keltik

I'd have to go with the "Wheel sensor clogged up with snow" Idea. Im fairly certain most new cars will shut off the cruise if theres a CEL or ABS malfunction.

What did the wife say? Does this void your life insurance? Did the alt spin? Did it smoke? Did you take a picture? Because my brain is struggling to imagine this scenario - its just too funny.

Cool people dont drive autos - must be a stick shift! ....sounds like the guy needed an auto tho or a lesson in how to drift without trashing your motor

Personally I'd just condemn the EJ25's. I do believe your car will last 200k, Subarus may have their issues but the big difference is an average bloke with a spanner can fix them. For flat out reliability - forget Subaru and go get a Toyota.

If youve got 6ft tall kids that will be banished to the back seats - please buy an outback. All of the foresters ive sat in have been really nice for the driver but hell for anyone in the rear seats. Then again - i am freakishly long. As for the site with dimensions and the like - i love this place: http://english.auto.vl.ru/catalog/subaru/ Only problem is - its all relevant to JDM cars (perfect for me) but i dont know how well it will translate for USDM vehicles. I would think the ground clearances and turning circles etc. would be the same. My pick would be the OutBack because i love the shape and boot space....and because its available with a EJ25 turbo here. Edit: Having just read through the info on the Lancaster (Outback) models, its not as detailed as for the Forester or Legacy. More good stuff i found here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subaru_Outback

Woohoo! Another 2002 Legacy GT owner +1 for this places awesomeness. As crazy as it seems this place was a big influence on me to buy to another Subaru, as i knew 5 years down the track when it starts going wrong, ive got an aweesome resource to help me fix it.

....drama queen. But seriously it could be worth investigating a bit more when the weather hots up. There has to be a reason they slapped a SBF on there instead of your average blade fuse.

Slime! I havnt seen that in years. I used to run it in my ATV's tires. It saved my rump roast a couple of times. I keep a can of that instant inflate stuff in the car because a flat tire out here can easily occur 100 miles from nowhere

Unless of course you have a rear LSD like me.... ...and no FWD fuse so what the hell do i do when i get a flat!??!

Im sure theres a line where "trying to prove a point" turns into "bow down to me goddammit! im always right". I fear it may be getting close. Personally i wouldve stayed over on the other side of the internet and let such a minor complaint go. Mr Hewitts problem is resolved and after your remarks regarding the USMB (being a bunch of unqualified try-hards) it seems quite foolish to expect an understanding audience here. So why are we still arguing about this? Edit: And to clarify my position, creating a thread with the intension of ridiculing another poster is a rather narrow-minded solution. How are we all going to feel if the vibration comes back in a week....

My old mans just bought himself a brand spankin new Volvo C30. So ive spent a fair bit of time lurking around the local Volvo dealer. I Lurve the front styling, and i hope it lasts as well as his last one did (150k and 9 years with no mechanical issues). But have any of you sat in one of the new Volvos....EWWWW!!!!!! Its like a care home for the elderly. The dash is all soft and the seats look plasticky and boring. The instrument cluster is cleverly designed and BORING. Volvo must have had a special deal on grey trim as thats all i ever see inside the new models. Even the V8 S80 i borrowed for a few days was BORING (but stupidly quick). The old Volvo turbos would rip your limbs off at full throttle......the new ones however have proved to be very safe, green, agreeable and BORING. When i mash the go-pedal in a 2.5liter turbo - i expect to be slammed into the rear window. But somehow volvo has managed to hide all the power in its new models. Very smooth and controllable but not very exciting. I personally like a car with lots of bright gauges, rump roast hugging seats and sharp styling. I Want to be mashed into the seat when i floor it. Thats because driving is more than a means of getting to work for me, i want to enjoy it. However the top end models have more gadgets than you can shake a stick at for a competitive price. Theres a brilliant safety record and immensely better fuel economy than what Subaru can offer. I havnt driven an '08 Outback...yet. But from what ive seen so far - it excites me more than the C70/V50/S80 did. Apologies for the long post - but every morning i have the "My cars better than yours because..." argument with my dad (he started it) and i have to say volvo makes an awesome product for the average driver, but for someone who wants some thrills on the way to work - well Volvo just dont seem to have anything on offer. P.S - if you do get any volvo - get the V8 incarnation with the 6 speed geartronic. The 2.5turbo sucks. The diesel is pretty cool tho.

Hehehe a Subaru Lawnmower!! Or polish it up all super shiny, give it some paint and use as a show piece at those car shows. Personally i like the thought of a completely stupid use for it - nothing says "IM HUNG LIKE A HORSE" better than a 70hp super-sized blender. If i had the time and desire to get oily i would have stuck my spare EJ20 into a jetboat by now.

