Well... my trusty '94 Olds Bravada was rapidly becoming a money pit - so we finally decided it was time to trade it in on something a little more durable. I can't exactly call it a "winter beater" - it's far too nice for that... I even enjoy driving it on a regular basis... but it definite has the traction one wants in MN come winter time!

It's a 2000 Subaru Legacy GT
(some of you may have noticed it in my CarFax thread)
39k miles - local owner/dealer trade-in (not a FL auctioned fleet/lease car like the other I looked at)
Pretty well loaded with everything execpt a multi-disc player (it's got a single though), and leather.
I love having a 5 speed... it's been about 9 years since I've driven a stick on a regular basis. Lot's of fun

Sowhaddayathink?

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Looking for Fiero posters?

I like it. I think the Legacy GT has some nice lines to it, and I understand that the quality is very good. I can't remember, are those turbo engines?

quote Originally posted by stimpy: I like it. I think the Legacy GT has some nice lines to it, and I understand that the quality is very good. I can't remember, are those turbo engines?

Some of the earlier models (early 90s?) had a Turbo - and then the new '05 has a Turbo, but the 2000-04 models only came with the 2.5L N/A - but you can get a really nice Turbo kit for it (although my wife says I can't mod this one... at least not for awhile).

Nice car, Im getting my wife the new turbo Legacy GT wagon when it comes out at the end of May. I probably will get my self the sedan at the end of the year, when my lease is up, depending on how much I like my wife's new car. www.need-desire.com

[This message has been edited by avengador1 (edited 04-08-2004).]

quote Originally posted by avengador1: Nice car, Im getting my wife the new turbo Legacy GT wagon when it comes out at the end of May. I probably will get my self the sedan at the end of the year, when my lease is up, depending on how much I like my wife's new car. www.need-desire.com

That'll be an awesome car - I got to sit in one at the Mpls auto show last month... very nice, roomy, and comfortable. If it drives & handles anything like my 2000 (and it should be better) then it'll be a great car. I figure maybe when my warranty is up in 3 years I'll look at trading "up" to an '05 model with the turbo as well

i want a subaru SVX.. guy i just bought my fiero from has one.. quick little car.

I got my wife an '02 Legacy GT and we love it. We have racked up 77,000 on it in two and a half years with no major problems. They do awesome in the snow. That car can get through almost anything my Dakota 4x4 can. We have the automatic and it could use a little more umph, especially for being such a heavy car.
Good choice for a daily driver! I am hoping to get a few 100K miles out of mine.

quote Originally posted by Hedhunta: i want a subaru SVX.. guy i just bought my fiero from has one.. quick little car.

Those are pretty cool cars - rather heavy for their size (3375-3580lbs according to their specs), but still fun from what I hear! I do find it odd though that they apparently weren't available with a manual tranny?! They're all listed as follows:

quote automatic 4 speed with 2nd gear "manual mode" to eliminate 1st to 2nd gear gear slippage and "power mode" to raise shift points for stronger acceleration

quote Originally posted by Stick: I got my wife an '02 Legacy GT and we love it. We have racked up 77,000 on it in two and a half years with no major problems. They do awesome in the snow. That car can get through almost anything my Dakota 4x4 can. We have the automatic and it could use a little more umph, especially for being such a heavy car. Good choice for a daily driver! I am hoping to get a few 100K miles out of mine.

Yeah, I read on a consumer reports-type site that the autos tend to upshift at very low RPMs and it can make it seem a bit sluggish... the Manual certainly took care of that!

[This message has been edited by MinnGreenGT (edited 04-08-2004).]

Nice Legacy! Your going to really appreciate the awd once the snow flies! That should last you a long time, and be rock solid in reliability! Nice choice!!

Very nice! I love Subarus, though I must admit I'm partial to the Outback wagon, myself. I haven't owned one for about 4 years, because when I was looking, even the oldest Outbacks were still out of my price range. Maybe for my next car purchase. The AWD system in the newer cars looks very nice...my newest was an '86, so it still had a 5 speed with manual dual range 4WD.

