Hotshot

Certainly not the prettiest wheels/tires I have ever seen, but it looks like they will get the job done. Wondering if I should get some winter tires myself.

It got stuck at least twice...

Saw a solution for this a while back, involved something with a nine volt battery hooked into the cigarette lighter/power adapter.

It cant be but so hard to put one in. All you would need for it to be functional is a decent power inverter, a small monitor, and somewhere safe to put all the pieces. Would be nice to have one to play music on. Touchscreen would definitely be the way to go.

Sounds like you got a pretty sweet new car, im really jealous. I cant wait to see the pics.

Looks pretty sharp. Make sure to put up pictures when you get the projectors, I am in the market for some new headlights.

I'm pretty sure that with a quick hand, and maybe even a short shifter kit if you are lucky, it is pretty easy to shift faster than the automatics. And that isn't even taking into account the difference in starting from a complete stop.

My friend has one is his new mazda3, and at first, I thought is was the coolest thing on earth. After playing with it a little bit though, I realized it feels exactly like it does when I play "manual transmission" with my 4at. Cool at first, but I would stick with the clutch anyday of the week, unless that day happens to be in some big city.

Heated mirrors are nice. When I got my 97 OBW Limited (cold weather package), I couldnt help thinking how ridiculous the idea of heated mirrors was. I use them about every day now though.

I dont think I have ever seen a bigger car in my life. We have an old executive towncar that somewhat resembles a boat when being driven.

It could be scaring off all the straight ones...

Now that comment may have been a little overboard. Still, its not exactly a big plus to the ego knowing you are a man driving "the ultimate gay chick car of all time" Edit- there is definately a difference between it being the "lesbian car of choice" and the the other title given to it.

A somewhat shocking tidbit from Wikipedia: In the television series The L Word, lesbian tennis player Dana Fairbanks is sponsored by Subaru. Indeed, Subaru has gained a reputation as "the lesbian car brand" in the United States, featuring such lesbian icons as Martina Navratilova in one ad and having a car driven by two women with a large dog in the back seat with the license place "XENALVR" in another. In addition, the Subaru Outback and Subaru Legacy were voted numbers 1 and 2, respectively, by Car Talk listeners as "the ultimate gay chick cars of all time". Does anybody find this to be true?

Replaced the plugs and wires recently? Solved a similar problem for me a while back.

I believe they are. Its previous owner was my aunt, and seeing as she didnt particuarly care what happened to the car as long as it got her from point A to point B, I would say they are the originals. Much better than the what was going on the standard outbacks the same year.

I happen to have a 97 outback limited, and it has some discrete striping that I think really helps improve it cosmetically. (even if it is a little dusty in the picture) (Links to full size)

Tires are one thing to be very picky about with the AWD on Subaru's. Make sure you try and keep all four tires on the car the exact same (wear, tread depth, etc...) Otherwise solenoids and clutches tend to get cooked by the constant slipping of different sized tires. I believe nipper even said that just having the tire pressures different can cause significant damage in only a few days. As far as rotating tires, I heard someone say every other oil change, and that sounded reasonable to me. (This means that unless you really know what you are doing, you need to buy four new tires.) I speak from personal experience, and a 1000$ repair bill.

ROFL Going to have to give this one a try, my headlights are looking pretty bad, and $.12 worth of toothpaste is much easier than new headlights on my wallet.

Sounds awesome, I'll see if I can make it. Think a stock OBW will do alright?

I have leather seats in my OBW, and they are great for this kind of stuff. Everytime I get dirt, grease, or water on them, all I have to do is just wash it off with a damp rag. I put some armorall on them over the weekend, and they look like new. I personally dont care for seat covers, because I could never seem to keep them on the seat straight.

To see if it is torque bind, put a fuse in the FWD box, located under the hood, right in front of the passenger seat. If putting it in causes the FWD light on the dash to come on, and causes the the abnormality to stop, you have torque bind. If it is torqe bind, it probably isnt neccesary to replace the transmission. One thing that helps torque bind is to have the transmission flushed. First of all, make sure that the tires are all the exact same size. This can sometimes be the only things causing the problem. Otherwise, the clutches for the AWD have to be constantly slipping, which causes wear on them, and cooks the solenoid controlling it. The clutches can go for a little while before any signifigant damage occus, and it sounds like it isnt too bad for you. If you put the FWD fuse in and the FWD light doesnt come on though, it means that the duty c solenoid is shot. If the tires do not have enen amounts of wear on them, make sure you replace them all ASAP. That is what happened to my car, and it fried the solenoid. Cost 1000$ plus tires to get it fixed.

Now that I look closer at it, it is colored different from the road you are on... I am definately going to try and get out my camera and do that this weekend.

I knew the exhaust wasnt legal in VA, but I didnt know about the intakes. It seems like we have annoyings ricers buzzing around everywhere here though. I wish they would actually actively enforce that law.

I just went over to take a look to see what wonderful gizmos and gadgets I can get to make my soob do everything but fly. Some of them did have some pretty ridiculous claims, and I was wondering which of them actually had any effect. 1. Grounding kits Claim: adds 7-10 hp Smoother running engine lower fuel consumption Price: 15-30$ 2. Performance chips/modules Claim: adds up to 12-45 hp better fuel economy Increased torque Price: 25-80$ 3. Mufflers/exhaust tips (think ricer) Claims: 5-15 hp greater throttle response Price: 40-80$ 4. Air filters Claims: Increase 4-10 hp Better gas milage Price: ~$40 So what are the legit ways to get a little more out of your engine without dropping too much cash?

I guess I could try some more grounds, but I dont fel litke will solve the problem. The post about the impreza sounds similar to my problem, and I am wondering if I should try a new coil like he did.