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From American muscle to Japanese svelteness

F

fbrdphreak

Lifer
So as most of you know, I was once the proud owner of a 2006 GTO. It was my first new car (picked up with 2 miles on it and the plastic covers still intact), my first stick, and my first RWD V8.

Unfortunately a wet exit ramp and 4th gear ended my love affair with the Goat.

I loved it and I will have another muscle car one day (may lean towards the Corvette next time around...the GTO was just too pig heavy!).

I had actually already decided to sell the GTO once I wasn't upside down in the loan; going down to once more practical car (I also have a 97 Legacy GT wagon) and a lower car payment for obvious cost savings reasons. I had my eyes set on an 05+ Legacy GT as it is one of the few cars that met my criteria:

*Top safety ratings
*Decent MPG
*Nice amenities (leather, heated seats, MP3 radio, etc)
*AWD or RWD
*MANUAL TRANSMISSION

Recent G35's were more than I wanted to spend (the 03-04's looked too generic, too common for my tastes), the TL's were too expensive and I'm meh about FWD. The Mazdaspeed6 was nice, but long term reliability and parts turned me off to it. The Mazdapseed3 was a great little car, but a little too boy racer and FWD again.

Not surprisingly, 05+ LGT's are relatively hard to come by - much less locally. I had been watching legacygt.com for private sale listings, Craig's List, CarMax, and the like. A few interesting prospects had come to light and I was moving on those, when a new ad caught my eye.

A 2006 LGT Limited (leather, heated seats, etc), 38K miles (50K powertrain remaining), and well modded selling for blue book value.

I had been teetering between an 05, 06, or 07. The 05 was the best value, the 06 had better safety ratings, and 07's have the MP3 radio & fold down seats (both big bonuses for me). I wasn't terribly comfortable with the mileage on most of 05's and I didn't want to pay the market price for the 07's.

I got a great deal on this 06 and it is modded nearly exactly how I would want. I love the wheels, the factory MP3 radio is installed with aux-input mod, the custom HID's rock, and the HUD/boost gauge are neat toys. Oh, and did I mention Stage 2 (up-pipe, down-pipe, and computer reflash good for ~250wHP/275wTQ)? It will eventually get a full suspension and brakes, but I'm very happy with the car as-is (summer tires make a world of difference, WOW).

Anyway, enough rambling. The full mod list is below and you can see more pics at the link. I may de-mod a couple things I don't really care for and invest the money elsewhere in the car.

Pics
Video of exhaust (not me narrating)

-GeNOME grill with JDM badges
-Window tint...it is *dark*
-Upgraded to Subaru factory MP3 radio
-Megan Racing Up Pipe
-Cobb catted Downpipe
-Custom 3" exhaust from DP back with Magnaflow mufflers
-Cobb Accessport, running the Cobb 93 octane stage 2 map
-K&N Typhoon intake
-18" 5Zigen "Sport Engine 3000" wheels in hyper black. Wrapped in Goodyear Eagle GS-D3's 235/40
-Defi data link system and electronic turbo gauge with playback and selectable over-boost warnings
-Defi Head's up display (Tach/MPH/Shift lights/etc)
-Aux-in audio input added
-Complete HID retrofit using FX35 projectors
-Dual halo (concentric, and centered around the projector bezel) CCFL rings - aka "Angel eyes"
-HID fog lights
-Custom painted engine cover with color-shift paint
 
Thanks!

As noted in the post, I got a very good condition 06 LGT for blue book (about $19K) with all the mods mentioned (and a spare set of stock wheels with all season tires for winter).
 
Nice! I don't see too many Subaru in my area so it catches my eye when I see one. Have fun but drive safe. It's unfortunate what happened to your GTO. Good thing you're safe.
 
Before I ended up torpedoing my idea of getting a fast car and just buying a new Fit, I was looking for Legacy GTs. Would have really loved to have one, but there were almost none for sale in my area, and the ones that I did find were all overpriced.

Congrats on the car. Squeal the tires for me sometime. 🙂
 
Funny I'm thinking of going the opposite route.

I love my Subie but I'm probably going elsewhere with my next purchase. New Camaro SS might be on the short list depending on the price.
 
Congrats on getting a car that's been beaten to death. I know if I did stuff like that to my car, it wouldn't be for driving nicely to work.
 
Originally posted by: KentState
Congrats on getting a car that's been beaten to death. I know if I did stuff like that to my car, it wouldn't be for driving nicely to work.
Click to expand...
And I beat my 97 LGT to death and it is still doing well at 216K miles - your point?

It has powertrain warranty until 50K and the only thing I would be concerned about past that is the turbo. If the turbo goes...upgrade time!! :evil:
 
I wouldn't consider engine cover paint to be rice. There are many many people with LSx engines that paint the fuel rail covers.
 
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