Eeek im on the old gen side again. We had an EA82 wagon with a fat case EA71 and a 5speed fwd setup at a local dealer a few months ago. Obviously used to be grandads car, 110,000miles on the clock and they wanted $1800 for it. Anyways im fairly sure a SPFI EA71 has been built before - had major deja-vu with this thread.

Heheheheheeee..... Im going to snow park later this year amd this has just given me an awesome idea!!!! If anyone complains il just say "but DC started it!!"

I think its absolutely crazy to replace all 4 tires. Now i agree they all need to be the same size, but shaving new tires makes me laugh. Thats such a brutal waste of money theres no way Subaru could endorse it. I replace my tires in pairs: I wear the fronts down to 2mm real quick (bendy roads), then swap front to back and wear the new fronts down. Tires are then replaced as needed and it means i never have a bald tire on the front and a brand new set on the back. If my trans lasts to 200k - thats fine in my book. The car will be long gone from me by then.

Reminds me of a test i saw on tv a few months ago. Testing the airbus A380 - they flew it to the arctic circle and left it a few days to check how cold it would start. One of the engines oil pumps exploded on the first test, took 'em 3 days working at -30deg c to fix it. Second test performed perfect. Coldest my Subaru has been is a pathetic 13degreesf.

I had the same issue this week on my Legacy - the plastic tube that sorta shields the wires to the fog lamp, had filled up with muddy water and corroded the contacts inside the connector plug. A quick buzz with some fine grit sandpaper fixed her right up (and i cut away an inch of the shield to stop it happening again). Try checking the contacts at the fog lamp end and see if theyre all green 'n gunked.

ROFL But seriously my Honda used to do this when parked on my drive or accelerating. The addition of one of those check valves as described by gbhrps fixed the issue. My check valves came from an old prelude dumped out in the hills. Any parts store should carry them.

Seems perfectly reasonable to me that a longer aftermarket axle could be transmitting engine vibrations to the body at idle. As for my qualifications - none relate to Subaru fixing in any way and i sell fridges (and tv's) for a living. But at the end of the day - ive held a Subaru axle in my hand and seen the hole it came from. That makes me reasonably qualified to solve the problem. I think its a bit unfortunate a flame war was started instead of just ignoring an irritating post. Finally - as im having a french day "Vive le USMB". It kicks rump roast

Hello ....been there and done that I Just HAD to step in here and say my '97 GT Manual was dam horrible for this - if the back stepped out it was very difficult to catch and resulted in fishtailing. After driving my mates old '97 GT Auto i can confidently say the clutched awd makes a noticeable difference to handling characteristics. IMHO Excess Body roll creates a pendulum effect which can easily cause loss of control in this sort of maneuvre (sp?). Stiffer sptings means any weight shift is immediate and can be easily compensated for. Im also certain my '02 H6 does not have VDC - but the low profile tires with a wider tread, combined with bilstein struts all round, stiffer sway bars and clutched awd make it a VERY controllable car.

Just to add a smidge of info to this thread. My gas light comes on at approximately 10 liters of fun left. At about 6 liters left the light strip that surrounds the gas gauge and the gauges backlight flash intermittently. Havnt run her dry yet. +1 to Nipper - its much nicer to fill up in small chunks. When that little meter on the pump ticks over $100 - i always wonder if buying an H6 was such a good decision :-\

Do you have directional tires fitted? Maybe theyve been fitted incorrectly.... Other than that im out of ideas. p.s Watch out - Hell hath no fury like christine - and a Subaru version of christine will be twice as evil.....leaking oil and blowing gaskets whilst killing innocent teens

I warmed to the '08 Impreza pretty quickly but that nose puts me right off. Cool find tho! Im quite excited to see what the next gen of legacys will look like - they just keep getting better IMHO....except for the 04-06, didnt like that one much.

My apologies - only DOT4 is backwards compatible with DOT3. DOT 5 is all synthetic and expensive. As far as ATF goes, a little research revealed the following: From Yotatech - "Dexron Mercon III supercedes all previous Dexron II specifications. You can safely use it. You can also use Dexron IV, which is even better and compatible with Dexron III and II specifications." Also the parts guy at the local Jaguar dealer has said all Dexron standard ATF fluids are backwards compatible - except in old school GM trucks that require Dexron1

Hmm ill have to take the neighbours Tribeca for a drive... Anyways - thats the end of my thread derailment. (cheers jamal and nipper for indulging my off topic-ness)