Vimy101

Checking in: #101 status quo.

#101 with 90K running like a top. Scheduled maintenance and synthetic fluids. Suspension stilll excellent.

 

Fan relay only in terms of OEM flaws but only preventative because it never failed failed on me.

 

Excellent car that I'd put up against anything.

^ Congrats.

^ Your OEM struts should be good till at least 90k. Mine have 80k on them and the Spec. still feels fresh. Another good thing about the Bilstiens is the they're rebuildable. Just order the cartridge. I'm going to do them at the next major maintenance interval so I better get shopping.

That came from the factory on the specs? I feel ripped off now.

Don't. You have the strong and light 5 speed and that brilliant suspension.

 

I have 83.4K on mine now it it feels like its just getting broken in. Seriously. It's been a friggen' great car.

^pictures of said shift handle? I cant find any.

Round knob on the end.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

how do you know if it comes with a factory sts? I dont think mine did since it feels much longer than the 02 wrx I had before. any way to easily identify?

Momo shift handle.

^ Doesn't have factory short throw shifter. Some didn't.

Put the summer tires on today. I figure they've got one more season in them.

I'm jealous of all these SpecBs with low miles. I am almost at 64K

Approaching 80k and running strong. That's why I bought a Subaru. The suspension still feels fresh. High quality struts with a light weight supension pays off in many ways.

Bump for more data

^ I've had heaping quantities of quality as every time I climb in it's a quality experience.

Sigh... I seem to be excluded from this party...

 

BTW, I have only 13K on the clock 3 years later!

I bought the Spec. for heavy duty service. She's handled it with grace and aplomb. Plenty of power, sweet suspension and more than a match for any weather.

 

By my calculation, I've had almost 6 times more happy motoring satisfaction than you.

^ I've had no problem with bearings (knock wood) though suppose it could happen any time.

^ Great road trip to the Texas hill country.

#101 reporting in.

 

75k on her and running like a top. Manual recommended normal duty servicing performed.

 

Mobil One 5/30 from 6k and OC at about evey 6k depending upon service use. Spark plugs from 60k looked clean.

 

Suspension still feels extremely able. No bouce/rebound/float. Solid. Like new.

 

A few scratches from Chicago parking.

 

Great friggnin' car.

 

Contiextremes on 17s are great "winter" tires. Very good in snow. Good in the wet. Quiet. Excellent tread wear (because cold temps keep them fresh as they rarely overheat).

 

The Nav is outstanding. Having a hard drive really allows for so much cross referencing.

 

E.G. The wife doesn't come on a road trip vacation because of last minute circumstances. Found that I could plot routes to hotels avoiding toll roads, freeways, via points of interest, calculating distance on the fly, avoiding certain specifically named roads. Friggin' masses of capability in the Kenwood hard drive Nav system. I also found it hard to get the throttle % indicator to 100%. Never in fact.

 

AWD FTW!

Do you guys have the latest flash to lean out the whole fuel map ? SOA apparently was running excessive fuel on the northamerican and canadian Turbo models, so much so that this was the reason for the hesitation between 3-4 k rpm. The new map uses the optimum lean mixture while still being rich enough to give the correct mixture under full boost. I have noticed a lot more power and a savings of approx. 2 litres/100km

I hadn't heard about this flash. My mileage is pretty good in the summer but drops off considerably in the winter. Someone once said that cold temps signal a lean condition which causes the mixture to be enriched. I never did suffer from the dreaded "studder". Interesting re the reflash.

CC = cruise control

^ Socal gas has a lot of additives so that will impact your mileage. Minimizing turbo use during general purpose puttering about will increase mileage. Refusing to bumper chase in traffic also has a big positive effect. Using CC helps. Anticipating stops is another relativly big one. If you see a tired green light or slowing traffic a half a mile ahead there's really no advantage to powering your way to an eventual use of the brakes that just undoes all the energy you just put in. Coast your way to a stop or slowing situation. You're going to stop/slow anyway so there's no need to hurry up to it when you're just going to stop moving in any event.

Got over 28.5 for a couple of months in mixed driving in Chicagoland this past summer. Red line it everytime out at least once. Winter gas is now taking its toll. Down to 27.9 over the last 6k and no doubt falling as per OEM info system. 67k on the Spec. now and not a single problem.

I was in Naperville today but I was in stealth mode so nobody saw me. Shoulder riding FTW.

^^^^

 

 

hahahahhahahhahahahaahah!!! :lol:

+1

Bumping for fresh data.

^ The thing about true snows is that they are designed to work well in either direction, are not meant for high speed, performance driving and will quickly degrade on dry roads. However, as in all things tires, everything involves some amount of compromise. A symetrical design won't perform as well in wet/slush as a directional tire for instance.

I know little about tires.

 

Fixored.

 

I did notice that I used "asymetrical" instead of symetrical which is what the thumbnail pictured.