This is Ben, and I go by at Lifted Subarus or at Dirt Subis on Instagram.
You're listening to the Subi and you podcast, and this is episode number 219.
Let's frickin' get it.
Hey everybody, welcome to the very first episode of 2026.
As you just heard, I have my buddy Ben, who is the host of the Dirt Subis podcast.
So this is going to be a chat between the two Subaru themed podcast hosts, and we have a
really good time.
It's a long conversation, but hey, that's the way it goes.
So the way that Ben does his podcast is he just kind of goes, you know, off the
hip and doesn't really have any questions for his guests, and typically I do have
questions for my guests.
But this time on this episode with my buddy Ben, we're doing it Dirt Subi style, where
we're not having any questions beforehand, we're just going after it.
So we had a really good conversation and a lot of fun, and I was very, very honored
to have him on and just chat and see what's going on with this guy.
I know we're only a few days in, but I hope everybody is having a good start
to the new year to 2026.
And, you know, if you struggled in 2025, I really hope that 2026 is going to be a much
better year for you.
As you know, I've struggled and others have to, you know, with getting laid off.
So I really hope that some really good, prosperous things come to all of us this
year and that we just have a really good time.
We, you know, able to make things happen financially and we can get out there and
meet more people, get out there and hit some trails and just have a good time.
Before we get into this conversation with Ben, we will hear from one of our sponsors.
The Subi and You podcast is brought to you by Ascentric Designs.
For those of you who don't know, Ascentric Designs is a small, community
driven business that offers custom fit vinyl overlays for most Subaru models.
This includes various designs for the rear reflectors, taillights and side
taillights. I also offer fun, detailed designs like the popular fender stripes
and stickers. To find designs for your Subi, head on over to
eccentricdesigns.com. There's always more projects in the works.
So be sure to follow at eccentric.designs on Instagram.
As always, thank you so much.
eccentricdesigns for sponsoring the Subi and You podcast.
If you are not following her, if you haven't checked out her website,
go check it out. She's got a lot of different decals and for different
locations all over your Subaru and she's been doing this for quite a while.
So if you haven't been over there, you really need to go check it out.
She's been doing some really, really great things.
And she's very passionate about helping people personalize their Subaru.
So thank you so much eccentricdesigns.
So for this year, I, you know, it's going to be same as usual.
I have guests on my list.
Guests that I need to reach out to you because as, as of this point,
I don't have anything recorded.
So, but I've got a couple of weeks to get some episodes recorded
and get them ready for the year.
I'm sure I'll have some brands on again this year.
I do want to have some returning guests again and look forward
to doing more stuff with Subaru gear.
Also look forward to Overland Expo and hopefully some more events this year.
So we'll see how this year turns out for me, how, you know,
whether or not I'm able to make it out to events for the first time.
Hopefully we can do that.
And that would be really, really nice because I would love to meet more people.
And this is such a great community.
And every time I meet somebody, it's just it's so cool
because you've been chatting with somebody online,
whether it's just for a week or for a couple of years, doesn't really matter.
You see that person in person and it's like you've known each other forever.
Big hugs, always lots of laughs.
And I look forward to more of that with everybody.
I mentioned Subaru gear.
And of course, they are one of the other sponsors of the Subi and you podcast.
This year, the discount code is Subi and you 2026.
So go shop Subaru gear.
Look in the news section.
There's a tab for new items and they're always adding new items throughout the year.
There are also some items that are going away throughout the year.
So be sure if you see something and it's available and you really like it,
I highly recommend and encourage you to purchase that item.
If it's something that really appeals to you because if you wait a couple of months,
it may not be there anymore.
I have a favorite hat that I absolutely love and it's not available anymore.
There's some coffee mugs that I have that aren't available anymore.
So they rotate items throughout, you know, just like Netflix,
rotates shows and movies.
So you got to get them while they're there, but you can save 20 percent
by using that code Subi and you 2026.
Go fill up your cart, use the code.
If your purchase is over $50 after the discount,
you automatically get free shipping, too.
And that's a huge plus to get free shipping.
I really, really like that.
So thank you so much, Subaru Gear for sponsoring the Subi and you podcast.
And thank you for continuing to bring this great offer to the listeners
of the Subi and you podcast.
And of course, our other sponsor is Subi mods.
If you've been to Subi Fest, Wicked Big Meat Boxer Fest,
you should know who they are.
They've got a huge setup there.
They're usually sponsoring part of the event in a big way.
And I really, really appreciate Subi mods being a sponsor of the podcast.
They have a lot of great products on their website.
