Car Enthusiast Club [Now Motorcycle friendly!] - First thread to 150k! ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[Sarra]

So, I kind of feel that intense, burning, and somewhat irrelevant urge to rant.

 

I have a 2005 Subaru Baja Turbo.

 

It's old. It's sort of a pile of junk, sort of not. I spent way too much money on it, but I really wanted one, and quite honestly, I think that I'd still be waiting for one now, if this one hadn't crossed my path.

 

This is Subaru #7 for me. I've had everything from a 1982 GL Turbo, 1995 Legacy Wagon, 2002 WRX Wagon, and a 2005 Baja Sport before this. My WRX had 198,000 miles on it, with the original headgaskets in it still, when the bank decided that greed was a good idea, and literally screwed themselves on that WRX. I self tuned it at 80,000 miles, and drove it across the United States, and never had it break down on me.

 

So, the Baja I have now is a pile of junk. Some bonehead owned it before me; the transmission has been opened to replace gears, the motor had been left to sit, in pieces, for an extended period of time, and the bodywork has... Well, it's 3 tone, because most of the paint has been scraped off the plastic trim (bumper covers, door trim, and mostly, side skirts). I've spent more time and money fixing this thing than most vehicles are really worth.

 

However, I want to fix it, and drive it until it's completely useless. Yet, a lot of the time, when I ask for technical advice on the Subaru forums, I'm met with 'it's too old, it's not worth it, buy a brand new car, get a Ford, blah blah blah'. And honestly, there's been a number of times when I was just soooooo close to towing it to the dealer, asking for $500, and walking away from it.

 

But, I just... Can't? Looking at what it actually is, it's a truck. It's got ground clearance that my WRX never had. It is usable offroad. I've taken the two Baja's I've owned on roads my WRX would have been totaled out on, just for how rough they were. And despite having a LOT more weight to it (my WRX was 3,200lbs on a DOT scale that's open to the public, my Baja is 3,950lbs on the same scale), and being... Well, let's just say, it's nowhere near as fast as my WRX, it doesn't handle as well, and the fuel mileage sucks (25-32 in the WRX, 15-19 in the Baja), I constantly find myself offroad in this thing. So, I evaluate brand new cars. Chrysler is out, I hate them. Ford is out, they literally don't sell anything with a stick shift anymore. GM is out for the same reason. Honda, Nissan, and KIA/Hyundai... Either they don't make a vehicle with AWD/RWD, they don't make a vehicle with a stick shift, or it's just not appealing to own in any way to me.

 

So, let's look at the 2020/2021 Subarus... There's the Forester. No turbo, no stick, and Hybrid. Nope, hard pass. Outback? No turbo, no stick, hard pass. Crosstrek? Nope, no turbo, no stick, hard pass. WRX? Not enough ground clearance, so pass. STI? Too expensive, plus same as the WRX, even harder pass.

 

So, what about used stuff? I've had my eye out for a reasonable, not trashed, worth buying 2001-2007 diesel pickup (I WILL take an Automatic with a diesel). Nothing has popped up, and this is with me looking over an entire quarter of the US, not just my local area. What does pop up is either trashed, way over priced, or the dealer is so incompetent that I literally just blacklisted them (you know, in my mind...).

 

What does this leave me? A 16 year old, strange AF, amusingly rare, beat up Subaru truck, with weird everything everywhere, parts are almost impossible to find (Subaru literally doesn't make, stock, or source injectors for it, despite the fact that they are the same as the 2004-2005 STi injectors), and upgrading most of anything is expensive. But dumping $15,000 into an old, strange truck beats spending $50,000 on a totally stock car, which doesn't have the ground clearance to allow me to even go offroad with it.

 

Thanks for reading my rant. I'm'a go buy a stroker crank now... And maybe a VF56 turbo. o.o;

[arnavvr]

1 hour ago, Sarra said:

So, I kind of feel that intense, burning, and somewhat irrelevant urge to rant.

 

I have a 2005 Subaru Baja Turbo.

 

It's old. It's sort of a pile of junk, sort of not. I spent way too much money on it, but I really wanted one, and quite honestly, I think that I'd still be waiting for one now, if this one hadn't crossed my path.

 

This is Subaru #7 for me. I've had everything from a 1982 GL Turbo, 1995 Legacy Wagon, 2002 WRX Wagon, and a 2005 Baja Sport before this. My WRX had 198,000 miles on it, with the original headgaskets in it still, when the bank decided that greed was a good idea, and literally screwed themselves on that WRX. I self tuned it at 80,000 miles, and drove it across the United States, and never had it break down on me.

