2008 Subaru Legacy GT 2.5 Limted: She's a keeper.

[JCE]

Brilliant car, now paint that chrome grille the body color and get those rims painted gunmetal grey and you'll be set.

 

[Azuremen]

Ahh, yes I can barely see the control back there now. Its quite nice in the winter.

Bram, some quick specs... 2.5 Liter Boxer 4 making 250 HP and 250 FT/lbs. 5 Speed I believe.

But more over, damn awesome fun when you plant that right foot, and realize you hit 80 on the 45 mph highway near your house... when you use to hit 40 xD

 

[daan]

Nice car Pako 👍

Now, for the off-topic bit...

Let's race - my automatic A4 2.8 versus a manual. They have the same number of gears. I guarantee my automatic's shifts faster and more precisely at peak power than you ever would - I guarantee I'd win.

Does having the same number of gears also mean they have the same ratios?

Following figures taken from Parkers.co.uk

Engine & Trim  	        CC/Cyl  	BHP  	MPH  	0-60  	MPG
2.8 quattro 4d  	2771 / 6  	193  	148  	7.1  	26
2.8 quattro 4d Auto 	2771 / 6 	193 	145 	8.9 	25

Every time I get in a race with a manual which should beat me the exact same thing occurs: they walk away from the light, and then the second they hit their shift point I fly by them because they lose so much time shifting gears.

They walk away from the light even though you've got extra, 4wd traction? And how do you know they are actually "racing" anyway?

From a recent article on this very subject: "it’s hard for anybody, even a professional driver or a talented amateur, to duplicate a given zero-to-60 mph." With a manual, of course - not so with an automatic.

Apples and oranges there. We all know that accelerating a supercar from 0-60 would be slightly harder than accelerating in, for example, an Audi A4, as everything would happen a wee tad quicker.

 

[Pako]

Oh and.....


.....I must have been dazzled by the newness of the car, but when I said I hit 110 coming out of third, it had to have been 4th gear. Today, just under 6k RPM I hit 85 MPH in 3rd. It starts to redline at 6.5K. Just to clear up any confusion I may have caused.

 

[foamy_302]

Nice Subie. I'm totally envious.

 

[Duke]

On the autobox note, turbo cars especially can do well with an automatic transmission. I remember an article in Hot Rod or Car Craft a while ago where they attempted to settle this question. They took a stock Buick Grand National with a factory manual trans and set benchmark times with it. Then they did a swap to the factory automatic transmission (ahh, for the days of non-electronically-controlled drivetrains) the same day and ran the same car again. The ATX was faster than the MTX because you could keep your foot planted and keep load on the engine the entire time, meaning boost stayed up through the entire run.

However, many cars are notably quicker in manual as indicated above. I test drove stock 2004 WRXs back to back and there was absolutely no comparison - under all acceleration conditions, the manual took the automatic's lunch money and gave it a wedgie.

And, as I have said to Doug every time - decimal seconds of acceleration mean bupkis to me in pursuit of driving satisfaction.

 

[Dead_Poetic]

So when are you going to change your "Vehicle" in your location space?

 

[Pako]

So when are you going to change your "Vehicle" in your location space?

Now seems like a good time....

 

[Pako]

OK, so my wife, daughter, and myself when on a little 250 mi trip...for fun. Before we left I topped off the tank and to my surprise the last two days, the first 200 miles of the cars life in my possession yielding an astonishing 16.9 MPG. Ouch! Well, on the way down to Missoula, our neighboring town 125 miles aways, I was pleasantly welcomed with a 25 MPG stat when I got back home which was accurate to the trip MPG as displayed. So if I drive it moderately, I see no reason to get 25-27 MPG on the HWY.

 

[Pako]

Now that some of the newness has settled down, it's time to start looking into minor accessories for the car. I'm thinking light window tent, low key rear spoiler. I would like to get some nice 18"x8.5 wheels with some summer tires and mount the current wheels with winter tires, but with winter almost here, I don't think I would a lot of use out of them this season so I think I'll wait until next year to go that route.

Any ideas or suggestions would be welcomed.

 

[Azuremen]

Sounds good to me. Perhaps see if you can't find smoked head lamps? And paint the chrome grill black... cause I dunno, the chrome just seems out of place.

