Heathers 2005 Subaru Impreza RS

We have inspections in Michigan? Huh, learn something new every day.

Glad to see you are getting it fixed up and on the road so quickly. So far it looks pretty good.
 
Took it for a short drive last night. Car sure is quite inside and out. I didnt even think it was running when I sat in it. I did hear a slight noise in the front passenger wheel area when I turned left. I am still a little nervous driving it so I have an appointment on Monday the 30th to have all 4 wheels aligned and to have the suspension checked out. Hopefully its in good condition and does not cost too much to fix.

I still plan to drive it the next few days and work out any of the bugs I find. I also plan to install the rear spoiler on friday and hopefully work on the hood a little more.
 
Worked on the car for about 5 hours on black Friday. Hood finally latches but thats as far down as it goes for now. Fine with me I am just happy it latches. I also got the rear spoiler bolted on and fixed a few other things here and there.
Right now the car is in the shop to get all the tires alligned and to inspect all the axles and the suspension. Something is going on for sure in the rear of the car. Hopefully that wont be too much to fix.


11/29/09
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T/Y

I picked the car up from the alignment shop yesterday. Wow what a huge difference. They said all 4 rear trailing arms were bent plus the driver rear had toe out issues. So they repaired the trailing arms and then aligned all 4 tires. Total cost was only $50.00!!!! Before I took it to the shop this car was not fun to drive and was very unsafe. Now it truly feels like a brand new car. I am shocked how much better this car rides. It feels like they replaced everything with new parts. Thats how well it drives now. I will need disks in the near future but other than those, the car is all set and rides very nice. In fact it is now officially my daily driver and I took it to work today!! :)
 
Well last night was our very first snowfall. We got at least a couple inches and the roads were all ice. Enough that they closed 110 schools. In a couple spots the snow was at least 2-3 inches deep. So I truly got to see how well this car does in the snow.

The first time I took off out of the driveway it was like there was no snow or ice at all. It just took right off. The entire drive was like that to work. Then I got to some pretty deep snow / slush on a corner. I took off pretty fast and was surprised to see that the drivetrain seems to be more focused on RWD and the rear kicked me sideways. Must be at least 40/60 split. That I didnt expect. So quick learning lesson is not to take off fast while turning. :lol:

Other than my own mistake, the car is a very very good winter car and looks like I got it ready just in time. New tires will make a huge difference for sure. So I might have to invest in a set sometime soon. The rear needs them the most.
 
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Lame, you guys got snow. There might be half an inch on the grassy areas here. I really want to give my winter tires a go and see how they fair.
 
Yeah let me know how your tires do. I need rear tires bad for this car for sure. It will make a huge difference. I forgot the inside of the rear tires is pretty bald from the car being out of tow and having too much negative camber before the alignment. I am a little concerned about the snow / salt going into the hoodscoop on top of the engine. I might design something to prevent it from all going right on the engine like that.
 
CAMAROBOY69
The first time I took off out of the driveway it was like there was no snow or ice at all. It just took right off. The entire drive was like that to work. Then I got to some pretty deep snow / slush on a corner. I took off pretty fast and was surprised to see that the drivetrain seems to be more focused on RWD and the rear kicked me sideways. Must be at least 40/60 split. That I didnt expect. So quick learning lesson is not to take off fast while turning. :lol:
Click to expand...

Hehehe... Impreza + snow = just about the most fun you can have in a car that doesn't involve being on the backseat whilst stationary ;)

If you take your time and get used to it you'll find out you can hold it at huge angles of drift with massive rooster tails of snow flying off all four wheels... when I had mine and it snowed, I'd get up at 4am just to go and have a play before the roads clogged up with traffic :D

Pull the ABS fuse, then you can get a bit more weight transfer to get it turned in (you can also do this with the handbrake)... once the nose is in, jump on the gas and the center diff shoves most of the drive to the back... wind on the oposite lock and enjoy!

It will also do brilliant donuts... wind on full lock whilst stationary, 5-6k of revs on, then pop the clutch. It might push a bit for the first quarter turn whilst the diff sorts itself out, but after that it will pretty much spin around its own front wheels :D
 
This one is only the 2.5 RS with auto. No popping clutch here and I sure as heck wouldnt want to do donuts with it on dry pavement. That would be brutal on the poor little car. :lol:
 
Ah, auto... maybe not then :D

I doubt you'd have enough poke to do donuts on dry tarmac - mine was a turbo, and it needed to be wet before she'd rotate properly... but snow or gravel might work with the auto ;)

Does yours have the LSD on the back axle that the turbos have... that would help no end.
 
I was wondering the same. Not sure if it has the LSD in the rear. I really dont know much about this car yet.
 
Thats a great article. I didnt realize the WRX and the RS have pretty much the same exact same suspension. That would explain why this thing corners so well with very little body roll. I took a hair pin 90 degree corner at right around 50 mph with ease and a few shocked passengers. haha

I had to laugh at the heater part. That sure is the truth. Easily the best heater I have ever used in a car. Once the car is warm I seriously cant even think about turning it past the 1 or I will get a tan. lol!!

Also glad to hear the 2.5 engine noise is normal. I was a little concerned about that. I also noticed the large amount of torque at very low RPM. Right around 2,500-3,000rpm. I love that about this car. Just touch the gas a little and its off. Which is what got me into a little trouble this morning when the rear kicked out.

