I figured it was finally time to start a build thread on my first Subaru!! First, a little bit of a back story:My interest in Subaru dates back to the good old days when I was still in college, and my friend 05LGT bought his 2005 Legacy GT (heh) Sedan. His was rather high in mileage (lots of km's driving between Calgary and Edmonton), and the car was definitely not in perfect shape (but still really good for the mileage)... but I was really fond of the car. It did many things well. It could carry 4 people comfortably (5 in a pinch), was relatively fast, well equipped, decently large trunk, and sounded amazing with the invidia q300 catback he installed later. I also loved the fact that must mechanical subaru parts fit between different models like legos, and being a legacy it was a real sleeper... Oh yeah and it was a subaru so it DOMINATED in winter!
After him owning the Laggin Wagon 2 years later, it further cemented my interest in owning a Subaru. That car was a tank!! (it still is a tank now)
I have been wanting to get out of my BMW for a while. I was sick and tired of driving automatic every day, the rear seats never folded flat, the body was badly hail damaged, and the vehicle never completely suited my needs. Then in late 2013/early 2014, the transmission in my BMW itshay the bed. It wouldn't shift into 2nd anymore. With that, and a number of other issues on the BMW i didnt want to fix anymore after the transmission stopped working properly, I decided it was time to start looking for a new car.
I have entertained a veriety of options for my new car. I have been looking at newer BMW’s, Hyundai Genesis Coupe, Mustang’s, Focus ST’s... you know, sportier cars... but none of these cars have tugged on my heartstrings quite like a subaru has. I knew at that point that subaru’s weren’t prefect. I knew the EJ’s were prone to failure (Subaru-200 anyone??), the powertrains werent very efficient, the paint sucked, and I might have got more car for my money if i shopped elsewhere. But I didnt care about any of that. I loved the sound of the boxer motor, and I loved the idea of having a turbocharged AWD car that I could use to bring all my friends to the mountians in the winter, and still be reasonably sporty in the summer.
Finding a good subaru for my budget wasn’t easy. I have searched through many dealerships, and looked at many wrx’s and STi’s. I then have found many subarus that were either a) Overpriced, b) Didn’t have a clean carproof, c) Came from Ontario or somewhere out east, or d) All of the above.
I was starting to lose hope that I would be able to find any subaru within my budget that ticked all the boxes, but then I started looking privately and, in early May 2014, I found the holy grail!
The Car:(The day i bought it)
The car is a 2008 Legacy Spec B in Diamond Grey Metallic. I am now the third owner. The car has only 83,600km on it when i got it. Bone stock. Came with 2 sets of wheels and tires, and weathertech floor mats. Body and interior were in really good shape for its age, and it has a perfect carproof!! Calgary car, no accidents, no claims! The original owner of this car was a subaru enthusiast, and the owner I bought the car off of was a lawyer with a young family who appreciated cars, and always had the car stored indoors either in his garage at home, or underground parking at work.
This is a fairly rare car, as this is one of only a few thousand produced in this year. I am unaware of how many of these cars were produced in 2008, but I do know that roughly 3000 spec b’s were produced in 2007, and the 2008 model year saw spec b’s in fewer numbers than that.
Features unique to the Spec B include: (in case you dont know)
• 18” alloy wheels
• Billestien struts
• Re-worked torsen limited-slip rear diff
• 6-Speed manual transmission
• SI-drive (I, S, and S# modes)
• DVD based navigation system (actually works quite well for a 10yo system)
• Leather upholstry with alcantara inserts in the seats and door cards
• 60/40 split folding rear seats (Perfect for dem skis!)
The little things I like about the car:
(in no particular order)
• Heated seats oh so warm!!
• Seats so soft!
• 6-Speed Manual so slick!
• The little screen in the gauge cluster can show so many things!
• Car is surprisingly light for what it is
• Automatic climate control - Much good-working!!
• Turby is such boost!!
Car has no problem passing the trunk-monkey test:
Plans for mods on this car down the road are minor, and are mostly limited to reliability, cosmetic, and maybe some minor preformance/handling mods. My primary goals for this car are to make it a comfortable city/highway cruiser which i am able to enjoy on a twisty road. This might not be much of a build, but I thought I would create this thread as kind-of a journal, if nothing else. If things end up happening to the car, neat!!
Mod listCurrent Mods:• Tint all around (done by a p.o.)
• Rally Armour Mudflaps
• HKS Catback Exhaust w/ Helmholtz Resonator
• LED Fogs
Wish-List:• HID Low-beams
• More Exterior & Interior LED Lighting
• Upgrade the stereo & add sub. (JL Cleansweep OR new headunit with JDM bezel... unknown which at this point)
• Bilestien HD-series struts + tien lowering springs
• Larger rear swaybar
• Equal-length headers of some sort (for reliability!)
• Killer-B Oil Pickup
• (whatever else I can think of down the road)
PicsIn traffic...
(first week i owned the car)
In traffic again...
(second week i owned the car)
