New machine
- durbster
- The Whack Wasp Warrior
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New machine
Given our circumstances have changed quite dramatically recently, I had to concede that the Celica was not the ideal car for us, a 3 year old and a dog. To its credit, it managed to take us all, plus my Mum and luggage, away at new year but it was clearly not sustainable. The wife is on a sabbatical from work to look after the boy so we had an unexpected 35% drop in income last year, meaning keeping two cars for the fun of it is illogical.
I liked the Celica - I didn't love it. Once I got some decent tyres on it handled OK and the engine is a magnificent bit of engineering - the 'lift' is a giggle but it just lacked something. To be fair, as we had just got a dog and desparately needed something bigger I rushed into the purchase and don't think I chose well. This one seems a bit unsure on its feet so something probably isn't quite right with it.
Ultimately it just wasn't much fun. It is a 'quite' car; quite quick, quite practical, quite comfortable and quite entertaining to drive but didn't really excel anywhere. I also never quite got over the fact that its FWD after running the MX-5 for years before.
The other consideration is that my poor MX-5 is also reaching the end of its life in my 11th year of ownership. It had a lot of welding done last year (thankfully for free) and is sadly neglected now that I rarely get opportunity to take it out. I intend to hang on to it until the spring, do one more track day and then send it on its way. After all we've done together that's going to be a very sad moment.
So I needed one car to replace both. I need it to be fun yet practical and a few months ago, the Forester sprung to mind.
I know they're well known in Oz but they're much rarer over here, which means finding one has taken around four months, looking at the classifieds every day. Last week, I finally found one and I am already a little bit in love.
It's not pretty but it has the 2.5 turbo from the Impreza WRX in it, and in the couple of journeys I've done it's been utterly hilarious to drive. Put your foot down and the nose rears up like an angry stallion before catapulting you into the road ahead. The interior's nice enough and it all seems well screwed together. The AWD is a welcome relief after the FWD Celica would often struggle to put the power down, particularly in the wet.
So far, very happy.
I liked the Celica - I didn't love it. Once I got some decent tyres on it handled OK and the engine is a magnificent bit of engineering - the 'lift' is a giggle but it just lacked something. To be fair, as we had just got a dog and desparately needed something bigger I rushed into the purchase and don't think I chose well. This one seems a bit unsure on its feet so something probably isn't quite right with it.
Ultimately it just wasn't much fun. It is a 'quite' car; quite quick, quite practical, quite comfortable and quite entertaining to drive but didn't really excel anywhere. I also never quite got over the fact that its FWD after running the MX-5 for years before.
The other consideration is that my poor MX-5 is also reaching the end of its life in my 11th year of ownership. It had a lot of welding done last year (thankfully for free) and is sadly neglected now that I rarely get opportunity to take it out. I intend to hang on to it until the spring, do one more track day and then send it on its way. After all we've done together that's going to be a very sad moment.
So I needed one car to replace both. I need it to be fun yet practical and a few months ago, the Forester sprung to mind.
I know they're well known in Oz but they're much rarer over here, which means finding one has taken around four months, looking at the classifieds every day. Last week, I finally found one and I am already a little bit in love.
It's not pretty but it has the 2.5 turbo from the Impreza WRX in it, and in the couple of journeys I've done it's been utterly hilarious to drive. Put your foot down and the nose rears up like an angry stallion before catapulting you into the road ahead. The interior's nice enough and it all seems well screwed together. The AWD is a welcome relief after the FWD Celica would often struggle to put the power down, particularly in the wet.
So far, very happy.
- wobblysauce
- Seen it, Done it, Invented it!
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Re: New machine
Think it was Astro that had similar one to that.
Nice little upgrade, with more space for the young one to grow into as it has some leg room.
As for the MX you could run a for sale sticker on the AutoX run.. depending on how you go could get you some talks/calls for it.
Nice little upgrade, with more space for the young one to grow into as it has some leg room.
As for the MX you could run a for sale sticker on the AutoX run.. depending on how you go could get you some talks/calls for it.
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- AstrO
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Re: New machine
Wasn't me, I had the Liberty (Legacy in the UK) 3.0R wagon. Not saying that I wouldn't buy an XT... because I would.wobblysauce wrote:Think it was Astro that had similar one to that.
