Subaru Crew - Meet The Members II

rsholland

Congrats! You should name her Impreza!

Bob

ateixeira

Kate - yes, a rear taillight assembly.

Thanks for looking those up. I can get quotes from subaruparts.com with the part numbers.

-juice

bluesubie

I second Bob's idea for naming her Impreza. :-)

Dennis

kate5000

Combination lamp assembly 84201FC080 159.95
2 Combination lamp grommets 84966FC000 2 x 3.03
Combination lamp extension 57112FC080 29.42

Karen_S

Congrats to you and Mama Bear on the new bundle of joy!

Forget the wedding costs! Get that college IRA going now!

KarenS
Host
Owner's Clubs

ateixeira

Brian: congrats, man! I missed your post somehow. That's a big girl! Way to go, Dad!

Name? Why not Dave? Oh, right, girl. Sorry.

Names with a "K" for girls. Kate, Patti CaKe (pardon my rather lame humor), BecKy, Karin, that sort of thing.

Here is another photo of my dog. Problem is, that photo still makes him look like a cat!

Here is the damage to Sandy. Bummer! :-(

Finally, Ken was nice enough to donate his premium sound speakers to me, since he got some really nice audio for his Forester. So I replaced my stock speakers with his premium sound, and took photos of the speakers side by side as well as installation tips. Look here for those.

-juice

originalbitman

You lucky Forester drivers don't need to pull the complete door panel off to get at the speakers. Nice photos Juice.

bit

yellowbikedon

kate5000

Juice, I guess the pricing for taillight will be different in your case, since my numbers are for model year 2001..

kate5000

on you new baby! Give Mom a good rest, after such a big baby, she needs it.

ateixeira

So, do I think premium sound is worth it?

It depends. People who lease or just like to keep things OE, and just want decent sound, go for it. They are far better than the base speakers, especially for more treble up front, and bass handling at high volumes.

Here is how some tapes I have in my car sounded before and after the speaker swap:

Before After
Barney Absolute torture Absolute torture
Blues Clues Just plain awful Just plain awful
Elmo Nausea-inducing Nausea-inducing

Though I swear when Elmo hits that high note, there is a difference!

-juice

kens

juice,

I'm glad the speakers got to you okay. Don't know why it didin't occur to me to give those away sooner. They were just collecting dust in my garage.

See, I told you Elmo would sound better.

I'm glad I sent you the rear speakers too -- I thought they might be the same, but your pictures proved otherwise.

That picture of Sandy made me flinch -- ouch!

Ken

ateixeira

You were right about Elmo. Now, where can I get some good ear plugs?

That photo was very close up. If you look at it from 20 yards away you don't even realize it's damaged. All the lights still work. The bumper is slightly misaligned but that's it.

Remember, that Saturn was a mess. 3 panels totally gone, plus two sets of lights, and who knows what kind of damage to the unibody.

Atta girl, Sandy.

-juice

subearu

...we named her Brooke. Mom is doing good, pain medication is great she says!

The car seat (or baby capsule down south) was not too bad of a chore. The local Red Cross sponsered a safety check at a local Pontiac (ewww, Azteks) dealer. Fitting our Evenflo seat in the middle of the Outback was not a problem - but we did require a belt clip to help snug the seat a bit more (it wanted to slide a bit side to side. I've learned the knee-down-into-the-seat trick and another beneficial one - give the belt end (or whatever the end that is in the seat to clip into is called) a twist or two to take up additional slack. Another trick is to tighten it one day and retighten a couple of days later. Always check that seat for tightness!

ok, time to catch about 1/2 hour of zzzzzz's
-Brian

ateixeira

YES! I was right! Names with a "K".

Man, you are my HERO! Way to go! Congrats! Tell Brooke the entire Subaru community looks up to her, too!

That belt clip comes with every new seat. For older ones you can buy them as accessories. Glad to hear you overcame the fear of the Aztec to make the baby safer.

I'm so psyched about the name. You really made my day!