So be sure to check it out.
They also have a really great program for earning points towards money
off of your purchases.
So go explore that as well.
Again, thank you so much, Subi mods for sponsoring the Subi and you podcast.
I really appreciate it.
Before we get into this conversation with Ben, be sure to go check out
the dirt Subi's podcast and hear what he's got going on over there.
But for now, listen to this podcast and hear what he has to say.
Let's get into it.
So not only do I have been on the podcast, but this is not only is this episode
two nineteen, but this is the first episode of twenty twenty six.
So that was exciting because I messaged you and I said, hey,
because we have been talking about getting you on for months.
And and I'm like, oh, I'll get you on soon.
And I'm like, well, I got somebody else coming up.
I'll get you on soon.
I got to do this overland expo episode.
Oh, I've got, you know, like this brand that I connected with over at
overland expo, I got to get them on.
And and then it just kept kept pushing it and pushing it and pushing it.
And then I was like, OK, you know what?
The way it's lined up now, you'll be my first episode of two thousand
twenty six. Dude, I'm so stoked.
Thank you, man. You're welcome.
Got me pumped.
Well, welcome to the Sue B and you podcast.
It's your turn. Thank you.
Man, this is super rad.
This is an absolute honor.
I know I've told you this in the past, but I just appreciate the heck out
of you, man, you've done a lot for for people.
So it's just cool to be on here.
And it was also rad to have you on my episode.
So absolutely. Yeah.
Thank you, man. This is sick.
Yeah. Yeah.
It's it's been a long time in the making and cool to have the other
Subaru podcaster on here and just talk about all things Subaru and
and we're doing this.
We're doing this dirt, Sue B style.
I have no script.
I have no questions.
So we're just just going to, you know, add lib through the whole thing.
Dude, that's exactly what I wanted.
Let's fricking roll, brother.
I'll let you I'll let you hit me with.
Well, you kind of know what you're typically asking.
I've been doing it long enough, I think I'll let you run it.
So, you know, I got to ask the most important question.
Wallfuls are pancakes, man.
Wallfuls are pancakes.
I am very equal opportunity, but I do prefer pancakes.
Yes. We talked about this a little bit.
But, you know, when I make them, which is rare, dude,
because I try not to like incorporate a ton of carbs into my diet.
Yeah, some of the overweight at the moment.
But but when I cook them, man, I like them crispy.
Oh, yeah. And a little bit
yet rare in the center.
I like them to be a little bit soft inside.
But yeah, dude, pancakes kind of guy over here, brother.
Do you go to a restaurant and say, can I get those medium rare?
Only with my steak. Oh, wait.
No, pancakes.
Yeah, like order pancakes and like, you know, can I get those medium rare?
I've never had anybody ask me how they want their pancakes.
You know what's crazy?
I've literally never had pancakes at a restaurant, not one.
So what's not a man?
Dude, if you come down here, we got to go to Fort Worth.
There's a restaurant called Spiral Diner.
They make vegan pancakes.
But, you know, and the thing is like, you don't eat them and think,
oh, yeah, well, these are vegan pancakes.
I thought they tasted that they taste just like pancakes.
They're just, you know, let's just put that out there
that they taste just like pancakes.
But they have a nice, crispy edge to them.
Dude, the consistency of these pancakes is just like phenomenal.
It's my favorite pancake on the planet.
This place, they're amazing.
I've heard you talk about the Spiral Diner many times
and it's on my list of places to go.
It's so good.
It's so good.
But yeah, so we'll do this.
I mean, we're doing it with no questions, but, you know, I do have questions.
Like, I know you've got a Subaru.
I know you've had several Subarus, but like, how did you get into?
Like, how did you get interested in Subarus in the first place?
Like, where did that come from?
OK, so I'm going to tell you a story, right?
Storytime with Ben.
This is just off the dome, but I was just thinking about this recently.
The first time I ever saw like a Subaru that actually captured my attention
where I was like, oh, this is this is sick.
I was down at a place, if anybody from the Pacific Northwest
that maybe grew up in the, you know, Southwest Washington
or Northwest Oregon area near like Vancouver, Portland.
How is it a place called Lower River Road near Vancouver Lake?
I was a little kid.
Man, this is very specific.
I like it. Very specific, very specific, dude.
And I was down there with my family because at this time I was a young, young kid.
And we were we were using cordless hole punchers, if you know what I mean,
because at the time you were allowed to do that down there.
So we were down there just a little target practice.
And it was also a famous spot for people to do street racing.
You know, it was illegal to street race there.
