Zephyr

wow, those are great links. Thanks Lucky.

Sorry- new to this stuff. The diff is so sensitive that it will try to correct the non existant slippage when I am turning the wheel.

Very cool, that makes a lot of sense. I'm starting to see the big picture. So how does the car know to supress this "hyper correcting" when the car is traveling faster? And thanks for indulging my first steps into understanding my sube more...

So if I keep turning in this manner, are the rear tires going to continue to skip? I have read this behavior is a 4WD problem for certain designs, but I thought Subaru was above all of that?

aha! This is exactly what I am talking about! I agree with moving the seat back, however I am already at the last stop. If I could just get another two inches into the back seat, I think it would fix the problem well. I'm going to take a look under the seat soon and see if there is anything I can change mechanically to get it back any farther. Maybe Subaru built it so 6 footers can get in there with a wrench and adjust things to make "new" stop settings? Wishful thinking I'm sure.... Makes me wonder if the maximum leg room is not enough for my 6 foot frame, who is the min. leg room setting built for? And I realize the car is designed in Asia, however my civic is a much smaller vehicle yet it had ample room for a 6 footer (sorry for the back seat person though!).

Thanks for the suggestions! Since it is my day to drive the new car, I really paid attention to what my actual problem is. I believe the problem is the fact that my thigh is not supported by the front half of the seat, leaving my entire leg to support my heal in just the right position for driving. The seat itself has a height adjustment, but that seems to pivot on the front portion and only raise and lower the back end. It is set to the low stop now, and when I raise the back of the seat it simply creates more distance between my thigh and seat. I'm going to shove a towel under my leg for support and see if that makes an improvement. If it does, I will look into raising the front of the seat some how- I think I may need an inch or more. I'm inmaging some sort of structural safety concerns by attempting this- if anyone has suggestions I believe I am going to need it. Thanks!

Interesting... After reversing out of a parking spot and coming to a complete stop, I have noticed a small "surge/shudder" after I put the car in first and move a couple of feet forward. I assume it is the extra 40% going to the rear? (05LW)

Dande- I am impressed with your determination to get this situation solved. Also very cool of you to write a review about the situation so that others may be able take advantage of what you have learned. I have a concern about my seat that I'm wondering maybe you can help shed some light on. I realize we are talking about different cars and different pains, but maybe you learned something that I could use. My 05 LW, after 3k miles, is starting to cause my right foot some cramping. It seems that I have to keep my knee cocked in just a sort of way to keep my foot in position for driving- however my knee and foot is not at rest. I must always be straining my foot to keep it on the pedal. Like now, if you are sitting at your desk, raise your right toes 3 inches but keep your heel on the ground. That is similar to how I must drive. I feel like maybe if I can move the seat back another inch it would be ok. But I just don't know. Nor do I know if it is even possible to move the seat back further. Thanks again if you have any thoughts. This is the first time I have tried to explain my predicament so please excuse me if I'm not making much sense.

My 05 LW does something similar. On long shallow downhills the slowing/accelerating can kind of get in a quick rythm to where my head will sway back and forth slightly. After a few cycles of this it can get a bit sickening like being on a boat in choppy water.

Sign me up!

Wouldn't be a problem if you could just help me rig a vulcan underneath the grill. Of course I'll need the shark/hog mouth as well!

I really didn't want to spend the extra cash on AWD myself when purchasing my 05'. And like yourself I was wondering what the extra burden in MPG and maintenance was going to be. However in the end we made the right decision going with Subaru. All of the other similar car/SUV hybrids are junk not to mention Honda and Toyata currently don't have a wagon model. The Mazda 6 wagon is just about the only other car that I was seriously considering and its features were much more in line with my needs however; it was also a bit more expensive than the Legacy and Mazda recommended not having a trailer hitch on the car (that was the deal breaker). Sorry I can't help with your exact question, but I am very happy to have my new sube.

