Ratbag's 2006 Fox XS - Roo2

Gidday Folks

Guess I should start a journal. Seems a goodly system of keeping this stuff organised ... :poke: :lol:.

Anyway, I have fitted the OEM roof bars and Rola basket to Roo2 in the last couple of days.


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Took it for a spin into town today on the Nepean Highway.

From about 70 km/h, it started to purr.

By about 80 km/h, the purr had become a more of a roar ... :( :(.

This will drive me NUTS, in short order ... Fortunately, it is my intention to fit the basket to the lid on my rebuilt trailer, where it should be out of the wind, and the noise should be well behind me ....

Will keep you posted about all this ... :iconwink: ;) :raspberry:
 
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Gidday NL & Thunder

My mate and I had a nice day wandering around down that way taking photos. I took around 80.

About 40 kms getting out of the city and back in again; about 180-200 kms on various highways, and the rest on by-ways ... :iconwink:. Actually a bit surprised that the economy was as good as that, considering the stopping and starting and general f@rting around.

IIRC, we went to Korumburra, Glen Alvie, Kongwak, Korrine, Wonthaggi and Kilcunda - not necessarily in that order! Did a bit of driving around in circles, turning at any road/track that looked promising or interesting.

I didn't have much trouble with my left shoulder changing gears. This was a bit of a worry for me, as it's still not really right. Being on the computer so much over the last couple of weeks trying to get it up and running properly again has been a bit stressful to it. I also had to spend a couple of days at a client's doing much the same, but just general maintenance.

Needless to say, I am currently knackered! Adobe CS5 Design Premium didn't like being re-installed, so spent an hour on the phone to them. They couldn't have been more helpful, or understanding of the situation. I can hardly de-activate the originally installed s/w when I cannot even boot to that invocation of the OS!

CS6 Design & Web Premium was delivered today. So will have to install that on two of our workstations over the next week or so. Currently waiting on the serial number from Adobe for it, as it is the Student/Teacher edition ... :) :ebiggrin: :cool:. The price is sure right!

As for Roo2, I suspect that I am falling in love with cruise control ... :lol: :ebiggrin:.
 
Sounds like you had a great day Ratbag :)
Also great to hear your shoulder didn't play up too much either :)

Regards
Mr Turbo
 
Yeah, it was a good day, Mr T.

When you get to my age, it seems that a whole swag of my friends have already died. So nice to make new friends, and also to do things with those who are around still.

Sorry to be so gloomy, but I think that the parents of my age group are going to be the last generation for a long time who live to a hale and hearty 90-100! They all grew up in a world that was relatively free of toxins; and we already knew about the dangers of lead etc (which is what knocked off the Roman Empire ... ).

For those of us born after WWII, we have grown up in a soup of toxins.
Adults are relatively resistant to these things (e.g. DDT, lead/arsenic poisoning etc), but infants are highly sensitive to them.
 
I would be lost without cruise control! Imagine having to control the speed using your right foot...how lame! :rotfl:
 
Well, Folks.

Bit of an update.

The good news is that my shoulder seems to be slowly getting better. I can now raise that arm horizontal sideways, and nearly vertical raising it from the front to rear. Still hurts at times. Stirred it up going on a photography expedition last month ...

The bad news is that Roo2 is having an exhaust event. Looks to be leaking at the tail pipe welded join to the rear muffler. I'd be prepared to bet that it got bashed about on the Bunyip day out, and seriously bashed about on the Noojee day out. Ah well. Time for a service anyway, so will see what Ross says about repair or replace.

The other good news is that on that photography expedition, I appear to have got something like 8 to 9 L/100K for the day. Not sure, as didn't fill after. I must be getting used to the electronic throttle, or the cruise control is ... :iconwink: :ebiggrin: :rotfl:.
 
