Manual performance wagons around $10-15k?

[my limp penis]

there is a bit more to a performance car than just being about to run a 13s pass...

perhaps that's just me, where i am over the stage in my life where drag racing/penis compensation is the be-all and end-all for a car.

[MR-PUNANNY]

This > Magna...in Indian Maroon too

[Captiva Fan]

This > Magna...in Indian Maroon too

I see no gold grille ...

[Spoonfed]

Performance car.

More so than a Porsche at least haha. SUV FTL

[Nick]

Can I just add that the Subaru Liberty Wagon 3.0RB is the pick of the bunch.

Almost every PF member I know has one. Join the bandwagon. Get your wagon on.

[Jason Broadhurst]

There is no turbo 3.0 is there? Is there a turbo 2.5?

[lonewolf]

later model is a turbo 2.5

[darwinschops]

Throwing open to see some discourse on less covered models and modified criteria. Retains room, prefeably manual but awd so can take on basic gravel road/mild tracks and better for ice and snow + some room for fun shit on road too.

Subarus - covered pretty well

34 Stagea - Rb so lots of mods, slightly dated

35 - Newer, not sure about motors, no chance of manual, otherwise good

Adventra - late entry hadn't actually considered until seeing Jim's mention in mini garage thread. In the looking for a roomy wagon with light off road ability that doesn't suck, it actually fitted. With gas, could be not terrible on fuel. Would have to be v8 lx8 and was surprised to find a few in the ~$10k range.

Not sold on last one despite Ls predilections, room (shit falling off and gearbox, wp, sump gasket... gm quality fun) but is cheap to fix and if I can find gas, ok to run. That said, really wouldn't mind having a bit of solid qualitah as per last 5 years of completely drama free mazda ownership/lack of creaks and stuff falling off as per stagea.

Had considered those chaser wagons but rwd only this time ever counted against it. Same for Vovlo or too old or too full blown stab myself in the face soccer mum 4wd. Not sure if enough room in Caldina, I find room handy. Not for hooker bodies.

[bigshipengine.jpg]

Legnum is what you need.

[Captiva Fan]

Legnum is what you need.

[darwinschops]

Legnum is what you need.

Cheers, keep bloody forgetting about those. Anything to watch out for in particular/preferred model?

Feedback on others from owners would be good too from any mentioned. Sort of going off the adventra again for afore mentioned quality + boat reasons.

[pants]

Legnum.

We bought ours a couple of weeks before wedding/honeymoon. Drove around Tasmania for a couple of weeks and was heaps of fun. Ended up going for it over the same year Stag as it was better looking. Imported through the iron chef we were after a face lift model with recaros, manual, roof rack and sunroof. Uncommon mix apparently so we ended up with a manual with recaros. Momo wheel too. It arrived with 82k kms on it minus an air/fuel meter that some cunt half inched.

I change the oil and filter every 5k, and so far that's all that's gone into it apart from 2 sets of tyres, adding a bleed valve and the services about to be mentioned. The 100k service done through an evo workshop out far east in Melbourne (forgot name) ran to $1.2k. Had all the fluids done at 145k kms for $700 here in the ACT. Up to 155k kms at the moment.

Nopics drives it everywhere with our two kids (7 month old, rear facing seat and 27 month old, front facing seat) and is late on the brakes, down a gear every corner. I leave it in third and carry speed as it just pulls around. Has active yaw control which you cant switch it off. Only complaints I have is that is is pretty short geared and its great from 2.5k rpm to about 5k rpm. Any more than that and it makes more noise and doesn't go much faster. Has a pair of small turbos great for low down and mid but not top end. I love it for driving holidays as it has enough poke for overtaking and handles well. So far, the four of us have been able to fit enough shit in the back for a week long trip. Ours had cusco coilvers, a iida exhaust, front and rear strut braces and we've wound up the boost a little. On the highway 10kms per litre is achievable, around down usually 8s.

We will be up for some rotors at some stage and probably a clutch. Evo Brembos are a 90% bolt on. ozvr4.com has a wealth of info and there is a UK forum for these with more info. We have been rear ended twice in the same spot, both times 2 weeks at the same panel shop and it came back.

I like them.

[darwinschops]

Fantastic mate, thanks for the input.

So the servicing can be a bit more expensive? Changing the fluids a bit of a pita for basic rube with no mechanical skills? One thing I've gotten used to with dunnydore is cheap servicing/diy-able.

Having a look at them on carsales now, less than I thought there would be though. Edit, and the back seats fold flat I guess?

[Grungle]

I put my 2c in earlier in this thread but after this:

Retains room, prefeably manual but awd so can take on basic gravel road/mild tracks and better for ice and snow + some room for fun shit on road too.

I'd say what you really want is an NM35 or PM35 Stagea ARX. (Think of NM35 and PM35 as series 1 and 2)

The ARX has a slight lift over the standard RS/RX stagea, and comes standard with 18s and i think an LSD. Also slightly wider track.

While the Legnum is by all accounts a great car it's...i dunno...sportier than the stageas. It's quicker point-to-point, a bit more lively, but a bit smaller and as above, a bit shorter geared. I think it's more fun to drive, but the stagea (to me) felt a bit more solid and more of a cruiser/tourer. The stageas have a 'snow' AWD setting too.

This is the ARX (this one is actually mine):


and this is the RS/RX:


Both have stock suspension and wheels.

I have previously described it as the difference between a commodore and an adventura, or an A6 and an allroad, or a V70 and an XC70.


I've had mine for 5 years now, and done most of the servicing myself (apart from the 100,000km). All easy, and most parts interchangeable with local 350z/murano/xtrail etc if you know what you're looking for.

As per my previous post though, the tiptronic auto is no substitute for a manual (which they didn't make). Once you're used to the auto it's fine, but the tiptronic mode is woeful. But I just did a 4 hour round trip in mine and had a great time!

[pants]

Fantastic mate, thanks for the input.

So the servicing can be a bit more expensive? Changing the fluids a bit of a pita for basic rube with no mechanical skills? One thing I've gotten used to with dunnydore is cheap servicing/diy-able.

Having a look at them on carsales now, less than I thought there would be though. Edit, and the back seats fold flat I guess?

Gearbox, 2 diffs and AYC is too much for my getting shit everywhere tolerance level. Yep, back seat folds about 90% flat (seat bolstering doesn't quite allow 100%).

The M35 stags were about 10k dearer when we bought the leggy (ours was landed and complied for 16k in 2011) so were out of the price range. I like the leggy more than the WC34 stags but if a M35 was within our price range it might have been another story. Might not be as quick but bigger interior and nissan badge would have made up for it.