Chip

[......some guys told me that foresters were not good offroad, i dont know where they got that idea, i went the other day here in Mexico, and my brothers Jeep Cherokee (xj 4x4) could not even keep up! Was his Jeep running on 3 cylinders in 2WD or was this all just a wet dream you had ?

I'm not a huge Ford fan but you have to admit that the present Mustang is as fast as almost anything they've ever made. As far as the Camaro is concerned....where is it today ?

Nope...we're talking about the 165HP 2.5L. There's definitely nothing GT about it as far as performance goes. It's one of those examples of a car company putting a "GT" badge on a car that's only different because of the wheels and a few add-ons. Any article you read about the 96-2004 Legacy 2.5L is usually the same. They love the car but usually talk about the performance as being "adequate" or "lackluster". Now the 2005 is a different story !!! The GT has gone from painfully slow to wickedly fast...(it's about time).

You titled this thread " Let's compare the Legacy to the Mustang" That's what I've been doing.......From the start I've been talking "Legacy". All the road test quotes are for the Legacy,(or the Baja which is nothing but an O/B with an open box). I've still yet to see a road test where the Legacy hits 60 in less than 9 seconds. If you're talking about an Impreza then yes, it's quite possible that an Impreza is a few seconds quicker than the Legacy, (I should hope so....most the cars on the road are quicker than the Legacy).

"because the 2.5L engine does 0 to 60 in 7.2 seconds"......was it strapped to a skateboard ? My facts came from someone who actually tested the car and published the results. Where did your numbers come from ? (Please don't tell me you floored the gas and counted in your head until the car reached 60 mph) !! Here's what Motorweek said about the Baja,(same size car as the O/B..same motor). ..or search for Motorweek and read the article for yourself... "Our 5- speed Baja loafed to 60 in 10 seconds, and through the quarter mile in 17.3 seconds at 79 mph". And that was a 5-speed...imagine an automatic !!! Motor Trend and Motorweek get almost the same results...so did Road and Track and Car and Driver. I don't know where you get your "facts"...you should check 'em before you post.

All the torque info is usually available on the Automakers site. Ex: Subaru 2.5L...166ft lbs @ 4000 rpms Mustang V6...240 ft.lbs @ 3500 rpms. The Mustang's got GOBS of torque at a quite low RPM. Everyone talks about the muscle cars of the sixties but in reality, todays cars are more powerful and faster. Today's Mustang GT,(4.6L), is faster than any Mustang from the 60's,(including the 428s and 429's). HP figures in the 60's were BOGUS. the measurement was taken off the crank with no accessories installed,(power steering pump, alternator, mufflers etc..). Today's figures are taken from the back wheels. The 2005 GT Mustang is rated at 300HP. If you were to take the motor out and dyno it as they did in the 60's you'd probably get close to 400HP. Today's cars are faster, more refined and, they get more than 10 MPG.

We're talking about a 210HP 2005 Mustang vs a 165 HP Subaru,(read the thread). The mustang does the 1/4 in 15.3 sec. The Subaru takes 16.6 seconds...Here's a quote from Motor Trend about the 200 Legacy GT Sedan... " But even paired with a slick-shifting standard five-speed manual gearbox, it needed 9.1 seconds to propel this 3360-pound four-door to 60 mph and 16.6 ticks to reach 82.0 mph in the quarter mile.....". 9 seconds to hit 60mph is slow by todays standards...especially for a car that's got GT written on it. A 1 second difference doesn't sound like much in a 1/4 mile but when you figure you're travelling at around 82 mph, that's a difference of 120 ft between the 2 cars at the finish line,(according to my crappy math calculations).

Eleanor...(not sure about the spelling).

[The Sube would win against the V6 Stang..... The 2.5L normally aspirated Subaru won't outrun anything except maybe a fully loaded dumptruck. Take one with an automatic tranny,(like mine), and even passing the dumptruck becomes a challenge. The Subaru's weight pretty well kills any chance of it becomming a street light racer. The 210HP Mustang would easily smoke the 2.5L 165HP Subaru in any race,(except in the snow).

If you're gonna do it, do it right. Get behind an ambulance when he's going on a call ! It's amazing how you can whiz thru traffic, red lights and all !

" The automotive press is a shill for the advertisment department. I would not be surprised if their list of ad based revenues is a spot on copy of their rankings for quality and performance." If that was the case, why would Subaru continue to advertise in Road and Track magazine,(and others such as Car and Driver, MotorTrend and Automobile Magazine). The magazines are usually fairly close to reality. When they said the 98 O/B wagon was one of the slowest cars on the road they were correct. The numbers don't lie. How many other cars take 10 seconds to get to 60MPH ?...15 years ago that was considered quick for a 4 cylinder car, today it puts you at the back of the pack. I'm reminded of it everytime some kid in a Civic tries to pass me on the right at a light, and wins...(unless it's snowing).