 

So, the Baja I have now is a pile of junk. Some bonehead owned it before me; the transmission has been opened to replace gears, the motor had been left to sit, in pieces, for an extended period of time, and the bodywork has... Well, it's 3 tone, because most of the paint has been scraped off the plastic trim (bumper covers, door trim, and mostly, side skirts). I've spent more time and money fixing this thing than most vehicles are really worth.

 

However, I want to fix it, and drive it until it's completely useless. Yet, a lot of the time, when I ask for technical advice on the Subaru forums, I'm met with 'it's too old, it's not worth it, buy a brand new car, get a Ford, blah blah blah'. And honestly, there's been a number of times when I was just soooooo close to towing it to the dealer, asking for $500, and walking away from it.

 

But, I just... Can't? Looking at what it actually is, it's a truck. It's got ground clearance that my WRX never had. It is usable offroad. I've taken the two Baja's I've owned on roads my WRX would have been totaled out on, just for how rough they were. And despite having a LOT more weight to it (my WRX was 3,200lbs on a DOT scale that's open to the public, my Baja is 3,950lbs on the same scale), and being... Well, let's just say, it's nowhere near as fast as my WRX, it doesn't handle as well, and the fuel mileage sucks (25-32 in the WRX, 15-19 in the Baja), I constantly find myself offroad in this thing. So, I evaluate brand new cars. Chrysler is out, I hate them. Ford is out, they literally don't sell anything with a stick shift anymore. GM is out for the same reason. Honda, Nissan, and KIA/Hyundai... Either they don't make a vehicle with AWD/RWD, they don't make a vehicle with a stick shift, or it's just not appealing to own in any way to me.

 

So, let's look at the 2020/2021 Subarus... There's the Forester. No turbo, no stick, and Hybrid. Nope, hard pass. Outback? No turbo, no stick, hard pass. Crosstrek? Nope, no turbo, no stick, hard pass. WRX? Not enough ground clearance, so pass. STI? Too expensive, plus same as the WRX, even harder pass.

 

So, what about used stuff? I've had my eye out for a reasonable, not trashed, worth buying 2001-2007 diesel pickup (I WILL take an Automatic with a diesel). Nothing has popped up, and this is with me looking over an entire quarter of the US, not just my local area. What does pop up is either trashed, way over priced, or the dealer is so incompetent that I literally just blacklisted them (you know, in my mind...).

 

What does this leave me? A 16 year old, strange AF, amusingly rare, beat up Subaru truck, with weird everything everywhere, parts are almost impossible to find (Subaru literally doesn't make, stock, or source injectors for it, despite the fact that they are the same as the 2004-2005 STi injectors), and upgrading most of anything is expensive. But dumping $15,000 into an old, strange truck beats spending $50,000 on a totally stock car, which doesn't have the ground clearance to allow me to even go offroad with it.

 

Thanks for reading my rant. I'm'a go buy a stroker crank now... And maybe a VF56 turbo. o.o;

That's the same way I feel about BMW right now. I have a 2001 BMW 325i, 5 speed, and whenever it breaks, I think about replacing it, but I can never justify getting something else. What else would I buy?

I want something naturally aspirated, with hydraulic steering, nice interior and manual transmission. That basically leaves me with very few options for something made after 2010.

 

If your Subaru is in such poor shape, why not consider getting another Baja, but in better condition? That's what I'm going to do eventually. I'd like to buy an E39 or E46 with ~70,000 miles, and in great physical shape. It probably isn't worth throwing a bunch of money into something that you can purchase outright.

 

Also, on a side topic. Why has gas become so expensive? It isn't really as much of a problem now as I'm not driving as much, but in a month, I'll have to go back to school, and this isn't going to be fun.

 

 

[Bitter]

17 minutes ago, arnavvr said:

That's the same way I feel about BMW right now. I have a 2001 BMW 325i, 5 speed, and whenever it breaks, I think about replacing it, but I can never justify getting something else. What else would I buy?

I want something naturally aspirated, with hydraulic steering, nice interior and manual transmission. That basically leaves me with very few options for something made after 2010.

 

If your Subaru is in such poor shape, why not consider getting another Baja, but in better condition? That's what I'm going to do eventually. I'd like to buy an E39 or E46 with ~70,000 miles, and in great physical shape. It probably isn't worth throwing a bunch of money into something that you can purchase outright.

 

Also, on a side topic. Why has gas become so expensive? It isn't really as much of a problem now as I'm not driving as much, but in a month, I'll have to go back to school, and this isn't going to be fun.

