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In my ole '98 Legacy wagon I've finished installing a Verge CD/MP3 player I got off of ebay for $36. This unit sounds WAY better than the stock OEM radio, and it brought my CDT coaxials in the front doors to life. I also added an outside temperature gauge from www.egauges.com, a Cyberdyne one. This went in the lower DIN slot. I had to trim the top and bottom of the plastic container in the lower DIN slot to get the gauge to fit. This lets me still use the right hand side of the slot to hold my wallet when I drive. The temp sensor is currently below the pass. headlight where the air intake gives a little air flow at idle. I need to add a little heat shielding to prevent it from giving false readings at idle when the infrared off the engine gets it. My only major complaint is that the LEDs on the gauge are way too bright, even in daylight. I have some sheets of neutral density filter I got off of ebay for $10 that I'm going to experiment with. Once I have the right filter to cut the brightness I'll cut it to fit over the LEDs and will glue or tape it in place. I also would have gotten the LEDs in green if I had known Cyberdyne made that so it'd match the speedometer etc. lighting better. Oh well. The install looks better in real life than this poor quality cell phone pic shows:

I've got Royal Purple Max Gear 75w90 in the front & rear diffs of my Legacy, along with the RP ATF in the power steering. In single digit weather there's nearly no difference in the 'feel' of the car compared at startup compared with warmer mornings. It was definitely worth the small investment in 3 quarts of oil to switch the car over. Redline Power Steering Fluid made my PS system leak like a sieve though, I wouldn't use it there.

Try the Specialty Formulations MTL-R (http://www.specialtyformulations.com). It is getting well-received by Subaru drivers over at http://www.bobistheoilguy.com. It's a full synthetic. I'm using their semi-synth ATF in my Legacy's autobox, it greatly improved shifting.

The rears have new rotors & shoes (drums in the rear) so there's not much I can do about those!

Ok, it looks like my '98 Legacy L needs new front brakes soon, according to my mechanic who is replacing the right front CV boot & axle. The CV boot had split wide open and lost all grease! (no signs of any source of the gas smell either, he reports) I was thinking to use the Brembo rotors ($48 ea) and Satisfied Pro Ceramic pads ($48 pair) from Tirerack.com. Does anyone have an opinion on this combo or recommend something else?

Ah, then I'd say I don't have a leaky injector. The poor mileage is year-round, but the gas smell is worse in cold weather. Unfortunately I don't have a garage to use, so wind makes finding fume leaks tough

Good point. I'll pull out my Haynes manual and poke around during my lunch hour tomorrow...

My latest attempt at diagnosing my '98 Legacy L's lousy highway mileage (20 mpg) involved searching for fuel leaks. I added a fluorescent dye (from http://www.autobarn.net, $6) to the gas tank and following directions let the car idle for 10 min. Using a blacklight I searched all around the engine bay and under the car. There are no gas leaks that I can see. So, there is still the VERY strong gas stench around the front of the car (even thru the interior vents) when starting in the morning, esp. after the car has sat over the weekend. This smell is what motivated the use of the dye. I have not yet replaced the rear O2 sensor (I have done the engine coolant temp sensor, thermostat, front O2, plugs & wires). I suppose I could also have a leaky fuel injector.

The dashboard control? You mean the adjuster for the interior lights? You need to open the hood, and look at the screws protruding from the back of the headlights. These are used to aim them properly. For aiming instructions: http://danielsternlighting.com/tech/aim/aim.html

Actually, you may want to check out a Saab 9-5 sedan or wagon - it has all the options you're looking for, it can run on 87 octane (with a bit less hp), and it's a Consumer Reports recommended car. And used they're quite a bargain. I think the nav system was an option starting in '04. I applaud your commitment to getting the car you want . You should make a web page or photo log about the project.

I dare say it would be a heck of a lot less hassle to buy a different brand of car that comes with the leather, manual tranny, and nav system you want...and it may even be cheaper.

I had the same experience with the front O2 sensor. I'm considering doing the rear with a new OEM sensor. I wonder if these cars are maybe prone to a fuel leak somewhere. I've never seen one in the engine compartment. I get a really strong gas smell on cold mornings, although I don't know if that's any clue.

Did you replace both O2 sensors or just one?