Subarus are VERY nice cars. I got to test drive a WRX when i was looking for a car to buy. very fun and pratical car. the price for me was a little steap (new). if i could of found a used one i would have gotten it without a doubt. but how often do you come across a used one?? for a good price?? very few times!! there is only one other (daily driver) that i like better than the Subarus, that is the Audi. in my opinion, best car made hands down. and nothing can beat thier warrenty. EVERYTHING is covered in it (oil changes, brakes, clutch, etc..) even if its your fault. Thats why i got myself the 2002 A6 2.8, at a GREAT price to. <$25000 still under warrenty!!!

quote Originally posted by Fformula88: Nice Legacy! Your going to really appreciate the awd once the snow flies! That should last you a long time, and be rock solid in reliability! Nice choice!!

Thanks! I'm actually looking forward to a little snow to play in (and by our weather forcast I might actually get a bit this weekend).

quote Originally posted by AndyLPhoto: Very nice! I love Subarus, though I must admit I'm partial to the Outback wagon, myself. I haven't owned one for about 4 years, because when I was looking, even the oldest Outbacks were still out of my price range. Maybe for my next car purchase. The AWD system in the newer cars looks very nice...my newest was an '86, so it still had a 5 speed with manual dual range 4WD.

LOL - I'm just the opposite... I had to weed through the 30-or-so Outbacks & Legacy Wagons currently on the market here to find the two or three available in the sedan GT trim. And the one I got was the only manual one available right now!

I never really knew that much about the Subaru line until more recently (my curiousity was certainly peaked by WRC ). But after even a small amount of research... it's difficult to not see a number of benefits to the Subaru line - especially in our mixed climate here.

quote Originally posted by wriott: Subarus are VERY nice cars. I got to test drive a WRX when i was looking for a car to buy. very fun and pratical car. the price for me was a little steap (new). if i could of found a used one i would have gotten it without a doubt. but how often do you come across a used one?? for a good price?? very few times!! there is only one other (daily driver) that i like better than the Subarus, that is the Audi. in my opinion, best car made hands down. and nothing can beat thier warrenty. EVERYTHING is covered in it (oil changes, brakes, clutch, etc..) even if its your fault. Thats why i got myself the 2002 A6 2.8, at a GREAT price to. <$25000 still under warrenty!!!

Yeah, my best friend Matt just recently picked up a new WRC Blue WRX... great car - but quite as great when it comes to packing 4 full size adults in for a drive to the local eating establishment. I too also didn't want to spend the 20k+ for a new WRX either... although I did find a nice '03 WRX here for about $12k awhile back - unfortunately is was a salvage repair (which looked perfect, but I wouldn't trust it myself).

On the Audi topic though... I'd have to differ my opinion there. My parents have a 2000 A6/2.8, and my brother has a '01(?) A4/1.8T neither of which have been reliable and/or reasonably priced when it came to repairs. I personally believe that my parents ended up with a Lemon... it was either a rental or lease return and has been problematic since day 1 (the driver's side back seat footwell used to fill up with 2-3" of water when it rained heavily, there have been numerous odd electrical problems, and for awhile it was leaking so much air through the front glovebox area that the heater could hardly keep up in the winter!). And my parent's "bumper-to-bumper" warrantly only covered about 2/3 of the problems they encountered due to "fine print". Then my brother's A4... timing jumped and crushed the valves - they tried to pick up a replacement engine only to find that Audi uses different bolt patterns on their autos and manuals... so they had to have another engine rebuilt using parts from the replacement! They were then plagued by cooling issues as well as additional bad sensors and minor electrical bugs. Of course their car was completely out of warranty and they hadn't picked up an extended one. (I did buy a 36month/48000 mile extended warranty for the Legacy... I'd rather not risk it with this one!)

All that being noted in my immediate family... led me away from the Audi platforms - on the other hand, my sister-in-law's old '80s Audio 5000 (?) ran strong for nearly 200,000 miles when it was involved in a car accident... it was just never the same after that.

