Well the more I get on to USMB the more I want to go over there.Just how popular are subs in the US.You guys seem to live and breath subs as I do but I feel alone over here compared to all you sub nuts that have so many people who share the same hobby(SUBARUS).There are plenty of sub nuts over here as well but not to the extent as you guys.I just love getting on here and reading everybodies thoughts and problems and just general gas bagging.Are they as popular as they seem on USMB.Thanks everyone for stopping me from getting bored at night(my wife does't thank you).By the way we pronounce Subaru SU-BAR-U not SU-BOO-RU.Just thought you would like to know.

I pronounce it SU-BA-RU. I want to go down there man! You guys seem to have WRXs out the ying-yang!!!

Well - they are quite popular in certain areas, and the newer models such as the WRX and the STi have become popular almost everywhere.

 

A lot of the older Subaru's were sold on the west coast, and since we don't have a lot of rust here, a good portion of them have survived. Parts are plentiful and cheap - they are easy to work on, and economical to drive. For those of us that aren't interested in impressing the joneses, and don't mind working on our own cars, they are a good choice.

 

GD

Yeh WRX's are very popular and have been here since the early 90's.But they are very expensive and way out of my league.You will pay $30,000nz for a late model jap import.But we don't have the Baja.What an awesome looking sub.Do you have the legacy RSK-B4 twin turbo model.What I really want is the early model DL1400 two door sedan.We never got that model either.

 

I pronounce it SU-BA-RU. I want to go down there man! You guys seem to have WRXs out the ying-yang!!!

We don't get the TT's here

 

As for the Baja - it sucks, and they are almost certainly discontinueing it. It didn't reach it's target market, and sales have been terrible. They wanted the 25-35 crowd, and got the 45-55 crowd instead. It's an outback with no roof in the back. Too bad too, since it could have been so much more if they had stuck with the concept car design.

 

GD

Bummer about the Baja.I thought it looked great.I know they would sell well over here.So you don't get twin turbo's another bummer.The WRX-STI over here are 206 kilowatt,I don't know what that is in horse power.A friend of mine has a WRX-RA and is 253KW.The RA means that its panels are alluminium.Are twin turbo's illegal over there.

 

We don't get the TT's here

 

As for the Baja - it sucks, and they are almost certainly discontinueing it. It didn't reach it's target market, and sales have been terrible. They wanted the 25-35 crowd, and got the 45-55 crowd instead. It's an outback with no roof in the back. Too bad too, since it could have been so much more if they had stuck with the concept car design.

 

GD

hehe GD incase you didnt notice SUBGSR is 42 so that puts him right in the range they hit with those Bajas... Im 16 and i think theyre pretty cool... but i can see why they didnt meet quotas... oh and BTW 206 KW= 276.25HP and 253 kw = 339.27 hp.

 

Cheers

Don't worry MW you will soon be 42 yourself.Believe me it comes around fast, but the important thing is I don't feel 42 maybe 22 and thats the main thing.So live life while you can and live , breath , and dream Subaru.And no I haven't taken offence to your comment I am smiling as I write this.

 

hehe GD incase you didnt notice SUBGSR is 42 so that puts him right in the range they hit with those Bajas... Im 16 and i think theyre pretty cool... but i can see why they didnt meet quotas... oh and BTW 206 KW= 276.25HP and 253 kw = 339.27 hp.

 

Cheers

ok for the TT question the main reason why the didn't import them is because of the EPA crap we have to deal with here in the states and the motors didn't sniff clean enough.

 

Heck we didn't get the wrx until recently cause of that said junk.

 

as for the amount here we're the #1 importer of subarus and have been for the most part since the 80's except for a lil bit of a burp in the early 90's and back in the 80's the #1 spot for the amount of subies was Bend, Or which is like 2 hours or less away from here. I read about alot on that subject from a book called "where the suckers mooned" which is an interesting book to read about SOA in the early 90's when they were hurting and were trying different ad companies also in that book they did mention the pronouncement of Subaru and the japanese pronounce it su-BAH-ru with empasis on the BAH of course over here we call it by other ways too lol

you should come over to the states some time. pretty sure youd get a warm welcome from the suby crowd here.