As for the rear spoiler... a lip spoiler I think could look quite nice.

 

[Pako]

I think it would look sharp....

 

[JCE]

Paint the rims!!!!!

 

[Pako]

Paint the rims? Don't think I'll do that any time soon, maybe the calipers though. I would rather get some new rims, in a darker gun metal black or something...

 

[JCE]

Acceptable, as long as they are gunmetal or black.

 

[///M-Spec]

Appearance mods are entirely subjective in value, so I won't encourage or discourage you there...


Okay, I lied.

DON'T SMOKE THE HEADLIGHTS! Don't do it, man!

And don't paint your rims unless you like that 'two dollar Pepboys cracked and peeling finish' look. You can powdercoat them, but I'm not a fan of the idea of subjecting your wheels to 350+ degree temperatures during the baking process.

Personally, I would do what you've been thinking about: put some winter rubber on the stock wheels when the white stuff starts to fall. Sell the original rubber on eBay. Next spring, buy a nice set of lightweight wheels and summer tires. I like tirerack.com, but you have huge choices on where to go for this kind of stuff.

I would also think about a set of sway bars at that point, too, as the increased grip from the max perf. tires will likely increase body roll.

I also think lip spoilers are nicer looking than a full wing and would suit your car better.


M

 

[Pako]

Appearance mods are entirely subjective in value, so I won't encourage or discourage you there...


Okay, I lied.

DON'T SMOKE THE HEADLIGHTS! Don't do it, man!

And don't paint your rims unless you like that 'two dollar Pepboys cracked and peeling finish' look. You can powdercoat them, but I'm not a fan of the idea of subjecting your wheels to 350+ degree temperatures during the baking process.

Personally, I would do what you've been thinking about: put some winter rubber on the stock wheels when the white stuff starts to fall. Sell the original rubber on eBay. Next spring, buy a nice set of lightweight wheels and summer tires. I like tirerack.com, but you have huge choices on where to go for this kind of stuff.

I would also think about a set of sway bars at that point, too, as the increased grip from the max perf. tires will likely increase body roll.

I also think lip spoilers are nicer looking than a full wing and would suit your car better.


M

Good tips. I could go either way on the smoked headlight covers. I've been toying with the idea of a lip spoiler vs. a full on spoiler that you find on the Spec.B. I will say, that Spec.B sure looks nice with that spoiler on it.... The lower profile of the 18" also help with it's aggressive stance. A few other people suggested tirerack as well. My bro works for UPS and delivers tons of tires/wheels from those guys.

 

[Duke]

+111!!1!1!!one for ///M-spec's post. I'm all for appearance mods as long as they don't affect performance or safety!. I can't imagine why you'd want to decrease the effectiveness of your headlights or the visibility of your taillights, just in the name of looking cool.

Don't get black wheels because I just plain don't think they look good in black tires. Contrast is interesting. Gunmetal would be OK.

I also have heard horror stories about powdercoating aluminum alloy wheels. There are a bunch of people showing pictures of allegedly-defective Rota wheels that sheared off the hub. Turns out they were powercoated by a local shop and the heat de-tempered the alloy significantly.

 

[Pako]

In wheels, I'm considering these choices:
http://www.tirerack.com/wheels/Whee...edan+2.5+GT&autoYear=2007&autoModClar=Limited

I also like these, but the price scares me...
http://www.tirerack.com/wheels/Whee...edan+2.5+GT&autoYear=2007&autoModClar=Limited

Along with these tires:
http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires...peed_rating=W&speed_rating=Y&minSpeedRating=H


@Duke,

As this is my main daily driver, functionality is something of concern and would be a reason not to go tented headlight covers. I am even second guessing window tent (from prior experience, it's hard to see out of in winter storms). A little darker window tent would be nice though....

 

[Jim Prower]

Tint's a pretty bad idea, too. I'd say, only do the rear windows, But, in a car, as opposed to a van or other vehicle, that still may not be as practical or as safe. and don't get the stick on film...as Red Green once said, "It ends up looking like Lawrence Welk night at the Senior Center: Bubbles and Wrinkles."

