JoeFromPA Posted March 31, 2008 Posted March 31, 2008 I'm no expert on embedding photos in the thread, so here's a link to the slideshow: http://www.flickr.com/gp/25182881@N04/bBNs0s Enjoy! It's only about ~10 photos.... My wife and I traded in her 2003 Saturn Ion 5-speed (57500 miles) on Saturday for a 2008 White Legacy GT 5-speed at Farrish Subaru in Virginia. We dealt with a forum supporter, A.K. Maloney, and it was a relatively smooth and only slightly painful process (anytime you sign your name to that much debt it just does not feel good). A.K. took great care of us, which helped soothe the pain. I would definitely recommend him if you are in the VA area. Anywho....the LGT is all stock except the Subaru all-season black floor mats (very nice interior contract) and an armrest extender (I thought it'd be just OK, but I love it! It was so nice as a passenger to have the elbow support). My wife and I have both driven it about 100 miles thus far (for 200 miles total) and it has been a blast. A ton of thoughts: Overall: Wonderful driving experience. The car feels compact, and, indeed, it is. It's narrower in the cabin than my 2006 Civic Si Coupe, with my 5'10 180 frame filling out the front seat completely. When properly adjusted, my knees are almost touching the dash. But the controls feel just right (albeit the shift lever falls a little beyond my resting grasp). The seats are very comfortable, especially the driver's. The passenger seat lacks a little thigh support, but the driver's 8-way adjustments and lumbar support allow excellent flexibility. The bolstering feels spot-on perfect for this type of car, with just enough support to hold you. It cruises effortlessly at 70. It was actually an effort to vary the speed by 10mph, as the car always seemed to want to stay at 70mph. Computer fuel economy was 24.6-24.9 for the entire drive back to PA. Some specifics.... Engine The engine revs really smoothly, though it emits an occasional chunkiness. I don't know how else to explain it. Maybe it's just breaking in. Definitely getting to enjoy the boxer feel again (I like it's feeling ALOT more than the 02-05 WRX engine that I owned in my Saab 9-2x aero). At the same time, it's really pleasant to step back into my 06 Civic SI and feel the Honda smoothness and responsiveness of this engine. They both have very attractive and appealing traits...it's going to be a very positive relationship to be able to enjoy driving both. On the one hand, immediate responsiveness and really smooth revving, on the other hand an awesome linear build of power (the 2.5 turbo) and a nice rush. Keep in mind I haven't taken it over 4200-4500 rpms The turbo sound is less than I expected and it doesn't have the "punch" I remember....the power comes on really linearly. And the low-end is a little stronger than I remember too, less of an onrush and more just a large displacement 4 cylinder on the low-end and a solid build of boost. SI-Drive? Final gear ratio differences? Weight gain? Use of regular fuel (though it never felt stuttering, knocking, or like timing was being pulled)? Engine/trans One thing was a total surprise coming from what we own/owned: the rpm movement. My 06 Civic SI revs like a demon and has a super lightweight flywheel...but that's it's design. The Saturn didn't like to do anything quickly. The LGT, with it's heavy stock flywheel, I expected to fall in between....instead, it revs like my high-revving SI. With a jab of the throttle, the RPMs fly up....and down! This thing drops revs sooo quickly. For comparison, my SI has a drive-by-wire throttle which "hangs" the RPMs for a second during each shift. This has no such desire to hang It's awesome....rev-matching will take a little bit of time to get used too, and you have to upshift pretty quickly to catch the rpms at the right point for a smooth transition and less stress on the clutch. I imagine a short shifter will actually benefit this process. The trans has felt great so far. The shifter feels quite good for stock; although getting back into my Honda did remind me why Honda shifters are renowned. But the stock LGT shifter is far from rubbery...kinda falls in between an Audi rubber-band shifter and a Honda bolt-action. More in line with BMW....moderate length throws with an easy action, although less positive engagement. The clutch took me a few minutes to adjust to, along with the throttle, but afterwards it's quite easy to modulate and shift smoothly with....1st gear is much shorter than I realized, but even that isn't too hard to launch after 10-15 minutes of driving. I think the tricky part will be learning to consistently launch the car smoothly and strongly using only ~1500 rpms, to prolong the clutch life. I've got to say, it's very refreshing to be driving a 5-speed again after a close-ratio'd 6-speed. 3rd and 4th gear are very comfortable over a wide range of speeds. One thing to note: that shifter vibrates substantially when in-gear. I was definitely surprised by this, coming from two FWD vehicles in which the shifter barely has any drivetrain vibration in it. Normal? Decreases with break-in? Braking These brakes are awesome. It's tough to take a car with crappy brake feel and make it good, but these brakes have great modulation and feel right off the bat. They are intuitive. Sure, they might fade in their current setup. But nonetheless, it's a great place to start. Handling Subaru definitely did something to this car from 05. More structure bracing or stiffer bushings or something. This car's turn-in is incredible! It feels like it could use a little straight-line stability on the highway (a result of the re92 tread design or an alignment issue?), as it felt a little twitchier than I expected. Could be the tires breaking in too. But man, turn-in is immediate and substantial and the steering ratio is fantastic for such a weighty car. The steering is light but feelsome. Highway handling was great, and body roll was much less than I expected. That being said, on Sunday my wife and I got to toss it into some low-speed sharp turns, and the roll appeared. She commented on how much it rolled....so I guess sway bars ARE in our future The ride was superb....road feel is great, without any real isolation, but all the sharp edges are taken off by the chassis and suspension. Bumps are felt and heard, definitely, but never really complaint worthy. Noise Wind noise and tire noise is more than I expected in such a car. Wind noise is actually substantially more than my 06 