[This message has been edited by MinnGreenGT (edited 04-08-2004).]

i have heard of the Audis haveing the eletrical problems. thats strange that you family has had so many problems. my parents and close friends have always owned Audis for as long as i can remember. we never had any major problems. i remember beating the hell out of them when i first got my license The only problem they had is that the tranny took a dump. of course they didnt have the extended warranty. this is my first one i have owned (almost 1 year) i have had no problems. i am however seriously looking to get the TT that would be really fun. but who knows?? i say agian though the subes are VERY nice cars. hope you and your wife are really happy with it.

Will

So you decided to go with it. Good for you. I'm sure the awd will come in handy a few times But you need a car to really have some fun in, in the snow! What's winter time without doing doughnuts??? Hopefully the wife will come around and let you tweek the engine a bit in the future!

Good luck with the new car!

Dar

quote Originally posted by wriott: i have heard of the Audis haveing the eletrical problems. thats strange that you family has had so many problems. my parents and close friends have always owned Audis for as long as i can remember. we never had any major problems. i remember beating the hell out of them when i first got my license The only problem they had is that the tranny took a dump. of course they didnt have the extended warranty. this is my first one i have owned (almost 1 year) i have had no problems. i am however seriously looking to get the TT that would be really fun. but who knows?? i say agian though the subes are VERY nice cars. hope you and your wife are really happy with it.

Will - I'm definitely glad to hear that your family has not had the same experience as mine has with the Audi line of cars! I'm just glad I wasn't the one to buy either of their cars (and my Dad is now looking at newer Volvos to replace his A6). I was pretty well impressed when my brother picked up his A4 initially... it was a fun drive until it chucked the motor!

The TT is a pretty nice car, but how big of person are you? I'm just shy of 6' and around 210lbs - and the TT is a really tight squeeze for me (I sat in a new one recently at the auto show). Now a Porsche Boxter... that's a whole different story

quote Originally posted by fierogirls-mom: So you decided to go with it. Good for you. I'm sure the awd will come in handy a few times But you need a car to really have some fun in, in the snow! What's winter time without doing doughnuts??? Hopefully the wife will come around and let you tweek the engine a bit in the future!

Yeah... I finally decided to bite the bullet - it was the manual tranny that really changed my mind so quickly. And the added $150 or so to our monthly budget (combined the remainder of her carolla loan into the Sube's) won't be too bad (and the insurance will likely drop a bit to help offset that). ItsNow fun? Actually I personally have a hard time finding many things more fun in a car than a 4 wheel powerslide around a corner covered with snow

I'm 6' tall and weigh about 200lbs. i test drove the 2004 TT and it wasnt bad, i thought. however i wouldnt want it for a daily driver. i just think it would be really nice to own and drive around. i agree with you and a porsche boxter. even if i was packed into it like sardines (sp?) i wouldnt care.

quote Originally posted by wriott: I'm 6' tall and weigh about 200lbs. i test drove the 2004 TT and it wasnt bad, i thought. however i wouldnt want it for a daily driver. i just think it would be really nice to own and drive around. i agree with you and a porsche boxter. even if i was packed into it like sardines (sp?) i wouldnt care.

Yeah - the thing that bugged me about the TT (at least the coupe model) is that with my seat adjusted comfortably the driver's seat was already rubbing on the B-pillar... shouldn't there be a touch more room? Now the boxter... my brother has/had a '79 Porsche 924, which I didn't think much of - and coincidentally I've never thought much of Porsches in general - until I sat in the boxter. All doubts went away - and I've seen used ones available in this area in the low $20k ranage... not bad.

i agree with you on there needing to be more room in the TT if it were to be a daily driver. i felt it to be comfortable to be just a cruise around car. you know... something to have fun in. i test drive the convertable (hardtop), so i dont know if the coupe is worse or ???? so we could be talkin about different cars. how long ago did you see the Porsche for sale that low??? i have seen them in the HIGH 20K to mid 30K for a decient one (around me). If i could have found one at that price i would have gotten it rather than my Audi. ohhhh well, everything happens for a reason. (i hope) lol

