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Drew
Host
Vans, SUVs, and Aftermarket & Accessories message boards
2 CV boots @ $200 each
fix oil leak $600(seals)
transmission pan gasket $140
$1400 with tax..for an 11 year-old car..
BUT..
the good news is I may get the WRX sooner than originally planned..
On a lighter note, last night we were invited to the official launch of the Ferrari 360 Modena Spyder by our buddies at Shelton Ferrari in Ft. Lauderdale...what a stunning car...it even looks good with the top up...the MSRP is $180,000, but one of the customers already got an offer of $360,000...it has a 6-year waiting list. Michael now has the distinction of being the first child in the US to sit in the driver's seat of the Spyder, since Shelton is the first dealer to get them...you should have seen the smile on his face.
whoops wrong forum
I visited the 2001 Pacific International autoshow here in Vancouver last night (first day they're opened) with my dad, and for the first time in all of these years, my mom decided to tag along. Visited the Mercedes-Benz area first, followed by the Subaru area, which was right next door and in the middle! The new C230K coupe looked nice, and I liked its rear end styling. Apparently a lot of people did, even older folks. Lots of room in the rear, in fact very slightly more than the sedan! The display area was swarming and I was lucky to be able to sit in the different positions, and snap a few pictures.
At the Subaru area, I picked up a tres cool full-sized Impreza poster. Lots of "it's cool", and "Wow, I love it!" comments around the WRX turn table last night, even from teens (mostly guys though ;-)). It appears that they're not as shocked as many of us were when the unofficial pictures of the new body style first came out. I also heard a few "did you see the TV commercials?" comments. It appears that they're working well.
I sat in the 2.5RS and the new OBS and TS wagon when I first got there. Front seats were nice and firm, and there is a decent amount of room in the back for 2, and 3 in a pinch. The cloth seemed to be of good quality and was sufficiently grippy. The rear head restraints in the sedan were a disappointment. Moulded into the seatback and just lumps. They don't seem to be able to do much in a rear end collision in the form of whiplash protection. The ones in the wagon were far better, and for 3 too! As for potential visibility problems, perhaps they could resolve it the way MB has, with folddown restraints that flip into the rear parcel shelf when not in use (there is a switch on the dash for lowering them, and even raising them in the higher end models!). The new Impreza's dash/trim looked to be of higher quality than a few other competing cars in the same class, but was probably one step down from the Outback. I liked it nonetheless.
Mike (paisan), I looked at the Trooper's moonroof and I've got to tell you, I was expecting it to be larger! It's no M-class Skyview roof (juice will probably love the Skyview ;-)), but then again, it's a traditional moonroof. Nice and large TOD indicator on the left. Lots of headroom inside the Trooper Limited I sat in. It has been a while since I last drove one of these. The centre console is further down than I remember. The rear seats were quite comfy, but the legroom seemed to be a tad less or perhaps the same as my ML. I did not find the rear head restraints tall enough, even when extended upwards. They only went up as high as my ear level. I liked the grab handles on the top of the B-pillars. MB should add those, but I'm not sure if they don't since they get in the way of the side curtain airbags (oops, I'm not sure if I was supposed to leak that ;-) Side curtain airbags are standard equipment on the ML for MY2002).
The Acura RS-X was there on a turntable. Lots of boy-racer types drooling over it. The car didn't do much for me at all. It looked like a cross between the Civic/Integra/CR-X, and was smaller than I expcected. Aside from the bright blue paint, the nice Brembo calipers and cross drilled rotors, the rest was actually rather underwhelming considering all of the hype. The ladies who were looking at the car seemed to loose interest rather quickly. ;-)
The Audis, BMWs, and most Lexus vehicles were all locked. Even the Jaguars were opened! It was a sales maneuver, I think, so that you would have to walk up to the salespersons (the BMW ones were the worse; snobby and no initiative) and ask for the car to be opened. I was a little bit offended when a Chinese saleslady from Lexus walked up to me and spoke to me in Cantonese...she basically asked what car I was interested in and that she would open it up for me. I didn't like the pushy attitude (well at least she had initiative, I'll give here that!) and how she assumed that I couldn't speak English well, or that I could speak Cantonese (I can't anyway...only Mandarin). I didn't say anything and let my mom respond instead ;-p. The CDN$91K LX470 was nice, but also very pricey. We don't get Land Cruisers here in Canada. The Lexus LS430's front end styling looked clownish, and a poor imitation of the MB S-class's "face". The car seemed cheap from its base price, but when you added options with equipment to bring it up to the level of standard equipment that the S-class has, the price quickly skyrockets. A $12K difference - which brings it to $93K - is not out of the question, and that's not even fully loaded! No GPS navigation is available till the fall at least, and that will add another 2-3 grand at least, good lord! The S-class has the COMAND system as standard equipment.
