mtsmiths

The Pretty one, who has been on a four/ten schedule, so she can do all day women's ski clinic on Wednesdays, was kissed goodbye at 06:30 on her way to work, off into a fairly substantial snowfall. I finished my coffee, started the Barbie Jeep to warm it up (it lives outside) showered, and as I was getting dressed, answered the phone. "Hello, is this Mr. Smith, (ALERT!-ALERT!-ALERT!), This is officer Mahony, I have your wife's cell phone, she needs to speak with you." Well, you can probably figure out the rest. I was being called from an intersection in Kalispell, as my lovely wife lay in the front seat of a passerby's pickup waiting for an ambulance. Seems that she and a young lady entered an intersection, both at the end of a yellow light, and both afraid to hit the brakes, for fear of skidding on the slush. Unfortunately, the young lady entered into a left turn across the bows of 'Honu', our long serving 2000 Roo BEFORE she realized she couldn't stop. I arrived at the scene at the same time The Pretty One was being backboarded into the ambulance. Both cars (the Subaru and the opposition, a Jeep Grand Cherokee were totalled ... traffic was snarled for a block (small town) in both directions (I drove in the bike lane to the scene). I kissed her, and watched the ambulance haul her off to the ER and worked with the other driver, the police, the other driver's Dad, and the tow truck driver until the mess was cleaned up, the papers exchanged, and condolences (but no admissions) were exchanged all around. No citations were issued for either driver. The upshot is a broken sternum, multiple contusions, abraisions, and bruises from the airbag deployment and a night in the hospital for observation for The Pretty One. This is after a three hour stint in the ER, and an additional two hour wait for a bed. The young lady was unhurt, since her car was bigger, and took the impact on the oblique, so the energy was dissaped in spinning. The Subaru, on the other hand, went from 40 mph to zero in very few feet. The young driver was so distraught that The Pretty One called her over to pray with her. Later, the young lady and her Mom came by the hospital room with flowers, a card and thanks for her safety. By the evening The Pretty One was stabile, coping with the pain (and medication induced nausia) fed, and on the way to a reasonable night's recuperation. She's now home and sleeping well, eating and generally in good spirits ... except for the fact that THIS is her ski day, it's snowing out, the slopes are perfect, and she's hors' de combat. I'll take a couple of family days to help her get around the house. We retrieved our personal effects from the now-dead 'Roo 'Honu', and got a replacement car. Last Wed. we had picked Honu up from the local dealership, having just nstalled a new 60 month battery and spent $600.00 in preventive T-belt maintainance in preperation for the next 100,000 miles ... we even did the T-belt 12,000 miles early 'cause SOA had a $329.00 special ... Oh well. Like I told my loved one, you car died doing it's job to the end, deploying airbags and ratcheting the shoulder belt up tight. The shoulder belt is what broke her sternum, and severly bruised her hips. http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/photos/showphoto.php?photo=14552&cat=585 End of ski season for The Pretty One, end of tour-of-duty for a great little car. Here's the replacement, our next door neighbor had it, 2006 Outback with 23,500 on it. http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/photos/showphoto.php?photo=14567&cat=585 Winter package, studded Hakkapilatas on seperate alloys, hitch, excellent condition. Our neighbot hated it! He finally bought a Subaru because we raved on them, but he has always driven Suburbans, and felt threatened in a small car. So a few months ago he parked it in the garage and went back to his ten year old Suburban. When I asked if he had sold the 'Roo he cut us a great deal. Only thing it needs is a remote starter, and since it DOESN'T have an alarm/security system, I can do that before next winter. A scary event, but with a good outcome, except for car payments, which we weren't contemplating. Drive careful out there, and be on alert for the others that aren't.

As much as I hate to say it, if I had a factory alarm I would only have a Subaru dealer install the remote. If it's done wrong it will become the car from hell. I HATE car alarms, in fact, I told the body shop that is repairing the Barbie Jeep that if any of the crew wanted the after-market akarm installed on it, they could have it , just take it off carefully. Silly having an alarm on a car that you can break into by opening Velcro!