There is a good chance that the motor isn't burnt out. My 98O/B rear wiper wasn't working either...the fuse was good and there was power getting to the motor. After removing the motor and cleaning everything up, it worked fine. The problem seems to be that the output shaft corrodes. A few drops of thin oil might get it going again.

My 98 O/B has got 220K kms on it and was starting to shift from 1st to 2nd with a clunck and a jerk. I drained as much of the tranny fluid as I could myself and added Mobil1 synthetic. It shifts MUCH better now and I find that when it gets really cold,(like -20C), it also shifts better.

Nope, I didn't change the differential oil. I bought my Mobil 1 here in Canada at a Canadian Tire store...it was around $9 Cdn a Litre. Don't make the same mistake I did however.......the owner's manual says the capacity of the tranny is 10L, so I drained everything I could out,(and noticed only about 4 litres drained out), so I figured it was already low so I added about 8 litres !!!!...Of course, I was now WAY over the full mark on the dipstick. When you drain, you'll only get about 4 or 5 L out so when you refill, be carefull not to put too much in. The best thing to do would be to go to a garage and have them flush it,(I think they use aire pressure or something).

My 98 O/B auto had the exact same problem. It developped about the same time as a shuddering while stopped in D with my foot on the brake. If I accelerate hard, it shifts smoother. I drained as much of the tranny fluid as possible thru the drain plug,(about 5 L), and replaced it with Mobil 1 synthetic. It made a huge difference !! The shifting isn't perfect but it's much improved. I'm sure if I could drain ALL the tranny fluid,(all 10L), the shifting would be near perfect. The car still shudders a bit in D when stopped but I just pop it into neutral until the light turns green.

Nothing p!sses me off more than people with noisey cars,(unless it's fat guys on noisey Harleys). What's the deal here anyway ? Why should everyone be forced to hear your car ? If your car is ugly I can choose not to look at it but if it's got no muffler,(or some noisey pipe which the manufacturer says gives you an extra 25HP), I have no choice but to hear it.....even at 02:00 in the morning. Do these kids think we're impressed by the sound ? They wanna be impressed ? I'll take the freakin muffler of my lawn tractor and mow my lawn at 3 a.m. !! You can ride around on a Harley with half-pipes and make all kinds of noise but my dog barks for 20 minutes and someone calls the cops. The good news is that most people grow out of it and since the population growth rate around here is almost at 0%, things should eventually get quieter.

...or you could simply ignore it...Mine has been on now for over 6 months. Car runs fine.

My 98 O/B does the exact same thing. I'm thinking it's more transmission than motor. The fact that it idles smoothly in N leads me to believe it has something to do with the torque converter. I switched to Mobil1 synthetic tranny oil and it helped a bit. It was also shifting into 2nd gear with a "thunk" but the new oil pretty well took care of that.

Right...(so much for my math skills...)

You can usually find out what the original tire depth was by going on a site such as http://www.tirerack.com/ and looking at the specs for your particular tire. The tread depth is usually measured from the bottom of the deepest groove to the top of the same groove. A typical tread depth is 10/32. A tire is considered finished when the depth gets down to 2/32 so if the tire when new was 10/32 and the actual depth is 4/32 then you're at 50%.....(don't count the last 2/32. You could also measure from the "wear indicator" which is found at regular intervals around the tire. These bands run from side to side across the tire at the bottom of the grooves and are usually 2/32 high so when the tread indicators are at the same height as the rest of the tread then your tire is 100% worn.

I'm not a "Math Whiz" so I'll let someone else do the figuring but assuming mpg improved by, let's say 7%, would it cover the increased cost of the synthetic oil ?...(assuming that the oil changes were still done around 5K).

The total capacity varies according to how worn your pads are. The more the pads are worn,the more the pistons are extended, therefore the more fluid you can put in....if your pads are new, the capacity is less.

[My only complaint is that at night if I forget to switch on the headlights I'll tend to think they are on and yet I realize the tail lights are not when only driving lights are..... If only the DRLs are on then your dashlights are off. It seems to me I'd notice pretty quickly that my lights aren't on when I see my dashboard in complete darkness.

I had kind of the same problem. The steering was very "notchy" or clunky. After much searching, I realized it was the top u-joint in the steering column,(in the engine compartment, not far from the firewall). I gave it a bath in WD-40 and Presto !!! Everything's fine !!