The "oh hell, I may have to give up my Suburban for a car" thread...

Morbid wrote: Forester XTs are amazing, too, but are too small for hauling two half-size cellos, unfortunately. Cellos take away a lot of our car options, unfortunately.

Bummer. I'm impressed a first gen Mazda 6 can hold them, but the Forester can't. Do they need to be carried width-wise in order to keep from folding the seats down?

I can't think of anything else, except if its possible to find a 3.6R Legacy. Anything else in this genre would be European, and I have a hard time recommending them used.

I also agree with turboswede, if this thing has that much crankcase pressure at idle, I'd be worried, and consider looking for a better example.

turboswede wrote:

Morbid wrote: In reply to Fueled by Caffeine: No way, no how. I will never own a van again. Nope, nope, nope. I'm very polarized about vehicles in that I only like sporty sedans (or the occasional coupe), trucks/truck-like SUVs and motorcycles. There is no middle ground.

I will never understand this thinking. You have children and they have large and ungainly things to move, they can't do it themselves (yet) and you may even want or need to haul some of their friends as well. So instead of using something with low floors, large doors and more seating options with better handling and easier parking, you'd rather cram it all into a jacked up station wagon that rides worse and gets even worse mileage? Just me, but I don't understand ignoring a segment of vehicles that are perfect for your needs because of an irrational issue. Of course my wife shares the same view and we have many a "discussion" about it whenever it is brought up.

And I will never understand the thinking that, because someone has kids and kid-stuff, the only logical vehicle is a van. There's no need to get touchy over someone having different tastes and needs than you seem to think are most logical. I know what I like and if I'm going to go into debt (something I haven't done in a very long time), I'm going to love the vehicle.

Yes, I have kids, yes they need to haul stuff, but I also need to be the passenger sometimes, and, in vans, that can't happen. At least not without a suspension upgrade that I don't have the time or interest in doing. Otherwise the passenger side will be full of barf and no one will have a good day. Even full-sized cars (Taurus, Jed's Mark VIIs) make me barfy if I'm not driving (and even then, my stomach has a limit). I'm not going to be miserable in my own vehicle.

So, no, it's not an irrational issue. Not at all.

eastsidemav wrote:

Morbid wrote: Forester XTs are amazing, too, but are too small for hauling two half-size cellos, unfortunately. Cellos take away a lot of our car options, unfortunately.

Bummer. I'm impressed a first gen Mazda 6 can hold them, but the Forester can't. Do they need to be carried width-wise in order to keep from folding the seats down? I can't think of anything else, except if its possible to find a 3.6R Legacy. Anything else in this genre would be European, and I have a hard time recommending them used. I also agree with turboswede, if this thing has that much crankcase pressure at idle, I'd be worried, and consider looking for a better example.

They fit width wise, 'puzzled' together (they can't be stacked), very carefully in the MS6. We looked at a Murano previously that even their current 1/4 sizes wouldn't fit in.

In reply to Morbid:

Um, I'm not getting touchy. Merely looking at it logically. You self-diagnosed with irrational behaviour regarding car choices, which we're all guilty of at one point in time or another.

Sorry to hear about the car sickness, my wife suffers as well though hers is usually brought about by trying to read while riding or due to someone who is unable to drive smoothly (her parents tend to drive with jimmy legs on the pedals, its almost made me sick on a couple of drives).

Here is a regular Legacy Wagon sans turbo: http://www.whitedogimports.com/details.cfm?vehicle=190204

In reply to turboswede:

Sorry for reading un-intended touchiness I wish it was limited to reading/unsteady driving, but it's largely suspension dependent.

92dxman wrote: Here is a regular Legacy Wagon sans turbo: http://www.whitedogimports.com/details.cfm?vehicle=190204

Thanks for the help, but I need to find something locally due to the husband's work schedule, plus, it's a 4-banger, which I ( totally admitting it's irrational on this one ) won't go back to without a turbo.

Tensioner is likely the tsb as well. Was it a valve clatter at startup? Blowby is totally common with these.... I won't let that throw me..the wobble and the trans would worry me though.

P71? Miata? E30? #grmtrifecta #outofideas

mndsm wrote: Tensioner is likely the tsb as well. Was it a valve clatter at startup? Blowby is totally common with these.... I won't let that throw me..the wobble and the trans would worry me though.

I think he's making the wobble up; I didn't notice it at all

I'll call the local Mazda stealership and find out about a tensioner TSB.

Is the wobble torque steer? Just mentioning it because our V6 RAV4 suffers pretty badly from torque steer at 40-60 MPH, but I've never had an issue with it at lower speeds. The soft bushings probably make it worse.

SAAB 9-5 wagon.

So what is the non Barf suspension type? An SUV (soft but truck like) seems OK but a Taurus is not (just soft). A Mazda speed 6 is ok (firm) but a minivan is not. We had an Odyssey and it had a very nice ride. My SIL suffers from motion sickness and rode in it on a 2300mile trip with no real issues on route 1 California to Seattle.

In reply to nocones:

Non-barf suspension is firm, bordering on rough, and I have encountered some trucks that are too soft (my dad's F150 is terrible). In the current fleet, the '97 Impreza that's been beat to death and rides like E36 M3 is actually the lest stomach-turning.

Fueled by Caffeine wrote: P71? Miata? E30? #grmtrifecta #outofideas

You forgot XJ Cherokee.

I've been trying to get her to drink the Astro van kool-aid for quite a while now...

I've found an '05 Outback 3.0R Wagon that will hopefully quell the MS6 lust.

I had an Astro and I loved it, but I love cool vans and I never get carsick either. Good luck on your quest Morbid! Ya gotta drive what ya love!

The_Jed wrote:

Fueled by Caffeine wrote: P71? Miata? E30? #grmtrifecta #outofideas

You forgot XJ Cherokee.

The original trifecta was the e30, miata and astro. Since then thr p71 and xj have been added.
Pentafecta?

Fueled by Caffeine wrote:

The_Jed wrote:

Fueled by Caffeine wrote: P71? Miata? E30? #grmtrifecta #outofideas

You forgot XJ Cherokee.

The original trifecta was the e30, miata and astro. Since then thr p71 and xj have been added. Pentafecta?

Miata, P71, XJ, and Astro are all still readily available in good condition for not much money. E30's are becoming rarer, we should really do away with them and add in something else. Like an E36.

Looking at a couple of Outbacks (both with the 3.0 'V-6' if the windshields are to be believed) tomorrow. I've yet to encounter a Subaru that made me barfy, so I'm optimistic.

Sadly giving up on the MS6

On top of that we've been spotting SVX's around here which, if the central Illinois average is anything to go by, are probably owned by people who also think they have a V6 under the hood.

Well, it happened. Later 'Burban, it's been fun and you'll be missed.

What did you get for the 'burb? I've been looking at them off and on.

In reply to chandlerGTi:

$2700

"You'll be missed" is the understatement of the century according to the little girl clinging to the Burban for dear life. She spent the first hour we had the Outback talking about how much she hated it and how much better the Suburban was. She was set on having the truck for her first vehicle, and didn't understand that the transmission is on borrowed time (167k) and that feeding it is expensive. The boy-child thinks the Outback is the greatest thing ever, though.

I'll admit to shedding a few tears when it was time to walk away from the Burban, it's been a good truck and parting with it was harder than I thought it would have been.

At least I can hand-wash the Outback, and reach the middle of the windshield with a snow scraper And it's a Subaru, which is all it needs to be awesome-sauce, IMO. Although re-adjusting to being closer to the ground and in a much smaller vehicle is a strange feeling.