new to legacy plz help

[PAlegacyGT]

Hello all, im most likely going to buy a 05' legacy GT LTD, but i cannot drive manual

papers say 0-60 in 5.8 sec, some say 5.6sec, but most of the time, auto is higher, anyone know what the average 0-60 time for auto is? its not really a deciding factor in buying the car, the interior already has me hooked lol, just want estimates on what the diference between the auto and manual would be time wise ( if needed, i would just buy the manual, learn to drive off my friends Audi non turbo, and then drive the subie)

[PAlegacyGT]

i heard off some people who do performance mods, they like auto better for turbo cars, but ive also heard different. my friend bought an STI and had it tuned somewhere in ohio i believe. I might see what they can do for the GT LTD

 

the test drive was fast, but i was too busy giggling about the HP/speed it had than to worry about counting seconds... this car is a GIANT step from my 1996 plymouth neon highline that i had last year for a college beater.

[05 GT LTD Owner]

Learning to drive a manual is a piece of cake.

 

 

 

My wife (Before I knew her) went out and bought a manual without knowing how to shift.

 

How she got it home from the dealer is a great story.

 

Anyway, without anyone's help, that original clutch went over 210,000 miles.

 

I'm still shaking my head.....

 

 

In my opinion, manual is the way to go.

 

The auto cost much more.

 

It costs so much more you can probably install 2 new clutches and still come out ahead.

[PGT]

5.6-5.8 on 5sp and 6.3-6.5 on 5eat (automatic) cars.

 

Moved to 'pre-purchase' section

[timbuktu]

How she got it home from the dealer is a great story.

 

And?????? Tell us!

[PAlegacyGT]

yea but im more of a luxury person, like to stop and go when i need without shifting, i figure the sport shift lets me have some fun if i want to, but mainly just looking for a semi quick car with luxury, non bmw, lexus etc. found this , test drove it, loved it but was wondering the ET on 0-60 on auto.

 

if iwanted massive performance i would go STI, but im not a big race fan, just like to hand ass to some young punks with their civics who think they are tough. too many of them where i come from.. fastest cars in this area are my friends STI tuned in ohio, another collegues Evo which i helped build engine wise, and then there is a grand prix gtp and one or two camaros. thats it. everything else is honda/acura/mustang/eclipse and most of them dont have any mods except exhaust/intake.

 

besides the guy that had the STI said he hates shifting in winter, and in traffic. i go through a lot of traffic.

[Jerboa113]

wow,such a huge difference in 0-60 between AT and MT.. the AT is flat out slow! maybe I should suck it up and blow the extra.... $20,000 on that 330i I tested yesterday lol, it'll just take half a year or more to save up for a down payment.

 

whys the times so different? weight? gear ratios? I thought the AT felt a little slow compared to my friends MT but thats just crazy..

[crazyhorse]

If you think that 330i is faster than the legacy you're in for a rude awakening when you drive one. Don't forget the posted times on the 330 are for the manual too lol

[Jerboa113]

well it didn't feel like a speed demon either, but the car handled wonderfully, i have not had extensive testing with the subaru, the dealer wants me to drive 3 feet and then give him all my money.. the guy actually tried to make me do a 0 down 72 month loan on a LTD. is he crazy? I'm not keepnig the car that long! much less paying for it...

 

I drive a truck right now, and I'm sick of multi-point turns and slow slow driving, if I need to passsomeone I need a football feild.. it gets 14mpg on 87octane as well, which comes out to somethinglike 2 cents per mile higher than on a legacy at its 19 @ 93 octane... so the car has this advantage for me, but wahts really gotten me is theres no aftermarket for these cars.. and no options either.. .. no gps no mp3 deck no xm radio no sirius, no hids no rim options.. I suppose this lack of options keeps cost down.. which is good, cos I dont like there being a better car in a product line than the one I drive lol

 

I have read on here that you can sometimes get SOME of the mentioned things above imported from japan.. but.. isn't that REALLY expensive? I mean those headlights are pretty big.... not to mention they probblly cost $1000 each from the factory.. then shipped across the planet?