 

 

 

Didn't you see that Texas froze?

[Sarra]

2 hours ago, arnavvr said:

I want something naturally aspirated, with hydraulic steering, nice interior and manual transmission. That basically leaves me with very few options for something made after 2010.

Yeah, finding a manual transmission after 2010 is pretty much impossible, unless you get a "sports car" that isn't GM, Chrysler, or Ford. Well, I guess the Mustang and Camaro were offered with it, but what... 10% of those cars had the manual option?

 

2 hours ago, arnavvr said:

If your Subaru is in such poor shape, why not consider getting another Baja, but in better condition?

Subaru only made 30,000 Bajas; Around 70% were the non-turbo trim, and of the turbo model, only about 30% had a stick shift. Subaru put the comparably weak 5 speed in from the WRX, with different final drive (which helps durability), but larger tires (which hurts as much as the shorter final drive helped), meaning they tend to blow the transmission up pretty easily.

 

The 'short' answer to your question is: I might never see another Baja Turbo 5MT for sale ever again. Compounding that, most of them were silver, and I absolutely hate silver >_>

2 hours ago, arnavvr said:

That's what I'm going to do eventually. I'd like to buy an E39 or E46 with ~70,000 miles, and in great physical shape.

If I ever had the ability to, I would LOVE to buy an M5 with a V8 and 6MT in it. I came so close to buying one, but sadly, the rear seat was just obliterated by the previous owner's dog, and they just wanted way too much for it.

 

2 hours ago, arnavvr said:

It probably isn't worth throwing a bunch of money into something that you can purchase outright.

The biggest, most difficult problem is that the transmission Subaru put in everything except the STI was garbage. So, regardless of what I end up with, I will be buying a used 2006 or 2007 STI 6MT and rear diff, and swapping it in, which quite honestly, probably would cost more than any Baja is reasonably worth to begin with. So, in the end, it's pretty much a lose-lose for me if I sell this one and buy another one. I'll have the same problems with the transmission, but I'd have a better body to work with (hopefully). I think I'm going to end up just fixing this one. I'm going to dump some of my stimulus money into a 3" downpipe, and have a shop weld up a catback to it.

[arnavvr]

52 minutes ago, Sarra said:

 

If I ever had the ability to, I would LOVE to buy an M5 with a V8 and 6MT in it. I came so close to buying one, but sadly, the rear seat was just obliterated by the previous owner's dog, and they just wanted way too much for it.

 

This E39 M5 just sold on Cars & Bids, and it is absolutely beautiful.

 

$45,000... is a bit much for me right now, although it would be my "forever" car.

 

Full pics here: https://carsandbids.com/auctions/9aOnD4XK/2001-bmw-m5

E39 M51.jfif E39M52.jfif E39M53.jfif

[Sarra]

7 minutes ago, arnavvr said:

This E39 M5 just sold on Cars & Bids, and it is absolutely beautiful.

 

$45,000... is a bit much for me right now, although it would be my "forever" car.

 

Full pics here: https://carsandbids.com/auctions/9aOnD4XK/2001-bmw-m5

E39 M51.jfif 263.71 kB · 1 download E39M52.jfif 136.12 kB · 0 downloads E39M53.jfif 257.07 kB · 0 downloads

Oof, it's blue, too. Yeah, I would rock that.

[themaniac]

What are your guys thoughts on the newer Mazda 6's? I found a 2018 gt reserve with very little miles on it and after watching a bunch of reviews im sold. But I'm curious what your opinions on them are?

[handymanshandle]

Oh fucking christ, I was talking to my boyfriend because I was thinking about the Nissan Versa, and like I could get one with a manual and while I don't give a flying shit about manuals it would certainly be putting my money where certain communities don't.

 

Because I kinda like the way those versa's look and it's naturally aspirated and doesn't require premium like my Saab or the '21 Trailblazer or '18-'19 TourX which those two have been considerations.

 

 

No way in hell I'd take out a loan on the Trailblazer because I do not trust either a high compression 3 cyl or CVT from GM so I'd lease that if I went for that, but the TourX since it's used now only option would be to buy/finance lol

18 minutes ago, themaniac said:

What are your guys thoughts on the newer Mazda 6's? I found a 2018 gt reserve with very little miles on it and after watching a bunch of reviews im sold. But I'm curious what your opinions on them are?

meh I like the brand new Mazda3s but frankly they're more or less not my thing.

