kate, I concentrated on the C-class. I drove a C320, C240, A4, BMW 325i on the same course. The C320 was very nice -- it had a great feel to it, both on the track and interior-wise. The 325i, IMO, had the best throttle and steering response, but it seemed spartan in comparison the the C320.
I did get to drive a 6-speed manual SLK convertible, however. Very nimble and fun to drive. The shifter and clutch were a little soft, though for my tastes.
The highlight of the event for me were the professional drivers. Aside from the cars you can drive, they had professional drivers take you out on a separate course to show the limits of the vehicles. For this event, they made you wear helmets. I had a blast riding in the CLK55 AMG. 0-60 in 5 seconds, tires billowing smoke for a good 300 ft, back pressed into the seat, engine wailing. A sharp turn and the driver eases us into a smooth drift. Countersteer and we're back on line. Hairpin turn, driver cocks the wheel, floors it and the CLK's rear smokes around. The turns go blinding by, my helmet is rattling around the inside of the vehicle. Last stretch, one more drift and he threshold brakes to bring the vehicle to a stop.
Amazing. Needless to say, they go through 3 sets of tires in one day.
Thanks to Drew for giving me a heads up on this event.
Ken
She was curteous and her insurance will honor any quote I fax them. It'll be a dealer, with OE parts, you can bet on it.
It's the 2nd time in a year I've been hit, but I'm fine. Hold off the lawyers, given they are treating me very well so far.
-juice
Mark
Sorry to learn about the bang but glad you and Sandy seem all right! That's all that's important, really!
Glad to hear this time a Subaru shop will do the work!
Don
Gotta fax that out to the insurance guy and get paid, then I'll schedule the fix. The catch is my brother's family is coming up at the end of the month and he was going to borrow Sandy while he was here (he has 2 kids and you have not seen how his wife can shop!).
So the repairs may have to wait, unless they can squeeze me in before then. We'll see.
-juice
-greg
Wow - my first post with nothing but questions? (sorry - I had to end on a roll - correct punctuation?)
Patti
Girl, 9.914#, 21.5"
-Brian (Papa Bear)
-mike
Congratulations! Hope the cub is fine.
Now you get to figure out how to fit the baby capsule. This will test the engineering skill of any parent as no one has yet figured out how to do it properly. The important thing is to make sure it is well secured. Something washable in the upholstery line is also a great idea.
Hope you enjoy parenthood
Cheers
Graham
I'm going to fax the estimate to the insurance guy and wait for the check, then take it back and talk to the service guy myself (the wife took Sandy while I was at work).
I don't really need a loaner, but I'll ask if they have an interesting Subaru I can use for the 4 days, for the fun of it.
The other issue is I'm heading to Orlando on 5/30, then coming back with my brother, who is staying until 6/18. We are taking a few road trips and he was going to use Sandy, so we'll see.
Maybe if they offered an H6 loaner, I'd take it. Nice, roomy road-trip car. :-)
-juice
here are the prices you requested (from the final statement on the body repair for my Forester); part # also included -- you can check how much it is in Subaruparts.com:
rear bumper cover 57720FC410 299.95
rear bumper honeycomb reinforcement 57730FC100 84.95
rear bumper reinforcement 57760FC190 199.95
rear cover assembly -- labor only
and there was also repaint/refinish cost but was submitted as a total for the whole job, so I don't know how much of it was for rear bumper. Plus, you bumper won't need repainting.
do you need rear lamp cost too?