[crazyhorse]

HID's aren't cheap no matter where they come from.... Plus they're expensive to maintain over time and would make daytime running lights a problem. Subaru was smart in leaving them off because of where they were able to price this car. It might not have some of the frills but it does have AWD, a wicked motor with a LOT of potential, etc.

 

As for aftermarket... Subaru customers typically aren't into the flash stuff so much as performance. There are TONS of performance options out there if you know the car. Inlcuding, I might add, a 20G bolt on turbo that would blow the doors off an M3 all day long when installed. The navigation is coming... be patient and you'll see it.

 

Any rim that fits a WRX (17" mind you) will fit on the Legacy GT without a problem. It's a 5x100 bolt pattern and you'll want like a +48 offset I believe. After hearing the system they put in the Legacy GT Road and Track is giving away at HIN I can promise you the head unit is just fine (It had a 2000 watt amp for the 2 subs and a 176x4 for the components... was like a different pressure zone inside that thing)

[Jerboa113]

well.. I come from flashy stuff, although its gettnig less and less.... less is more now ya know? my current vehicle has retrofit HIDs in stock halogen non projector lenses.. tahts right... I'm a blinder.. lol but i LOVE my HIds.. theres no way I'm going back to halogen, not even for the cost difference, if I cant get hids stock I will add them myself, or have someone like http://www.hidtech.com take a whack at it.. thats one thing that has a positive mark for me for these cars is worst case it is a proejector lense and could work better with a retrofit hid than my current setup.

 

as far as performance.. the more I can push my eyeballs back into my brain the happier I am lol, so long as i'm not paying tons of insurance or taking my warranty and throwing it into a paper shredder.. that kind of offsets performance mods for a subaru asI hear they are very picky on warranty.. I never throw away my warranty, its what protectsme from making a up to $10,000 mistake when something unfortunate happens.. although I come from domestics.. so I might be alittle over concerned about failrues? I did notice there is a warranty issues board on here, which i did read over, for the most part it seems to be clutch stink and "piddly" stuff.. not like ford where my transmission died at 45,000 miles (1997 mercury mountaineer 5.0L v8 a miniscule 210hp in a huge cast iron block, 4R95E auto tranny 0-60 was 12 seconds! got 10mpg.. no more suvs for me!!)

 

however, performance also comes at the end of practicality, if I have to hurt my fuel mileage (19 is not good for a 4cyl btw, although its a worthy compromise IMO for 250hp) I'm not going to do the mod, for about$3000 I could make my truck fast.. but it would get 10mpg or LESS on 93 octane,right now i'm trying to both save myself somemoney, and make driving fun. I dont know that high 6s will make driving fun tho

 

I've been uh.. whats the word, lurking for a while on the forum, a buddy of mine has a legacy 5MT thats a lot of fun to ride in, although I have not driven since its manual and I really am not that experienced in manual and certainly dont want to ask or risk damaging any parts, my next car will be an auto.. but this post just made me start talking lol

[almondcookie]

Everything has its pros and cons, it's all about the person. I couldn't drive manual for spit and if you ask some of my friends, I still can't drive ultra-silky smooth. When I bought my FC it was manual and my cousin taught me how. Sure you grind a couple gears and you can't figure out which best gear to be in but that happens to everyone. I think it took me about a week (about an hour every night and an empty business park) to get a hang of stop-and-go and speeds up to about 40. The rent-a-cops were cool. "just don't hit anything - filling out paperwork sucks"

 

My thoughts:

 

- manual vs auto buying usually 800-1000$ cheaper

- if you need to pass, drop a gear and rip it

- manual forces you to focus on the car/road; no drinking something + cellphone + shifting + ..

