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jlee's new daily driver thread - looking at a Forester XT. Update - now buying FXT!

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jlee said:
I will probably end up with a mild tune and possibly some WRX springs to stiffen it up a bit - but we'll see..that'll be way down the road. I'm really trying to save money now. 😛

I have a 2000 Yamaha VMax 700 Triple, so it might be a bit heavier than your sleds, but I only have one right now (I want to be able to tow two for future-proofing). My commute is only 9 miles so I'm not overly worried about fuel economy, but 23 highway would be really nice compared to 16! 🙂

I think I'm stuck with an 04-05 XT, since I want a manual transmission..they don't seem to make them in 06+ models.
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Oooohh nice sled! I bought 2 cheaper/older ones so family and friends who don't have sleds can come riding with me ... when one of them dies and costs too much to fix, I'll concede and buy a newwer sled 🙂

I would like to upgrade the swar bars on my forester ... there is a noticeable amount of body roll .... but I don't trust myself enough to attempt to do the work on my own ... So It would cost me labor + parts...
I put about 15-20K miles per year typically ... so fuel economy matters to me quite a bit.... Also, approx 1/2 of my annual miles are stop/go in city/suburban traffic, so I like to stick with an automatic...
 
jlee said:
I called my local Subaru dealer for maintenance prices and got this-

105k mile service: $185 (air/fuel filter, oil change, rotate tires, once-over of vehicle) - could probably do that myself
Timing belt: $440
Tensioner: $185
Water pump (not typically replaced - they said they don't replace them, would be special order part): $185
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pretty decent... water pump... i wonder if its a metal impeller... that i would trust but these plastic stuff i would always replace. T-belt after you remove everything is right in your face AFAIK might be a little wierd to do, boxer design an all.


give use your thoughts on the FXT. I loved that article i linked you to and always had my eye on a cheap 04-05 manaul FXT, never found one remotely close and a stick shift tho. So i dont know how it feels, driven a mr2 turbo and a couple of tacoma's i guess your review would be decent for me.

The older forester models always had bad wheel bearings, well most of the ones on CL, people post up with one bad wheel bearing and have parts just not installed so i wonder if its a costly/hard thing to do on them...
 
T2urtle said:
The older forester models always had bad wheel bearings, well most of the ones on CL, people post up with one bad wheel bearing and have parts just not installed so i wonder if its a costly/hard thing to do on them...
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Yeah that's why I said to check the wheel bearings. Warranty was extended on the 05-06 LGT wheel bearings due to excessive failure rates. I had my left year go out at ~55K miles.

You can't replace the bearings themselves on LGT's, you have to replace the entire hub and it runs ~$150 or less from an online parts dealer. I imagine it's similar on the FXT.
 
if the wheel bearing is built into the hub. And you buy a new hub with the bearing in place for $150 then it should be a directly replacement swap.

Thats how i normally do bearings. I take off the hub bring it to a shop to have them press out/in the old/new bearing and bring it back home to reinstall it. I might be a little more $$ but $150 is not a butt rape price. bearings run $20-30 and labor to press in/out is about $25-50. the time it takes to drive and etc, kinda break even.
 
T2urtle said:
pretty decent... water pump... i wonder if its a metal impeller... that i would trust but these plastic stuff i would always replace. T-belt after you remove everything is right in your face AFAIK might be a little wierd to do, boxer design an all.


give use your thoughts on the FXT. I loved that article i linked you to and always had my eye on a cheap 04-05 manaul FXT, never found one remotely close and a stick shift tho. So i dont know how it feels, driven a mr2 turbo and a couple of tacoma's i guess your review would be decent for me.

The older forester models always had bad wheel bearings, well most of the ones on CL, people post up with one bad wheel bearing and have parts just not installed so i wonder if its a costly/hard thing to do on them...
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I'm in love.

It's very smooth, very quiet, and has plenty of power. It's definitely not going to take my MR2 in a race (whether straight line or corners), but that's not to be expected. 😛 This one is in pretty rough shape cosmetically, mainly scratches and paint problems on the rear bumper. There's a small dent in the roof as well. Nothing that worries me considering it's a DD, not a show car. The inside is beautiful - only problem I found was the rear cupholder is destroyed.

It's probably hard to find a manual trans XT close by, considering there are only 26 on Autotrader in the entire country. 25 as soon as I pick mine up this week. 😉

$7355 was the agreed price - pending approval of my loan application (just got my credit score from them as well - 800+!), I'm going to buy it at 3.94% and pay it off as soon as my Tundra sells.

Pics and video up soon.
 
abaez said:
How are you going to fix those chips on the front bumper? I have the same on my subaru impreza.
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Honestly? I probably won't worry about it...might get the whole thing repainted eventually, but it's definitely not a priority.
 
abaez said:
How are you going to fix those chips on the front bumper? I have the same on my subaru impreza.
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$300-400 at a body shop every couple years, or if you know someone with a paint booth, a 6 pack of beer and $100 for the paint.
 
Zenmervolt said:
Nice car, but man looking at the photos of the underside I am reminded once again of why I love Seattle. 😛

ZV
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Yeah, I hate rust...but there's not much you can do about it. I'll oil undercoat it to help keep it at bay..but it's inevitable.

abaez said:
So if I have chips on the bumper like that I don't have to worry about rust?
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Unless it's metal, it'll never rust. 😉
 
alfa147x said:
wtf is that amount of rust normal? Helloooo Savannah Georgia!
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It's very normal for any state that uses salt on its roads in the winter. It's an unfortunate reality of living in places like NH. On the other hand, the summer hiking in NH is awesome and the winter is about as beautiful as they come. I've given serious thought to moving to NH sometime after I've finished with law school. It would suit my political ideals and would suit my overall personality (based on my experiences with the locals when I've visited the state).

ZV
 
Zenmervolt said:
It's very normal for any state that uses salt on its roads in the winter. It's an unfortunate reality of living in places like NH. On the other hand, the summer hiking in NH is awesome and the winter is about as beautiful as they come. I've given serious thought to moving to NH sometime after I've finished with law school. It would suit my political ideals and would suit my overall personality (based on my experiences with the locals when I've visited the state).

ZV
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When you switch sides, I'll be doing the same! I hope at least, I want to get stationed in San Diego MCB Camp Pendleton!
 
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Zenmervolt said:
It's very normal for any state that uses salt on its roads in the winter. It's an unfortunate reality of living in places like NH. On the other hand, the summer hiking in NH is awesome and the winter is about as beautiful as they come. I've given serious thought to moving to NH sometime after I've finished with law school. It would suit my political ideals and would suit my overall personality (based on my experiences with the locals when I've visited the state).

ZV
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I don't like winter, but I agree, it is definitely beautiful up here.

I am hoping I will like winter a lot more now that I have a fun vehicle to drive...before, the only time I could have fun was when the MR2 was awake.
 
IMG_0572.JPG


+1
 
lmfao I took that photo - that's Cobalt from NEASG at one of the winter ops a couple years ago...where did you find it?
 
glad you liked suggestion on the FXT.

a lot of people think WRX/ STI are the only thing subaru makes with a turbo in it.
 
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