Not trying to hijack the thread, but I'll be getting a Suburu possibly later this year. Only I'll just be getting the engine. And I'm putting it on an airplane. See here:
http://www.eggenfellneraircraft.com/

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Rod Schneider, Woodstock, Ga.
White 88 GT

quote Originally posted by wriott: i test drive the convertable (hardtop), so i dont know if the coupe is worse or ???? so we could be talkin about different cars.

Yeah, I've been in both... the convert is certainly much better for space (although I haven't been in one with the top up), but it's the coupe that I had the B-pillar issue with.

quote how long ago did you see the Porsche for sale that low??? i have seen them in the HIGH 20K to mid 30K for a decient one (around me). If i could have found one at that price i would have gotten it rather than my Audi. ohhhh well, everything happens for a reason. (i hope) lol

LOL - there are usually 2-4 in every Sunday paper here (3 on autotrader.com right now less than $25k ). But you wouldn't want one for everyday... would you? (maybe that's the reason ).

Rodrv6... that's definitely a little different use of a Subaru - but hey, if it works in a car - it may as well work in a plane!

of course i wouldnt want one for everyday driveing. i want one to just to say "he i have a Porsche" lol. they are very rarely in the papers around here even though i live so close to toledo and detroit there is maybe only 1 or 2 listings a month that are even worth lookin at.

Rodrv6: i dont know ANYTHING about aircraft besides that i know that the go vroooooooommm and go in the air. i would think that you would need to use an engine that would run higher RPM than the Sube engine. but maybe im wrong. about how much does it cost to build a plane?? kinda interesting i might have to do some more investagating. good luck with your plans.

quote Originally posted by wriott: Rodrv6: i dont know ANYTHING about aircraft besides that i know that the go vroooooooommm and go in the air. i would think that you would need to use an engine that would run higher RPM than the Sube engine. but maybe im wrong. about how much does it cost to build a plane?? kinda interesting i might have to do some more investagating. good luck with your plans.

Actually, the Subaru engine turns much faster than an "equivalent" Lycoming aircraft engine! Most small plane engines are direct drive to the propellor and are redlined at around 2500 RPM. The Subaru engine uses a reduction drive to allow the engine to turn enough RPM's to develope power without overspeeding the propellor. The plane I'm building is called an RV-6 and I'll probably have about $40,000 in it by the time it's done.
http://www.vansaircraft.com/public/rv-6int.htm

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Rod Schneider, Woodstock, Ga.
White 88 GT

Interesting. i thought i was only gonna learn more about cars.... not anymore. thanks for the info

quote Originally posted by Rodrv6: Actually, the Subaru engine turns much faster than an "equivalent" Lycoming aircraft engine! Most small plane engines are direct drive to the propellor and are redlined at around 2500 RPM. The Subaru engine uses a reduction drive to allow the engine to turn enough RPM's to develope power without overspeeding the propellor. The plane I'm building is called an RV-6 and I'll probably have about $40,000 in it by the time it's done. http://www.vansaircraft.com/public/rv-6int.htm

Cool project! My cousin down in Florida is part-owner and head 'glass guy for "Team Tango" http://www.teamtango.com/ (and they typically run either 200hp or 300hp lycoming engines in their builds. It's always cool to go visit their shop... everything they do ('glass-wise and mechancial-wise) is well beyond my normal scope!

Good looking car! Enjoy your new ride

Subies kick ass. ... I know where there is a complete turbo kit for the 2.5. up pipes and down pipes , top mount intercooler from a wrx , wrx turbo , oil lines....everything $1500... We have a guy int he local autocross series that runs a 2000 legacy GT turbo..the car is a monster. I have had 2 legacies thus far , a 2003 GT 5spd and a 2004 GT wagon Auto (only way the GT wagon comes) Car has a killer chassis..