Glad to hear your shoulder is (slowly) mending, pity your exhaust needs help too. My exhaust is looking pretty sad after the Gentle Annie trip :(

"8 to 9 L/100K for the day"...not fair! Not only do you get the much more powerful engine but better fuel economy too? :lildevil:
 
That is a pity about the exhaust Ratbag :(

Great to hear that your shoulder is getting better :)

Regards
Mr Turbo
 
Gidday NL & Mr T

Nachaluva said:
Glad to hear your shoulder is (slowly) mending, pity your exhaust needs help too.
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Thanks. The Warfarin seems to cause every minor injury to take ages to heal.

My exhaust is looking pretty sad after the Gentle Annie trip :(
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Why does that not surprise me, mate? :(
Still a bugger though ....

"8 to 9 L/100K for the day"...not fair! Not only do you get the much more powerful engine but better fuel economy too? :lildevil:
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I wouldn't swear to it in court! Still not the most economical car around town, and this is mostly how I use it from day to day. Since I don't really do high mileage anyway, this isn't much of a problem, or cost.

mr turbo said:
That is a pity about the exhaust Ratbag :(

Great to hear that your shoulder is getting better :)

Regards
Mr Turbo
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Thanks, mate. The shoulder sure is taking its own sweet time! 11 months now. At least I am no longer yelping every few minutes when it locks or spasms. The articulation is gradually improving (very gradually ... ), and as it does, I try to exercise it gently to those limits. Seems to be working to improve it a bit further each week.

Seems that a lot of people with this kind of injury end up having to have surgery to rectify it. I have never felt that mine was quite that bad; and I also need to avoid all kinds of surgery because of the rat poison. It keeps me alive, but it sure as hell causes heaps of problems while doing so!

Just have to see about the exhaust. It may be able to be welded up, but when this was done to Roo1, it really wasn't satisfactory, and I may as well have saved my money. I will see what Ross has to say about it. Don't have a lot of faith in exhaust "specialists" after the experience with Roo1.
 
Ratbag said:
To this day, I don't think that the dealer knew exactly what he had!
Yeah, he knew it was an XS, low mileage etc. But what I reckon he missed is that it has the luxury pack, without the sunroof and leather ... Makes the car much more expensive than a "standard" XS.
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Hi Ratbag - Subaru always specced the leather and sunroof as the "Luxury" pack. So what does your XS come with over the standard XS if it doesn't have the leather & sunroof? I notice it has the front mudflaps (and foglight protectors?)
 
Gidday Thunder

thunder039 said:
9l per 100km. very good indeed. i just got a return of 13l per 100km!
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My experience so far with the 2.5L N/A is that it will give excellent open road economy; and very ordinary economy around town if one plays heavily with the accelerator - very easy to do with the electronic throttle!

Still love the car though. Excellent to drive in all circumstances.

good to hear about the shoulder ratbag, pitty about the exhaust, at least it can probably be welded
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Thanks. Exhausts are easier to fix than shoulders ... :rotfl:.
 
guzzla said:
Hi Ratbag - Subaru always specced the leather and sunroof as the "Luxury" pack. So what does your XS come with over the standard XS if it doesn't have the leather & sunroof? I notice it has the front mudflaps (and foglight protectors?)
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Not here, they didn't.
It's been mix-n-match for as long as I have known. Dealers (Inchcape ... ) sometimes offer "special" deals with set extras.

Priced a six stacker with 7 speakers as an extra on the XS? I have. Our insurer also knows what that extra toll was. Something like a grand extra ...

A few other little extras ...

Insurance companies are not fools. They insure what is insurable. They will not insure what doesn't have the value in it. Well, some might, but not the ones I deal with ...
 
Ratbag said:
Not here, they didn't.
It's been mix-n-match for as long as I have known. Dealers (Inchcape ... ) sometimes offer "special" deals with set extras.

Priced a six stacker with 7 speakers as an extra on the XS? I have. Our insurer also knows what that extra toll was. Something like a grand extra ...
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The 6 stacker was part of the XS when I was buying in mid 2007 and was on the specs on Subaru Australia website and their glossy brochure. There were quite a few combinations of optioned X models with leather/sunroof, privacy glass, rear spoiler or alloys or even the satnav. All the XS models seemed to have the same specs as my XT minus the Momo leather wheel with audio controls, engine (of course), wheels and xenon lights with washers.

