urabus1995

Yeh Setright, I agree entirely with you about all of that. The question was really posed to try to settle an ongoing "discussion/arguement" about these two Subaru models. None of the boy racers here drive Legacy's, infact they are quite rare, and limited to older people who tend to be rural/farmer types who need the 4WD and lots of carrying space. Impreza's on the other hand are very very popular, especially with the 20-30 yr olds. Our local dealer must have made a fortune out of that car!! I suppose having McRaes rally car sittin in his forecourt for a long time started the whole thing off. The young guys just laugh at me when I say that the Legacy is a "better" car. I ignore their suggestions to test this out on the road, -------I am a bit older and probably have more sense than them. I would still like to hear anyone elses opinions on the repective handling, if they have had experience of both ,like you have. One other thing I would like to have opinions on:- wet and dry conditions ? I am probably a bit overcautious when its wet, because I still cant believe that AWD has any ability to stop you sliding sideways on a wet surface, whatever Subaru claim in thier adverts/technical explanations of the system. Maybe others would disagree with me on that!! I feel that once traction is lost in that direction, the whole car will slip until friction stops it again. If two wheels on one side lose grip, then the other two have to follow? they are joined together after all? I can only see AWD having a counter effect to this if you are actually accelerating in a forward direction during a slip sideways, as you are putting a lot of force back on the road. I dont think it will prevent the sideways loss of traction at all. Does anyone disagree??

Much better to get a Nodding dog thing to dangle in way of your vision! They dont smell at all, and especially dont smell like real live wet dogs.

Thanks Setright. This is what I also thought. My girlfriends son, Andrew, imports Japanese sports cars for a living, here in Scotland. (he even sells them in Denmark and Sweden!). He was the one who found me my Legacy in Japan. However, it is not the type of car he normally deals in, I think this is the only Legacy that he has imported so far. All of the Impreza's and Skylines and Supras etc that he deals in are all heavily modified. What he did say, when I was looking for a car, was that he considered the wagon version of the Impreza to have even better handling than the sedan. He put that down to its slightly longer wheelbase. I never really agreed with that,-------------it did not seem to make sense to me. However, the wagon version he was talking about was a very special machine, STI version with a lot of modifications to suspension and engine and brakes. As you rightly say, having the necessary components, like a roll bar, or stiffer components all round, probably has a greater effect than the AWD layout that both cars share. I do like the way mine handles, the steering is the best I have "felt" in any car I have had. It feels great when accelerating through sharp bends at slowish speeds (LOL) and inspires confidence. I dont experience understeer or oversteer at all, it just seems to go where it is told! I think the driving technique is quite different from a FWD car and once you adjust to that it really does perform well. Tyres and Rims also affect cornering obviously, but I am running on factory rims and pretty normal, new tyres. I would still like to hear anyone elses views on this comparison. For some reason, every second car around here seems to be an Impreza WRX, with Legacy's tending to be very uncommon, and usually belong to farmers or older people. None of the boy racers would even consider one!! As you say , they go for noise and spoilers and skirts etc. pity they are missing out on the quality. I think.

I was wondering if any of you have driven an Impreza on very winding roads. I have a few friends who drive them, and they all say that the cornering ability of them is truly outstanding. How does a Legacy compare in this dept.? I drive to work on very twisty roads, and so far , even at fair speeds, I have never felt it loose traction. I have not pushed it too far though, because the consequences of leaving that road would be horrific. I have never been on a track , or even a wide open space, to try to get it to slide, so I have no idea how far I can push it. As far as I know, my TS type R Legacy, has race suspension etc., but I dont know if it compares to WRX for handling. I would love to know if anyone has had a decent drive in both ? _________________

My 1992 DL 1.8 dual range 2/4 WD did the same thing but on sharp right turns. It was RH drive. Maybe that could be a clue ? I assumed it to be a Carb/ fuel feed problem. I was told however by someone at work that their brother had the same car, and that the hydraulic valve lifters could run short of oil/fluid on real fast corners such as roundabouts etc. I never had the problem on hills though. It really sounds like it is a carb related problem. I would be surprised if its a fuel pump issue, cos the effect is so quick to happen, on the actual corner, rather than a delayed one. Post us if you discover the real reason, I am very curious about this effect.

Does anyone know if I can readily buy the "stars" version of the front badge for my Legacy? Mine came from JDM and is a silly sort of straight line S shape. You will probably know what I mean, as I have seen it displayed as someones Avatar. I think the stars are much nicer. I also saw a beautiful paint job of a B4 RSK legacy, with the stars painted on the hood, sort of sliding over the fender. Not glaring out. just real cool looking.