But yeah, these these two these group of kids with two cars rolled up.
One of them was like one of those OG Dodge Neon SRT fours.
Oh, yeah. And yeah, dude.
And at the time, like those were brand new, you know, yeah.
The other car was a Bug Eye WRX and it was World Rally Blue.
And I remember they were, you know, they were like lining up
and just, you know, doing pulls and, you know, dragging a little bit.
And I remember thinking like, dude, that Subaru sounds sick, looks sick, that's tight.
I just remember that unequal length header sound.
I was like, that is tight.
I need to get one of those when I'm old enough to drive, you know.
Did the Subaru win?
Oh, you know what it did.
It did. I hope so.
And, you know, I wasn't paying too much attention really, you know,
because I was there and I was busy doing other stuff with my family.
But yeah, I just remember that was like that's the moment I remember
actually like seeing Subarus and being like, oh, these are tight.
But again, at that time, I was really young.
Couldn't even drive, you know, at that point.
But then later on down the road, you know, I grew up in the Pacific Northwest.
And it's about as many.
Oh, it's a, it's awful, awful place to live.
But there's about as many Subarus as there is rain
in the Pacific Northwest.
It's like, it doesn't matter where you're at.
You're going to see Subarus.
And so they just were kind of a part of, you know, the culture there anyways.
But yeah, it started snowboarding and it was just like, you know,
commonly understood that if you want a car to get up to Timberline Lodge
or anywhere on Mount Hood with no problems, you need a Subaru.
And so I don't remember.
Maybe like it was probably like 2006, 2005, 2006.
When I really was like, OK, I need to actually try to get one of these cars.
I think I got my first one in like.
2008, 1998 legacy GT sedan.
And, you know, at the time, it was like either the legacy GT
or the two five RS, the Impreza.
Those were like kind of the the flagship cars unless you were going to go up
and, you know, jump into a to a WRX, which those were still considered new at the time.
Yeah. And so that's what I got.
And I just started running that thing and I just couldn't believe like.
Didn't matter, even if I had crap tires on the car,
I could still get up the hill, bro, like no problem.
Yeah, they're the all wheel drive is just insane.
I mean, it's so good.
And yeah, man, I was like, this is really bad.
But I was using summer tires, which is not good, not good at all in the snow.
And I would I just was clueless that driving in the snow was actually dangerous
because of how well the car handled. You know, I was a young kid.
Yeah, everything's fine.
This car is doing great. What's wrong?
No problem. Like, dude, I was like,
smashing corners at like 50 in that thing and looking back at my bro,
I should probably be dead.
But yeah, that was kind of my my introduction to the cars.
And like, just kind of always liked them.
And obviously, the Subaru Rumble was was sick.
Still is to this day.
So how many Subaru's have you owned?
You know, it's funny you ask that because I was thinking about that not too long ago.
I know it's over 20. What? Oh, absolutely.
Yeah. Oh, my gosh, I'm on my first.
I'm just.
Well, the thing is I don't really own like nice cars.
I never financed cars. I've only financed one car ever.
And so it's, you know, it's not like it's nothing to go by like a 15 year old clapped out Subaru, you know.
But still, I mean, even even though you're not, you know,
spending tons of money on like a brand new car just to have owned over 20, that's crazy.
Yeah, I've got kind of a problem.
Like when I like something, I'm like, oh, I'm just going to buy a lot of it
or buy as much of it as I can or get as invested into this thing as I can.
And I think with.
Subaru's, it was like I owned that that legacy GT for a long time.
But then I started to realize that the first gen legacies.
They came in a turbocharged version in the early 90s up until like 94.
And I was like, oh, those are sick.
I didn't even know about these, you know.
And so that kind of became like my holy grail car.
And so I bought one of those.
And so it's not uncommon for me to have like two or three cars at a time.
And that sort of started my addiction with like having multiple Subaru's.
So I would just buy one, have it for a while and then see another one that I wanted.
And I would like sell one of the ones I owned and then buy another one.
It's like, oh, I want to drive a Forester.
Oh, now I want to try like a legacy, you know, like whatever.
How many have you owned all at once?
All at once on paper.
I think the most Subaru's I've had in my possession, all at once is just three.
Okay.
Which isn't a lot, you know, I would probably own more except for at the time,
you know, I was a young college kid like living with my family and stuff.
And my mom probably would have like murdered me if I showed up with another car.
Where are you going to put all these Subaru's?
Yeah.
Well, I'm going to put them in your garden, of course.
No, no, my parents have always been pretty supportive of all the stupid stuff I get into.
