St.Jude's Road To Perdition - A 2003 Subaru Legacy // The End. TTFN!

[St.Jude]

Had an idle look at shock absorbers while the mrs was around. Said “fucking hell it’s going to cost £70 for just one shock absorber!”

She looked at me and asked what the problem was. I said it’s expensive. She then says “how much did the Land Cruiser ones cost?”

She has a point - I’m moaning over £70 when I had to go to Australia just to get a pair for under £2,000!

[bezzabsa]

see you're SAVING money....times to ask for summat nice for xmas

[St.Jude]

Drove to work this morning and it’s great. No knocks or bangs. Drives like a new car etc etc.

PAS even feels better, strangely. Considering I didn’t get all the old crap out of it.

[St.Jude]

Hmm.

Had to move the car just now and steering was problematic. Almost as if I had no power assistance. Mate at work said he could hear belt squeal (so could I), but it was a faff.

Something between it being really cold and I’ve not been able to warm it up. Checked the pulley mark and the pulley hasn’t slipped.

Possibly the pump could be on the way out do we think?

[Marina door handles]

Is it a consistent lack of assistance or does the steering have tight spots? Thinking back to the steering issues on my forester and the worse issue was when one UJ on the steering column started to seize. 

If its consistent heavyness then I would suspect the pump.

[St.Jude]

1 hour ago, Marina door handles said:

Is it a consistent lack of assistance or does the steering have tight spots? Thinking back to the steering issues on my forester and the worse issue was when one UJ on the steering column started to seize. 

If its consistent heavyness then I would suspect the pump.

So when it’s cold it’s heavy to the point it’s not there at slow speeds. When I’m manoeuvring etc. Most of the time it’s fine. But sometimes I will feel it get heavy when turning a bit but then it’ll be fine when I turn again.

It just turns up unexpectedly really. Like the other day it happened when it was cold and I had to move the car away to unblock someone. Then if I let it warm up it was fine.

So, fuck knows.

[domrr]

May be completely irrelevant but...had a Megane once that did very similar things.  Tried 'flushing' the fluid with a turkey baster until it was as fresh as possible.  Still no joy.  It was down right dangerous when cold and very notchy and then suddenly release.

From research turns out there was a seal/bush inside the rack - tbh can't really remember the diagnosis but I know it needed a new rack to fix it properly.  Which I didn't do as the car was not long for this world

 

 

[St.Jude]

5 minutes ago, domrr said:

May be completely irrelevant but...had a Megane once that did very similar things.  Tried 'flushing' the fluid with a turkey baster until it was as fresh as possible.  Still no joy.  It was down right dangerous when cold and very notchy and then suddenly release.

From research turns out there was a seal/bush inside the rack - tbh can't really remember the diagnosis but I know it needed a new rack to fix it properly.  Which I didn't do as the car was not long for this world

Yeah I mean there isn’t much in the way of bits to look at. I thought the pump as the lights on the dash would come on momentarily so the engine was struggling moving it. I did think possibly the rack as I did feel roughness when steering but since the new wheel bearing that’s gone.

In my head, while I like the car, I am inclined to get a Berlingo in March. Just for the ease of getting a 4 year old and a new born out of it. But if at the MOT (end of January helpfully) it requires money then I’d spend it on the car given how good it has been for me and how much money it hasn’t demanded off of me.

6 months in to Land Cruiser ownership it took £1,700 on injectors. I got this in March and it’s cost me £100. The figures don’t lie!

[St.Jude]

Ah, an awkward post.

The good news is the PAS hasn’t got any worse. I mean it’s hard to say if it’s been better, but definitely not gone worse.

The bad news is that life has happened and this car, as wonderful as it is and reliable for me, will have to go.

I moved the car seat my boy is in so it’s behind me, in preparation for the new car seat to go where he was for the baby. Since then I’ve found it properly problematic to get him out of the car. I am finding myself standing quite out in the road leaning in to get him out of it or belting him in. It wasn’t so bad when I didn’t have two seats in it as he’d scoot across and get out the passenger side. But when the seat is there he can’t get past.

As for the new seat, it’s a belt baby seat (fuck ISOfix, hateful thing) and the belt comes across the door opening. Like it was fine in the Land Cruiser as I had room to put my boy in. I’m looking at it in the Subaru and it’s a lot lower roof line, and I know I’m going to struggle getting the new one in or out.

Helpfully, the due date is the 23rd December. The wife’s seat in her car is way better so we can use her car for a bit. But I am going to struggle going forward.