Civic SI....more whistling around the windows and such. I guess the Civic has a much lower drag coefficient and frontal area, plus framed windows (which I love already...). Tire noise...well, all I can say is re92s. Those things have a tread design that isn't really meant to do anything. Looking forward to replacing them in 25-30k most likely Engine noise is pleasant and Subaru Signature, but exhaust noise is notably weak. This things needs some sound to it. Hogzaust anyone? Drop-in filter I've heard adds some nice intake noises? Something here Exterior: I've loved the look of the 08's since I first saw them, and it's really growing on me now. The white paint looks decent in pictures, but when it shines the pearl in it really jumps out and grabs you. It's a pretty car. The character line above the door handles never struck me until I looked at it in person from the rear 3/4. It's subtle, but very strong. The wheels look a tad small on this car, but really appeal to me in a conservative way. This car desperately needs tint, in my eyes. With all the comment on thin sheetmetal and thin paint, I'm glad we got white. It's going to age really well, if I can keep enough coats of wax on it to maintain the paint itself. Interior: The perforated leather in incredibly nice, and the leatherette sides feel nice but durable. I can already tell this is going to be a moderate-maintenance interior, with scuffs and marks on the tan door panels very easy to make...but not too hard to take off either. Some aerospace protectant 303 rubbed with modest elbow grease should make this thing shine and protect it on a semi-regular basis. We already love the heated seats. They get perfectly hot and radiate up into the lumbar region, which is great. It's really, really comforting on a colder day The gauges are truly attractive...I had begun to not like them in pictures, but in person they've grabbed my eye alot. I think the 20mph jumps on the speedometer are kinda lame, but the overall look and feel is attractive, clean, and functional. The interior is "comfy", everything feels nice and substantial (I love the woven-cover flip-down thingmajigs-whose-name-I'm-not-remembering). Not too rich, but nowhere cheap either in my opinion. This car FEELs like it's going to age well, as long as we keep the tan parts clean. My wife absolutely loves the under-trunk storage space. She's a neat-nik and loves cubbies and organizers... The center-dash storage nook is kinda funky. How hot does it get? What do you put in there? My sunglasses fit well by themself...but hers don't. The steering wheel is thick and incredibly tactilely pleasing. It's lame the stereo doesn't scan pre-sets from the steering wheel, but, well, as long as you are not listening to the radio (iPod or CD) then who cares? Overall, the driving interface is very, very nice. The seating position is superb, the steering feel adjustments leave it "just-right", the shifter is a tad far forward but once your hand hits it it's natural. The secondary controls (turn signal) feel precise, well weighted, and right between cheap-and-expensive feeling. Just right. So far, I'm very pleased with our purchase. I've had minor buyer's remorse, mainly as the old car was perfectly fine and had some good memories and it was paid-in-full vs. the new car and it's 5-year 3.9% note (we'll try to pay it off faster, but that interest rate is kinda right in the middle of making you 'care'). I just remind myself of the extra safety my wife is in, the power and sportiness, the amenities, and the comparison to the rackety, clunky, bucket-o-bolts Ion and I'll sleep better each night It's a great pleasure to be officially joining the Legacy GT world. Joe Edit: Accidentally posted in mid-adlantic thread, meant to post here.
oddseth Posted March 31, 2008 Posted March 31, 2008 Great writeup on your new experience with the LGT! Right now, I am at the difficult deciding point of trading in my 05' lgt ltd for an 09' spec B (mine is auto and I really want the 6-speed manny-tranny) or just waiting to see what the next gen 10's will bee like. Either way, I have heard many great things about Farrish and have corresponded with AK Maloney several times so I look forward to doing business with that dealer.
chenc544 Posted March 31, 2008 Posted March 31, 2008 I'm not a fan of buying the very first MY of a new design, but I say wait for the '10 redesign. At the very least you should be able to get the '09 for much cheaper at that time.
JoeFromPA Posted March 31, 2008 Author Posted March 31, 2008 Oddseth - A.K. was a true pleasure to deal with and I hope I can send business his way...there were some problems with the finance manager/business manager who I dealt with; specifically, in Pennsylvania when you trade-in a vehicle you do not pay sales tax on the amount given for the trade-in (considered a roll-over of an asset on which you already paid sales-tax, and therefore should not be taxed a second time). The business manager did not apply this principle and if I hadn't caught that my sales tax was inflated by about 30% I would've been out several hundred dollars. I'm sure they are more used to doing D.C., VA, and MD sales than from people driving 150 miles A.K. made up for it by having the car in "right-off-the-truck" condition, 6 miles on the odometer, and an easy-going demeanor. Joe P.s. The manual trans forever
wrxvt Posted April 4, 2008 Posted April 4, 2008 that white sure does pretty I'm hoping I can wash & wax my lgt this weekend, i have yet to see the car truely clean and sparkling since i bought mine at night
desertfoxaz Posted April 4, 2008 Posted April 4, 2008 in Pennsylvania when you trade-in a vehicle you do not pay sales tax on the amount given for the trade-in (considered a roll-over of an asset on which you already paid sales-tax, and therefore should not be taxed a second time). The business manager did not apply this principle and if I hadn't caught that my sales tax was inflated by about 30% I would've been out several hundred dollars. It's the same way here in Arizona. I didn't know that until I got the Legacy. However, I never traded in before. It was a nice surprise.
oddseth Posted April 4, 2008 Posted April 4, 2008 I am getting impatient waiting for the next gen leggy but definitely looking forward to it. I am definitely going to wait until they release the details of the 10' Leggy and if they make it bloated and boring, I can always pick up a discounted 09'.
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