'taint hard to do. I bought a 'Bulldog' remote starter at NAPA for $49.95 and put it in our 2000 Legaback myself. Just read the directions completely before you start, mark them to suit the conditions for you car, and go slow ... unless you have a factory alarm. Then WATCH OUT. We've had no problems at all with ours and The Pretty One loves it/

You don't want to do that, assuming the ABS is working correctly I guarantee it can stop faster than you can. Ir's psychological, but get used to it. Also, if you disable the ABS you will probably also void your insurance, and in some states be guilty of a crime. Bad idea all around.

Uh Oh, I'm gonna get in BIG trouble here ... ... http://www.autoblog.com/2007/02/09/reports-get-your-mini-with-awd-by-2008/ ... but if this is correct, and I can get a Mini-Cooper convertible with AWD it's bye-bye Subaru for moi!

http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/photos/showphoto.php?photo=5357&cat=585 Soviet Air Force winter camo. The 'Baja' is photochopped, the camo is real.

It may look 'goofy', but if I could find one would keep it forever! A sunroof, Pick-up (real) Subaru ... who could ask for more. I sure wish Subaru would make on today.

Yah, if you don't know the cars hostory just do plugs and wires, it needs it anyhow. Easy to do ... OEM only!

Mountain Side Auto 105 Industrial Ct. Kalispell, MT 59901 (406) 257-5551 Good Luck. last I looked there were a couple of drivable looking late model Outbacks.

There's a salvage yard in Kalispell, MT that sells only late model rebuildable autos. You have to buy the whole car. I've seen Outbacks with minimal (still drivable) damage. Once in a while there are recovered stolen strippers with NO body damage, just gutted interiors and missing parts. We're pretty much in your neighborhood (by western state standardws). If you're interested I could get the name and contact numbers for you.

Or, pull the e-brake one notch, it will shut off the lights, but not engage the brake. It may be cheating, but it's KISS cheating.

I got mine new from Jamie, around $400 with struts and springs. The local tire shop installed them for another $150 or so. Voila the 2000 'Legaback'!

I thoght exactly the same thing when I read this, din't have time to post tho'. Good on ya!

Two 02 sensors were replaced by our local dealership, on by a dealer in MD. Been to at least three indies, and the next nearest Subaru dealer is over 130 miles away, which would include at least a day off work and an overnight in a motel. I think I'll just keep on using the tape thankyewvermuch.

Over 80,000 trouble free miles of black tape after THREE new front 02 sensors, gawdknows how many resets, and several deep scan readings by Subaru says otherwise. Some CELs just won't go away.

Go to any AutoZone, Checkers, et al, and ask to borrow their OBDII reader. Take it out to your car and pull the codes and then take the scanner back in. They will connect it to their computer and pull the codes from the database. After you find out what it's reporting you can decide on the best fix. Logic (and Click & Clack) dictates that the fix will be ... ... black tape over the light.

Well, I have been surprised at how reliable Barbie has been, never even hinted at abandoning any of it's cylinders, altho' it is a buzzy little beastie. Sometimes I think the engine was built by Singer, nor Suzi. I also looked at Trackkicks when we first moved to Montana, and rejected because they seemed like toy Jeeps. Then we wore out our GLs. The '00 Legacy has served us VERY well, but two 4th gen Subarus didn't cut it; I need 'something' to haul dirty loads, get to trailheads on really nasty USFS roads, and still work for commuting when The Pretty One and I can't car-pool. It's been a good 2nd car, and tolerable for short hauls (30 miles is OK ... highway trips are hell). But I sure wouldn't want one as our ONLY car. It is fun in the summer, I got a bikini top and back window, and had a tonneau made for the back (first thing I did was rip out the back seats and safety stuff). I also had a curtain made to block off the 'bed' so the miserable heater could cope, by reducing the cab volume, AND a grill blocker to keep the -10 f air outta the engine compartment.

