Subaru Legacy 2.0 GT 4th gen - just bought!
Discussion
Hello all!
I haven't venued much into this corner of PH before, but it might have to become my new home after buying this;
Always liked the 4th gen legacy, and found myself searching for one recently as I need a big more boot space. I was looking for a spec B 3 litre, but stumbled across this import 2.0 GT very near to where i live- turned out it belonged to the Director of an ECU tuning company.
It's a little higher mileage than I'd liked, but feels in superb condition. Very happy indeed.
Has anyone had one, and can share any information about them?
I plan to tidy the car up a little, and fix a few bits of missing trim. The stereo will get replaced soon, as being a japanese import the FM tuner will only pick up a few uk stations - luckily the car was supplied with an additional spare facia - a double din facia with the cumulate controls built in. As much as I like the idea of keeping it looking standard (and keeping that retro minidisc player it has!), it makes sense to fit a decent unit with the supplied facia.
I also plan to see if I can retro-fit a muti function steering wheel that the spec B has, and in the process retro-fit cruise control. A rudimentary search shows it should be doable with OE parts.
Looks like I've got a summer of car tinkering to come!
I haven't venued much into this corner of PH before, but it might have to become my new home after buying this;
Always liked the 4th gen legacy, and found myself searching for one recently as I need a big more boot space. I was looking for a spec B 3 litre, but stumbled across this import 2.0 GT very near to where i live- turned out it belonged to the Director of an ECU tuning company.
It's a little higher mileage than I'd liked, but feels in superb condition. Very happy indeed.
Has anyone had one, and can share any information about them?
I plan to tidy the car up a little, and fix a few bits of missing trim. The stereo will get replaced soon, as being a japanese import the FM tuner will only pick up a few uk stations - luckily the car was supplied with an additional spare facia - a double din facia with the cumulate controls built in. As much as I like the idea of keeping it looking standard (and keeping that retro minidisc player it has!), it makes sense to fit a decent unit with the supplied facia.
I also plan to see if I can retro-fit a muti function steering wheel that the spec B has, and in the process retro-fit cruise control. A rudimentary search shows it should be doable with OE parts.
Looks like I've got a summer of car tinkering to come!
I went from a WRX wagon to a JDM GT Spec B last year.
Very dirty up in the Pennines and sitting on WRX wheels for winter:
Suits me down to the ground. The load space is huge compared to the Impreza, I love the seats, the ride is a lot plusher, even with the 'sports' shocks. Although it's obviously not as quick as my WRX could be, it doesn't feel it's size at all.
I went with an auto as I do a lot of boring commute / sitting in traffic. It's not a bad box - very occasionally I find a bit of driving that makes me yearn for a manual but I have to remind myself that 95% of the time I'm much happier with it doing the work for me.
I'm the first UK owner. I was prepared to have the mapping adjusted for UK fuel, but it runs happily enough on Shell V-Power. I've not tried it on anything less though.
Be careful with cruise control on a JDM car - they're limited to something like 68mph. With the slight inaccuracy in the ECU vehicle speed, this translated to about 65. If it were 70, I could've lived with it, but the only place I personally use CC is dual carridgeway / motorway. It can be mapped out but it's not in the definitions file for most ECUs so you have to identify the relevant addresses in the ROM and add them yourself.
Very dirty up in the Pennines and sitting on WRX wheels for winter:
Suits me down to the ground. The load space is huge compared to the Impreza, I love the seats, the ride is a lot plusher, even with the 'sports' shocks. Although it's obviously not as quick as my WRX could be, it doesn't feel it's size at all.
I went with an auto as I do a lot of boring commute / sitting in traffic. It's not a bad box - very occasionally I find a bit of driving that makes me yearn for a manual but I have to remind myself that 95% of the time I'm much happier with it doing the work for me.
I'm the first UK owner. I was prepared to have the mapping adjusted for UK fuel, but it runs happily enough on Shell V-Power. I've not tried it on anything less though.
Be careful with cruise control on a JDM car - they're limited to something like 68mph. With the slight inaccuracy in the ECU vehicle speed, this translated to about 65. If it were 70, I could've lived with it, but the only place I personally use CC is dual carridgeway / motorway. It can be mapped out but it's not in the definitions file for most ECUs so you have to identify the relevant addresses in the ROM and add them yourself.
Konan said:
I went from a WRX wagon to a JDM GT Spec B last year.