 

 

i want twin turbos, i was thinking about doing that on my impreza when i get the legacy turbo block, i think that i could come up with a sick design for it, although, emmissions and inspection would be fun, good thing i dont have an annual inspection, just by annual emmisions testing.

......... emmissions and inspection would be fun, good thing i dont have an annual inspection, just by annual emmisions testing.

Dude, that's why you have two motors. One for emission and one for driving.

 

In California we have to smog once every two years. Worth keeping a spare motor lying around for those times

It seems to me, you folks down under are just as nutty as the folks are up here.

 

A lot of innovation and whacky modifications come from your neck of the woods then spread to us!

 

You guys still have the dual range tranny! Subaru won't let us have it!

 

(I always knew Subaru liked you more than us)

 

Glenn

82 SubaruHummer--Rhino Buggy!

01 Forester, single range tranny

Where I live it is rediculis how many subarus there are. I have heard people say that 50% of the cars are suby's here. I could believe it on the west side of town. This town has a bunch of skiers, Mtn. bikers, kayakers ect. and subys are such a practical car for those people. That's why I bought one. 4wd for the winters, good ground clearence for driving the forest service roads, economical to drive, cargo space, and very reliable.

 

But the town I live in is definately an exception. Where I grew up in the mid west the are not very common.Everyone back there drives American cars for the most part because everything is flat, straight and paved.

After reading all of this all I can say is; "Mmm B4"

 

We get screwed when it comes to the high performance JDM models.

Seems like here in Northern California, near San Francisco, there are a lot of new subarus (mostly outbacks), with quite a few EA-82s, but the EA-81s are getting to be few and far between. And aside from one old guy driving his rust bucket brat, and mine, I *never* see other brats around here.:cool:

 

Only three or four of us in this area who frequent this board.

 

Keith

Even here in Soob central a Brat is a pretty rare sighting. I do see about 1 a week in the summer tho. I usually see about 1 EA81 a day if I'm looking.....

 

GD

ok for the TT question the main reason why the didn't import them is because of the EPA crap we have to deal with here in the states and the motors didn't sniff clean enough.

 

A big reason we didn't get them is because subaru would have had to come up with a completely different design for the exhaust plumbing. The steering gets in the way of the drivers side turbo on LHD cars. Not very cost effective.

Yeh the RSK-B4 would nice to have .Can get a 95-98 model for about 20,000 to 25,000nz but my wife won't let me and anyway it is getting to pricey for me .They go really well but cast alot to run(speeding tickets).Excellant fed back guys thanks alot.

 

After reading all of this all I can say is; "Mmm B4"

 

We get screwed when it comes to the high performance JDM models.

A big reason we didn't get them is because subaru would have had to come up with a completely different design for the exhaust plumbing. The steering gets in the way of the drivers side turbo on LHD cars. Not very cost effective.

The steering and also the brake MC. I'm sure a TT could pass US emissions if SOA really tried...

 

subGSR, I have never seen anything older than an 1978MY Subaru here in the US. Your GSR would be priceless to a Subaru collector here in the US...

I have been woundering what it might be worth as it is the only 72 in NZ.I also have a 74 GSR which are different to the earlier models.The 72 cost $6000nz to fix up and then some @#!*&%@! backed out of there drive right into the left side as my son was driving by.I have burrowed $5000 from my wife to get it back on the road hopefully before the end of august.The car was insured but as my son is under 25yrs the excess was to high and isn't worth claiming.If you or anyone knows a serious collector tell them about it as I would be interested to know what someone would be prepared to pay.It is possibaly one of only 10 left world wide.

 

The steering and also the brake MC. I'm sure a TT could pass US emissions if SOA really tried...