Ross, if you haven't done so already. Take a trip down to BC place stadium with Rufus at once ;-)
A few pictures, though nowhere as extensive as Juice's!:
More pictures here: http://albums.photopoint.com/j/AlbumIndex?u=137587&a=12386777&f=&sp=1&vt=vpall
Enjoy!
Drew
Host
Vans, SUVs, and Aftermarket & Accessories message boards
Bob
The console is smaller than we'd like, but I'm sure that will be addressed with the upcoming 03/04 model of the Trooper, which will get 3rd row seating, and an Isuzu DOHC V8.
-mike
-mike
Ross
And from the music coming from a few posts ago, I thought I was at a hockey game!
Drew... cool pics! I may get a WRX ride this week.. fingers crossed!
Cheers!
Paul
Stephen
(400 miles today, 600 to go before break-in is done)
Ross
PS Steven, can I have a ride too? I've been losing a lot of weight, so I probably wouldn't bog it down too badly. ;~)
My guess is those will succeed where the BMW Compact (also hatchback) failed because of the roof, the styling, and the power.
Is that skyview available in the US? I thought it was only a concept.
BTW, the Impreza wagon has far better headrests, but I agree those are barely adequate.
Saw an Axiom up close this weekend. Nice interior, like a very fancy Rodeo. Styling still hasn't grown on me, but it still manages to offer good utility. The driver's seat was comfy, but the rear has too high of a floor, so despite acres of room it's not comfortable. You end up with your knees pointing upward.
Cargo area looked huge, but as with the Legacy you have to fold the seat cushion first, then the seat back, which is less convenient than what my Forester has.
Didn't drive it, and my guess is that's where it should shine vis-a-vis the Rodeo.
What I did drive was a new Outback Sport 5 speed. Sales guy came with me (bummer), but still managed to push it a little. I had mixed feelings about it. Let's break it down.
Pro: very quiet, smooth ride, awesome seats feel like the WRX? Padded dash and most interior appointments are nice. Locking gas cap with remote, temp guage and double odometer are pluses. Wheels look slick, and the styling stands out. Smoother shifter than my Forester. Loads of character - boxer growl and style.
Con: wasn't as quick as I expected, I think my Forester is quicker. Anyone know if the final drive ratio is more conservative than the RS? Cheap carpeting, c'mon Subaru, are you really moving upscale? Toss the cheap, cheap vinyl sun visors. They are embarassing. The headliner could also be nicer.
OK, I'm nit-picking a bit, but it seems like some very minor changes would make it a home run. Gimme thicker carpets and cloth sunvisors, plus a higher final drive ratio and I'd love it unconditionally.
They didn't have any TSs in stock, but I did sit in a WRX wagon. I want to wait to drive one broken in (c'mon Hutch...) to get a fair impression at proper revs.
I gotta admit, I would not trade my Forester even for a new Outback Sport. No way. I'd actually recommend a Forester L over the OBS for anyone currently shopping.
-juice
Dennis
Cheers!
Paul
Fitz had the OBS for $17,757 and the Forester L for $18,805. Despite less equipment, I'd pick the utility of the Forester any day. A small car should perform better, but it only matched it.
But can the Impreza match this kind of utility?
I hauled the entire swing set in one trip. It took two trips for the wood chips (42 bags, 3 cubes a pop), and an earlier trip for the 4x4x8 lumber and ree-bar, but the results speak for themselves.