- as stated, a burnt clutch is 3-400$. Not what you want, but still ok and cheaper

- actually being in control of the gears during winter is better (to me at least)

- stop and go traffic can get tiring on the left leg

- steep inclines are not your friend or good for your clutch (for new drivers)

- auto will always be X hp or X secs or whatever slower because of the technology used

- only friends that can drive manual can drive (or are allowed to drive) your car

- no gansta lean =)

- gas mileage?

- it's fun, more challenging, and all that good stuff

I can't really give you a recommendation but for me, it'll be manual until I can't drive anymore.

 

[crazyhorse]

My 300whp WRX (jdm high compression motor, injectors, 16g turbo, etc etc) got 29.5 mpg on the way from Charlotte to Atlanta. No one said you had to sacrifice fuel mileage

[LGTL]

I'm also on the boarder between auto and manual. At first i was completely set on manual but the more i think about it the more i'm leaning towards auto.

 

Ok, mags report 0 to 60 times of 5.6 to 5.8 with a manual. Whats average joes time? I figure pro's beat me by 10 to 15% minimum. So we are talking 0 to 60 times of 6.5 seconds for the manual for me. I figure anybody can get the high sixes with an auto so the difference seems minor. I saw somebody pointed out that the average manual driver is actually slower than an auto. Do you guys agree?

 

Also what is an average time for a non-damaging launch? I assume the car mags really pound on the machine to get the sub 6's.

[crazyhorse]

Think of it this way... how often are you actually going 0-60? I would think highway acceleration (merging, etc) would be more important for most people over a blazing 0-60 time. The GT definitely shines on the highway. Take the time to test drive on in that kind of situation before you make up your mind for sure

[almondcookie]

^ +1

 

True, numbers are important. But the only numbers I'm concerned with is:

 

newcar whp (either rear or all wheel) >= 1.5 or 2 * oldcar whp (rear or all wheel)

 

I go for balance not just straight line so cars like the legacy, the rx7 (FC), rx8, etc interest me more than a viper or corvette. That's just me though. Different strokes for different folks.

[Jerboa113]

that equation doesn't work for me.. current HP=285/330 going from that to 250/250 would still be an UPGRADE however due to weight.. what I look for is bottom lines like fuel mileage, performance, handling etc. going from a truck to a car pretty much guarantees increases in these items, but the % of increase is whats important..

 

I'm 23, I dont really want a cookie cutter 4 door sedan like "Dad" drives, I wanna have fun driving, especially since I do on-site work. I'd also like to be able to seat 4 people, I actually looked at an 02 corvette not too long ago, loved it, but it was only a 2 seater and has severe ground clearance issues..

[LGTL]

Think of it this way... how often are you actually going 0-60? I would think highway acceleration (merging, etc) would be more important for most people over a blazing 0-60 time. The GT definitely shines on the highway. Take the time to test drive on in that kind of situation before you make up your mind for sure

 

I've driven 2 5mt and one 5eat. Both were crazy fast. The 5eat is the only one i had on the highway and must say it really took off from the off ramp. I never tested it's accleration around 65 to 85 mph because i didnt' have my radar detector with me. Any complaints with higher speed acceleration? Are turbo engines/manuals/autos better suited for acceleration at higher speeds?

 

I agree, 0-60 is kind of silly and with this car either is more than fast enough for me. I've never been tempted to race anybody. I just feel a little silly paying extra for a car that performs worse.

[deneb]

If you're only 23 and talking about taking a fast car and making it even faster, you're gonna get hammered on insurance....As far as manual vs. auto goes, I really enjoy the control a manual offers, I decide what gear I need to be in for a given situation. Sure the AT has the manu-whatever modes, but there just ain't no substitute for shifting yer own gears IMO. Makes the driving experience and connection to the vehicle more complete to me.

[emorphien]

It's a tough call. I still have a few months to decide but every few weeks I go back and forth between the options.

[Jerboa113]

na insurance will go down a little, to me 7 seconds is only "quick" not nessecarily "fast" if you do it in low 4s, then yer getting close to fast.. as long as its controllable at the speeds it can acheive theres no reason IMO that it can't be a safe car.

