10 Questions from a prospective buyer (does anybody read these threads?)

4553 Views 11 Replies 7 Participants Last post by SGT Goltz, Apr 10, 2007

[email protected]

Discussion Starter · Mar 14, 2007

:wave: Hello

I am looking at 4wd vehicles to replace my 07 Mazda 3 (which I love) but I am moving and need a CUV type vehicle. I have looked at/test driven these so far...Rav4, Highlander, Murano, Xterra, Element, CRV, Pilot, Outlander, RDX, MDX, Tucson, Santa Fe, Veracruz(could not test drive) and a few others.

I stumbled onto the B9 by accident and so far its the only one that I am considering. I been to the dealer, test drove, played with for an hour and I love it, but I have a few questions...okay not a few more like alot.

(07 Harvest Gold with Beige and maybe nav, no dealer options, I will do those myself later)

1. In person the steering wheel and dash were grey, but in the pics they look black, the dealer didn't know, but I want black with beige inside. How can I get that?

2. There are two little clips on the rear seats that I guessed were for the seat belts when the seats were folded down. Was I right? The dealer didn't know of course.

3. My Mazda nav is bad and I heard the B9 was bad too. In the Mazda when I want to find a place, say Walmart, and I type it in the nav gives me Walmarts 200 miles away with no option to sort by distance. Without and exact address you cannot find something if you don't know where it is to begin with. Of course the Acura nav has sort by distance features but the Mazda doesn't. So in your B9 if you want to find the nearest POI can you?

4. On a Spec B (I don't know what that is besides a Subaru) forum, they say that the nav is the same in a B9 as in a Spec B. On there forum they bought a $55 microphone and switch, plugged it into the back of the nav system and got voice commands in under 10 minutes. Can you do this on the B9, because if so it would make the nav better?

5.Wheres all the mods??? Are there flipkeys, LED replacement guides, resonator removal (if it has one), grounding, nav overrides, etc. The old style key with separate fob is the worst part of the whole car. A flipkey or smartkey would have been much better, but if that is my worst complaint that I am okay.

6. I am totally new to Subaru, infact before I looked at the B9 I thought it was an Austrailian company. :lol: Whats the Subaru Challenge and where can I sign up?

7. I have always had an auto climate, but never dual. If you use the dual settings does it take double the mpg hit?

8. I haven't found any grille replacement guides, but I wanted to replace the grille with the mesh myself. It should just be a few screws/clips, right?

9. Whats Subaru ownership like. Does SOA and the cars make you repeat buyers, instill any loyalty, or is it just like everybody else. With Mazda, they send me free stuff in the mail, Acura calls all the time, and Hyundai calls my grandfather on his birthday. So whats Subaru like?

10. The final and most important question...whats a scooby?

Thanks in advanced and hopefully somebody reads this or I will place it in general in a few days. The dealer quoted me 29ish for a 5 seater with nav and a bunch of dealer accessories. I only buy online, and with all the rebates the B9 seems like the best deal on the market right now. $3000 below invoice

, I am glad I found out about this before I got the RDX.

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TribecaAussie

· #2 · Mar 15, 2007

[email protected] said:
:wave: Hello

I am looking at 4wd vehicles to replace my 07 Mazda 3 (which I love) but I am moving and need a CUV type vehicle. I have looked at/test driven these so far...Rav4, Highlander, Murano, Xterra, Element, CRV, Pilot, Outlander, RDX, MDX, Tucson, Santa Fe, Veracruz(could not test drive) and a few others.

I stumbled onto the B9 by accident and so far its the only one that I am considering. I been to the dealer, test drove, played with for an hour and I love it, but I have a few questions...okay not a few more like alot.

(07 Harvest Gold with Beige and maybe nav, no dealer options, I will do those myself later)

1. In person the steering wheel and dash were grey, but in the pics they look black, the dealer didn't know, but I want black with beige inside. How can I get that?

2. There are two little clips on the rear seats that I guessed were for the seat belts when the seats were folded down. Was I right? The dealer didn't know of course.

3. My Mazda nav is bad and I heard the B9 was bad too. In the Mazda when I want to find a place, say Walmart, and I type it in the nav gives me Walmarts 200 miles away with no option to sort by distance. Without and exact address you cannot find something if you don't know where it is to begin with. Of course the Acura nav has sort by distance features but the Mazda doesn't. So in your B9 if you want to find the nearest POI can you?

