St.Jude's Road To Perdition - A 2003 Subaru Legacy // L’Road Trippe Completé

[loserone]

39 minutes ago, camryv6 said:

Fucking hell you must love welding !!

To be fair amazingly it has no advisories for galloping rot.  Shame it's only a 2.0, the H6 is a superb engine and in my experience no thirstier in practice.  Stil, lovely things, if I had huge pockets and huge testes I'd still have one.

[N Dentressangle]

https://www.check-mot.service.gov.uk/results?registration=fe53ozd&checkRecalls=true

[Rust Collector]

When the Impreza was mentioned, I was going to make a joke about the fact that the legacy we own currently is like a giant Tamiya car - the shell is not attached to the chassis. I thought the Subaru was a bait and switch though and kept my mouth shut!

I really hope this Legacy is a solid one, as you deserve it. I absolutely love them as cars too as they’re brilliant to drive, and to prove it I’ve had 6 or 7 of the cars from the generations before this. They all rotted like mad though. Or the auto boxes blew up. Or the engines blew up. I kept our last H6, to save me from having to buy another one to fill the Legacy shaped gap in my life.

[Dobloseven]

A 22 year old Japanese car with 170+k miles.WCPGW?At least you'll have something to tell us about.Has it got a towbar? They used to be quite popular with caravanners back in the day.

[Sheefag]

I really enjoyed my H6 and never had any mechanical issues but like so many, terminal rot got it in the end.

[horriblemercedes]

I've always been curious about these but I don't think I've even been in one, let alone driven one. 

 

Chodspeed! And if you need some trim pieces from a skip in Peterborough, I'll pick them up (as I did for the Rover 800)

[High Jetter]

How many pez stops tho?

[St.Jude]

Only got back because fucking every bastard junction on to the M6whatever from Colne was blocked off.

Car has been owned by an English teacher who travelled a lot in Europe, so 170k miles are more or less motorway miles. It’s waxoyled to buggery, has a wad of receipts/invoices and a full service history.

AND(!!!!!!) wasn’t expensive in comparison to the Berlingos I was looking at.

If we’re going to nitpick at night about what’s broken, well I will answer right now - the fucking clock on the dashboard is bost. Couldn’t tell the time all the way home.

[St.Jude]

1 hour ago, Dobloseven said:

Has it got a towbar?

Yeah it does. Doesn’t look like it’s dragging it’s arse on the floor too so couldn’t have done much.

18 minutes ago, High Jetter said:

How many pez stops tho?

One. Brimmed it because it was 132.9p a litre in Colne where it’s about 139.9p where I am.

1/8th tank gone after 135 miles doing 70mph because I forgot how these things sound.

[Dobloseven]

If it got home in one piece, that's a very positive sign.Hope all goes well and keep telling us about it even if nothing breaks.

[delux]

Fantastic!

I'd encourage everyone to dash across the country to grab an old Subaru at least once in their life!

[St.Jude]

I’m having a proper mare getting insurance on it. I’m with Aviva Zero and as soon as it gets to the quote bit the page goes white. No information. So I need to wait for them to open to sort it properly (although it’s on temporary insurance for today).

Ive gone through the wad of paper.

Cam belt and water pump were done 30/40,000 miles ago.

Gearbox oil was done same time roughly.

New clutch 40,000 miles ago.

 

Fruit exhaust has been fitted - I did think it sounded more gorgeous than usual (compared to my old Legacy which was stock).

Now someone mentioned there being no signs of galloping rot on the MOTs. There is an invoice for waxoyl in 2021 so probably could do with a new application. But, in 2015 I find an invoice for welding:

Absolutely no idea where that could be but in the entire wad of paper that is the only mention of welding. The former keeper seems to have been very diligent in maintaining it and did work preemptively rather than reactively. Also includes the original sales invoice for him, which he bought it in 2011. So 14 years with the same guy.

Originally from Leicester, there’s an invoice or two for London as well, but this has been well looked after for the last 14 years of its life if not before.

I will take more photos of it later, but I should also point out that it has a high/low transfer box. The lever for it looks so cool.

I should also say it’s possible it could do with a regas. It’s blowing cold but it’s not icy cold. But we can get to that.

So far I’m very happy with it, I’ve a better feeling about this car than I did after the same first drive of the Land Cruiser when its wipers stopped on the motorway.

As I drove the bloke home I went to clean the screen and nothing came out but the wipers worked. When I filled up I topped the windscreen wash and tried again and it didn’t work. I thought fuck sake not again especially as it was full. Turns out the Subaru wiper stalk has a button on the end to operate the wash, where I was pulling it towards me. Pulling it operates the mist function.

First impressions outside of care, it’s a really tight car. Less cabin noise on the motorway than the Land Cruiser and my wife’s old 2016 Merc C Class. The cubby hole on the centre console is a bit broke (so May tap you up for that @horriblemercedes) and there is a bit of a buzz from behind the speedo, but generally speaking the interior fit and finish feels more quality than the LC, Merc and the wife’s Kia.

And - PILLARLESS FUCKING DOORS MATE.

Love it.

[Dick Cheeseburger]

Looks a decent example, that. I'm with you on the sound of the flat 4 burble - I found it addictive on my old classic Impreza years ago. 