-juice

grahampeters

G'day

Following on from the Elmo thread above and my comments on music the other day, try pointing the kid at The Wiggles and Bananas in Pyjamas. They are way less distressing when driving than Elmo or Barney. In particular, you don't have this temptation to "Nuke the Dinosaur" that Barney inspires in most parents.

The other one which is definitely worth pointing your kid at is "Bear in the Big Blue House". Very cool and does a particularly fine "Bear Cha-Cha-Cha". You can tell I am a connoiseur!

Cheers

Graham

ateixeira

I can tolerate Bear. I actually know the puppeteer that plays Tutter (the blue mouse).

Gotta get an audio tape of that, I guess.

I've also heard of the Bananas in Pyjamas, but what channels carry that?

-juice

texsubaru

Had my first sighting of a WRX -- in fact, first time I've seen any of the new Imprezas in person -- today while strolling near the University of Texas campus. My first impression (well, actually, my second, since my very first impression was just, "hey, cool, it's a WRX!") was, to be perfectly honest, "wow, those headlights really ARE big." My next impressions were that I really liked the wheels and the car's shade of silver. Didn't really have more impressions after that, because the traffic light changed and the woman driving the WRX took off quite briskly, as befits a WRX.

texsubaru

Sorry to hear about the collision, juice. And happy about the addition to the Subearu family! Between the two events, I guess balance has been maintained in the universe.

pattim3

Congratulations! I love the name Brooke! Health, happiness and wealth to her!

Patti

pattim3

I'll be in touch later today. Yesterday was nuts! Also, your humor isn't so lame - I actually liked Patti CaKe

Patti

pattim3

all in tomorrows chat. My PC is clonking out on me every few minutes. I think it is a problem with my ISP, so I'm hoping to have it remedied. Just posting here is taking me forever 'cause I keep getting the boot!

Patti

bat1161

Congratulations Brian on your new addition, Brooke! Health and Happiness always!

Mark

ateixeira

tex: it was Hutch, from Baltimore! Told you he drives fast! ~:-)

Hmm, what's that "~"? It's his scarf, since he's driving so fast!

-juice

bg18947

http://cnnfn.cnn.com/2001/05/23/asia/wires/subaru_wg/

I think within 3 years GM will be the majority owner. Yeah, Subaru Vista Cruiser. GM should drop the Saturn brand and replace it with Subaru. GM needs a fun/economical/utilitarian car brand.

ateixeira

That's interesting - sales were down in Asia but up in the US. I think it was around 170k last year, up from 160k the year before. This year, with Impreza sales way up, they should improve again.

GM probably will increase their share, but slowly. I can't imagine them dropping Saturn, though. Way too much money and effort invested. Even if the cars are wanting, the way they sell cars was successful. They just need more product.

Maybe the Borrego will be a Saturn?

-juice

paisan

Will probably increase up to like 49%, like they did with Isuzu. I've been extremely happy with how they've treated Isuzu, especially with their lack of strong-arming them into GM stuff.

-mike

ateixeira

Isuzu has done a faily good job staying independent, at least with their SUVs.

The Oasis is gone now, right? Is the Hombre still being marketed?

-juice

paisan

No more Oasis, and the hombre last sold in '99. Isuzu is also doing the re-design of the S-10 and S-15 pickups for GM. We aren't sure if they will bring a pickup over to the Isuzu line or not, but like the Duramax, the S-10 and S-15 will be wholely or nearly wholely designed by Isuzu.

-mike

ateixeira

They should. Actually, even if they have to use the GM pickup chassis, but with an Isuzu diesel and TOD, they should.

Sorry, folks, back to Subies.

-juice

nygreg

Congratulations!!! Sorry for the delay. Girls are wonderful, especially for the Dad. And Father's day is coming. Cool.

-Greg

hondafriek

Belated congratulations on the new baby. enjoy her while you can, the years fly so quickly, before you know it you will be standing at the door with a baseball bat beating the boys away from your precious treasure.

Voice of experience speaking here.