The MOT on this will be up at the end of January, I’m going to throw it on for a test and then punt it on. I am going for the Berlingo. Slidey doors, room for me so I’m not stooping down. I really will be sorry to see the Scooby go as for once it’s got to go through no fault of its own. Also thought I could get away with it past March but I really don’t think it’ll be possible.

So, keep an eye out. And if you by any chance have a Berlingo with air con and you fancy a swap, hit me up. A deal can be done either way!

[St.Jude]

So, we are at the end of this journey.

Circumstances meant that it had to go. I’m sorry to see it leave, but with an MOT on the way and really a car unsuited to having two kids it had to go. There was money to spent on it which, really, could and would and will go on the next wagon which is more suitable.

The last photo.

I was sad to drive off. It was a good whip!

[GeorgeB]

3 hours ago, St.Jude said:

really a car unsuited to having two kids it had to go.

Whut?

[St.Jude]

2 hours ago, GeorgeB said:

Whut?

Car is too low for me to safely get them in and out if they’re both in there.

My 4 year old is behind me, and I would have my legs right out in the road leaning over him to click his belt in.

The new born I don’t have that with but it’s a struggle to get him in properly and safely, as I’m trying to lean in over the seat to belt him in and I’m constrained with the space.

Boot space? Cavernous. Everything about the car was fine. But getting them in/out was a real struggle, especially the 4 year old when I’m on a main road.

[loserone]

I'm beginning to realise that people are very odd about car seats.    I know the legacy is narrow for the size of car but it's a good passenger compartment.

 

Signed,

Two years of two car seats in the back of a legacy Spec B

A year of three car seats across the back of a Clio 182.  

 

[St.Jude]

12 minutes ago, loserone said:

I'm beginning to realise that people are very odd about car seats.    I know the legacy is narrow for the size of car but it's a good passenger compartment.

 

Signed,

Two years of two car seats in the back of a legacy Spec B

A year of three car seats across the back of a Clio 182.  

 

I’ve one photo of the new born seat in the car.

Im 6ft 3 and I have two of the same seat. They’re not a big seat.

[loserone]

I'm all for changing cars, it's good.  

3 minutes ago, St.Jude said:

not a big seat.

I'm sure you can buy much bigger ones and the shops will guilt any parent into the biggest their SUV will fit.  It's definitely bigger than any seat we ever had tho, and multi stage ones are always awkward.  You could surely get something smaller for the 4yo?

 

I have an l322 at the moment, big can be lovely.  

[big_al_granvia]

that baby seat looks more awkward than loading and strapping a garden shed onto the roof of a leggy... (4x roof bars clamped onto the rails and strap to that)

[Bear]

15 hours ago, loserone said:

I'm beginning to realise that people are very odd about car seats.    I know the legacy is narrow for the size of car but it's a good passenger compartment.

Parents seem way more concerned about their kid's safety these days...

[loserone]

It was probably inevitable that someone would go there..

 

It's not more safe if you're struggling to get them in and out and you're likely to get it wrong, or if the seat can't be secured easily.  

There's a load of seats which fit well into a Legacy.  Convertibles which do both forward and reverse facing are always awkwardly cumbersome and don't usually fit as well, plus they're much bigger than seats designed for a smaller size range.

 

[Bear]

6 hours ago, loserone said:

It was probably inevitable that someone would go there..

 

It's not more safe if you're struggling to get them in and out and you're likely to get it wrong, or if the seat can't be secured easily.  

There's a load of seats which fit well into a Legacy.  Convertibles which do both forward and reverse facing are always awkwardly cumbersome and don't usually fit as well, plus they're much bigger than seats designed for a smaller size range.

 

"someone would go there"?

I reviewed child seats in my last job. I'm all for things that are convenient and safe. But people believing they need to change everything, the biggest thing, the tech thing, etc. just adds stress to parenting. I had to sell my Audi 90 quattro because my wife wanted a stupid "navigator" buggy that wouldn't fit in the boot and never got used for any of the reasons it was better than the typical ones). It just added stress, didn't make the kids safer or life better.

And things like maxicosi convertibles  do a brilliant thing - you can rotate them on the base and fit the kid in, then spin around - and it even fit a C-class cabrio well.

My comment was about how few shits parents of Gen Xers gave about safety generally.

[Rust Collector]

My gran used to tell us how before seatbelts in the back of cars were a widespread thing, she knitted a set of seatbelts for my dad and his sister so they’d be safe* in an accident 🤣