Welcome Erik. This board is a superb place to be, lots of real nice knowlegable people. Not very many European members however, which is a pity. I like your choice of car. My friend has one---it is very fast, and very useful. Mine was non turbo 1.8 wagon, dual range. I dont know if the turbo comes dual range. Much better offroad than my 95 Legacy wagon------its too low. Hope you enjoy this forum. Good luck with your searching. John

Thanks guys !! That is now very clear. All I need to know now is what type I have in my Legacy. I dont think I will be going down the hot rodding mod route with it though. Maybe just look for a B4 RSK or something similar. Gotta keep up with my son in his 2.2 V-Tec Honda Prelude somehow. ? LOL???

Hiya y'all. I am beginning to wonder if I am just really thick or something. I keep reading references to The Terms "closed deck" and "open deck" in relation to our Scooby engines. Yesterday I did a thorough search on the net and found some really interesting information on this subject, but I still cant get it into my brain what the fundamental difference is between the designs. I have a 1995 2.0 ltr (EJ20BG5) Legacy N/A. It seems that if you want to greatly increase horsepower by modifying things, you really need to have "closed deck" to cope with the extra power.(as well as a pile of other mechanical changes). If anyone can explain these two terms to me, in simple english, I would be really grateful. I get the feeling that it has do do with cylinder sleeves or something, but really dont understand the basic differences.

Hi Shawn and SDDR. Just a quick comment on this topic. I got my 95 Wagon from Japan, with what I presumed was the factory radio stuff. It all lit up, but did not make any sounds, so I decided to replace it. I also noticed that the FM frequency range was way outside of what is broadcast in UK. So , it was never going to work anyway, as a radio. What I had to do, and still have not fully resolved yet, was to cut the antenna wire from the stock radio unit, because it was hard wired in to it. After doing that, I then discovered that there were two connectors on the one cable; one was a traditional coax ariel connector, which plugged straight into my new Sony unit --------the other one was a socket with two holes. I still dont know what this other thing is for. Do you have this on your cars? If I plug a bit of loose co-ax cable into one of the holes, it does seem to make the reception a bit better. I would be glad to know what its real function is. My power antenna works fine, as does all the rest of the unit. I dont however seem to get LW or MW radio stations. Mystery???

Welcome MrLegacy , you have come to right place indeed. Lots of real nice helpful people on this forum, and also very knowlegeable. I to recently got a 95 Legacy wagon , but it was a jap import to UK and is 2litre N/A AWD. The reason I went down that road was that my girlfreinds son imports Jap sports cars as his business here in Scotland, and he found me a very low milage car (only about 25,000 ) for a very good price. Like you, I have been desperately trying to find out more about it, cos my books etc are all in Japanese. I am worried about a couple of things in particular. Even though it is very low milage, things like timing belts and cv boots etc probably age with time , as well as actually driving the miles. There are lots of past threads on probably every aspect of your vehicle----------the search feature is pretty good on here. I also found the Legacy forum on NASIOC site to be a good source of information. People seem to love their cars and they seem to last for ever, with just routine maintenance. Hope you enjoy this forum---------trouble is, it gets addictive!!! Cheers John

I was interested to read this post, as I have been experiencing a similar thing with my 95 wagon. At first I thought it was just me and my big boots on the accelerator, giving it uneven pressure or something. The first effect I had was as if I had given it a bit of extra gas, in a short burst, which returned to normal immediately. This morning, after 10 miles or so at fairly slow speeds, due to traffic, I felt the opposite effect----it was as if the brakes had been applied for a second or so--again returning to normal immediately. The car has been running fine and starting first time in all temps and no CEL or stored codes. Talking to a workmate, who drives a Ford, today, he said he had the same strange behaviour with his car. It turned out to be his Cat emmissions sensor going intermittently bad. He did get a light come on though-----which I am not. Changing the sensor fixed the problem for him.

Thanks guys for all your help. Working in a confined space meant that I had missed out making one connection on my connector block. By wiring the Blue "antenna" wire from the Sony unit to the spare wire that I had missed brought everythin to life. Antenna works with Radio "on" anmd retracts if playin CD. Sounds OK for OEM speakers too. One nice thing------which I dont know if it is common to all legacies--------it has tweeters mounted in the inside car bit of the mirror housings- really nice and neat! What a difference havin some sounds at last. Its not the quietest car for road noise, maybe I will look into some insulation materials, if its not too much hassle to fit. Thanks again , John

Stereo replacement 1995 Legacy Wagon -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- My wagon is either 1994 or 1995, imported JDM 2.0 litre N/A . My stereo has never worked, so I got a new one, a nice Sony head unit. I searched all over and found colour codes etc to match up the wires from the car to that of the Sony unit. Everythin went fine, and I double checked with meters etc, the speaker and power wires. WOW! it all worked, first time, with a CD. The radio was not working properly. After a bit of trial and error, with the left over wires, (which I did not have correct info about), i got the radio to work, tuned it into some local stations etc. The only problem I have now, is that the electric antenna will not operate, so reception is a bit poor. My original unit was a two unit high Subaru (Kenwood) thing, with the antenna hard wired in.I had to cut the wires to remove it. It still operated the antenna, with these wires cut, when I reconnected it to check. I still have two spare wires on the car side of things, but I dont know what they are for. Does anyone have a clue? I am so close to success, and it sounds real good. I just want to refit all the trims etc, and get it lookin its best again. I did have two wires left over on the Sony, before the radio worked. I used one of them, maked "antenna" and connected it to one hole in the cars antenna wire, and hey presto, it started to pick up signals. I dont know if that was the right way to connect it or not. The one left over is seemingly a phone mute connector. I still have two left over on the cars own harness. Hope this makes sense to someone.

