Anyone have any experience with these. I know its turbocharged, but what sort of reliability are we talking here, and just for the hell of it what sort of potential does this car have for go fast goodies?

 

Very reliable and fast cars. Subura has excellent quality. Needs a little help in the looks dept., but a real neat car. The aftermarket is big in for them in other countries, but it's gaining popularity in the US.

 

Yes, they are really nice cars....and i like the looks except for the rear end/trunk. A friend of mine has a new silver one...its fast for a four cylinder..will hang with a stock 87-95 mustang gt....but its no L thats for sure. They handle the curves great though

 

Nice, reliable, but ugly. One raced me once, i think. I heard a lot of noise, but i just gave it some gas and I was gone.

 

...his wife drives it around

looks a little wierd at first, but you get used to it...


check out my sig, maybe consider a VOLVO?

haha... no seriously.
look

 

Make sure your wife doesn't mind a car with noticeable turbo-lag. Drive one and you will see what I mean. There are plenty of after-market parts available. A more practical and cultured street car with AWD and terrific looking instrument lights would be the new Jetta 4motion with the 24 V V6, coming in March - or the new 180 hp. 6-speed turbo (with a degree of lag). When they bring the STI version here in two years, the WRX will be hard to beat. Note, the seats are pretty narrow as well and the brakes single-pot, vs. the duals in europe.

 

My friends rave about theirs. I looked at it at the dealers but the interior is really chintzy. Looks like refugees from 80's furniture stockpile.

Reliability-wise, it should be good. Subaru has a solid rally heritage, and reliability is important for them. I have inherent distrust of high revving small displacement forced induction engines, but of course, I'm no engineer.

Like a previous poster said, turbo lag is a problem. In its heart, you're looking at a small displacement 4 banger that has to distribute all his pre-boost power to 4 wheels. I doubt your wife would notice though, although I am making a gross assumption. Maybe your wife has the lead foot in the family.

 

Zonaman.....

Now THERE'S a name I haven't seen in a LOOOOOOOONG time.

 

It's a nice car, but it is way overpriced. The base model is not bad but wait till you add all of the options you want.....your in for a shock. I'm not going to spend close to 30K on a Subaru 4 Cylinder.

Go to Subaru, pick your options, and see for yourself.....

Anthony

 

02 Nissan Maxima is a way nicer car for about the same money.

 

Yes, back on the board with a 2001 L. I had a Z06 in-between the '99 and '01, a very competent car on the track. I now have two polar opposites: the '01 L and an '01 Jetta TDI -- both have their virtues and vices, i.e., 14 mpg and premium vs. 45 mpg. and dinopoop, er diesel. I can see why the new direct injection diesels are all the rage in europe. The L felt great in the 40 degree air last night and the magnaflows should have been stock on the beastie.

By the way, WRXs are going for $23-24k around here.

 

You and me both, Zonaman. I decided to buy a daily driver, for a variety of reasons, including being tired of those pos rental cars while my L. is in the shop (it thinks the shop is its second home), so I looked at WRXs. Pretty neat little car, but I couldn't get past the chintzy interior and lack of carrying capacity (I know, they make a wagon that could hold my dogs and fishing rods, but it is even uglier). Then sanity prevailed and I realized that I had one high performance vehicle, so my other priorities should be economy and reliability, so I bought a Golf TDI. Sure, its slow, but rides and handles great, is quiet and comfortable, has a much better sound system than the L., and gets 42 mpg. I be very happy with my complement of vehicles, now. Only problem is, wife wants her own TDI now.

 

I'm looking to move out to the suburbs, and if I do, I will need a beater. No way am I going to subject my car to 90 minutes, 30 miles each way, bumper to bumper highway crawl every day. I briefly considered WRX too, but no... I'll probably get an old 4 banger Honda or Toyota that I can abuse and then discard.

 

I looked at them VERY briefly when we bought my wife's 01 Maxima SE, I was interested at first, until I priced one the way we wanted it equiped and it was MORE than her Maxima!!!! So we quickly moved on and forgot about it.

 

Those are quick little cars. Our dealer here cant keep them in stock! There is a guy on LS1.com that has one turning 12.3's in the 1/4!!!! He put a larger turbo and a few other little mods on it. You might wanna drop in over there and check it out. I believe it is his wife's car.