After 1 year of ownership...

Jngrbrdman

New member
As of about noon today I’ve had my Legacy GT for 1 year. I figured I’d take stock of what has happened with the car since I bought it.



Damage:


Door Dings: 1
Window cracks: 1
Scratches requiring touch up paint: 2
Paint chips: …don’t go there.
Wheels curbed: 1, but fixable
Swirls: under control

Improvements in order they were done:

Window tint
Painted calipers
Debadged and rebadged with BOXER lettering
HIDs
Painted yellow caps under the hood
Bug guard
WRX pedals
Tail light tint
Turn signal tint
MOMO shift knob
Covercraft UVS100 Sunshade
L7 badge overlays
front strut tower bar
More polishing and sealant than the law should allow.


After a year these are the things that still bug me, but I can live with:


- At 8000 miles the infamous Legacy GT turbo sputter went away. Still does it before it warms up, but it is pretty much gone now.
- Clutch still burns kind of easy.
- Paint still way too soft, but that can be dealt with by being more careful while washing and drying.
- Side mirror warped and distorts images. I’ve gotten used to it since there doesn’t seem to be any fix for it.
- Radio signal kind of weak in some areas. I didn’t like that station anyway…
- Driver side floor mat floats all over the place. I fixed that by putting a screw in it at the top corner near the gas pedal.
- Small hole being worn in the carpet from where my heel turns when I get in the car. I need to bring that to the dealership for warranty repair.
- Still not thrilled with the climate control. Although it works pretty well in the winter, in the summer it takes too long to get cold and it fluctuates too much.


That is pretty much it. Overall it is still a great car and I have no regrets buying it. It has great power and great handling for what I use it for. I’m sure I could dump $5000 into it and be even happier, but the key words there are ‘even happier’. I’m happy with it now, so there really isn’t any reason for me to change much on it. I’m in no way living from paycheck to paycheck, but I simply don’t have a budget for tweaking a car that is already perfectly fine. That doesn’t mean I’m not going to keep my eye out for a good deal on an Accessport or some sharper wheels, but for now I’m happy.

Thanks for all the helpful information I have read on DC this year! You guys are great and I am always learning something new here. Everything I know about detailing was either learned by personal experience or from boards like this. I thank you for all the great tips and ideas that I have picked up here over the last year. :bigups

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That is one sexy color! You put HID's into your oem halogen projectors? Did you find that the beam was to centered or just about right? Atleast you didn't go rice and put them into halogen's and glare everyone. Goodjob!
 
Looks good!!! I too have rock chips up the ying yang on my Audi even know it's 4 month old. Going on group drives with the Ferrari club has taken its toll on my hood, but I will fix them soon! Keep up the good work, polish and sealant never hurts!!!
 
joyriide1113 said:
That is one sexy color! You put HID's into your oem halogen projectors? Did you find that the beam was to centered or just about right? Atleast you didn't go rice and put them into halogen's and glare everyone. Goodjob!

I just put them right in the OEM projectors. I haven't been flashed once and there isn't any more glare being thrown than would have been thrown by a retrofit. I weighed my options and didn't find enough benefit in spending the money on a retrofit. More info and pictures here. Anyone who says HIDs aren't worth it has never driven a car with them I guess. Unless you get some terrible 8000K set or something then I can't imagine why people wouldn't see the advantage. Just look at the amount of light HIDs put on the ground compared to halogens...

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That is stock LGT lights next to my HIDs. Huge improvement. I'll never buy a car that doesn't either already have them or one that can't be upgraded to have them. They aren't just Bling Bling upgrades. They are serious lighting improvments.
 
ShineBoy said:
Going on group drives with the Ferrari club has taken its toll on my hood
Are you the "support vehicle" for the Ferrari club?

Sorry, but i just couldn't resist.:)

Charles
 
I've heard about your car but never really read anything about it. Read a couple reviews on it and with the performance that car offers, its a real sleeper. 0-60 in the mid 5's and a 1/4 mile in the low 14's is really impressive.
 
Oh definately. The oem halogen projectors on the legacy are good enough for use with H.I.D.'s but my question was the width of the beam. Is it wide or does it throw most of the light right in front of you?

I just finished swapping the stock hid projectors on my 330i and put some s2000 hid projectors. Even though they are both hid projectors, the s2000's beam is wider and the lense is clearer. With an awesome cutoff line that gives tons of color.
 
Hmmm... good question. Whatever it does, it put plenty of light on the ground and to both sides. I don't have any frame of reference, so I really don't know what the beam does.
 
It is definitely a beautiful car, and I never see many of them around. Every car has its strong and weak points, but once you get used to it and learn to love the car, then "it is what it is". 90% of this forum probably wouldn't drive my car because of the interior rattles and whatnot, but I love the damn thing and would not trade it for anything else (March 10 I'll have the car 3 year). :D
 
His headlights look small but thats what a retro retrofit is. Installing OEM type equipment into cars that don't come with it. He would need to cut a larger size hole into the back of the headlamps to fit the projector and make some sort of bracket to hold the projector.

sorry for hi-jacking jng....

www.hidplanet.com has tons of information in their forum... check it out.
 
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