------------------------------------------------------------------------- I have exactly the same situation, although the numbers may be smaller. We have a very steep, paved driveway, that ices over and turns into a 120 foot long butt luge. We had a warm, rainy spell lately and the it froze into a solid sheet of clear ice. 50 lbs of salt din't make a dent in it. Then I have a fourteen mile commute) Our Legacy makes it just fine, but we do have to ride tha brake gently to get down. I can imagina that if it were l-o-n-g we would have problems, and inevitably land in the borrow ditch some cold day. OK, I hate to say this in this venue (let the flame wars begin), but car #2, the 'Barbie Jeep' aka Geo Tracker/Suzuki Sidekick works perfectly in the situation, and it doesn't even have studs. It does have a dual-range tranny with a granny gear, and gets 26-28 mpg on the highway, 20-22 in 4-WD. Mine's an A/T with auto hubs, but they come in all kinds of configurations and combinations ... soft tops (I've converted mine to the worlds shortest pickup), hardtop 2-doors or 4-doors, A/T, 5-spd, auto or manual hubs. And they're cheap (I paid $2,600.00 for a 100K mi unit, with everything on the front of the block fresh, and in excellent overall condition, offa PDX Craigslist) if you stick to the first body style models. "I would give my left ball if Subaru re-introduced the old GL---but this time made it completely out of stainless steel... dream on![" I would join you if they would make a removable top fiberglas or carbon fiber bodied 'jeep' vehicle, based on the GL drivetrain with a 2.2 ... guess I'll just have to build it myself after I retire, and keep the cojone sinestro.

I am thinking about upgrading from my 96 obw (2.5, AT, 113k) to a newer obw, between 03 and 05 (or newer if the price is right, but as of now, 04 seems to look like the best). ... I plan on having it checked out, but chances are I will still upgrade to a "more dependable roo" Of the years from 03 and 04, which is better? I know there have been many more recalls for the 03 OB than the 04. There have been many threads about HG issues from these years as well, the last thing I want is another Subaru that has a higher chance of HG failure. I don't think there's any substantial difference, based on posts here, the HG 'problem' seems to have been worked out by '03. ---------------------------------------- Another possibility is an 05. Not a huge fan of the new styling, but I still like it. Were there many improvements from 04 to 05? Dunno, other than a tad more ground clearence, I agree on the styling, I like the '00 - '04 better, but the new is 'OK'. ---------------------------------------- Finally, I have not excluded legacys as an option. Any thoughts on Legacy vs. OB as far as performance and comfort? Aside from the OB ground clearance and more rugged looks. We have a '00 Legacy, which I have converted to a 'Legaback, by swapping the suspension to Outback. I handled slightly better as a Legacy, has 3" or so more ground (snow) clearance now, and I've noticed NO difference in ride. ----------------------------------------- I want to trade up or sell and upgrade. Check on a new one, if there are low or no interest financing it may actuall be cheaper over the life of the loan to buy an brand new on, and enjoy the warranty as well ... DON'T let them conm you into an 'Extended Warranty Plan". ----------------------------------------- Any help you all can give me on this subject would be greatly appreciated. Your welcome.

When we bought our '00 Legacy it was 13 months old, and had 99,850 miles on the odo. That's an average of 252.15 miles per day, no days off for Sundays, holidays, or sick days. if you 'could' average 55 mph for a trip, that's still five hours PER DAY behind the wheel. No wonder the drivers seat is a little crushed. Talk about road warrior! Thankgawd the owner was a non-smoker.

It's got the Tribeca snout nose. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16517573/displaymode/1176/rstry/16531770/ *I* won't be buying any new Subarus that's fordamnsure.

Ditto on Jamie, I've purchased several parts from her outfit. As reasonable as Subaru prices go, excellent advice when I didn't know quite what to order, quick service, and never had an incorrect shipment. What else can I say? Well, I guess I could say: "Jamie's hot!" But then I would be accused of being a dirty old man.

With top crash test ratings, electronic stability control for added security and an inherently stable design, the Legacy comes out on top. I think it mostly has to do with the underlined phrase. The 'safest' wreck is the one avoided.

Our steep driveway was a solid sheet of unbroken ice for 120'. Even the Subie with studs took two tries to make it out. I ended up backing back into the garage until the bumper was touching the motorcycle then flooring it until I started to spin on the ice. The fact that there is also a long sweeping left on the slope injected even more excitement into the venture ... can you say 'throttle steer'? Our neighbors had come home late, and left their car (Passat) up on the road. They watched us coming up and couldn't believe we made it. Damn warming trend.

http://money.cnn.com/galleries/2006/autos/0612/gallery.best.best/index.html ... is anyone surprised?