I can't help but chuckle at the line, 'EXECUTED GOOD WELDING REPAIR'. I reckon I need to use the verb 'execute' more readily in my daily use of dialogue.

Good luck with the insurance!

 

[Dobloseven]

There was a Subaru dealer in Leicester until a couple of years ago.Unity, formerly Heritage.They went on to Fiat and Jeep, though I think they've got other branches that still do them.Subaru and Ssangyong seem to go together because I believe both were imported by the same company at one time, International Motors,IIRC.

[St.Jude]

6 minutes ago, Dobloseven said:

There was a Subaru dealer in Leicester until a couple of years ago.Unity, formerly Heritage.They went on to Fiat and Jeep, though I think they've got other branches that still do them.Subaru and Ssangyong seem to go together because I believe both were imported by the same company at one time, International Motors,IIRC.

Yeah this was a Heritage car.

[mk2_craig]

1 hour ago, St.Jude said:

the only mention of welding

Thats got to be on the exhaust no?

[horriblemercedes]

48 minutes ago, Dick Cheeseburger said:

Looks a decent example, that. I'm with you on the sound of the flat 4 burble - I found it addictive on my old classic Impreza years ago. 

I can't help but chuckle at the line, 'EXECUTED GOOD WELDING REPAIR'. I reckon I need to use the verb 'execute' more readily in my daily use of dialogue.

Good luck with the insurance!

 

If I'd done it, out of honesty I would have to write it slightly differently. 

 

"EXECUTED SHIT WELDING REPAIR" 

[Supernaut]

We ran an Outback 2.5 of this generation as the farm work hack for a good few years.

Absolutely lovely to drive. Mechanically stout as anything, but parts prices for seemingly inane parts were eye watering.

Plus, being up in Aberdeenshire the inevitable rot got it in the end.

[loserone]

Cambelt and water pump done is good.  What about spark plugs? 😅

[hairnet]

12 hours ago, St.Jude said:

Couldn’t tell the time all the way home.

because stourbridge

[St.Jude]

2 hours ago, loserone said:

Cambelt and water pump done is good.  What about spark plugs? 😅

It starts so I’d imagine it’s got some?

Thats one job I remember doing on my other Legacy and not minding it really. 

[St.Jude]

2 hours ago, mk2_craig said:

Thats got to be on the exhaust no?

Maybe. Would make sense a bit.

[worldofceri]

4 minutes ago, St.Jude said:

Maybe. Would make sense a bit.

Deffo reads to me like they welded the exhaust against their better judgement.

[mintwth]

11 minutes ago, St.Jude said:

Maybe. Would make sense a bit.

The history should give a clue. 

Looks like the welding was done 17/06/15....when was the new exhaust fitted? 

[bigfella2]

I thought you were going for something that doubled the mpg of the land cruiser?

[St.Jude]

7 hours ago, mk2_craig said:

Thats got to be on the exhaust no?

 

4 hours ago, mintwth said:

The history should give a clue. 

Looks like the welding was done 17/06/15....when was the new exhaust fitted? 

Welding was done 20/06/15. The invoice for the exhaust (cat back) was 19/08/15. So yeah there’s the welding - remarkable really.

Studying the invoice for the exhaust - it’s also a stainless steel system.

3 hours ago, bigfella2 said:

I thought you were going for something that doubled the mpg of the land cruiser?

Yeah. I had a list in order of what was important.  But then a Legacy estate comes along which looks to have been well maintained and waxoyled with no mention of corrosion and a healthy MOT history and makes me look a hypocrite.

[St.Jude]

So a few things missing from the car to make it more usable for me.

Magnetic phone holder - had the same for my LC and it’s great. So much better than fucking around with clamps.

A Bluetooth thing that fits the fag lighter. Tried a quick call with the wife and she said the quality is OK. That’s good enough really, as before my old one could do calls but it sat a mile away from me by the gear stick. So at least now this module is mouth level.

Also I’ve never seen a fag lighter this pristine. It’s never been used.

As mentioned before it has a high/low box. Here is the lever:

I’d rather a cup holder there but oh well.

Subaru branded boot mat anyone?

I am a massive fan of the two tone black/blue seats. Or white/gold depending on your eyes.

It could really do with window tints I think.

Also the clock is a common fault and can be fixed by fitting a new resistor. May get one of the lads at work to fit one but that’s for later.

[Asimo]

I was always irked that my (otherwise identical) saloon did not have the dual range gearbox.  A very good car though, always felt like it was on my side. 

Good luck with yours.

[Marina door handles]

As a fellow Subaru bothererer, don't do what I did with the low range selector and accidentally knock it into the middle position (neutral) and wonder why you have lost all drive! I have to confess I have never used the low ratio for what it was intended but have used it in traffic dribbling along at very low speed in a much higher gear than usual.....

[St.Jude]

6 hours ago, Marina door handles said:

As a fellow Subaru bothererer, don't do what I did with the low range selector and accidentally knock it into the middle position (neutral) and wonder why you have lost all drive! I have to confess I have never used the low ratio for what it was intended but have used it in traffic dribbling along at very low speed in a much higher gear than usual.....

I’ve no real use for it. But I did try it out. Goes in and out far easier/better than the one in the Land Cruiser.