Cheers Pat.

yellowbikedon

As a father of two girls and two boys, I can say you're in for many wonderful times! Congratulations to you and your wife!

Don (from Sunny Florida)

nygreg

Still have that bat? Could use it in the future.

-Greg

ateixeira

I 2nd what Greg said. Being a father to a girl is great.

What about boys? I have no idea, I only have a girl! :-)

I gotta jot down all these parenting tips! Bat, OK, got it.

-juice

bigfrank3

I have a boy, and a girl... and 3 grandchildren, 2 boys and a girl. It's like that famous comedian what's-his-name once said, "If I knew grandchildren were this much fun, I would have had them first!".

There is nothing like the day the kids finally move out... you paint the house a different color, change the number, and fill up their old rooms with your "stuff", just in case.

Regards,
Frank

rsholland

Profits fall. 2 links:

http://just-auto.com/news_detail.asp?art=28728&dm=yes

http://biz.yahoo.com/rf/010523/t31827_2.html

Bob

rsholland

UK300. For the United Kingdom only:

http://www.autoexpress.co.uk/rsholland/php3/openframe.php3?page=newnews/newsarticle.php3?id=2637

Bob

rsholland

OnStar. On 2003 top-of-the line Outbacks:

http://www.autonews.com/html/main/stories/subaru523.htm

Bob

rsholland

The best for last...

New Legacy. Just introduced in Japan. Also included (if I read it correctly, a 2.5 turbo!):

http://www.veh-tech.net/

http://www.subaru.co.jp/legacy/

How's that for some news!

Bob

originalbitman

Nice roof rails on those wagon at the jp site. Also like the side clading/bump strip on the Touring wagon.

bit

francophile

The B4 sure is handsome with those wheels. Can anyone decipher the Japanese for me and figure out what size they are?

TIA,
-wdb

rsholland

Need help with the new Japanese Legacy site.

Thanks in advance.

Bob

rsholland

they just introduced these upgrades to the home-market Legacys, think we'll see them here in a few months too, as '02 models? Specifically the 2.5 turbo?

Bob

rsholland

the new headlights too.

Bob

kens

Man, you guys are fast!

From what I can tell, there weren't any significant changes to the Legacy models other than the model representing the Legacy -- yeah, J Lo!.

No new engines (no 2.5 turbo) or any major mechanical changes. Looks like everything is cosmetic:

- Headlights, bumper and grille

- Wheels

- Paint colors

- Black gauge faces

- DVD navigation system

- McIntosh Stereo (hey, we got that one first!)

The whole spin on this latest "3-Keys" campaign seems to be positioning each of the Legacy lines (B4, Touring Wagon, Lancaster) as they "key" to unlocking three different driving experiences (don't ask...).

The following link gives the summary table of the features for the Legacy models. Most of it's in English:

http://www.subaru.co.jp/legacy/g/index.htm

Ken

wbd -- looked all over, but couldn't find the wheel sizes.. Sorry.

subearu

Brooke got her first ride in a Subaru today! She didn't cry, so we think she liked it!

She was 1 of 5 babies in the maternity ward. She was also the only girl and the biggest size too! I took names of all the new boys for future reference.

-Brian

hypov

wbd - judging from the pics, the wheels appear to be ~3.5x the side mirror height. Looks like 18"

pattim3

my daughter is the youngest. She is about as feisty as the come. At 11 (she's 12 now), she broke up with her "boyfriend" = sitting at the lunch table together. His mother called me laughing telling me that she advised her "boyfriend" that it was "time to end it because there relationship wasn't going anywhere". My husband does not believe we will need a bat - only protection from potential fire bombs when she get's serious about boys. But hey, she can at least take care of herself. Sorry off topic, but I wanted to share.

Patti

lucien2

Uh, Kirsten, how's about we wait a little longer....



Congrats, bear! Heh heh, sounds like Patti is going to have her hands full. But you have to get up pretty early to fool her! (Geez Patti, 5:14 a.m.???)