Very dirty up in the Pennines and sitting on WRX wheels for winter:
Suits me down to the ground. The load space is huge compared to the Impreza, I love the seats, the ride is a lot plusher, even with the 'sports' shocks. Although it's obviously not as quick as my WRX could be, it doesn't feel it's size at all.
I went with an auto as I do a lot of boring commute / sitting in traffic. It's not a bad box - very occasionally I find a bit of driving that makes me yearn for a manual but I have to remind myself that 95% of the time I'm much happier with it doing the work for me.
I'm the first UK owner. I was prepared to have the mapping adjusted for UK fuel, but it runs happily enough on Shell V-Power. I've not tried it on anything less though.
Be careful with cruise control on a JDM car - they're limited to something like 68mph. With the slight inaccuracy in the ECU vehicle speed, this translated to about 65. If it were 70, I could've lived with it, but the only place I personally use CC is dual carridgeway / motorway. It can be mapped out but it's not in the definitions file for most ECUs so you have to identify the relevant addresses in the ROM and add them yourself.
Great photos - white cars look great in the snow. - Up in the mountains on a B road - A legacy in it's natural environmentVery dirty up in the Pennines and sitting on WRX wheels for winter:
Suits me down to the ground. The load space is huge compared to the Impreza, I love the seats, the ride is a lot plusher, even with the 'sports' shocks. Although it's obviously not as quick as my WRX could be, it doesn't feel it's size at all.
I went with an auto as I do a lot of boring commute / sitting in traffic. It's not a bad box - very occasionally I find a bit of driving that makes me yearn for a manual but I have to remind myself that 95% of the time I'm much happier with it doing the work for me.
I'm the first UK owner. I was prepared to have the mapping adjusted for UK fuel, but it runs happily enough on Shell V-Power. I've not tried it on anything less though.
Be careful with cruise control on a JDM car - they're limited to something like 68mph. With the slight inaccuracy in the ECU vehicle speed, this translated to about 65. If it were 70, I could've lived with it, but the only place I personally use CC is dual carridgeway / motorway. It can be mapped out but it's not in the definitions file for most ECUs so you have to identify the relevant addresses in the ROM and add them yourself.
Thanks for the speed limit information - Looks like i'll need to do a lot more research before I do anything. Coming from a well specced e46 beemer, I found myself missing a few things - like cruise control, steering wheel controls, and auto dim dip rear mirror. Small price to pay though!
Are there any good legacy forums? I want to start nerding up on my car and learning everything there is to know
http://www.uklegacy.com/forums/index.php
Give me a shout if you do get to the point you want to remove the cruise speed limit restrictor. It'd be nice to save someone the hours it took me to track that one down!
Give me a shout if you do get to the point you want to remove the cruise speed limit restrictor. It'd be nice to save someone the hours it took me to track that one down!
PomBstard said:
Great cars! Missed my 05 GT Wagon so much I've recently got a 2013 Gen 5 GT Wagon. Prefer the 2.0 engine to the 2.5 - more fun! Enjoy.
Really now??? odd that as I have same model and love it too. the 2.0i whailes when you give it the beans. Its kinda funny as you hear so many people b
h about this particular model . Stylistically its probably not as good as the 4th gen, mechanically its the same, but probably a little better screwed together. In Switzerland these cars are absolute beasts in the snow too.
sledge68 said:
Good choice, had this 2 months after a 3.0 spec b tourer for 3 years, this new ones a beast, 2.0 JDM twinscroll auto with paddleshift and SI drive, best thing is no one seems to know what it is.
Edited by sledge68 on Monday 10th July 14:25
Been looking at these recently, albeit think I'd prefer a manual. Trouble is, autos are much more common. I would prefer a facelift Spec B over a pre-facelift too. Was yours imported by Prodrift? He has a couple of autos in at the moment, apparently it'll be a few grand more for a 6 speed manual facelift Spec B.
V8Taxi said:
How good is the auto gearbox on these? Is it 5 or 6 speed and how responsive do you find it?
Mine's an '06 GT Spec-B wagon, pre-facelift.It's a 5 speed auto, it's fine in drive, it's sharper in sport, but in manual it feels a bit sluggish... you've got to time the button shifts a few hundred rpm before you really want them.
Having said that, I mainly use the buttons for 3 things only:
Making sure I'm in a responsive gear when looking for overtakes.
Keeping it in third on my favourite twisties (my god it's a beast then!)
Keeping it in second to give the 2 or 4 houses at the crossroads in the middle of nowhere near us that had the speed limit dropped to 30 past them and TWO speed bumps installed outside their houses despite no history of KSI accidents the full benefit of my STI Genome back boxes as I head back towards a decent rate of travel
Worth noting: auto cars are 20 bhp lower than manuals (260 v 280) but (IIRC) they have slightly different gearing and more rear bias in the drivetrain (I could be making the last 2 up...)
