Turbo Subaru people, I need your expertise

[frosho]

^^ Getting there is half the fun,it would give anyone an excuse to escape the cold weather here!LMAO

Too bad there's a winter storm warning in VA today!

I'm aware of the control arm corrosion issue, but thanks for the heads up anyway.

[g96nt]

I suppose I'd go drive one of the local ones to see if you even liked the car before venturing to VA. I'd probably drive the one @ Dalzell. They have a reputation of selling good cars, new and used. They're like 3 miles from Foxboro stadium on Rt 1. (My old 82 244 came from there)

I'll admit, I like the Red over the "blah" scandanavian colors

[Boosted Euro]

The 5speeds are good until over 300wtq, then it depends on how you.drive it. 350 seems to be max. The 4.44 in the Forester is known to be the strongest of the 5speeds. Don't launch it and don't slam gears and it should be fine.

[frosho]

I think I should be OK, I don't plan on going crazy with mods anyway. Remember, I'm coming from a '98 2.2l, so a stock WRX should keep a smile on my face for a while. I'm sure I'd do something with the exhaust and maybe some handling upgrades, but nothing crazy. If I need a bigger rush I can always borrow dad's reflashed Audi.

[mjd4277]

Too bad there's a winter storm warning in VA today!
.

Yeah,but they'll recover in a day or two. The cold here will linger all week!lol

[Boosted Euro]

Another guy i know with a XT posted this car on face book yesterday. It's black.. wish mine was black.

Did he say what the reason for the rebuild was?

[frosho]

Another guy i know with a XT posted this car on face book yesterday. It's black.. wish mine was black.

Did he say what the reason for the rebuild was?

He didn't say why, and I forgot to ask. Here's one of his emails about it -

Hi Matt,

Yes, it was a pretty extensive rebuild. I had it done at North End Subaru in Lunenburg, MA exactly 1 year ago at 178,xxx miles. I had requested that they replace all the bearings while the engine was apart, I mean, why not while you're in there? I was able to view the engine while it was out an apart, and it was great to be able to see the factory cross hatch hone marks on the cylinder walls. Even the tech working on the told me that everything looked pretty clean when he took it apart.

No engine issues or CELs, gearbox shifts nice and smooth, no noises from that or the rear diff. Even the A/C still works great. The only thing to note is with the cold weather, the front sway bar end links clunk. They're an older Kartboy or AVO model (can't remember which), and they have poly bushings. I made sure the bolts were tight when I heard it, but it's just the nature of poly bushings. The struts are good, no clunks or leaks (they were fairly low mileage when I bought the car) and it still rides smooth and handles well.

When my friend Andrew owned the car, he had a custom tune done from a NASIOC member who does that sort of thing. I don't know who the member is as I'm not registered there, but it's good and responsive and hasn't given the engine or fueling any issues. I do know it's a conservative tune, as he wanted to leave some room on the table so it wasn't maxed out on stock internals.

He drove quite a bit; commuted from Wichendon to Leominster for a few years, did a couple cross-country trips and I drove it to and from work and to Northern NH every weekend to ski, which is why it has so many miles. If it got better fuel economy I'd keep it, but I have a 50 mile per day commute (the longest I've ever had), and 24-25 MPG on premium fuel is adding up.

[Boosted Euro]

25mpg..... Must be nice. I'm lucky if I get 17..lol since winter I'm getting 14-17. Lol big turbo problems..

[mjd4277]

^Let's not forget we're on winter blend gas,which always gives lower fuel economy.

[frosho]

Shawn, thanks for being an example of why mods should be kept to a minimum on a DD!

[g96nt]

I know that car, actually.
It's my buddy Andrew T's (andybike) old car.
He did take good care of it, and it's actually not black. It's some off black capuccino color or something.

I have no idea what the current owner as done for work, and sadly, it's been a while since I've seen andy, so i don't know what came of it. Nothing stands out as being "wrong" with it.
IIRC, it was pretty quick and had some weird ceramic Sti turbo. vh39 or something?

[g96nt]

25mpg..... Must be nice. I'm lucky if I get 17..lol since winter I'm getting 14-17. Lol big turbo problems..

Big turbos typically yield higher MPG.
I remember on the drive to the shootout, the guys with the larger FP greens/reds would always get better mpg's than the small 16/18/20g guys.
like... substantially better.

[frosho]

The 58k mile 9-2x I was hoping to pick up didn't pan out... guy sold it to a family member.

I'm starting to reconsider my wagon-only stance though.

[g96nt]

I'd reconsider your AWD-only option, maybe?

[frosho]

Nah. I've thoroughly enjoyed awd since I first got it, don't particularly want to stray from it.

I found an '04 S60R last night with 70k on it, but then I started reading up on them and got scared off. I guess '04s in particular are problematic, plus the $1k-per-corner suspension, angle gear issues... no thank you.