WRX vs 1.8TQ

[Larry C Leung]

You had ONE BAD Sube. My parent's ('89 Legacy) car has only now started
to have Audi like problems (light switch, which is a stalk is giving out,
the infamously expensive exhaust) but it does have minor rust problems
(fixed by dad's bodywork) behind the front wheels (which DID give me some
knowledge as to the relative thickness (thin-ness?) of the sheet metal,
so it's not like an Audi there. The paint was actually adequately
applied, but it's not real durable (it seems sooo soft and susceptable to
stones) and the car still drives well. As for the body, please note it's
a snow belt daily driver car. The older (boxy, sort of orignal Subies)
Loyale's DID seem much more rust prone, but for many people Subies
(particularly the later ones) are very reliable, durable cars. Maybe not
too refined (definitely not to Audi level (mAC), but up to par with most
econo-cars), but they'll always go.

LL - NY

On Sun, 6 Jan 2002 12:42:26 EST JanDebL at aol.com writes:
>--
>[ Picked text/plain from multipart/alternative ]
>I totally agree with lack of quality with the Subs.  When exposed to
>road
>salt, the life expectancy is 5 years max - then you have holes big
>enough to
>throw a hat through.  About 10-12 years ago I bought a 4 year old Sub
>wagon
>for my daughter to drive.  What a TPOS.
>In one winter, the body rusted away.  It handle very unpredictably.
>Massive
>understeer  which would instantaneously turn into oversteer (and a
>spin)
>without any warning.  At least 3 people beside myself spun the car
>into a
>snow bank without any warning what so ever.  Possible a good set of
>Hakka
>might have improved the situation. Then there were the broken timing
>belts,
>broken accessory mounts and other parts that failed without any
>warning.
>The absolute scariest part of the car was the quality of the fasteners
>and
>the metallurgy of critical components including suspension parts. Once
>while
>removing a screw on the carb, the pot metal bracket broke away from
>the carb
>body.  The final straw was when replacing a front wheel bearing, using
>hand
>tools with very little  force, the lower body of the strut fractured
>and
>separated from the shock tube. The road salt had just eaten away the
>metal.
>After 2 years of ownership, I can't remember one redeeming value on
>that car.
>The German cars have maintenance issues, but at least they are
>repairable,
>safe (and fun) to drive.
>Jan Lahtonen