-juice
PS Thanks to Bob and Hutch, who offered their trailers. Had I been smart I would have taken them up on their offer! It was supposed to rain but didn't, and now my Forester smells like cedar inside (not bad, actually...)
While I was at the dealer, I listened to the Macintosh stereo and sat in a WRX wagon (if I could afford two subes, this would be the other one). Wow! The WRX wagon is sweet. I didn't drive it, because I knew I would want it. I did find the Macintosh stereo quite nice. You can turn it way up and still carry on a conversation with passengers. That's quality. The VDC and LLBean models were way up there in price. Even a $3000 dealer markup on the VDC ($35k ouch!), so they are selling a little slow. Where I live though, near Yakima, Washington, Subes are everywhere and the Outback and Forester sell extremely well.
Anyway, the price we got was fair. Just under $23,000 with all the added stuff (not including taxes). The people though were what made the difference. They were so nice and conversational and not pushy at all! Even invited my wife to baby sit their kids, invited us to Bar-B-Q at their house and go salmon fishing. I won't even comment on the Nissan dealers.
Can't wait to get home and take another trip to Lowes and take the long way home.
Sorry I haven't posted in awhile. I just moved back to the Pacific Northwest from S. California. We couldn't be happier.
Leif
-mike
I juuuuust fit into the WRX seats. Perfectly, actually. They offer fantastic side support. I thought my Forester's seats were already good, but those are even better.
-juice
I agree with everything you said. As someone who IS likely to buy something soon (if I can bear to trade-in my beloved 92 Legacy) I really wanted to love the OBS, but came away thinking only, "well, its not bad". I think I need to test another one, perhaps at another dealer, before I make a final decision. All things considered though, the Forester L seems a pretty smart buy to me.
Your jungle-gym experience reminds me of my own hauling story from six years back. I was putting some sweat-equity into the house I was having built (doing some of the finish carpentry), and showed up the first day with my 92 Legacy wagon loaded to the headliner with lumber, skil saws, and the like. The "real" carpenters laughed out loud as they sat on the tailgates of their monster pick-ups drinking coffee (naturally). But in coming days, when I started hauling ten-footer 4x4s across the rutted, muddy site, they came around. After a while they stopped calling my sube a "station wagon", and regarded it as my "truck". Hmmm, maybe I should hang on to that car after all.
Dave
-mike
Stephen
Ross
Hope my review didn't sound sour, I guess my expectations were high - a WRX wagon would be my clear choice in that size class.
-juice
Leif: Welcome to the clan! Especially since we now have more representation east of the Cascades (you & me!)
Cheers!
Paul
(Spokane)
-juice
Stephen
Paisan .. time to pass on seconds of pasta!
My MPG saw a slight improvement this time .. got 25.1 this last tank. The original 28 was no doubt a result of TLC for the first 300 miles. My driving has been a little more aggressive lately.
Ross - From personal experience I can tell you .. the "Boy Racer" never dies! He may be silent .. but he ain't dead!
Juice - by the time you could get here I'll have 1k. The test track is open!
- hutch
OK, I'll check with the boss (read: wife) to see what our schedule looks like.
-juice
-Colin
Cheers!
Paul
Ross
I look like Mr. Clean with glasses & a moustache, but I can't distract everybody!
Cheers!
Paul
Colin: trying to justify a WRX upgrade with a lower gas budget?
-juice
-Frank P.
That was a while ago, so it'll take a while for those to reach dealers. Fitzgerald only had one WRX wagon and one RS sedan, plus the OBS I drove. No TS wagons, and no WRX sedans.
Most were pre-sold, actually. Come the think of it, I think the WRX wagon had a "sold" sign on it.
-juice
-Colin
Bob
-juice
Bob
Stephen
I just can't do it. Cannot walk on that same lot. Bad juju, Tarzan.
-juice
Ross
-Dan
-Frank P.
I'm sorry, Kate, I didn't really mean it!
-Dan
Mark
They're also giving $1000 cash back, already. The Forester has never needed cash incentives.
Mark: I think a 4 to 1 ratio is safe. 3 to 1 is cutting it close. 2 to 1 and you should move!
-juice