But yeah, I knew when it was a little bit too far, you know,
I didn't want to wear out my welcome.
How many do you own now?
Right now, I just own two Subaru's and then, yes, I own a Jeep.
I think most people know that.
Yeah.
Well, you know what?
My wife's got a 2000.
I always mix it up, whether it's an 11 or a 12.
I don't know why this one's so hard for me to figure out, but she's got an outback.
Okay.
And so we have three Subaru's at the house currently.
It is a six-speed manual.
Nice.
It's got the exact same problem that your center div had.
Wait, her outback?
Yeah.
Oh, nice.
Yep.
The, I got a couple of, yeah, I got to pull the thing apart and do it.
I've just never done one before.
And so it's one thing for me to check with a rally Trek because he pulled his out and rebuilt his.
I bought a brand new one.
Yeah.
I've seen people do that.
I will 100% just buy a new one.
Oh, okay.
Gotcha.
It's like, ah, like I'm going to spend an extra six hours in the garage, like not
sure if I did it right or I could just buy the thing already packaged and already redone
the 400 bucks.
I'll sign me up.
Dude.
Yeah.
I think it's relatively easy to switch out.
I would have done it myself if I would have had a place to do it and all that, but
I just had the shop do it because for me it was easier.
But yeah.
So you, you have a, so she has the outback.
You have a forester and then what else do you have?
Yeah.
So I've got, I got a lifted SG forester.
So it's an 06, which in my opinion, like the more I have, the more I have
that car, the more I'm realizing like it is probably like the best bang for the
buck Subaru bar none dude.
But then I also have a legacy and oh five legacy.
So it's still got like the old school exhaust manifold on it that you can easily swap
over to unequal length headers to get the rumble.
Yeah.
I got that legacy.
It's, it's not cool though.
It's not lifted or anything.
It's actually slammed.
So I went the other direction with that.
It's kind of my, my little go cart.
You know, it's funny is it wasn't until fairly, fairly recently I think that I
realized that clapped forester was you.
Oh yeah, dude.
Yeah.
Yeah, that's me.
Yeah.
That's just my, that's just my super, one of my super pages.
Yeah.
Do you have a, do you have a page for the other, for the other one?
No.
Oh, okay.
It's, it's literally just like a clapped out little fart box, you know what I mean?
Gotcha.
Yeah.
Like it's a fun car to drive though.
Like, I mean, I've, I never break speed limits ever, but at 100 miles an hour, it
just was completely planted, you know?
Yeah.
It's got a bunch of like white line suspension parts in the rear end.
I think it's got beefier sway bars and it's on fortune auto coilovers, which kind of
like a mid-tier coilover, but yeah, handles great man.
I love it.
Nice.
So with your forester clapped forester, like where did clapped come from?
Bro, I just, I don't know man.
I, I don't like to use, you'll have to put a beep sound over this, but the
word shit box, I hesitate to use that word publicly because it's vulgar, but
I felt like clapped out was like the next best way to describe it.
An alternative.
Yeah, I guess.
Yeah.
So like all my cars are clapped out, you know, like I just, I had, I actually
bought a brand new 2018 WRX off the lot.
And, you know, I've loved the car.
It was a lot of fun.
Did a few like real, real basic just mods, not for power, but just to tailor
it to my taste.
I remember the first time it got a tiny little ding in it.
I was like, bro, this really makes me angry.
Like, I don't like this anymore.
Like, I have to actually worry about whether or not I ding it.
So now it's like, dude, give me like, I don't want anything newer than
20 years old.
Give me something old school.
Bro, if I can, if I can bang it to trees or, you know, shopping cart
hits it when I'm getting groceries or what, I'll give a fudge man.
Like hit it again.
Yeah.
I mean, like with mine, I have, I was in the parking lot of an HEB,
which is grocery store near here.
I was parked next to where you return the carts and it's got like,
you know, metal tubing to keep it, keep it and keep the carts
in and stuff.
And so there was a car in front of me and then the cart thing,
well, not a car in front of me.
It was like one spot over and these spots are at an angle.
And I've done this many times before where, where I'll just pull
instead of backing out, I'll just pull forward and go in between
the basket thing and the other car because I got, I've got plenty
of room.
And so I just totally misjudged it and I turned a little too
tight and I just hear this scrape all the way down the
passenger side and I'm like, oh my gosh, you complete moron.
Oh, and I was like, and it was late at night.
So I get home and I go out and I look at it and I'm like,
it doesn't even look like anything happened.
And then the, and I think my car was kind of dirty too.
