Replacement estate

bigjl

Bri, go out and have drive of the pre facelift Legacy estate, they are a decent drive, lots of grip, build quality to die for, and not as ugly as the facelifted one available from last year, that realyy is a step in the wrong direction, must be for the USA market.

The one available from 2004/2010 was elegant and understated.

I would have one again, but it would be petrol, auto and LPG, I woud also make sure it had leather and then have it fully polybushed.

When mine was nicked there wasn't a squeak or rattle, I did have the lower wishbone bushes done under warranty but only because I detected a little reduction in turn in.

Subaru dealers are amoung the best, I did have some problems with the brakes initially but this was soon sorted, they worked fine but the pad compound was a compromise after the removal of asbestos, and a caliper was replaced aswell. SUbaru actually replaced the discs and pads twice under warranty, it kept warping the nearside disc. There was also a build up of pad material on this discs.

But after the caliper was changed no more issues, I put on non Subaru pads and never had the issue again.

I will mention that the Merc Sprinter Ambulances at work(when we first got them in 2003/4) had a similar issue with pad compound, even down to the material being left on the disc, a wierd situation that was again cured by a change in compound.

I think a lot of vehicles suffered with these issues, not just Subaru and Merc, but I liked the way Subaru dealt with the issues i had with it, a very different story to how maybe Ford or Vauxhall would have dealt with it.

The way i was treated as a customer alone woudl get me back into a Subaru.

cyclonebri1

Checked out a few cars over the last few days.

The more I consider it the more I'm inclined to thing sod the 4 wheel drive, carry chains and be prepared to pay the farmer to tow me away:D.

Insignia looks very nice, Kia Ceed, (never ever thought I'd look that way), looks very good, and I will check out all the others.

You know the major problem is that I have never owned a bad car, hence the issue with paying for a premium brand as even at my age, I don't understand what the extra is that you get for your pennies?

Hope that makes sense.

As you get older you kinda need a little reassurance/insurance that your purchase ain't gonna be a bummer. Never cocked up yet, just don't want to do that with my "keeper".

Cheers

Flying-High_2

Nice "Quattro" write up... http://www.awdwiki.com/en/quattro/

Explains the basics of the Haldex/Torsen set up far better than I could type it....

Worth mentioning you can uprate the Haldex controller so its more balanced F to R.

getmore4less

Kia Ceed, (never ever thought I'd look that way), looks very good

Took one for a test drive as it was on the short list because we liked the layut and cost.

Problem for me was the driver footwell cramped and no space to the right of the accelerator to rest foot.

Could not get comfortable.

sebdangerfield

cyclonebri1 wrote: »

Hi Seb, good to hear from you. I will research that, but for my benefit and that of others can you outline the differences?

All I know of this is it's either permanant, selective or automatic, (no, I don't know what I'm talking about),

Hello Bri :wave:

They are simply two companies who offer 4wd but go about providing it in different ways.

Haldex generally (and I am speaking very generally here as it's far too massive a subject to not!) is a fwd system which has a viscous coupling which can send power to the rear wheels when the fronts slip.

Haldex means it's generally fwd in most circumstances and IIRC there only needs to be about 15 degrees of slip before it sends power to the rear which, on 16 inch wheels equates to only 3 inches or there abouts. It has the benefits associated with fwd, primarily better economy but is far more likely to get stuck in the snow etc. the volvo xc60 is equipped with this system and the threads on the owner's forum during the snow shows this wasn't just down to poor tyre choice.

Torsen is a regarded as a proper 4wd and sends drive to all 4 wheels and can even send the drive to wheels with the most grip. It's far less likely to get stuck but uses relatively more fuel as most permanent 4wd vehicles do.

Audi A3, TT, Skoda Octavia and RS3 use haldex. A4, A6 and associated RS models use Torsen.

Lum

Don't forget the manufacturers who offer their own 4WD systems, e.g. Subaru who offer a fixed 50/50 split on some cars and a variable system, either manual (DCCD) or automatic.

There's also oddballs like Nissan's e-4WD which is an FWD system with part time 4WD provided by electric motors on the rear wheels. I think this is offered on the Cube, Micra and maybe others.