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2009 48hrs of Tristate Official Info

by paisan on Mon Nov 17 17:20:09 PST 2008

That's right folks, it's that time of the year again, when we all break out of the winter blues of no car shows, no auto-x, no road racing, no drag strips and head out on the open highway for a good cause. This is the 8th Annual running where a group of Subaru enthusiasts from all over the TriState area take a 3 day long trip covering about 48hrs of driving overall from Subaru Headquarters in NJ to the wintery snow of the Adirondacks. This year we are planning on about 900 miles of highways, backroads and no roads with dinners and partys every night. We also will be visiting SOA headquarters in Cherry Hill, NJ we will also be visiting Subaru Distributors Corp, the company that distributed most of our cars, and Vermont Sports Car where they build rally cars for SOA. Last year we raised over $13,000 for the American Cancer Society from pledges that the participants gathered and SOA's matching donations! Our goal this year is to raise over $8,000 for ACS. The trip will start with a dinner kickoff in Cherry Hill, NJ on Thurs Night Jan 15, 2008. We will continue on Friday morning with a visit to Subaru of America Headquarters for breakfast and then the drive will take our Subies up to SDC Headquarters for a catered lunch. Friday night we end in Burlington, VT. Saturday morning we have a tour of Vermont Sports Car planned, a treat for any Rally fans out there. Sat night after cruising the Northern Adirondacks we will end up at Dunham's Bay Resort in Lake George for our Raffle Banquet. Sunday will take us down through central NYS ending at our closing dinner meet in Scranton, PA All kinds of Subies are welcome on this trip. We've had XT6s, GLs, DLs, Legacies, Brats, you name it! Several companies also have provided us with door prizes for those participating! In past years we've had $1000s and $1000s worth of raffle prizes! The important info: What: Group drive to raise money for ACS and have a fun 900+ mile trip along the way. Where: Starts in Cherry Hill, NJ and continues throughout NJ and NY with stops in Burlington, VT the Adirondacks, Lake George and Scranton, PA When: Jan 15- Jan 18, 2009 More info: 48hrs of Tristate Highlights…. o Tour of VT Sports Car facility, where they build the Subaru Rally Cars (Awaiting Official Confirmation) o SPT will have the SEMA Forester XTI and Rescue Vehicles on hand at SOA for us to check out for ourselves o Biggest, Best Raffle Banquet o SDC will be giving away in excess of $4,000 in prizes this year! o Catered Breakfast at SOA and possibly a tour of the Subaru Museum of Cars o Catered Lunch at SDC

NOKIAN WRG2

by kurtamaxxxguy on Thu Nov 06 20:37:42 PST 2008

Did not know this forum was here... I recently outfitted my '09 Forester XT from it stock Yokohama Geolanders (which I was told and read were fair at best on ice) for Nokian WRG2. A lot of research at the Nokian sites showed these folks are serious about designing winter tires, or all-season tires with winter capability. So far the WRG2's have improved the ride and somewhat improved the gas mileage of the Forester. They have an XT rating and accept up to 51 psi - far more then the Yokos could. They also run more quietly on our very rough freeways (with a "dual pitch" sound, .vs. the Yoko's uniform, louder growl). Winter is coming up here in Portland OR and hopefully these will perform well on icy roads we often have here. Before these, on my older car, I had Goodyear TripleTreads which were absolutely useless on ice (My FWD Maxx often skidded sideways, and couldn't get up any hill with ice on the road). This year, it's WRG2 and AWD.