My 05 LW has ample power. I traded in a civic sedan so there is where my subjective reasoning is based from. If I needed a fast/agile commuter car, I would have looked elsewhere. Instead, I needed a car that could take me and the family to do tailgaiting, camping, hiking, conoeing, and traveling at a reasonable MPG. We couldn't be happier with our decision.

RainX is AWESOME! However, rainx or not, I have always had a problem with the spray on wax at automatic car washes. When I do use the automatic car wash, I will immediately windex the front windshield.

Is Jessica seeing the doctor about her back? Does the insurance company know full well about her pain? Sounds like you know what you are doing, just don't want you to get bit the way I have seen others.

I bird decided to use my 05' as it's bathroom, and I can't seem to get the last little bit of the stuff off of the paint. What is the strongest recommended cleaner I should use? What about also using a plastic scouring pad that is made for dishes? Thanks all!

My prior car was a Civic- 130k miles. I had to replace the radiator and a water pump here and there of course then the little things. But I have to admit, I am shocked at the (what I consider) high prices people find acceptable to spend on maintenance for their non honda or toyota cars. After my new subee is paid for, I'm going to crash my wive's car through the front glass of the Ford dealership where we got her car and leave it there as we go to buy her a new Japanese model. That Ford encounters the most annoying repairs I have ever experienced. And it seems like I have talked to other ford owners who consider having to take their vehicle in for repairs every 6 or 7 months to be pretty good! Uggghhhhh, that's pitiful!

I bought my automatic 05' LW for under 21k. I bet if you shopped around enough, you could get that limited for under the price of what the demo's price is. Also, banks and lenders will give you better rates on new cars than used. I'm assuming a demo car with over 7k miles will be sold as used.

So far it hasn't been done yet. The environmental and audio units share electronics somehow. There has been a couple of threads on it already in this forum. Let us know if you find a solution. Thanks!

Interesting. I may start calculating this myself and compare it to the trip meter in my car. I'm interested to know if there is a difference myself. Also, I would imagine the trip meter calculates the MPG through some kind of fuel flow sensor used for the carberator some how. (I'm making all of this up, but it sounds more reasonable to me than using the accelerator position for sampling.)

I'm surprised to hear the opinions concerning the accuracy of the trip meter. I would think it would know exactly what MPG is doing. The car knows exactly how far it has traveled and exactly how much fuel it is sending to the engine at any given second. Then it just averages out the sampling over the life of the current trip. Where as calculations done by hand can have corrupt figures since you can't precisely know how much fuel was used before filling up again. I imagine heat and cold can have an effect on when the gas pump does it's autofill as well. Or maybe different pumps will each have their own tollerance for shutting off. Where is the mistrust in the car's trip computer coming from?

I'm actually wondering about it auto shifting to 4th when picking up speed downhill.

Proper tire inflation!!!

What a shock that was! All my test drives were during the day so I had no idea what color the console was. First time driving at night was a bit of a shock!! What does everyone else seem to think of the red? I kind of like it, but it may be just because I love the car so much. In another few years after the newness wears off, I'm not so sure how much I will like it. However I really like the white lights of the instrument panel. Looks very sharp and clean. I wish the white lighting extended throughout the console as well. By the way, are the instrument panel lights always on? Or does it light up when the car is in the dark? The lighted console panel combined with the daytime running lights always confuse me into thinking I have my headlights on when I actually do not. The only way I notice it sometimes is when I fumble for the red glow of the radio and it is not lit up. Then reversely, I will sometimes leave the lights in the on position when I turn off the car at night. Then in the day I don't realize they are on for quite a while until I happen to notice the small little indicator illuminated in the instrument panel. Is it just me? Or are other people experiencing these things?

I was very dissapointed about this. I don't know if Subaru figured the cost of the roof was so much that people wouldn't want to pay for it so they had to bundle it with other options. I however would have paid quite a bit of money for it, I just really don't think for what my current needs are that leather is very appropriate.