dpoppeli

Another opinion by a Businessweek journalist... October 05, 2005 GM Can't Make Sense of Subaru. Maybe Toyota Can. David Kiley When GM bought a minority stake in Fuji Heavy Industries a few years ago, it was to glom onto the great all-wheel-drive technology that the company puts into its Subaru vehicles. The notion was to co-develop some crossover wagons and small SUVs with the best AWD mechanicals in the business. What GM found was a stubborn partner that would not cave in on its own engineering prowess featuring boxer engines to adapt to GM's systems. The only thing that came out of the arrangement was the Saab 9-2, which is a warmed over Subaru WRX. And the companies were on track for Saab to market a warmed over version of the Subaru Tribeca SUV. The original idea was for Chevy and or Saturn to co-develop a really slick crossover SUV with GM selling perhaps hundreds of thousands of GM-Subaru developed vehicles to offset the cost of its investment. GM is selling its stake to raise some cash, and now Toyota will partner with Subaru. I don't bet much. But I'm willing to venture a few bucks that Toyota manages to partner with Subaru in a way that will mesh its quality with four-wheel drive technology second to none and that Toyota will not encounter the same barriers GM did. In short, GM couldn't adapt is systems and tooling to work with Subaru's horizontally opposed "boxer" engine. It makes for a low-slung engine and low center of gravity that is key to Subaru's great traction in the snow. Subaru is a great brand with terrific vehicles, especially if you are driving in mud and snow. Pity that GM couldnt figure out a way to make that marriage work, especially since GM is light on really good crossover vehicles. But good for Subaru for standing its ground and not muddying up its own brand. 07:18 PM in... http://www.businessweek.com/the_thread/brandnewday/archives/2005/10/gm_cant_make_se.html

I stand corrected (temporarily)... now Toyota is buying GM's Fuji shares. I notice there is another thread disucssing this too. http://msnbc.msn.com/id/9597221/

I don;t think anyone is saying that GM is associated with Subaru in any way. They appear to think that Subaru is lacking in imaganatve design and their vehicles are starting to look like just another GM make.

Damn good point. I run into that all the time... Indiana law just raised age limit too so now we're stuck with one of those oversized chunks of plastic for an even longer time! I don't know if it was the insurance companies that fed the state the data to cause this or what, but I wonder if we're giving ourselves a false sense of security. Of course we could put the burden on the car manufacturers and have them design seats which contains the function but then most people may not need it and then we're stuck with additional vehicle cost.

Just wondering what the reason for the fender cut-outs is.

Do explain. It seems like even VSLD would be worlds better then open differential?

Ok makes sense, so there are 3 seals total. And driveshaft seal apparently needs replacing. No mention was made of axle seals. Since this is costing me $1000+ I want to avoid having to come back and have additional wear items replaced. Question is more, what other components other than clutch kit and this seal should be replaced while they're in there?

I don't have a service manul. My 99 Subaru Forester is having clutch replaced and now that it's taken apart mechanic notices that the driveshaft differential seal needs to be replaced as well (maybe tht explains the smoke I saw last time I was hauling a trailer up a steep hill). Question is whether anybody has a picture of what this all looks like as I'm curious what I'm paying another $120 for? Is this actually two seals? Would I be ahead having both of them replaced or is it easy to get to later? Yes, I will probably stop by later and look at it.

Well it appears you solved it. I remember having to go to a garage for the same reason but I went to a truck garage... BIG impacts!. Just recently had a hitch put on by a private trailer shop and the guy there said his trick with commonly stuck undercarriage bolts/nuts was a blast with a torch and then a squirt of windex to rapidly cool it... wa-la (and I suppose you might even upgrade that nut due to case hardening at the same time).

Excellent thought!

Oh, was it their fault? I thought mine went due to running over the neighbor's rottweiler. This was recently on a '99 so I guess I got 6 years out of it. So anybody rigging heat shields to fix the problem?

Seems like it would be easy to cut/hacksaw the lines down at the wheel cylinders.

I agree with others... don't fix it since it ain't broke and it's practically new and probably very clear otherwise. I had the same issue on a '02, had it sealed as well. If it grows later I'll address it then. Anyway, now you look like you've actually been in the outback.

Thoughts are: do you have another car available when you have it dismantled and realize that you need one other item from the parts store? Maybe I've gotten less adventuresome over the years (and I have done a timing belt on a VW JEtta) but after I looked at the online Subaru PDF's showing how to do the job (links to this can be located in other threads) I didn't feel as thrilled about doing that one myself. I'd say start with some small things first, like the 120k service. (I should put a picture of eeyore here in contrast to your tigger).

Try pinching the triangular driver-side window gasket(what do you call that thing?)... while window is down of course.

What are you using as a reference, i.e. what type of vehicle did you drive before this?

And how did you learn of this story?

Waiting to hear the feedback on this first round although there weren't any EJ kit takers were there? Did the UCF guys get theirs installed on the Darpa Outback?

Wondering how much that reduces clutch life? Sometimes I've noticed a more audible thunk at higher RPM's.

Appears we sort of changed the thread topic but onwards anway... $2/gallon in taxes - unreal. We still have a little bit of the "keep the government out of my backyard" spirit here in Indiana so I guess it's a little more reasonable.

$4/gal... Ouch! Is that due to local/state taxes? I think if I were doing more interstate driving/long commuting I would want the 6-cyl for better ride/acceleration but for my current needs a 4-banger works just fine. Taking a mileage hit with AWD (My Lincoln V8 gets 21 vs. Forester's 24) but it comes in handy during winter.

Geez, that thing must *go* with a 3 liter engine... I've never liked owning anything that needed premium but for those that require it, with gas at $3.20/gallon, the percentage difference is becoming less, eg at $2/gallon and 20 cents/gallon more for premium, thats 10% more, but at $3.20 they're only paying 6% additional! Little consolation I know...

If it's only 20mm longer, is there any possibility that it would fit in a forester? Why premium anyway?

Really I can't complain too much and an 05 should have more of the problems ironed out since forester was introduced in '98. My rear wheel bearing only lasting to 70k miles points at underdesign to me but things could be worse and the thing is fun to drive. Regarding maintenance, 05 should also make for easier oil changes if they designed the plastic underguard anything like our 02 outback which has a quick access hatch instead of requiring total unbolting of the guard (Wonder how many people just throw that chunk of plastic away? - me, I guess I tend to think it may do something).

Reminds me of an edition of Monster Garage where first thing they do is rip out all the interior crap and put in a smaller gas tank so there is more room for the backhoe attachment.