I'm open to auto or manual on most cars; auto's nicer/easier/more relaxing 97% of the time but you'll always lose that last bit. Having said that, the twinscroll setup is biased towards low torque and a clean pull through the range at the expense of absolute top end power, so I feel the auto doesn't lack as much as you'd think in terms of fun (see point 2 above
). I drive mine in "relaxed" most of the time - that is, 'box in "D", engine in "eco" (limits boost)... it's still not slow. And then it's got a bit moreto give when I want to play harder
Where abouts are you? Maybe there's one locally you can have a look at.
I think I've said it before on these pages - I do miss a manual on the occasion where I want accurate throttle, which is essentially the exit of a favourite corner. It's the disconnection of a torque converter that gets in the way rather than the box misbehaving. This happens about once a month with the driving I do and lasts all of 3 seconds.
It's hard to give an a good/bad opinion on an auto box as most of the ones I've driven have been older/more basic affairs on big 4x4s. It's a lot sharper than those!.
For what it's worth, I've driven a few contemporary Merc autos and I find the Subaru's shifting more intuitive (that is, it does what I want without intervention most of the time).
There's quite a gulf between D/Eco and sport auto. One's a lazy old thing and sport gives it the idea it's doing a tarmac rally stage What I do like in sport auto is that if you brake hard, it drops gears for you, although only as far as 3rd.
On the pre si-drive cars, the eco map does quite a bit more with the than limiting boost. I've not spent hours looking at it, but a lot of it looks to be avoiding it being too eager to spool too.
I think I've said it before on these pages - I do miss a manual on the occasion where I want accurate throttle, which is essentially the exit of a favourite corner. It's the disconnection of a torque converter that gets in the way rather than the box misbehaving. This happens about once a month with the driving I do and lasts all of 3 seconds.
It's hard to give an a good/bad opinion on an auto box as most of the ones I've driven have been older/more basic affairs on big 4x4s. It's a lot sharper than those!.
For what it's worth, I've driven a few contemporary Merc autos and I find the Subaru's shifting more intuitive (that is, it does what I want without intervention most of the time).
defblade said:
Worth noting: auto cars are 20 bhp lower than manuals (260 v 280) but (IIRC) they have slightly different gearing and more rear bias in the drivetrain (I could be making the last 2 up...)
Yes - the 4x4 system in the auto is much more complex than the manual. Manuals (at least the 5 speed) are done mechanically with 50/50 split with an LSD. The 5 speed auto does have a diff, whichsits 65 rear if the clutches aren't active. It moves torque about if there's slip and also in relation to acceleration, braking, yaw etcdefblade said:
the twinscroll setup is biased towards low torque and a clean pull through the range at the expense of absolute top end power
Unless you're in sport and have manual shifted to override it, it's quite hard to notice the benefit of the low end (peak torque at something like 2200) as when you put your foot down the auto will always want to go higher up the range.defblade said:
I drive mine in "relaxed" most of the time - that is, 'box in "D", engine in "eco" (limits boost)... it's still not slow. And then it's got a bit moreto give when I want to play harder
They do drop out of Eco if you put your foot down.There's quite a gulf between D/Eco and sport auto. One's a lazy old thing and sport gives it the idea it's doing a tarmac rally stage
What I do like in sport auto is that if you brake hard, it drops gears for you, although only as far as 3rd.On the pre si-drive cars, the eco map does quite a bit more with the than limiting boost. I've not spent hours looking at it, but a lot of it looks to be avoiding it being too eager to spool too.
Thanks for the lengthy replies, chaps.
I currently have an M3 twin clutch DCT, and whilst I wouldn't expect the Subaru auto to be as good as that, it's interesting to hear your thoughts on it.
It would be used mostly for town work, so auto might be the answer, however, I had a Revision D manual BH5 GTB a few years ago and it proved to be a cracking car (despite the turbo/solenoid piping issue I encountered) and I'm half tempted to get sacrifice the M3 to get back into a Legacy (BP5, tho) and also bag myself an MX5 or GT86 as a weekend/fun car.
I'm aware that the autos are lower power but didn't know about the gearing and drivetrain differences, so that's useful to know.
I'm in Lincs, and funnily enough I have already asked the question on UK-Legacy as to whether there's anyone in my area with a twinscroll for me to have a neb at. A couple of kind chaps have offered their services but they're still quite a distance away and at the moment it doesn't quite suit me to be travelling that far (shift work, etc).