Re: awd comparison between rav4 and crv [kurtamaxxxguy]

by blueiedgod on Thu Nov 06 10:46:17 PST 2008

Not bad - interesting how it sends power to either front or rear. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ki9ad5UCmwo shows CRV and Forester in action at Catalina Island. CR-V there never made it up the hill - kept sending all its power to the rear wheels rather than all 4. The Forester did occasionally get stuck, but usually made it. Driver error. Subaru driver maintains momentum through the whole ride. CR-V driver is babying his vehicle and hence gets stuck. Notice how much faster Subaru goes and jumps up and down on the hills to keep going. CR-V is just too cautios. Trust me, CR-V in capable hands is able to go many places. We were in Oshawa, ON abandoned pits a couple of years ago, and a 1999 CR-V had to pull Jeep Wrangler out. Wrangler driver was inexperienced and go stuck where CR-V just passed through.

Re: awd comparison between rav4 and crv [saramaddie]

by kurtamaxxxguy on Thu Nov 06 07:32:10 PST 2008

Youtube has a number of videos showing CR-V's characteristics in snow or on hills. Ditto for Forester and RAV4. The RAV4 allows you to lock the front and back diffs together at speeds up to 25 mph. Above that the system returns to automatic, waiting to detect wheel slip before sending power to rear. Neither CR-V nor Forester allow manual lock. Also, the RAV4 traction control system cuts power to engine if wheels continue spinning. I do not know if the CR-V does the same. In Forester, you have option of turning traction control off. What does this mean to average driver? Normally, nothing. In bad weather, at low speeds, RAV4'ers can lock their diffs to immediately get AWD up to speeds of 25 mph. If all 4 wheels spin, engine power is reduced. CR-V and Forester drivers have less options. Foresters can at least turn off Traction control.

Re: awd comparison between rav4 and crv [blueiedgod]

by kurtamaxxxguy on Mon Nov 03 13:27:02 PST 2008

Not bad - interesting how it sends power to either front or rear. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ki9ad5UCmwo shows CRV and Forester in action at Catalina Island. CR-V there never made it up the hill - kept sending all its power to the rear wheels rather than all 4. The Forester did occasionally get stuck, but usually made it.

Re: [bm000092]

by norwoodsmn on Sat Nov 01 23:30:35 PDT 2008

Saw that in the "build one" part, guess it only comes with a primer coat, as you can't tell "it" what color you want. Oh well, give them some time.... I like the new tv ads though. "We'll do whatever it takes to...." We'll see about that sometime in late December, (I forecast).... Think they are missing the boat now on clearing out the '08's, by not offering reduced financing rates ALONG WITH the $5,000.00 or so price cut. As to getting more new '09's in, I just talked to a volume dealer some distance away who said [they] wouldn't bring more of them in until they'd sold off their '08's. I can understand that on one level, but If that held true here, we might not see any more '09's till spring! Step up to the plate Suzuki by combining price and financing deals. Near the end of it's model run now, a base '09, (ya, that's AN '09), Mazda 3 sport is now selling for thousands less before the spring debut of the new '10, AND you get a good financing rate too. Wake up little Suzy, wake up little Suzy... Recently tested the base '09 Forester. EXCELLENT car like cornering feel thanks to that low center of mass. However: 5 speed manual too "rubbery" lacking the much tough(er) feel of a Suzuki '08 manual. Unfortunate dash treatment, and the grey interior is very dull, but the black is nice. NOTE: the engine is noise(ier) than the new '09 four cylinder GV, but it's know for that, for whatever that's worth? Not broken in, it ran out of breath on a freeway hill in 5th, but the auto four cylinder GV did not on the same hill! Clearly the auto box would be the trannie to go with in this much more car like Sube. Tough(er) though it is for '09, you can feel it wouldn't stand up as well to the same sort of demanding recreational usage which Suzuki's can. The "expedition class" winner?, no surprise, it's advantage Suzuki. Still need to find a base '09 JA GV [somewhere] to test. Yes, even drove a used auto '02 XL-7. That 2.7 engine does wear well, which also is no surprise to me as all Suzuki engines seem to. Haven't ruled it out as a stop gap move. But may default to the old principal that 4:30pm on the last business day in December, is THE best time/day of the year to buy a car.... Still no new '09 owners out there?