Vinen
God is dead
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Car Buying Help
- Thread starter Araxen
- Start date
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Guest, it's time once again for the massively important and exciting FoH Asshat Tournament!
Go here and give us your nominations!Who's been the biggest Asshat in the last year? Give us your worst ones!
Palum
what Suineg set it to
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Unfortunately Subaru was the only company offering decently priced full-time AWD for many years so they got very popular in snowy climates. I liked my WRX more because it was a rocketship in snow with snow tires but overall the car was at least 3-5 years behind every other manufacturer otherwise. They still haven't discovered the mystical 'soft-touch plastic'.Subaru people are super passionate about Subarus. They use this irrational exuberance to cover the cars shortcomings.
That said the STI $/$ is a very tight track car.
I'd still buy another Subaru if they put FI on the FA20 in the BRZ but fuck 'em.
Khane
Got something right about marriage
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That's because you don't need AWD. AWD is a "must have" for idiots who think that AWD makes them invincible in the snow. 99% of the cars I see off the road during storms in New England are AWD. My FWD Camry does just fine with snow tires.
Actually I'm lying, I don't even have snow tires. I have all season tires because snow tires are unnecessary too.
Cad
scientia potentia est
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Its a shitty track car. Heavy, understeery, overheats, high CG, too much weight over the front.
It's a good track car for ricers.
Oh damn 99% of new England that's an ambitious move. Tell us khane who do you plan on disagreeing with next? Will you go straight for the whole planet or ease your way in to entire nations.
Nothing specific to the 2015 WRX. But people with subaru CVTs with 90k+ miles report problems with the CVT system, and apparently it's a totally closed and delicate system that needs special servicing (I don't like parts that are like that, and I have heard enough horror stories about Nissan CVT). There's also just a lot of haters of CVT on anything performance oriented.
The CVT for the WRX and the 2.0XT are supposed to be more rugged than the rest of subarus non-turbo'd models, so maybe the problems of other cvt models don't apply.
Khane
Got something right about marriage
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You clever man. Ousting everyone's "real" persona on the internet. You've got everyone all figured out yourself, why don't you tell us what's what? Pot meet kettle.
Khane
Got something right about marriage
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The only thing I've ever found is that it helps people become entirely too brave in the snow. And I've lived my entire life in snowy areas of the country.
A lot of people agree with me but I can only offer other subjective "evidence":
The Myth of All-Powerful All-Wheel Drive
A lot of people agree with me but I can only offer other subjective "evidence":
The Myth of All-Powerful All-Wheel Drive
"If you're looking for the peace of mind in knowing that you'll be able to get home if an unexpected snowstorm hits, AWD may be a good choice for you. However, if you think that AWD will help your car better grip slippery corners or dodge an indecisive squirrel, you're sadly mistaken."
-the article.
-the article.
Khane
Got something right about marriage
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The article also mentions that AWD doesn't really offer any real benefit over FWD except for becoming too comfortable on the road in the snow. You live in WV right?
Go ahead and spend all that extra money on AWD, doesn't bother me. Just know it isn't really keeping you safer than a good FWD car will and it gets worse gas mileage too.
Go ahead and spend all that extra money on AWD, doesn't bother me. Just know it isn't really keeping you safer than a good FWD car will and it gets worse gas mileage too.
I got it on my used car and didn't give a shit (have 4wd truck) until i passed about 4 fwd not to mention other trucks and shit that hit the light on an 8% grade. I wonder if they were glad the had to sit on a 4 lane and roasting tires at 530 on Friday because they couldn't get going fast enough so that they couldn't dodge a squirrel.
McQueen
Ahn'Qiraj Raider
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Still waiting. My 2015 special order turned into a 2016 special order, and a better price.
Palum
what Suineg set it to
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The STI is still one of the best performance values out there and like every other stock vehicle it needs tuning and parts (like more intercooler) to do anything past autocross.
Regarding snow, if you don't think AWD/4x4 helps you in the snow when used properly with the correct tires you've just never driven in bad weather. I've driven everything from 3500 ram diesels to rwd sports cars in snow. FWD is fine right up until there's not dry asphalt underneath your drive wheels. This frequently happens at the top of driveways sloped downhill towards a house because snowplows drop salt on the main road and during the day some of the pack will melt and run down the top of the driveway before freezing creating a nice lip of hard ice that over a few days and weeks of heavy snowfall also turn into a inches thick ledge. When you drive up it, if you can't get enough momentum before the end of the driveway, your FWD car just spins. I would frequently have to back out FWD cars and RWD cars depending on the conditions that winter and how the ice formed on the driveway because I sure as fuck wasn't taking an ice pick to 50 square feet of 3 inch thick compressed ice. That's to say nothing of gravel or dirt roads with ruts that fill with black ice. Or say, when 80% of a road is covered in a 2 foot thick tree trunk and you don't have a chainsaw so you try and you try and cut through snowpack with glazing on the side of the road so the only way to get two drive wheels with traction so as not to just burn one hole in the slush and ice into pure water is to have them both on one side of the car.
In short, if you think 4 wheel drive doesn't help you in the snow you've clearly only driven in dustings or only read about it on the internet.
I mean fuck, sometimes it's as simple as retard in front of you stops and you lose all momentum and you need every iota of traction to get moving again on a hill and one slipping drive wheel means you slip on the other wheel because your fwd car doesn't have a locking or LSD and bam back into the car behind you. I've witnessed that countless times because idiots don't understand conserving momentum in their rental FWD shitboxes instead of adhering to a stop sign with no one coming four miles around.
Khane
Got something right about marriage
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Well we can agree to disagree. I've lived in Northeastern US my entire life including 5 years in the northern tip of NY 30 minutes south of Canada but whatever. Not sure why you're mentioning heavy as shit 3500 RAM diesels with 4WD (not AWD) when trying to vouch for AWD but alright. We aren't talking about trucks here bro. AWD doesn't help nearly as much as you're claiming it does in any of your scenarios.
Yes agree to disagree on a fact and then one last final disagreement with what are obviously specific personal experiences that you haven't experienced.
Vinen
God is dead
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The funny part is half the cars I see off the road are idiots who drive in Snow with Rear Wheel Drive.
Had to help dig an idiot co-worker's mustang out of snowbank last winter.
Just put 5 anvils in the trunk and it's probably better than fwd especially uphill, no one needs fwd.
Frenzied Wombat
Potato del Grande
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I'm sorry, AWD helps a shit-ton in the snow, particularly when trying to get out of parking spots. Perhaps it gives people an inflated sense of security causing them to drive more aggressively, but this still doesn't negate the fact that it is clearly safer/better than 2WD cars. Same with snow tires. In fact, get caught in Montreal in December with no snow tires on, and you're looking at a ticket.
Just my experience from driving 30+ years in Canada..
Just my experience from driving 30+ years in Canada..