 

I most likley wont do any kind of HP mods on mine other than perhaps one of these access port things I hear about.. if you can mod the pcm w/o drawing attention to it and ruining your warranty.. sounds like a plan to me.. as long as it doesn't hurt mileage.

 

my timespan of purchase depends on the sale of a boat.. know anyone that wants an allison craft? the sooner I sell it the sooner I can talk a little more seriously with the dealer, and some other dealers maybe to work out the best price.. I have no problem driving to atlanta to buy one of these cars if I get a hint that our local one is going to shaft me. (I dont think they will most guys here said they paid so many hundred under edmunds invoice? edmunds on a 2.5 GT LTD 5EAT is something like $28,650 or so, if I could get it for 28 even, or even less than that, I could most likley make it work no problem)

[melayout]

I'm also on the boarder between auto and manual. At first i was completely set on manual but the more i think about it the more i'm leaning towards auto.

 

Ok, mags report 0 to 60 times of 5.6 to 5.8 with a manual. Whats average joes time? I figure pro's beat me by 10 to 15% minimum. So we are talking 0 to 60 times of 6.5 seconds for the manual for me. I figure anybody can get the high sixes with an auto so the difference seems minor. I saw somebody pointed out that the average manual driver is actually slower than an auto. Do you guys agree?

 

Also what is an average time for a non-damaging launch? I assume the car mags really pound on the machine to get the sub 6's.

 

I actually timed the 0-60 on my 5EAT Un-Limited GT and it was 6.4-.5 seconds and that was my second run with powerbraking at 2k rpm.

 

I like the 5EAT because it is consistent, prevents the user from accidentally destroying or abusing their transmission, the dealer can't claim abuse (especially with Subaru's mixed history in manual transmissions) and it's fun or comfortable when you want it to.

 

Mojo

[almondcookie]

I've destroyed almost all the auto transmissions in the vehicles I've driven. The only trannies that I didn't kill was my dad's Jeep and my mom's minivan. I don't know about subaru's history. My GT is the first subaru my family has ever bought. My cousin has a wrx but he drives all limp-wristed.

 

My damage is usually the same. Severe slipping transmission. Usually happens overtime with hard accelerations. The shifts won't be crisp and it'll cause the car to lunge when going in or out of gear. I love manual. =).

 

[deneb]

I actually timed the 0-60 on my 5EAT Un-Limited GT and it was 6.4-.5 seconds and that was my second run with powerbraking at 2k rpm.

 

 

How accurate is that 0-60 time? How are you measuring? Just curious.

[Jerboa113]

I tend to be bad on transmissions too.. I like every stop and go to be quick and entertaining.. even if I stop at the bottom of a hill I like to accelerate faster than the people around me.. I like to be the 1st on the line cos I'm almost always the 1st off, I probablly dont compare to racers but I'm definately a faster more aggresive drive rthan 30 something year old women in suburbans lol

 

a friend of mine on the board here (doint know his nick) just told me about an ecu retune for the legacy that can get up to 300hp? yall know if this sacrifices fuel economy or would mess up my warranty? I know in GM a pcm retune doesn't mess up the warranty cos the scanners dont know its been reprogrammed, but they're about $500 or more to gain like 30hp. 300hp in a legacy would be UNF.. these seem to be very light cars, well handling too,.

 

I've also been thinking about this sport shift feature, where you can manually go up and down the gears, how accurate is this thing? does it shift on its own if you over rev? I think it would be nice to have to quickly drop a gear yourself every now and then if you really need it, but not have the "chore" of a manual for daily driving..

 

I think manual would be a blast for the 1st month or 2.. but after that woul dbecome a chore or bothersome.. I drink, talkon the phone, play with my ipod, write things on my notepad while driving.. cos driving is the 2nd biggest part of my job, time is money.. I dont get paid for driving between jobs, so the less time I pull over and talk about work, the more work I can do and the more I get paid