mnwolftrack Posted January 16, 2007 Share Posted January 16, 2007 Hello, I'm looking to upgrade from a '98 OBW to a 2000-2001 OBW. There are a couple nit-picky things I don't like about the '98's design that I'm wondering if the 2000-2001 improved upon, and one thing I do like that I hope is retained. 1. Are the power window switches illuminated on the 2000-2001? This drives me nuts on the '98. 2. Do the 2000-2001 have heated CLOTH seats like the '98 we have? I LOVE the cloth heated seats. 3. On the 2000-2001 do all the doors unlock when the driver side door lock is unlocked from the outside with the key? I'm used to Toyotas and this is a handy feature. It bugs me that I have to unlock the door on the '98, open it, fumble around in the dark to find the door lock button to unlock and let other passengers in. 4. Do the 2000-2001 autos suffer from torque bind? 5. Do the 2000-2001 have the FWD fuse? I'm only considering 2000 to 2001 OBW's because those are the only ones in my price range (so anything newer is out of the question). I'd go test drive something local and get my own questions answered, but there isn't anything local right now. My only hope is to drive 200 miles to a larger city and find something. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
_Aramchek_ Posted January 16, 2007 Share Posted January 16, 2007 "3. On the 2000-2001 do all the doors unlock when the driver side door lock is unlocked from the outside with the key? I'm used to Toyotas and this is a handy feature. It bugs me that I have to unlock the door on the '98, open it, fumble around in the dark to find the door lock button to unlock and let other passengers in." Weird,in my 96 it works like that so it seems odd that they don't in your 98. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jon38iowa Posted January 16, 2007 Share Posted January 16, 2007 2. Do the 2000-2001 have heated CLOTH seats like the '98 we have? I LOVE the cloth heated seats. 4. Do the 2000-2001 autos suffer from torque bind? My friend has a 2000 OB, 80K on it; It has a high quality cloth interior ( nicer than mine) and heated seats. No torque bind whatsoever, nor has she had anything go wrong, save for a Battery. On that she went to Walmart, what a joke- They left a tool inside the engine bay and she wondered why the hood was bent upward slightly! She wasn't too happy when I showed her this free wrench. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mnwolftrack Posted January 16, 2007 Author Share Posted January 16, 2007 "Weird,in my 96 it works like that so it seems odd that they don't in your 98. Really??? I even read through the owner's manual to make sure I wasn't missing something. It didn't mention anything about being able to unlock all the doors. In my Toyotas, one turn of the key to unlock just unlocks the driver door. A second turn of the key unlocks all the other doors. Hmmm.... I will have to double check my owner's manual just to make sure I didn't miss something. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mnwolftrack Posted January 16, 2007 Author Share Posted January 16, 2007 My friend has a 2000 OB, 80K on it; It has a high quality cloth interior ( nicer than mine) and heated seats. No torque bind whatsoever, nor has she had anything go wrong, save for a Battery. On that she went to Walmart, what a joke- They left a tool inside the engine bay and she wondered why the hood was bent upward slightly! She wasn't too happy when I showed her this free wrench. That's good to know. Surprisingly, cloth heated seats are one of my favorite features about Subaru. I've never seen any other manufacturer do that. I'm used to only seeing leather seats with heated elements. Even with heated leather, there's still a few minutes worth of frozen tooshie when it's minus 30F. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nipper Posted January 16, 2007 Share Posted January 16, 2007 Hello, 4. Do the 2000-2001 autos suffer from torque bind? 5. Do the 2000-2001 have the FWD fuse? The torque bind is a silly question, its like asking if the car suffers from flat tires. Torque bind was engineered out after 1997 1/2. Any AWD car can get torque bind at any time due to poor maintanence or by driving on a flat or mismatched tires. Odd how you never asked abouty head Gaskets, but yet asked about TB, when the HG issue is far more common. nipper Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1Subaru1 Posted January 16, 2007 Share Posted January 16, 2007 I think the 2001 has bigger (better) front disc brakes than the 2000. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mnwolftrack Posted January 16, 2007 Author Share Posted January 16, 2007 I don't see it as a silly question at all . I see it as a flaw with Subaru's. My daily driver is a '96 Toyota Land Cruiser (AWD until I shift into low range). It's set up provides the same results at the wheels in high range, and I've never ever heard of a Land Cruiser suffering from torque bind. I'm rather familiar with Audi Quattro's and Honda AWD CR-V's as well, and I don't recall such an issue with them either. I suppose one issue with the CR-V could be considered "similar" to TB issues with the Subaru's, but it happens in the rear differential. On the CR-V, the rear diff fluid needs to be changed about every 30k. Otherwise, the rear wheels make a nasty noise while the diff engages when hitting the accelerator hard enough on a slippery surface to engage the rear diff. The service manual specifies something like 90K intervals for the rear diff fluids, but a quick search on the Net shows people are doing it much sooner. The '99 CR-V I had, had the binding issue. It's fluid had been changed by the previous owner at around 30k. I bought the CR-V with 89k, and the binding issue was present at that time. I changed the 'dual pump fluid" immediately after purchase and it cured the problem. I'm already quite familiar with the head gasket issue. I looked at a few 2000+ before we bought this '98, and some of them were leaking. But I haven't driven a 2000+ recently and I don't specifically remember the answers to my questions from those brief test drives. On a different note, I received an interesting comment from our local subaru dealer the other week when I bought OEM wires. I asked the counter person about the coolant additive that subaru is using on the 2.5 to "correct" the head gasket issue. He recommended NOT using it because it tends to clog up heater cores and radiators.... I'm sure it's already common knowledge/suspicion that the OEM subaru additive appears to have the same destructive consequences as using other radiator "stop leak" products. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jon38iowa Posted January 16, 2007 Share Posted January 16, 2007 [QUO I asked the counter person about the coolant additive that subaru is using on the 2.5 to "correct" the head gasket issue. He recommended NOT using it because it tends to clog up heater cores and radiators.... I'm sure it's already common knowledge/suspicion that the OEM subaru additive appears to have the same destructive consequences as using other radiator "stop leak" products. I must disagree with this persons advice; My Forester had the conditioner added for six years with nary a problem. Heater still works awesome, radiator flows perfect, etc,. I did though, yearly fluid changes as I do all my cars. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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