 

subGSR, I have never seen anything older than an 1978MY Subaru here in the US. Your GSR would be priceless to a Subaru collector here in the US...

Over here, on the east coast, I seem to find a lot of the newer Outbacks & Foresters. Every now and then, I'll see a Baja. It's not too hard to find the Loyales... they're rusting away in the junkyards, for the most part. I've seen only two on the road that have no rust on them *sigh*.

 

Everything older than that has rusted completely away, I think. I have yet to see an EA81 in a junkyard up here. Maybe I'm not looking hard enough, but I think they've all disintegrated.

Wow, I'm kinda happy I live where I do, definatly don't plan on leaving too soon now. I see at least 1 EA81 on every other block around my house. And at least twice a day I see a Gen I (and not the one in the driveway), and at least one of those Gen I's is a Stage 1, heck one of the Roo's has 2 Stage 1's!!

I have 3 Brats sitting in the drive, 2 more within half a mile of my house!! Seattle is quoted a lot as the Subaru Capital of the west coast, that may be true, but Southern Oregon is the Older Gen Capital. You can pick up an EA81 for less than 500 bucks with no problem (Got my lastest Gen II Brat for 100 bucks).

My two holy grail cars that I'm looking for are a Splitgate wagon (lost the one I had lined up) and a 73 Coupe (Dude won't sell the one I did find). Although I'm pretty sure if I got the Splitgate, Paul would fly out here and flog me with a clutch cable untill I just gave it too him.

And if you do make it to the states, You definatly don't have to worry about looking for, or spending the cash on a place to stay, specially on the west coast, heck, you could practically walk from Seattle to Sacramento and stay at a Soob owners house each night. My couch is definatly open to anyone passing through my neck of the woods.

Wow, I'm kinda happy I live where I do, definatly don't plan on leaving too soon now. I see at least 1 EA81 on every other block around my house. And at least twice a day I see a Gen I (and not the one in the driveway), and at least one of those Gen I's is a Stage 1, heck one of the Roo's has 2 Stage 1's!!

I have 3 Brats sitting in the drive, 2 more within half a mile of my house!! Seattle is quoted a lot as the Subaru Capital of the west coast, that may be true, but Southern Oregon is the Older Gen Capital. You can pick up an EA81 for less than 500 bucks with no problem (Got my lastest Gen II Brat for 100 bucks).

My two holy grail cars that I'm looking for are a Splitgate wagon (lost the one I had lined up) and a 73 Coupe (Dude won't sell the one I did find). Although I'm pretty sure if I got the Splitgate, Paul would fly out here and flog me with a clutch cable untill I just gave it too him.

And if you do make it to the states, You definatly don't have to worry about looking for, or spending the cash on a place to stay, specially on the west coast, heck, you could practically walk from Seattle to Sacramento and stay at a Soob owners house each night. My couch is definatly open to anyone passing through my neck of the woods.

Ain't that the truth brotha and same here for the couch/futon

I'm envious of NZ/AU Soob owners--they've got more than 8% of the market where you guys are (compared to a little under 1% here) and the older ones don't rot out. I just got back from 3 weeks on the East Coast of Oz and the South Island, and you guys don't know how good you have it.

 

Btw, there's a 1400 DL coupe, RHD, for sale in Oz for $AU400. If you're interested, I believe it's in the Brisbane area, needs a ring job but the advert says it's in great shape. I'll grab the phone number for you if you'd like. (It certainly would be less to ship from the US or Japan, and it is a '74 model.)

 

Yes, I spent my vacation drooling over Aussie/NZ Soobs. I can't help myself.

If anyone or you know of someone who is coming to NZ for a holiday let me know.I will show them true southern hospitality.And a place to stay and will help them in any way.I know of one subaru collector you guys might drool over.I suppose there are good things living here and good things living there.I want a two door sedan!!!!!!.Don't come here without telling me and very important don't go to the north island ever! it sucks.All the good Kiwi's live in the south island.