I only visit the Legacy forum on NASIOC , cos the Impreza folk were quite short and nasty to me. Just cos they can go faster than me ? I have pulled a few of them out of fields and snowdrifts, with my old DL. I might just leave them next time!

If it really is running fine, I would not modify it at all. If you start down that road, it will probably reduce your MPG. Keep an eye on your plug leads and also the radiator. Dont thrash it, and it will last you another 100,000.

I need to do this too. On mine its the inner one thats got a split, and it throws grease onto the cat, makin a bit of a hot smell. I was told that this is quite common due to the heat from the cat damaging the rubber. I am like you, not quite sure about doing it myself , but I have been told NOT to use the two peice boots. I dont want the car off the road, but I suppose it has to be done.

YEH OH YEH, could not agree more. its a bit of an addiction this Scooby thang. I am very very lucky, cos my "partners" son has his own business, importing Japanese sports cars to Scotland, UK. I have seen them all now, and been in most too. Colin Mcrae is a near neighbour too. He, the girlfriends son, whilst loving scoobys , does not quite agree with the rest of us. He drives a 760 BHP Nissan Skyline, and his pal drives the fastest STi Impreza in this country. I still think that the Scoobs are the best lookin, when they are all dressed up in their fancy skirts and mean lookin intercooler grills etc. I was tryin to post a link to his website, but for some reason it does not seem to be available today. For the future , check out powervehicles.co.uk and Japanese Vehicle Sourcing to see some beautiful Scoobs and other monsters. I still loved my old DL dual range the best, it could go anywhere.

Thank you 95LeG for that very informative post, and also to Ejlain for the word of caution about sharp metaledges. I shall take great care, or maybe even leave it to an expert. I was wondering , 95LEG if you have a 1995 Legacy? Mine is a japanese import, and I was told it was made in 1994, but the guys who got it for me seem to think it is actually the 1995 shape.The reason I am asking is that I am still trying to get a wiring harness for the stereo I am about to put in it. My local parts store have told me that there are two adaptors for 1994, it changed part of the way through the year. They have to order it in for me. The unit that was in it said Subaru and Kenwood on the tape player . It is a big unit, with CD, and radio as well.Is that what was in yours?

The other day, after a bit of severe frost, when I used the auto switch to close my drivers window, when it got to about halfway up, there was a loud bang, and the window stuttered a bit, but it did manage to close itself. I tried it again later. It seems to wind down not too bad, but on the way up I got the same crunch. Is this thing about to pack up? Am I likely to break the window if I keep usin it? Not knowing yet what lies behind the door panels ,I am a bit in the dark about how it works. Also, while I am here, does the little grille thing in front of the speakers prise off, or do you have to remove the door panel to get access ? I am trying not to wreck anything by levering with screwdrivers etc.

I was only jokin! It sure confused my son, when he first tookmy DL for a spin in a wet field, bein used to drivin an XR2. Hee Hee, it was crazy to watch. Seriously though, does your RX have the Subaru hill parkin feature, where the handbrake does not release untill you let up the clutch? My old DL had that, and I presumed that was the reason the parkin brake was on the front, because of the two mechanisms bein linked. I think my 95 Legacy has the handbrake on the rear, but I have not looked under it yet.

Yeh. They did it to make high speed handbrake turns (180's 360's) much better at high speeds in reverse (over 40 mph). I love the hill parkin feature too, a mystery how it works though. Another thing I thought about was ABS . IF it really does work, as its meant to, do you ever actually stop?

Brilliant thinkin !! I have a similar problem with guitars and amps. My GF and kids keep trippin over cases and wires. I dont even know how many I have. Only got 7 vehicles though. Lucky I live in the country.

Thanks ScoobySchmitty. I did note something a little odd when I looked at the wires on the radio. On the case , it says Yellow is Battery, Red is Accessory. The yellow wire has, running a long its length, litlle negative symbols "-". I am sure that this wire does not connect to -ve on the battery ? the black wire is listed as being ground. The speakers are all in obvious pairs of colours. I think maybe its just a bad unit that I have been given. I will have another look tonite when I get home. Cheers,John

This is a weird one._----I am trying to install a JVC cd/radio unit, which I got given for free. Assured it was working ok. When I switch it on, It makes a whirring sound briefly, shows the JVC logo. then the words "see you" , and switches off. Anyone else had a similar problem? this radio does not need a code, and I am sure that the wiring is Ok.