Same here, but I refuse to believe that some cars are 'just bad' - they're mechanical devices, SOMETHING must be different between the good and bad mileage ones. My next step is to do the rear O2 sensor in my '98 Legacy (19 city/22 highway). By way of comparison, on the identical commute where the Subaru does 22 mpg my Saab 9-5 wagon gets 31 mpg, so I'm sure it's not my driving. After that I start looking at the emissions system.

I go to Carmart for my Subaru parts. It's always a pleasant experience - the service/parts guys are quite helpful.

Ok, one more question: I've yanked the part from the door. It looks like I can just unscrew the tweeter from its mounting plate and toss it. After looking at some aftermarket install manuals, it looks like the surface mount cups need just one screw, how convenient. So, what size tweeter will mount there? 1" or 1/2"? I was thinking of a set of Crystal CPE60's, which use a 1/2" tweeter. At 2.5", they'll either just fit in the door or I'll need a thin spacer. Thanks!

Ok, I will give it a good yank once the rain lets up.

Hey all, while we're discussing speakers, how do I remove the cover over the tweeter in the corner of the window? I want to check the mounting of the tweeter before I invest in a new set.

That sounds like a good idea. I eyeballed the stock grills and it looks like there's a gap between it and the speaker cone that would leave some room for spacers if need be. Thanks! Did you bother adding that Dynamat stuff to the doors? I'm not cranking up the bass here, I suspect it's wasted money for me.

Hi all, I'm not going to bother doing any other upgrades since I mostly listen to NPR on my short commute. Even plain speech is getting fuzzy on the stock speakers. Santa tells me I can replace the aging front components in the Subaru this year What's the deepest mounting depth one can get away with for the front doors on a '98 Legacy wagon? The deepest Crutchfield lists is a bit under 2.5".

The 'high mileage' oils also have extra seal-swelling agents in them. I'd skip it if you are free of oil leaks. I'm using Havoline dino-oil 5w30 this winter. My '98 Legacy L (same engine as you, the 2.2L? maybe?) runs great on it and starts up fine here in Mass. If you want a heavier 30w oil, try the Castrol 'made in Germany' 0w-30 synthetic, it's a heavy 30w and will be even thinner at cold temps. Any good quality dino 5w30 (ex. Mobil 5000, Havoline, Chevron, others) will likely do just fine.

My Nokian NRW's (the predecessor to the WR, the WR doesn't come in 14") have 7500 miles on them with no noticeable wear. I think they're rated to 50k miles. I only have 4 and just do front/rear rotations. I don't think you can do 5-tire rotations, you'd need 6 due to the directional tread. From what I've read and been told by other WR users, they wear like a regular all-season, not a snow. The WR's make for an excellent snow tire, do terrific in the rain, but they're not a performance tire. As much as I am a fan of Nokian tires, you could probably get away with a less expensive, but still snow-capable, tire since you won't be in the white stuff too often. You might want to check out the Avon M550 all-seasons on Tirerack.com, they're getting good reviews. I use the Avon summer-only tire, the M500 on my Saab and they're terrific.

Do you need a car right now, as in you're without a ride and it's really that important? If not, why not let your down payment collect interest for 3 months, get the car you actually seem to want instead of the TR and save yourself the hassle of chasing down seats and installing them along with a new stereo? The $1k you'll save over a regular WRX will rapidly vanish once you add on the additional things you're looking for. Just a thought...

You want it all eh...well, every tire is a compromise The Nokian WR is the best all-season tire for rain & snow conditions that I've ever tried. Here's a review: http://www.canadiandriver.com/articles/hl/nokian.htm I've been very satisfied with them on my Legacy and they grid very, very well. They handle in dry & summer as well as your typical all-season, but they're not a performance tire. However, you don't seem to be looking for one. Expect them to be ~$135 or so in 15" diameter. Those Goodyear TripleTred tires may do what you want too, I've heard good things about them and they'd be cheaper and would probably be a little quieter on highways and handle better in the dry. They won't do snow and ice like the WR's though.

Yeah, this is my thinking too, if I can get away with crawling under the car once vs. many times I'll go for once. Anyway, the problem has yet to rear its ugly head again, so I am adopting a wait and see approach. And now the *&$!# 4EAT transmission refused to shift into 4th gear the other day, but only once so it's nothing I can attempt to get fixed...