projectrally
Member
Hi everyone,
I was in the Subaru scene about a decade ago, and at that point I belonged to the Subaru Tuners of Maine forum. By the time that it got incorporated here, I was nearing the end of my Subaru ownership. I sold my last one, an 05 Legacy GT Limited wagon (5MT) in 2007, and I've been happily driving other things since then.
Until this past weekend, that is. My summer car is a 2010 PRHT MX-5 with the Cosworth/Flyin' Miata supercharger kit. But in the winters and whenever I needed to do anything that required more cargo space, I had a 2003 Yukon. The Yukon finally got put out to pasture with 234K miles on the clock, so I've been looking for a new daily driver/work vehicle/family car/four season car. Having owned the Legacy wagon and Imprezas and WRXs before that, I wasn't terribly keen to return to either one. The WRX is fun but a bit too small as my family car/work vehicle. The Legacy/Outback wagons are big enough, and they're fantastically comfortable on a long highway cruise, but they're a bit too soft for what I wanted. So I went with the middle child - the Goldilocks for my driving needs - a Forester XT. From the outset, I knew I wanted two things in an XT: a manual transmission and that epic sunroof. I really hoped to find a Sport, but I wasn't expecting to find one.
Then this car just sort of fell into my lap. A mini dealer in Warwick, RI took it in trade, and they posted it on autotrader.com before they'd even had time to take pictures of it. Usually, when there are no pictures I don't even bother to look at the classified, but for some reason I decided to call about this particular car. I asked the saleswoman to snap a few pictures for me and text them my way. When I saw what it was (and saw the carfax), I had to have it. I made the deal over the phone to buy the car, pending a test drive. On Saturday, I took the 5AM Concord Trailways bus to South Station, hopped on an Amtrak to Providence where they met me at the station and drove me back to the dealership in a new Mini Paceman (probably Mini's most pointless vehicle).
Anyway, here are a few quick snaps of the car. The only thing I've done to it so far is swap 03-05 tail lights onto it, which I think are far better looking. But the previous owner had done a few small things: It's got an STI rear sway bar with aftermarket end links, the muffler off an STI, and fog lights wired up behind the grill.
I was in the Subaru scene about a decade ago, and at that point I belonged to the Subaru Tuners of Maine forum. By the time that it got incorporated here, I was nearing the end of my Subaru ownership. I sold my last one, an 05 Legacy GT Limited wagon (5MT) in 2007, and I've been happily driving other things since then.
Until this past weekend, that is. My summer car is a 2010 PRHT MX-5 with the Cosworth/Flyin' Miata supercharger kit. But in the winters and whenever I needed to do anything that required more cargo space, I had a 2003 Yukon. The Yukon finally got put out to pasture with 234K miles on the clock, so I've been looking for a new daily driver/work vehicle/family car/four season car. Having owned the Legacy wagon and Imprezas and WRXs before that, I wasn't terribly keen to return to either one. The WRX is fun but a bit too small as my family car/work vehicle. The Legacy/Outback wagons are big enough, and they're fantastically comfortable on a long highway cruise, but they're a bit too soft for what I wanted. So I went with the middle child - the Goldilocks for my driving needs - a Forester XT. From the outset, I knew I wanted two things in an XT: a manual transmission and that epic sunroof. I really hoped to find a Sport, but I wasn't expecting to find one.
Then this car just sort of fell into my lap. A mini dealer in Warwick, RI took it in trade, and they posted it on autotrader.com before they'd even had time to take pictures of it. Usually, when there are no pictures I don't even bother to look at the classified, but for some reason I decided to call about this particular car. I asked the saleswoman to snap a few pictures for me and text them my way. When I saw what it was (and saw the carfax), I had to have it. I made the deal over the phone to buy the car, pending a test drive. On Saturday, I took the 5AM Concord Trailways bus to South Station, hopped on an Amtrak to Providence where they met me at the station and drove me back to the dealership in a new Mini Paceman (probably Mini's most pointless vehicle).
Anyway, here are a few quick snaps of the car. The only thing I've done to it so far is swap 03-05 tail lights onto it, which I think are far better looking. But the previous owner had done a few small things: It's got an STI rear sway bar with aftermarket end links, the muffler off an STI, and fog lights wired up behind the grill.