4. On a Spec B (I don't know what that is besides a Subaru) forum, they say that the nav is the same in a B9 as in a Spec B. On there forum they bought a $55 microphone and switch, plugged it into the back of the nav system and got voice commands in under 10 minutes. Can you do this on the B9, because if so it would make the nav better?

5.Wheres all the mods??? Are there flipkeys, LED replacement guides, resonator removal (if it has one), grounding, nav overrides, etc. The old style key with separate fob is the worst part of the whole car. A flipkey or smartkey would have been much better, but if that is my worst complaint that I am okay.

6. I am totally new to Subaru, infact before I looked at the B9 I thought it was an Austrailian company. :lol: Whats the Subaru Challenge and where can I sign up?

7. I have always had an auto climate, but never dual. If you use the dual settings does it take double the mpg hit?

8. I haven't found any grille replacement guides, but I wanted to replace the grille with the mesh myself. It should just be a few screws/clips, right?

9. Whats Subaru ownership like. Does SOA and the cars make you repeat buyers, instill any loyalty, or is it just like everybody else. With Mazda, they send me free stuff in the mail, Acura calls all the time, and Hyundai calls my grandfather on his birthday. So whats Subaru like?

10. The final and most important question...whats a scooby?

Thanks in advanced and hopefully somebody reads this or I will place it in general in a few days. The dealer quoted me 29ish for a 5 seater with nav and a bunch of dealer accessories. I only buy online, and with all the rebates the B9 seems like the best deal on the market right now. $3000 below invoice , I am glad I found out about this before I got the RDX.

Hey man,

Just got the B9 2 days ago in black/ivory and can answer some of your questions though :

1. They have out/in color as requested.
2. Don't know yet
3. Was too busy with some mods, haven't tried out the NAV
4. dont know
5. Not sure how it is in USA, but here in Aussie, the key and remote control unit are integrated. It means I have all buttons on the key's body.
All a good site for mod is scoopymods.com which Peaty has a lot of contribution for B9.
6. No idea on your local.
7. I don't think it gonna make any difference.
8. You can find the instruction on this site. Just a warning though, it's not easy as said...I spent almost 4 hours last night to put the grill on and made scratches all over my hands... but got it done finally.
9. The first Subies of mine so... no comment so far...
10. Ask Peaty ?

Hpe this help.

Vincent

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Peaty

· #3 · Mar 15, 2007

:wave: Hello

Hi there

I am looking at 4wd vehicle to replace my 07 Mazda 3 (which I love) but I am moving and need a CUV type vehicle. I have looked at/test driven these so far...Rav4, Highlander, Murano, Xterra, Element, CRV, Pilot, Outlander, RDX, MDX, Tucson, Santa Fe, Veracruz(could not test drive) and a few others.

Not to get too techincal or picky, I don't think any of those above are 4WD (maybe the Xterra I'm not sure) they are AWD. There is a difference. I won't get into too much detail but AWD is on all the time and does no typically have a Hi-low ratio gearbox like 4WD does. 4WD does not usually take into account the different speeds the inner and outer tires spin when making a turn like AWD does. That is why 4WD is strictly for off roading where tires are allowd to slip some w/o torquing up the frame causing the body to crow-hop.

1. In person the steering wheel and dash were grey, but in the pics they look black, the dealer didn't know, but I want black with beige inside. How can I get that?

Not positive about getting that colour combination, best to check this site which is very informative:

www.cars101.com

The colour is usually called charcoal which is a dark gray almost black.

2. There are two little clips on the rear seats that I guessed were for the seat belts when the seats were folded down. Was I right? The dealer didn't know of course.

Yes you are right. They keep the belts out of the way and prevent them from catching on the seats when folding them. They also keep them from ratteling around when driving.

3. My Mazda nav is bad and I heard the B9 was bad too. In the Mazda when I want to find a place, say Walmart, and I type it in the nav gives me Walmarts 200 miles away with no option to sort by distance. Without and exact address you cannot find something if you don't know where it is to begin with. Of course the Acura nav has sort by distance features but the Mazda doesn't. So in your B9 if you want to find the nearest POI can you?

I don't have nav so I can't say on this one.

4. On a Spec B (I don't know what that is besides a Subaru) forum, they say that the nav is the same in a B9 as in a Spec B. On there forum they bought a $55 microphone and switch, plugged it into the back of the nav system and got voice commands in under 10 minutes. Can you do this on the B9, because if so it would make the nav better?

Can't say on this either.

