Certainly one of my timelier automotive purchases; just in time for the global warmingest winter we've had in Indy since I moved here.
Last winter was bad, but this is even worse. The alley would have been impassible to the Z3 without snow tires for most of this year so far. My plan was to have the Zed towed to the shop and fairly comprehensively overhauled as soon as I got back from my last trip down to TN, but the snow berm behind the garage hasn't cleared off to where we could get a flatbed towtruck in there for the last month.
EDIT: It's bad enough back in the alley that I had to go help push Bobbi's car the last couple feet out onto the street. There was still enough snow back there to high-center a Hyundai Accent. If I'm recollecting a'right, that's only the second time since I moved here that it took manual assistance to get that little kimchi-burner out of the alley.
Just shows how northern our household is, a full size 4x4 truck and a Subaru.
ReplyDeleteIts a blast, innit? One of the more hardcore drivers I know says the subies are so nimble and capable as to actually be boring.she prefers cars that are actively trying to kill her.
ReplyDeleteCareful with those emotional attachments to inanimate objects. You might be like me and emotionally incapable of 86ing a couple of guns and getting a better 1911 :)
ReplyDeletePlus, and I'm not sure how much Huck would appreciate this, but Subaru's are "Dog Tested.Dog Approved"
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VDut1RkQP_s&list=PL9C5C8FE3C88141FC
Just bought a new full-size 4x4 this year and was feeling kind of shameful about buying a 4x4 I didn't really need... Turns out, it has been quite handy here in Hoosierland and 4x4 systems have become much more sophisticated than I remember them being in the '70s & '80s. A knob instead of a shifter and the amazeballs "Auto" mode where the tinker gnome in the dash operates the transfer case to provide 4x4 when needed. It is a joyous winter justifying my purchase.
ReplyDeleteScience is settled my ass!
Also, what's up with the Z3? Overhaul as in overhaul or overhaul as in fix all the little error lights on the dash? Not mutually exclusive to be sure, but it sounds expensive on a bimmer.
ReplyDeleteZ3 still needs the oil separator (a fancy-dan PCV valve) replaced, and I figured I'd get belts and plugs and other underhood consumables replaced while I was at it.
ReplyDeleteSounds like you got the center differential fixed in the Subie, then?
ReplyDeleteG98,
ReplyDeleteNo.
I swear that if I could figure out how to mount one on the front of my wife's Impreza that I could make a living plowing driveways with that little beast.
ReplyDeleteMy friend gave her "old" Subie (230,000 miles) to her brother and picked up a "new" one (with only 110,000 on it). I drove the old one down to the Cities from up north, and while it certainly wasn't a new car, it sure as heck wasn't worn out yet, either.
I'm thinking you made a darned good buy, there.
if you come up for the Mennonite gunshow, we could take a look at it.
ReplyDeleteOg,
ReplyDeleteI might take you up on that.
I like my focus wagon. Almost bought a subie, but around here, have not seen many subie drivers I would converse with. the wagon seems to be pretty nimble so far and I don't have the 4x4 penalty 350 days of the year when you don't need 4x4.
ReplyDeleteNot that I let that stop me as to a car as I have seen more ford PU drivers I would horse whip given the chance and I still want one of those.
And I did once have a 4x4 Voyager, now that one was a tank in inclement weather.
Keeping ones speed down in the lower 40's helps as well.
I've been looking for the appropriate center-diff every two weeks or so around Dayton since you posted the need. Hopefully one turns up at reasonable price before you hit that gunshow.
ReplyDeleteI would be happy to look at it. Between Partner, mr B and I, we could probably get it swapped out for you.
ReplyDeleteGood choice on the Subbie.
ReplyDeleteVery silly weather this year.
Cheyenne is just as cold as bloody Fairbanks right now ( -11F )... something I didn't think I would ever see.
And I'm sure anything close to the Great Lakes ( like Indianapolis ) will be a continual horror show ...
Loving the Subaru myself. Unlike last year, Governor Duval Patrick has not declared martial law this most recent, and on-going, big snowfall, so I made my way into work this morning. Driveway was unplowed ('cause the private and pre-paid plow service is making extra money on contingency basis plowing city streets rather than the driveways they've already been paid to plow -- but such is Massatuchetts (sic)) as was our little side street, but the Subaru just ignores stuff like that.
ReplyDelete@John Richardson: cute commercial, made me think of the Nissan Dogs love trucks commercial. For some reason the old Japanese guy at the end cracks me up.
Update: "Sergeant Major" who runs the clinic (with an efficiently s'maj-erly hand as you might expect) just popped in. She informs me that of the few people at work today the majority are Subaru drivers. Either it's 'cause they're great cars, or we're idiots.
I wanted a Forester ten years ago; it was several thousand dollars more than I had to spend.
ReplyDeleteI didn't even realize they were hippiemobiles.
We can easily make that change...with three of us, shouldn't take too long.
ReplyDeleteANd if ya want, when ya come to the gunshow, I happen to have a place where you could stay...either with MC and I, or an actual motel (I can call in a favor from the owner)...
Say the word...our home is yours.
We traded in our '03 Forester last year for a '14. We also gave the Civic Si to the the in-laws and replaced it with a new '13 Impreza. I miss both the old Forester and the Si, but if I could have one back, it would be the Forester. We had 10 very good years together.
ReplyDelete-Havenseeker
Once you've tried an all wheel drive, two wheel power ain' nothin' but jive.
ReplyDeleteWhen two wheel drive just ain't no fun, all wheel drive'll git 'er done.
When nature don't cut you slack, try a foe by foe; you'll never go back.
Even in a sports car, how many times have you wanted to giddy up! and the two wheels only break loose? A little bit of gravel or sand underneath and it's all over. -- Lyle
When my daughter got her license I got her a subie with 285,000 miles on it....which I called the littel red tank.
ReplyDeleteGot her and later her sister through high school in Colorado and two accidents and ssold it for what I had in it
Paul:
ReplyDeleteYou'd be very disappointed to know how many MPG you don't give up with a Subie.
http://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/PowerSearch.do?action=noform&path=7&year=2014&make=Subaru&model=Impreza%20Wagon%20AWD&srchtyp=ymm
Tam's era probably maxes out just under 30 on the road.
I've been real pleased with my '97 Outback. I was looking for a Toyota or Honda with a manual transmission and not more than 12 years old. A guy at work told me, "Pete's got a 13yo Subaru with an automatic transmission," and I said, "Close enough!" You can tell how much I like shopping for a car.
ReplyDeleteRemarkably sure footed on snow, especially after 28 years in a Toyota pickup.
Tam,
ReplyDeleteif you or Og haven't seen this, looks helpful:
http://www.subaruforester.org/vbulletin/f89/center-diffs-how-replace-them-46979/
12 years and 130k into a Legacy L wagon.
ReplyDeleteI hosed the trans and it's still hauling up hills. Noisy, tho. A rebuild will cure that whine.
City mileage has always been on the lower end, but she gets the 20-league boots on when you hit the highway. 28 to 30 mpg, still.
A buddy who writes service training manuals out of Toyota USA HQ in Long Beach told me I bought the right car.
Lex Luthier
I have an Outback with just over 200,000 miles on it (previously owned by my mother.) After driving a tiny little two-wheel-drive car for a while last winter, at first I was grateful and now I'm almost embarrassed. "I should have gotten stuck in that... and that, and that. The car behind me just got stuck." I'm almost considering giving away the shovel I keep in the trunk to someone who actually needs it.
ReplyDelete