When I insured mine (with RACQ) they just offered market value - whatever that would be. I guess that gives them the power to value it at anything they like. At $400 a year for full comprehensive with standard $500 excess, hire car option and rating 1 for life I won't complain though.
 
guzzla said:
The 6 stacker was part of the XS when I was buying in mid 2007 and was on the specs on Subaru Australia website and their glossy brochure. There were quite a few combinations of optioned X models with leather/sunroof, privacy glass, rear spoiler or alloys or even the satnav. All the XS models seemed to have the same specs as my XT minus the Momo leather wheel with audio controls, engine (of course), wheels and xenon lights with washers.
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All of the above, and then some, is what makes it difficult to tell exactly what level of equipment a particular vehicle has ...
Which is what I said in the first instance ...

For just one example, the stereo in the 2006 models came as 1xCD + 4 speakers; 6xCD + 4 speakers; 6xCD + 6 speakers; 6xCD + 7 speakers; with SatNav; (IIRC ... ). Each step at extra cost, of course.

As for the steering wheel, SWMBO's has the Momo leather wheel ... only available as a tickable option as part of the "luxury pack" AFAICT ... I prefer the ordinary wheel in mine, to be honest. Same as I don't take to the four spoke wheels either.


When I insured mine (with RACQ) they just offered market value - whatever that would be. I guess that gives them the power to value it at anything they like. At $400 a year for full comprehensive with standard $500 excess, hire car option and rating 1 for life I won't complain though.
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May I suggest that you change your insurance to "agreed value" for the precise reason you mentioned?

The agreed write-off values for ours are around $25K and $30K respectively. Market value is as low as $14K and $18K respectively - a substantial difference in my books. There are many circumstances other than a complete write off where this value determines whether the vehicle is written off by the insurer, or not.
 
guzzla said:
When I insured mine (with RACQ) they just offered market value - whatever that would be. I guess that gives them the power to value it at anything they like. At $400 a year for full comprehensive with standard $500 excess, hire car option and rating 1 for life I won't complain though.
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Ratbag said:
May I suggest that you change your insurance to "agreed value" for the precise reason you mentioned?
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I agree Ratbag.
Don't fall for that trick guzzla.
If my insurance company only insured me for market value, I'd be telling them that I'd be going else where :yell:

Ratbag said:
The agreed write-off values for ours are around $25K and $30K respectively. Market value is as low as $14K and $18K respectively - a substantial difference in my books. There are many circumstances other than a complete write off where this value determines whether the vehicle is written off by the insurer, or not.
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Thats very true mate.
And I'm likewise in the same boat as you mate. The difference between what my Forry is insured for (agreed value) as against it's market value is quite significant.
Sure, you pay a little more, but for the difference in $$$ terms, it's well worth it :iconwink:

Regards
Mr Turbo
 
There's also another trick they get you with if you underinsure your car (or anything for that matter).

The rate at which you're underinsured can also be applied to a partial claim...not just a write off. So that $5000 repair bill may only be paid out pro rata, leaving you with the bill for the rest, or at least a lengthy & frustrating fight.

Insurance companies have many tricks up their sleeves...my advice would be have a few yourself & fully insure with agreed value, listing every single option/ modification you can think of (exc idea from Ratbag) :poke:
 
Exhaust repair 13 Dec 2012

Well Folks ...

Took Roo2 to the exhaust doctor today. Bird's mouth crack around the rear of the resonator at the weld. Rest of the rear pipe and muffler looked OK, so decided to go with a cut and weld job using one of their torpedo resonators.

Now sounds happy again, $130 for the whole job, which I reckon was reasonable.

Maybe when the other parts of the rear exhaust pipe go in around 50-100,000 Kms, it will warrant a whole new rear pipe from the spring-loaded flange back. I reckon that would have been over the top this time around.
 
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