This 05 Subaru Impreza is easily one of the best cars I have owned. Just a great car all around. I am interrested in seeing the gas mileage I can get. I expect around 25 ish between city and highway driving. Which is a major cut from my 96 Saturn that gets 40mpg highway. But thats ok I will take this car over my Saturn any day!! :)
 
Don't buy a Scoobie for gas mileage :lol:

Mine averaged around 20... maybe 25 on a run if I kept below 85... mid teens cross country though :D

Very, very reliable though other than an appetite for clutches... but that's because I had an addiction to showing people it would 0-60 in 5s wet or dry with zero wheelspin :D
 
A couple years ago I posted about a 2004 WRX STI that I test drove. You are not kidding about how well they launch. You can hold the gas to the floor then just dump the clutch with 0 wheel spin. Just insane and yes very bad for the clutch.
 
At this point Heather has pretty much taken over the car. :lol: She absolutely loves it. Especially with the recent blizzard we had this week.

We went through the first tank of gas and ended up with 22 mpg. Thats mainly city driving with a little highway driving. So I took a loss in terms of gas mileage from my Saturn but the Subaru is a much more enjoyable car in every aspect. Oh yeah I sold my 96 Saturn yesterday so I am very excited about that too. I will probably take some of that money and get a remote starter since the tires are actually doing quite well in this weather. So far we are just loving this car!! 👍
 
Spent about 3 more hours on the front of the Subaru this weekend. Got the hood to latch all the way down now!! The headlights are also much lower now and close to where they need to be. I went to my neighbors shop and he helped. It took about 3,000 lb of pressure to push the front bumper down an inch using the car lift. We had to push in many spots to distribute the weight. So much force it started to lift the rear of the car off the ground. lol

Still need to pull the top of the radiator support forward about 3/4" but its getting closer and closer each time. That will set the bumper cover right where it needs to be but that will be this summer. I also did a synthetic oil change. I was shocked how easy it was to get to the oil filter. Overall it was a great day and I am very happy with the results. Each time I work on the car it gets better and better.

1/18/10 Most recent pic with hood latched
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Thank you.

This weekend I hooked up my Panasonic deck, Polk Momo 12" subs, and my MTX amp. Overall that went well. The only part that was disappointing is that the back seat does not fold down. I was actually quite shocked. So now I really dont have enough air space in the trunk for my speakers to hit the way they normally hit. It still sounds decent but would be much better if there was more air space between the trunk and the cabin. I will put some thought into the rear seat issue. Might create some ports for the rear deck or something to get more air ventilation into the car from the trunk. I just cant believe the rear seat does not fold down. I might even make brackets to make the rear seat fold down.

The other problem is the radio only picks up a few stations in this car. I noticed the Subaru does not have an external antenna and that must be the problem. That part is not a big deal since I usually just listen to cds anyway.

I also hooked up the 3rd brake light that is on my rear spoiler. That was just 2 wires and was very easy. So overall everything went well. Just a few issues I might be able to work out with the rear subs and the antenna.
 
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CAMAROBOY69 -
You've done a great job on your Subaru!

I think it looks great, but I'm kind of partial, since my previous car was a blue 2005 WRX. They are just great in the winter.

The only issue I ever had with my WRX was with the heater's air-flow zoning.

The problem I had was how the heater balanced hot and cold air thru the air-vents once the car's interior was warm.

When I first turned on the heater, it would blow warm air thru all the vents about equally. However, once the interior was warm, the heater would ease off on the warm air being blown to the driver side, and start to blow cool air towards the driver, and continue blowing warm air to the passenger side (ie. the left vrs right side balance was not equal). To overcome the cool air being blown at the driver (me), you had to turn up the heat again, and then any passenger would get roasted!

This ocurrs at the bi-level setting (which is the setting I used most) where air is blown thru both the dash vents and the vents at your feet.

I wonder if you will experience the same problem.

Respectfully,
GTsail290
 
Thanks for the compliments. I am hoping to buy the Blue subaru paint some time in the next couple months. I think its called World rally Blue. Then hopefully get all the bodywork finished and paint it during the summer. The only thing I really need now is a new bumper cover for the front after I pull it forward about 3/4". Then fix a couple dents and the body should be all set.

I think the heater is REALLY good. I keep mine set to the bi level defrost/floor setting like you and it seems to do very very well. I usually turn it to 1 or 2. Never had a single problem with it. In fact I read somewhere that it was voted the 2nd best heater in one of the car reviews.
 
Wow... Man you did a great job on this Subaru, and seems like you have one heck of a heater :D
Keep up the excellent work, i can not wait to see this car when it is done.
 
t/y
I just recently took the Subaru in for a recalled fuel valve. It looks like the gas mileage is still about the same. Still around 23mpg but thats also pre-starting the car 2 times a day to let it warm up. The good news is that the weather is warming up so that means pre-starting the car every day wont happen anymore. THAT will improve the gas mileage.

I had my brother over for the weekend and wanted to show off how great this car is in the snow. The lot next to my house is open and was loaded with very heavy wet melting snow that was at least 5-6 inches deep. I had to drive over a little snow bank to get into this but it ended up being a blast. As you can see from the pics the car was bottomed out the entire time but kept going. At first even I thought, oops this might not have been a good idea. The heavy wet snow made it much harder than usual but it made it. :)

These pics are the next day after some of the snow melted.
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I bought a K & N Filter this weekend and installed it yesterday. I also had a hitch installed and the plug for the lights for my quad trailer. The hitch is hardly visible at all and they had it installed in 35 minutes
 
Would love to see some more recent pics! Btw good work on the subie, almost got an 04 wrx wagon 2 years ago. Awesome cars with lots of potential.
 
The car still looks the same as the last pics I posted. The most recent pics are at the top of the first post. I was originally planning to paint it blue this year and finish up the bodywork. But that was before I proposed to Heather. lol Now most of the money is going to the wedding. So the bodywork and paintjob probably wont come until next year now.
 

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