5.Wheres all the mods??? Are there flipkeys, LED replacement guides, resonator removal (if it has one), grounding, nav overrides, etc. The old style key with separate fob is the worst part of the whole car. A flipkey or smartkey would have been much better, but if that is my worst complaint that I am okay.

I have some mods on our website: www.scoobymods.com Not a lot on the B9, mostly OEM accessory installs and mantaince stuff. For the most part I've found Subaru owners are anti-rice and more function over form. I'm not saying you won't find Tricked out Subarus but they aren't as common as some other brand owners. Just my observation over the years.

6. I am totally new to Subaru, infact before I looked at the B9 I thought it was an Austrailian company. :lol: Whats the Subaru Challenge and where can I sign up?

http://www.subaruchallenge.com/

Local auto-x events that are sponsered by Subaru dealers in that area. I've done some photorgaphy for Subaru of our local Challenge and have the shots here:

http://peatpics.com/gallery2/main.php/v/Various-Subaru-Pics/

7. I have always had an auto climate, but never dual. If you use the dual settings does it take double the mpg hit?

No, it just regulates how much heat goes to each area by opening and closing flaps in the HVAC system.

8. I haven't found any grille replacement guides, but I wanted to replace the grille with the mesh myself. It should just be a few screws/clips, right?

Kind of but more complicated than that. I have a PDF in the B9 / exterior section of scoobymods

9. Whats Subaru ownership like. Does SOA and the cars make you repeat buyers, instill any loyalty, or is it just like everybody else. With Mazda, they send me free stuff in the mail, Acura calls all the time, and Hyundai calls my grandfather on his birthday. So whats Subaru like?

We are our own support group. I've owned 5 new scoobies and my dad had 3 Brats when I was growing up (Subaru Brats not kids that is)

10. The final and most important question...whats a scooby?

Scooby Doo is the unofficial mascot for Subarus. Scooby sounds like Subie There has also been a long time running website in the UK called Scoobynet.com too. My Foresters lisence plate is "Ruh-Roh" which is an inside joke with us scooby owners

Thanks in advanced and hopefully somebody reads this or I will place it in general in a few days. The dealer quoted me 29ish for a 5 seater with nav and a bunch of dealer accessories. I only buy online, and with all the rebates the B9 seems like the best deal on the market right now. $3000 below invoice

, I am glad I found out about this before I got the RDX.

Sounds like a good deal. We've had ours a little over a year and we like it a lot. Mostly my wife's ride but when we go out as a family we take that and I get to drive. I also get to maintain it

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[email protected]

Discussion Starter · #4 · Mar 15, 2007

Thanks for the replies. Cars101 is definately a cool site and I am browsing scoobymods now.

Just to be clear, I am certainly not rice in anyway. I just like to make a few minor adjustments when I get a new vehicle.

I am gonna sign up on the Spec B forum and see if anybody knows whether or not the voice activated nav will work on the B9. Maybe I will have the first voice nav B9 woohoo!

I've been doing a little research on Subaru and found that GM owns part of it. Please tell me that the Boxer engine is not just an inverted Chevy Tahoe engine or something like that?!? GM doesn't actually make any parts and Subarus aren't rebadged GM models are they? The only minor problems with my 3 is the few Ford parts that Mazda uses. I don't think I could handle another car with any domestic influence at all. Thanks

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gbirk

· #5 · Mar 15, 2007

DVD voice command

There is some info here:
http://www.legacygt.com/forums/showthread.php?t=48659&highlight=voice+nav
regarding the voice command for the nav system. It is in a Legacy, but as I understand it, the systems are almost identicle.

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JHB

· #6 · Mar 15, 2007

The good news is that GM sold it's shares of Subaru to Toyota over a year ago. The Subaru boxer engine is all Subaru.

Loyality - I've had 3 Subaru's. I expect Subaru the only brand I will be driving for several years to come.

Solid build, reliability and an excellent AWD system all add to the Subaru experience.

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[email protected]

Discussion Starter · #7 · Mar 16, 2007

I wanted to wait for the 08 for the bigger engine and better mpg, but I think with the rebates that it will be cheaper to buy now. I am gonna get it with the puddle lights and auto dim mirror installed and do any other options myself.

I am not getting the nav. I chatted with Sam from Avelectronics and was told that I might be able to hook up the budget version to the Tribeca screen to allow a back up cam and portable nav display on the screen. Others have hooked up a back up cam on the screen but I don't know if they have nav or not.

