quattro Digest, Vol 3, Issue 58, Re: I am fed up!

[Larry C. Leung]

Never had problems reaching the plugs on the late-dad now
my beater Gen 1 Legacy. It's a comparatively cheaply appointed
car, but can't argue with it's performance. Really as much fun as
a stock 4KQ (had one), and this one's saddled with a slushbox. 
Overall, maintenance has been relatively easy on the car, but, due
to a complete dirth of aftermarket parts, quite expensive. The only
discount source is Liberty Subaru or northern NJ, whom offers 
internet discounted parts. Still not as good in terms of prices as
TPC, Clair (Carlsen no longer discounts to Audifans), Mountain, 
etc, and limited to dealer OEM parts. If you can deal with the lesser
quality of materials, mostly noted on even the newer cars interiors 
(GF has a 2001 Legacy GT Limited, another close friend has a 2002 
Legacy GT and a 100CSQA, so I have some experience), they seem
to be decent enough cars, the later ones are greatly improved over my
beater. But, they aren't as nicely appointed as newer VAG products
(nue Beetle an exception, yuck!) and I still wonder, despite the crash
test ratings) on their body integrity. Paint isn't much to write home
about 
either. But, I guess you get what you pay for, they sure don't cost the 
same as VAG products either (6 cyl models excepted). As far as dealer
relations, haven't really had any issues crop up, but the beater is old.
And
Liberty is actually quite pleasant to deal with. They will happily honor 
I-net prices even though I pick up parts. 

LL - NY


> Date: Mon, 12 Jan 2004 19:00:01 -0800
> From: lrickert at covad.net
> Subject: Re: I am fed up!
> To: quattro at audifans.com, 
> Message-ID: <HD95JF4ZTOYX83HEIA01GC051XMJ6.40035f31 at upstairs>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
> 
>  1/12/04 18:28:25, "superba" <superba at comcast.net> wrote:
> 
> >Hi All,
> >
> >I'm appalled and dismayed at the attitude of AoA.  Some have 
> suggested other
> >brands.  Does anyone have experience with the 4WD Subarus?  Do they 
> have
> >enough headroom for someone with a long torso?  Say 6' 2"?
> 
> headroom in a Subaru is not a problem, it is finger room that makes 
> me hate 
> them. Sure every car has things that go wrong or could have been 
> better designed 
> but when those problems are claimed by the manufacturer to be 
> positives it gets 
> ridiculous. Take the flat-4 engine with the heads down between the 
> frame rails, 
> now try to change the sparkplugs! It is a total PITA and this is 
> just 
> sparkplugs.  Audi's customer service sounds terrible but Subaru is 
> not the 
> answer.  If you aren't going with Audi/VW then I would suggest 
> Nissan/Infiniti 
> and some good snow tires as they don't offer too much in awd. 
> Although the G35 
> is coming with AWD these days so if that is within budget it would 
> definitely be 
> worth considering.  
> 
> luke 
>