The other option is import a manual BP5 Tuned by STi and go for a slightly cheaper MX5...
I currently have an M3 twin clutch DCT, and whilst I wouldn't expect the Subaru auto to be as good as that, it's interesting to hear your thoughts on it.
It would be used mostly for town work, so auto might be the answer, however, I had a Revision D manual BH5 GTB a few years ago and it proved to be a cracking car (despite the turbo/solenoid piping issue I encountered) and I'm half tempted to get sacrifice the M3 to get back into a Legacy (BP5, tho) and also bag myself an MX5 or GT86 as a weekend/fun car.
I'm aware that the autos are lower power but didn't know about the gearing and drivetrain differences, so that's useful to know.
I'm in Lincs, and funnily enough I have already asked the question on UK-Legacy as to whether there's anyone in my area with a twinscroll for me to have a neb at. A couple of kind chaps have offered their services but they're still quite a distance away and at the moment it doesn't quite suit me to be travelling that far (shift work, etc).
The other option is import a manual BP5 Tuned by STi and go for a slightly cheaper MX5...
Konan said:
They do drop out of Eco if you put your foot down.
Well, the light goes off From what I've read, the map is changed with the light off, but the boost limit remains. Not my research though! I've not been poking around the inside of my ECU...V8Taxi said:
I'm in Lincs, and funnily enough I have already asked the question on UK-Legacy as to whether there's anyone in my area with a twinscroll for me to have a neb at.
I did see you/that post there but hadn't connected in my head... If you find yourself in south-west Wales at all, you'd be welcome to have a ride in mine... we do good roads once you're off the M4 corridor I don't want to veer off into tuning, but I added that 20bhp deficit back into my auto fairly simply
From what I've read, the map is changed with the light off, but the boost limit remains. Not my research though! I've not been poking around the inside of my ECU...I'll have to log it and see.
Several tables have an 'A' and a 'B', boost, timing, fuelling, initial wastegate. AVCS.... If you record boost on a rolling road in Eco on a manual, it'll look like a single boost limit value, but it's actually a 3D map with no values over about 10psi.
V8Taxi said:
I'm in Lincs, and funnily enough I have already asked the question on UK-Legacy as to whether there's anyone in my area with a twinscroll for me to have a neb at. A couple of kind chaps have offered their services but they're still quite a distance away and at the moment it doesn't quite suit me to be travelling that far (shift work, etc).Thanks for the lengthy replies, chaps.
I popped on to UK Legacy there (it's a great forum, but I never seam to get around to checking in on there) and see that although we're in neighbouring counties I'm even further away than spalding. Lincs is a big county!V8Taxi said:
I currently have an M3 twin clutch DCT, and whilst I wouldn't expect the Subaru auto to be as good as that, it's interesting to hear your thoughts on it. I'm aware that the autos are lower power but didn't know about the gearing and drivetrain differences, so that's useful to know.
I've been a passenger on track in a DCT M3 at it's most aggressive. Felt like someone was punching me in the back of the head defblade said:
Konan said:
They do drop out of Eco if you put your foot down.
Well, the light goes off From what I've read, the map is changed with the light off, but the boost limit remains. Not my research though! I've not been poking around the inside of my ECU...Several tables have an 'A' and a 'B', boost, timing, fuelling, initial wastegate. AVCS.... If you record boost on a rolling road in Eco on a manual, it'll look like a single boost limit value, but it's actually a 3D map with no values over about 10psi.
Hello All.
sorry about the thread high jack but I may be getting one of these legacies earlier than I expected and I could do with some advice. Any tips on what to look for when buying one of these? It's a very recent import GTB. I've already got an impreza so I'm familiar with the basic layout, but I wondered if there any legacy specifics to worry about. The drive train in particular sounds complicated...
sorry about the thread high jack but I may be getting one of these legacies earlier than I expected and I could do with some advice. Any tips on what to look for when buying one of these? It's a very recent import GTB. I've already got an impreza so I'm familiar with the basic layout, but I wondered if there any legacy specifics to worry about. The drive train in particular sounds complicated...
bp5legacyman said:
Can anyone tell me if the JDM BP5 Legacy has a rear fog light as standard? I'm thinking about importing one to the UK, and unsure if I will need to make the modification of adding a rear fog light to pass MOT.
Thanks
Yes, it does. It's the driver's side of the two horizontal lights on the tailgate - looks silver, lights up red.Thanks
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