I drive the 2005 this sunday.... I will take pics (get to drive a 05 Legacy GT with the 5spd auto and a 05 outback XT with a 5spd manual ) IT's sad ,t he WRX is now the 4th fastest car in the subaru lineup!

JM

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1986 GT Northstar 5spd , direct port nitrous nprogress
2002 Mini (autocross car)
2004 WRX (daily driver)
www.geocites.com/morley_m/northstar.htm

I got an email from Acura today. I seems they will be releasing an RL model with AWD and 300HP. I might have to reconsider my Subaru plans once I check it out.

Well - took it on it's 1st extended road trip this weekend... great road cruiser, and still feels nice on the backroad twisties! Had my wife drive it back home (her 1st time ever driving a stick - she only killed it once in traffic ).

quote Originally posted by Slammed Fiero: Subies kick ass. ... I know where there is a complete turbo kit for the 2.5. up pipes and down pipes , top mount intercooler from a wrx , wrx turbo , oil lines....everything $1500... We have a guy int he local autocross series that runs a 2000 legacy GT turbo..the car is a monster. I have had 2 legacies thus far , a 2003 GT 5spd and a 2004 GT wagon Auto (only way the GT wagon comes) Car has a killer chassis.. I drive the 2005 this sunday.... I will take pics (get to drive a 05 Legacy GT with the 5spd auto and a 05 outback XT with a 5spd manual ) IT's sad ,t he WRX is now the 4th fastest car in the subaru lineup!

JM - the WRX is now the 4th fastest... LOL that's great - I already passed that bit of info along to my friend Matt who has a new '04 WRS

I'd love to get that turbo kit... and the price is certainly right - but even a breif mention of it recieved a prompt "No" from my wife - Doh! Anyway, I'd love to see some pics of the Legacy GT autocrosser you mentioned!

quote Originally posted by avengador1: I got an email from Acura today. I seems they will be releasing an RL model with AWD and 300HP. I might have to reconsider my Subaru plans once I check it out.

Sounds interesting... have to keep an eye out for that!

Must be Sube month - we just traded in our 97 Legecy wagon for a Forrester( Picking it up at 5:00 today in fact). We must be getting old - got an automatic this time

Very nice. Hopefully that can make it to PA without alternator failure! :-)

Jen

quote Originally posted by Phil: Must be Sube month - we just traded in our 97 Legecy wagon for a Forrester( Picking it up at 5:00 today in fact). We must be getting old - got an automatic this time

Old... or Lazy? (j/k) - how's the new Forrester?

quote Originally posted by Fierochic88: Very nice. Hopefully that can make it to PA without alternator failure! :-)

LOL - even if the alt does fail on a long trip... the roadside service & extended warranty I purchased with it will come in very handy That... and what would a drive to PA be in anything other than a Fiero!

This is Phil's wife and the Forester is my winter car that I drive to work (I leave my T-top Fiero home during the winter). After driving it this week - I love it. The handling is very nice. Glad we purchased it. I enjoyed my Legacy wagon (had no problems) so I wanted to stick with Subaru. I even got the moonroof because I enjoy my T-top Fiero so much.

BTW, I am getting both old and lazy! I decided this time I'd go with an automatic.

[This message has been edited by Phil (edited 04-15-2004).]

quote Originally posted by Phil: This is Phil's wife and the Forester is my winter car that I drive to work (I leave my T-top Fiero home during the winter). After driving it this week - I love it. The handling is very nice. Glad we purchased it. I enjoyed my Legacy wagon (had no problems) so I wanted to stick with Subaru. I even got the moonroof because I enjoy my T-top Fiero so much. BTW, I am getting both old and lazy! I decided this time I'd go with an automatic.

LOL - yeah... my Legacy is also intended to be my "winter" car - although I've been working on my Fiero quite a bit lately, which means it's nice to have a fun car when I can't drive the Fiero Enjoy your new car!