So my question is, has anybody without nav been able to hook up a rear cam using whatever connectors are already present on the back of the monitor or would the product from avelectronic work behind the screen without nav?

Thanks

p.s. The best offer I have found sofar was 29,187 for the Tribeca I wanted.
(07 Harvest Gold Limited 5 Pass with puddle lights and autodim mirror)

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Peaty

· #8 · Mar 16, 2007

We did not get the NAV option but do have the DVD player for the kids. The thing is (something I discovered later) w/o the NAV the display screen is different and not capable of displaying "video", nor is it the touch screen. Had I known I would have considered the nav more seriously.

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[email protected]

Discussion Starter · #9 · Mar 17, 2007

Well I have spoken to a few dealers so far. I wonder if there will be any incentives when the 08 model comes out because I would really like the bigger engine.

One dealer quoted me $29,100ish for one without nav and a different dealer quoted $29,300ish for one with nav. Both were 5 Pass limited with puddle lights and autodim. Either the nav option is only $200 or the dealers are pricing them way different. I asked the second dealer for his price without nav as it should be in the $28,000 range. I wonder how long I should keep going back and forth with the different dealers or if I should jump on the best one right now?

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hawker800mech

· #10 · Mar 17, 2007

I'm on my sixth Subie and plan for more in the future. They've been great cars for me. Even the one with 265,000 miles on it.

The nav option is listed at $2000. That's why I don't have it and ask for directions. Your getting a geat deal either way.

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[email protected]

Discussion Starter · #11 · Mar 17, 2007

The best price I have found right now is....

Tribeca 5 Pass Limited Harvest Gold with Puddle Lights and Autodim for $27,585.

I hope they give me enough trade in on my 07 Mazda3 because I don't want to miss this deal. From reading the various posts, it seems like I am getting a great deal if not one of the best.

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SGT Goltz

· #12 · Apr 10, 2007

I am looking at 4wd vehicles to replace my 07 Mazda 3 (which I love) but I am moving and need a CUV type vehicle. I have looked at/test driven these so far...Rav4, Highlander, Murano, Xterra, Element, CRV, Pilot, Outlander, RDX, MDX, Tucson, Santa Fe, Veracruz(could not test drive) and a few others.

I drove about half of the ones you mentioned and I agree the B9 is the best yet. I can do things in my B9 that would probely put most others on its side.

I
(07 Harvest Gold with Beige and maybe nav, no dealer options, I will do those myself later)

1. In person the steering wheel and dash were grey, but in the pics they look black, the dealer didn't know, but I want black with beige inside. How can I get that?

I don't think so I have seen several differant colors and there all charcol and another color.

2. There are two little clips on the rear seats that I guessed were for the seat belts when the seats were folded down. Was I right? The dealer didn't know of course.

Dont know never noticed it.

3. My Mazda nav is bad and I heard the B9 was bad too. In the Mazda when I want to find a place, say Walmart, and I type it in the nav gives me Walmarts 200 miles away with no option to sort by distance. Without and exact address you cannot find something if you don't know where it is to begin with. Of course the Acura nav has sort by distance features but the Mazda doesn't. So in your B9 if you want to find the nearest POI can you?

Dont have it don't know, heard its bad though.

4. On a Spec B (I don't know what that is besides a Subaru) forum, they say that the nav is the same in a B9 as in a Spec B. On there forum they bought a $55 microphone and switch, plugged it into the back of the nav system and got voice commands in under 10 minutes. Can you do this on the B9, because if so it would make the nav better?

Again don't know

5.Wheres all the mods??? Are there flipkeys, LED replacement guides, resonator removal (if it has one), grounding, nav overrides, etc. The old style key with separate fob is the worst part of the whole car. A flipkey or smartkey would have been much better, but if that is my worst complaint that I am okay.

I'm currently working on some mods for mine to include: Lowering springs, catback exhaust, replace front grill with mesh, front strut bar, cold air intake and a full custom stereo. I will be posting my findings/results very soon. Almost everything I mentioned is intended for the Legacy. They are said to be built on the same platform so some of it will swap over. I'm going to alos look into more of the suspension stuff (Swaybars Struts).

7. I have always had an auto climate, but never dual. If you use the dual settings does it take double the mpg hit?

NO!

8. I haven't found any grille replacement guides, but I wanted to replace the grille with the mesh myself. It should just be a few screws/clips, right?

Yes and Yes its all screws and clips there is a how to on scoobymods

The rest was all covered above so I didn't feal a need to comment.

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