 

maybe https://www.carmax.com/car/19448155

Infinti Q50 (2019)

[themaniac]

5 minutes ago, pinksnowbirdie said:

Maybe https://www.carmax.com/car/19448155

Infinti Q50 (2019)

No opinion on the verses and trailblazers but the infinity does look pretty nice

[bcredeur97]

Who cross shops a Versa and a Q50? Lol

[Bitter]

Speaking of Nissan, what was the point of the Altima coupe?

[That_Random_Guy]

And with this my year long mustang project will run monday. WOOOO cant wait to hear it start for the first time

[Bitter]

1 hour ago, That_Random_Guy said:

And with this my year long mustang project will run monday. WOOOO cant wait to hear it start for the first time

 

Nice, I must have missed what finally resolved about the engine but I see you've got the engine now. Just be doubly sure on oil and fuel hoses that they're a solid connection and have no leaks before you go for a drive. You can torture test the high pressure side of the fuel system by capping off the return line and running the pump for a few minutes at absolute max pressure (the pump will have some kind of internal bypass so it won't burn itself up) and looking for leaks. It'll never run that high when driving because return line and pressure regulator of course. Oil lines are a bit trickier to check but just let the thing idle and keep looking for leaks then run it at the lowest RPM that gets the oil pressure up to bypass pressure and re-check for leaks. You can use spray on starch powder to make the ends of the hose show weepages more easily, it'll wash off with some water when you're done.

[That_Random_Guy]

7 minutes ago, Bitter said:

snip

taken last week

still needed some wiring done as well as a ton of tidying up and ac installed and a ton of smalls

only used items in all of engine bay is the bake booster/ res, alternator and ac compressor. literately everything else is new

same goes for under the car as well actually. full new exhaust, all new front end and suspension. waiting on a few things and getting the motor done before doing the suspension tho

[toddleronebar]

a little 2jz action, just routed in my new engine and transmission harness. 

 

[Beerzerker]

1 hour ago, That_Random_Guy said:

taken last week

still needed some wiring done as well as a ton of tidying up and ac installed and a ton of smalls

only used items in all of engine bay is the bake booster/ res, alternator and ac compressor. literately everything else is new

same goes for under the car as well actually. full new exhaust, all new front end and suspension. waiting on a few things and getting the motor done before doing the suspension tho

 

Fox body Mustang?
Should be great once you get it going.

[JoaoPRSousa]

15 hours ago, arnavvr said:

That's the same way I feel about BMW right now. I have a 2001 BMW 325i, 5 speed, and whenever it breaks, I think about replacing it, but I can never justify getting something else. What else would I buy?

I want something naturally aspirated, with hydraulic steering, nice interior and manual transmission. That basically leaves me with very few options for something made after 2010.

 

M54B30 (ZHP?) swap 

[iDeFecZx]

9 hours ago, toddleronebar said:

a little 2jz action, just routed in my new engine and transmission harness. 

 

Now thats a nissan

[bcredeur97]

4 minutes ago, iDeFecZx said:

Now thats a nissan

it's a toyosan.. or a nissota

[iDeFecZx]

5 minutes ago, bcredeur97 said:

it's a toyosan.. or a nissota

Nissayotaha?

[JoaoPRSousa]

It is clearly a Nissan S14 with a Toyota 2JZ in it guys, come on.

[iDeFecZx]

17 minutes ago, JoaoPRSousa said:

It is clearly a Nissan S14 with a Toyota 2JZ in it guys, come on.

Nah

[Sarra]

3 hours ago, JoaoPRSousa said:

It is clearly a Nissan S14 with a Toyota 2JZ in it guys, come on.

At least it's not a 2JZ with a S14 inside it. Which is how I read that the first time, stupid brain.

 

I keep thinking about putting a 2JZ in my Baja. I'm pretty sure that first drive, there would be a short rush of excitement, then transmission bits all over the road.

[GOF-NEON]

17 hours ago, Bitter said:

Speaking of Nissan, what was the point of the Altima coupe?

I don't know, but it has puzzled me. Maybe an attempt at getting into the sports coupe market, whilst carrying the Altima name? I have driven a Altima sedan, and it was enjoyably sporty for a commuter car. It obviously isn't very popular in the NA market, but you still see them at dealerships.

[bcredeur97]

3 hours ago, GOF-NEON said:

I don't know, but it has puzzled me. Maybe an attempt at getting into the sports coupe market, whilst carrying the Altima name? I have driven a Altima sedan, and it was enjoyably sporty for a commuter car. It obviously isn't very popular in the NA market, but you still see them at dealerships.

You can double the question and ask what the point of an accord coupe is? 

 

do they still have accord coupes? I can’t imagine they do since cars don’t sell well anymore in general lol