Balr14

Get a decent up-pipe, a TBE and ship your ECU to Vishnu for reflashing.

I prefer the Forester XT. Much cheaper to insure and faster than a WRX. No problems, either. The other cars on your list are fun handlers, but very mundane performance-wise. Of course you do realize any turbo Subaru requires premium gas, which is like $2.60 a galllon where I live.

Bearings under light load will do that.

I think piston slap is related to break-in. If you drove it very gently for the first 600 - 800 miles the rings seat a bit better and you usually don't get the slap. Short skirts with few ring lands allows a lot of piston rocking if the rings are not seated just so. I don't think it hurts anything. A lot of high-performance cars in the 60s were purposely built very loose. They were horrible when you started them cold; hard to start, burned oil, awful racket, etc. But, as soon as they warmed up they were as smooth as glass.

Those gray smoked plastic wind deflectors work quite well if you can find room to mount them with no door frame. Had worse wind noise problems with my daughter's Neon (also no door frames) and they eliminated it. I had to do some trimming because they take away some clearance getting in the Neon, but a Forester is a lot taller.

I drive an 04 FXT and the turbo is definitely worth it! There's no comparison between it and any of the non-turbo motors.

What do you mean it doesn't work? MY experience with japanese clutches is they are all diaphram models that if you rev them to high and dump the clutch it won't engage, usually just fries. I replace them with a decent turbo clutch as soon as possible.

Well, that's odd. When I took my Forester XT for a test drive the salesman had me pull off the road and stop, so that my right tires were in about 6 - 8 inches of snow and the left tires were on the pavement. Then he told me to take off. It was like the snow wasn't there.

Really? I was under the impression the XT was considerably quicker than a WRX.

The only thing I've noticed about the Subarus I've driven (except WRX and STI) is an excessive amount of body roll. I don't know if that pertains to the Baja, though.

Most other companies AWD vehicles out-weigh Subarus by a substantial amount and most also cost a good deal more. The AWD vehicles I've owned were all priced at least $10k more than my Forester XT. For that much money, they should have decent AWD systems. But the thing I like the best about my Forester is it weighs 3300 lbs, far less than any other AWD vehicles I've had. When driving conditions are poor, I'd much rather try and stop a 3300 lb vehicle than a 4200 lb one.

Well, my wife has driven the Forester a few times herself, now. Being a clever old gal (don't tell her I called her old), it didn't take her long to figure out this thing is pretty quick. Once she got used to the 5 speed, and figured out a decent launch technique, she was teasing other SUVs at stoplights. But, she likes it and may want her own when her lease is up on her Pathfinder. Having an enlightened wife is not going to make it any easier to sneak hop-up parts past her. Oh, well... can't win them all.

I saw a Cobb Tuning Stage 2 kit that supposed to be good for (an over-optimistic) 280 hp. It consists mainly of an AccessPort ECU programmer and cat-back exhaust. It's not terribly expensive but seems to be about what I'd like. It doesn't drastically alter boost or other engine parameters. Any thoughts? Also, I'd like a short ram intake... mostly cause I like the noise. Good or bad? The only thing I've found that I don't like about the Forester is the body roll on corners and curves. Cobb has a suspension kit that seems to address this. Anyone have experience with Cobb parts? Anyone know somebody in southeastern Wisconsin who can install this type of stuff?

Thanks for your reply. I was told a larger intercooler will allow me to go to about 15 - 16 lbs of boost with no adverse effects. True or false? I can see where a good exhaust system would help, as there are quite a few bends in the stocker, but 15 db more doesn't sound very appealing.

I just purchased an 04 XT 5 speed and like all speed crazed freaks, I'd like to improve the performance a bit. After talking to a number of people and looking at what's available, I'm confused about where to start. I've heard bigger intercooler, better exhaust, wastegate, bigger turbo, boost controller, EMS, fuel management system, APE ram intake, etc, etc. I'd like to add 30 - 40 horse, preferably with something I can deactivate when my wife drives it (she doesn't know XTs haul butt).

Greetings to you all. I just purchased my first Subaru, to keep peace in the family. My wife has hated my car purchases for a long time and it has caused many arguments and general discord. I have always favored high-performance vehicles (3000GT VR4, WS6 Trans AM) and sports cars (Vette, S2000). She refused to ride in them because they ride poorly (in her opinion) and are difficult to get in and out of (we are in our 60s). The insurance rates aren't exactly pleasant, either. But, thanks to the Forester XT, everyone is happy, now. I found a very nice black 04 model with 8000 miles at a very nice price and snapped it up. The real frosting on the cake is my insurance went down. My wife thinks it's just a nice little SUV. Of course, when we took it for a test drive I had to drive it like I just stole it, so she's none the wiser. But when I'm alone, I have a blast with it. Now, all I need is some bigger tires, a ram intake, better exhaust, bigger intercooler, another 5 lbs of boost... I wonder how I can sneak that stuff past her?