Nice little upgrade, with more space for the young one to grow into as it has some leg room.
As for the MX you could run a for sale sticker on the AutoX run.. depending on how you go could get you some talks/calls for it.
- DexterPunk
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- pixelboy
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- VTRacing
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Re: New machine
Yep, my Forester XT has served me well: you'd never describe the handling as "nimble" or the brakes as "reassuring" but they're a bit like a Labrador: not that sharp but faithful and loyal.
- pixelboy
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- Big Kev
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- wobblysauce
- Seen it, Done it, Invented it!
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Re: New machine
Astro, Ah yep, mixed yourself with Mr.VT.
Some play it safe on the merry-go-round, others go for the thrills of the roller-coaster.
ᕙ༼ຈل͜ຈ༽ᕗ vs ლ(ಠ益ಠ)ლ
I have a joke for you. I have a prediction that you are going to walk into a bar, my prediction was wrong and your wallet is gone.
ᕙ༼ຈل͜ຈ༽ᕗ vs ლ(ಠ益ಠ)ლ
I have a joke for you. I have a prediction that you are going to walk into a bar, my prediction was wrong and your wallet is gone.
- Vilante
- Master artist
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Re: New machine
Nice one Durbs, looks the goods. A mate of mine has one of these and it's good fun on the gravel
- SE1Z
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Re: New machine
Nice!
Does it have Geolander tyres?
Get rid of them and grab a stiffer rear sway bar - it'll be a much better car to drive then
Does it have Geolander tyres?
Get rid of them and grab a stiffer rear sway bar - it'll be a much better car to drive then
Steve
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- Exar Kun
- Sensible Mick
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Re: New machine
Nice dude! Plenty can be done to make them quicker too. I'd imagine the AWD will come in handy in your winter time.
"If we can hit that bull's-eye, the rest of the dominoes will fall like a house of cards. Checkmate!"
- durbster
- The Whack Wasp Warrior
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Re: New machine
No Geolanders, it's got some reasonably new Pirellis on it.
Put 100 miles on it over the weekend on all sorts of roads from motorways to being stuck in heavy traffic and and it was flawless. Picked up a load of furniture for the little man's toys and it swallowed them up no problem (although I must remember to take the plastic tray out first in future).
One weird thing that I can't quite get my head around is that it looks like a big car but it isn't. Just by chance when we were stuck in traffic there was an identical Forester alongside us with a Range Rover in front of it and BMW X1 behind. It looked tiny! And despite lookig right at this other Forester, it still felt like we were sat in a much bigger car. Maybe I've just got used to being quite low down or something but it's still hard to believe it's exactly the same width as the Celica if you discount the wing mirrors.
I don't intend to modify it... this is my sensible car now I'm a sensible grown up with responsibilities, after all.
I think it's quick enough. It's already too easy to get up to silly speeds and I treasure my driving licence. The main reason the first owner sold it was because she'd racked up 9 points for speeding and I can believe that.
Put 100 miles on it over the weekend on all sorts of roads from motorways to being stuck in heavy traffic and and it was flawless. Picked up a load of furniture for the little man's toys and it swallowed them up no problem (although I must remember to take the plastic tray out first in future).
One weird thing that I can't quite get my head around is that it looks like a big car but it isn't. Just by chance when we were stuck in traffic there was an identical Forester alongside us with a Range Rover in front of it and BMW X1 behind. It looked tiny! And despite lookig right at this other Forester, it still felt like we were sat in a much bigger car. Maybe I've just got used to being quite low down or something but it's still hard to believe it's exactly the same width as the Celica if you discount the wing mirrors.
I don't intend to modify it... this is my sensible car now I'm a sensible grown up with responsibilities, after all.
I think it's quick enough. It's already too easy to get up to silly speeds and I treasure my driving licence. The main reason the first owner sold it was because she'd racked up 9 points for speeding and I can believe that.
- Big Kev
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Re: New machine
Boo! Gold wheels and blue paint. You know you want todurbster wrote:I don't intend to modify it... this is my sensible car now I'm a sensible grown up with responsibilities, after all.
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Re: New machine
The Foresters are based on the same platform as Impreza so it's not surprising it doesn't feel huge.