I'm a new SVX owner! Gotta few questons.
 

Hello all,

I'm the guy from a few days ago that was looking into a 1997 SVX with unknown milage for $5500. Well, the prick backed out on me. Anyway, here is what I ended up buying.

I bought a 1996 Polo Green LSi with 59K original, two owner, miles. It was much more expensive than the $5500 one, but I'm certain of the milage and it's condition is very nice. I do have a few quick questions about the car though.

1) when driving down the road if I go from zero throttle to just a TINY bit of gas, the engine/Trans (I'm not sure, this is a guess) seems to "rock" a bit. If I go on-off-on-off throttle it starts to rock a good bit. This might just be the nature of an automatic, but it's odd..

2) The central locking switch does not seem to work, nor do the power locks for that matter. The switch by the transmission seems inoperable, and when I lock the car from the outside, it only locks that door. I've checked the fuse, but it's fine.

3) I have the remotes for the alarm, but I can not get into the programming mode. I get in the car, turn on the ignition, but the Alarm light does nothing when pressed. It does not seem to ever light up. When I turn off the ignition and rapidly press the alarm switch to enter programming mode, it does nothing.

4) The sunvisors on my car seem to be a bit "pillow like" They seem to have an "inflated" look to them. Is this normal?

5) The owner told me he had replaced the CD player twice. It needs a third. The player will no longer pull or eject the CD completely. Should I just stick an aftermarket player in there? If so, can I replace the tape unit with one of the "junk Bins" that are on the non-CD equiped cars?

6) This is very important. Should I try to get an extended warranty, and if so, whom should I go to? I was quoted $1500 by Warrantybynet.com and by Warranty Gold for 3year/36K miles. It was pretty much all inclusive, but that seemed high.

Thanks in advance.

Clarke

Welcome to the online nuthouse Clark!
 

Congratulations on your purchase!

I can't offer much assistance to you on most of your questions, but on the remote programming one were the doors and trunk closed while you were attemtping to program the remote?

Warranty is up to you, but may be a good purchase. I'm a little concerend with your post about the transmission.

Have you taken it to a Subaru dealership or competent tech for inspection? You might also want to try and hook up with immortal suby, he lives in SC and may be able to help you.

Todd

Another Greenville member!!
 

Finally - someone from greenville joins the board. My wife and I both have black 92's and we'll look forward to seeing you around town.

As far as your problems - I'd have to see what you mean about the engine/ tranny rocking. Not sure what is going on there - maybe a bad motor or tranny mount?

If you can afford a good extended warranty it would be a good idea. There are some other posts around here from some people who got them and also they offer some insight as to what to watch out for.

I have never seen/ heard of sunvisors being puffy - maybe they aren't original? They all sag a bit after time when the arm starts to wear out.

The CD player - I just replaced mine with an aftermarket unit since it did not agree with my taste in music sometimes - it would spit out certain cd's - even brand new ones while it would then play some old scratched up ones. It is a good and powerful unit and has good sound but I just got sick of dealing with it skipping. You can get a single din replacement and then get a junk bin from a used subaru or put a dual din replacement in there.

The alarm button - try holding it in for a second when pressing it instead of hitting it fast.

If you see a black svx with 5 spoke rims - that's me, A blond in a spoilerless black svx is my wife. There are about 5 or 6 more in town here but no one else is on the network.
Hope to see you around

Hey Suby
 

Suby,

I'm from Greenville, but I now work in Charlotte. I am home most weekends though, and I'd like to catch up with you and get your opinion on the car. Do you know of a good mechanic here in town? I called the dealer and he referred me to a former Subaru tech that went out on his own. I can't remember his name, but I think he's in Simpsonville.

Clarke

They had a good tech at the local dealer but he butchered my car and others due to dealer pressure (took shortcuts) I would trust this guy if I watched him work - I know he has the knowledge and skills to do it right.
Other than that I wouldn't let anyone in town touch my car. The closest dealer I'd trust is Earl Duff in Tennessee.
Let me know if you'll be around downtown soem weekend, I'd like to see your car.

I live in Downtown (across from the Hyatt), so I'm always here on weekends. I'll email you off-board about getting together.

As far as warranty stuff... I have a warranty through warrantybynet on my 92. Haven't had any troubles with them, though I haven't really tested them too much. They paid to replace a rear wheel bearing for about $300, but since that's less than the cost of my policy, it's hard to say what they'd do when it came to a tranny or something.

Anyways, they people there have always been helpful, and the dealer said they were easy to work with on the bearing issue.

It's up to you, but I'm glad to have it..

sith, would you tell us about your warranty? i went to warrantybynet's site and the oldest year they offer coverage is for '94 and up. (i have a 92 with 126k and im looking to get a extended warranty my self)

Can you offer details for your policy? thanks. :)

I think warrantybynet changed some things around on qualified cars.

I bought mine in may of last year (2001) on my 92 with 52,000 miles. Price was about $1300 for 4 years or 50,000 miles.

Unfortunatly, i'm not aware of any warranty companies that will give coverage on 92's anymore, or on cars with over 100,000 miles...

I purchased an Emerald warranty from 1sourceautowarranty.com for my 97 with 53k. Including the AWD and Electronic High Tech options it was $1550 for 5 years/60k miles with $0 deductible. Subary wanted the same $ for a 2 year/24k with $100 deductible. I called my local dealer and they assured me that no issues with dealing with other insurance companies. Thankfully I have not had to test the coverage yet.