 

[Pako]

Tint's a pretty bad idea, too. I'd say, only do the rear windows, But, in a car, as opposed to a van or other vehicle, that still may not be as practical or as safe. and don't get the stick on film...as Red Green once said, "It ends up looking like Lawrence Welk night at the Senior Center: Bubbles and Wrinkles."

I hear ya!

I guess a little darker is all I'm talking about, nothing too drastic by any means. A little goes a long way. There's some pretty heavy laws in Montana as it relates to window tint. I haven't looked in a few years, but it used to be limited to 20% tint on the front windows and 50% in the back.

 

[///M-Spec]

Dude.. if you're going to get a set of dedicated summer tires, you should go all out. The Avid H4 is not a bad tire, but for the same money, you can go with a set of Kumho MXs 👍 Or for a bit more, the Bridgestone RE050 👍 I've had both of those tires and recommend them without hesitation.


M

 

[Azuremen]

What about these Pako?
http://www.edgeracing.com/2006/Subaru/Legacy_GT/wheel/1902/

Though, those BBS' you linked do look nice (something about BBS on Subarus that just WORKS), they cost insane amounts...

www.Edgeracing.com seems to have good prices, and they do bundles as well.

I'm a Falken guy, and if you want dedicated summer tires, Azenis Or something abit more practical, and cheap (kinda) is the Falken Ziex. But the Azenis are just awesome for how much grip they give...

Tint wise, go for it. I think tint makes any car look better, even if it is just light. And those % sound about right, though I think Washington has them even lower. What part of Montana anyhow? My bro goes to school over at Boseman (spelling?) and tends to average just a "bit" over the speed limit when he comes back here for family stuff. And they don't seem to care at all. Lucky.

 

[Pako]

Thanks for the links. The Enkei Wheel looks good, and quite a bit cheaper than the BBS and at 18.5lbs, 3.5 lbs lighter as well. The Falken tire does have some cool tred on them

.

With Edge Racing, I don't see anything where they have the tire pressure monitoring system (TPMS) available for install on their sets. I also noticed that Tirerack doesn't carry the Enkei in that style, too close to the BBS I'm sure.

So yeah, Bozeman is about 4 hours away. I'm located in NW Montana in Kalispell, about 120mi north of Missoula, and about a 3 1/2 hour drive from Spokane.

 

[Azuremen]

I'd contact them and ask about it. Me and my 20 year old car don't normally look for that when buying wheels

I think the Azenis just have that "serious business" look

Kalispell, eh? Been a good while since I've been up that way, though I can't remember why I was up there. Plane parts maybe, but that was years ago.

You've ever come over to Spokane for Autocross, or is there a closer venue that runs it over there? We've had people come from several hours away to do some Autocrossing here, and now we've got some other stuff - drift, rallycross (lots of Subaru owners show up for the snow events) and gymkhana. www.asnw.org is the site for the Club in this area.

 

[///M-Spec]

I'm a Falken guy, and if you want dedicated summer tires, Azenis

Street Tire Class 'ho. You should tell Pako the rubber comes off faster than when the girlfriend says "honey we don't need the condom anymore" if you drive like you got a pulse.


M

 

[Azuremen]

Street Tire Class 'ho. You should tell Pako the rubber comes off faster than when the girlfriend says "honey we don't need the condom anymore" if you drive like you got a pulse.

M

I think I got a whole 8000 miles off the last set I had, including autocrossing

And if I was a street tire ho, would recommended these bad boys...

Yes, they are street legal DOT approved tires. Kumho Ecsta V710 FTW

 

[///M-Spec]

The V710 is not legal in street tire classes... unless your region allows an exception for them. You need a treadwear rating of 140. The V710's rating is "30" That's why the Azenis is so popular... and why I assumed you got 'em: they're legal in STS.

I went through 2 set of V700s on my AS/BS/ESP/BSP M3 and I currently have a set in my garage leftover from the 330. They are 'street tires' like an Atom is a 'street car'.

BTW, you want buy my V700s? 225/40-17s. Only one event on 'em


M

 

[JCE]

*cough*

Offtopic, but can I see pics of your M3 ///M-Spec?

 

[///M-Spec]

Sure. Pics are on home computer; I'll post later tonight. You wanna see the black '95 coupe or white '98 sedan? Both are E36s though, sorry to disappoint you...


M