So it was kind of hard to tell too, but I went out the next
day and the day, and the daylight and saw it.
And there was like a very, very, very faint scratch,
but like it didn't dent in the door panel or anything.
And like it's so, it's so subtle that I don't even notice
it now because, and I was like, I was so thankful that it would,
you know, so I did that somewhere out in Bastrop.
I think it was when my son was driving it.
He was going down and like there was just a little
embankment and he hit the front bumper and now it has
like a dent in the thick hard plastic where right
underneath the, right underneath the fog light.
So there's a dent now and like I can't really push it
because it's really, really hard, but I don't care, you know.
But I have a door ding on my driver's side door
that really pisses me off.
I even have like a paint chip on the passenger side
because I was doing donuts and some pretty like beefy
gravel and I got home and I noticed that like, you know,
one of the rocks must have chipped the door.
I'm okay with that, but I've got, but somebody dinged
my door and that's not okay.
Yeah, dude, that's how I am too.
It's like, hey, it's okay if my stuff is broken,
but I want to be the one to break it.
Yeah.
Get away from my toys.
But yeah.
So, you know, things like that where if you do it yourself,
not that you're like happy about it,
but it just doesn't bother you as much.
Oh yeah.
It's like I paid for this.
I did.
Yeah.
Don't ding my door.
Yeah.
I mean, like I even have damage from hail.
Like I have hail damage on the hood and on the
like a pillar between the passenger side, you know,
door and windshield and even that, you know,
you can't do anything about that, but even that
doesn't really bother me.
Yeah.
Hacks of God, bro.
Naturally.
Yeah.
Wasn't a person.
Damage.
Yeah.
You don't get that stuff out here, bro.
That dangerous hail.
Oh really?
Yeah.
Dude, it gets bad.
Not well, not too bad here.
Probably the worst I've ever experienced it that day.
Yeah.
And thankfully it didn't do any more than that.
Yeah.
No thanks.
I'm going inside.
Yeah.
So like getting into Subaru's and everything,
like did you weigh back when you started buying them?
Did you know that there was a community out there?
You know what?
I did, but you know, this is like almost 20 years ago.
Yeah.
When I first, you know, got to the age where buying cars was
a reality for me.
You know, my space was kind of a thing.
Oh, really?
Oh yeah.
I'm that old dude.
Yeah, I'm older than you man.
I remember that.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I mean, nobody had smartphones.
Nobody even really had like phones on their camera yet
really that worked.
They looked like Game Boy cameras basically that was so bad.
But because of where I grew up, there was like, you know, a
lot of like local, you know, community, I guess, just
people that knew each other that were all like into the,
you know, into the car thing.
And then I found out about Naziak, which is like North
American.
Yeah.
Subaru and present owner's club or whatever it, whatever it
is.
This is a forum, right?
Yeah.
Yeah.
And that's been around.
I've still gone on there recently.
And some of the posts, it's like you'll look and it'll
say like, you know, 2003 or 2004.
Oh dude, this is like an artifact, you know, but it
wasn't at that time.
It's so funny to think kind of what's happened to the
brand actually worked for Subaru at a certain point
for a short period of time.
And I remember seeing the sales numbers of our region
and it was crazy, man.
It wasn't until like, I want to say like the mid 2010s,
like maybe the early 2010s when you started to see
like a real increase.
And I think the Outback is kind of what helped do
that when they redesigned the Outback.
But seeing how small the sales numbers were in
the U.S. prior to like 2010, they were so low,
dude, it was crazy.
So at the time it was like this weird little,
you know, like we were like the nerds, you know,
nobody liked Subaru owners.
Everybody thought we were weird.
Like they were a weird quirky car.
They weren't.
They are.
And they still are, but at the time.
Yeah, they were more weird.
Yeah, yeah, like now what Subaru's are now,
like multiply the quirkiness of them like 5X
and that's what they were at the time.
But I think I'd have to probably give, you know,
Subaru Motorsports, you know, they've done a lot
to push the brand and make it like a,
I don't know, just like a household name
that's associated with like, you know, rally driving
and hardcore stuff.
But or just making it cool, I guess would be
would be the way to put it.
But I think Ken Block, honestly, that dude,
he released a snowboard video because he,
he was one of the owners of DC, like he started DC shoes.
Yeah.
And I actually worked in the snowboard
and skateboard industry for a while
and I was heavy in it.
Like when that video came out, it was called snow lab.
I can't remember if it was like snow lab one
or snow lab two or I don't remember,
but it was the one where he was literally driving
an STI, like a Hawkeye STI on a ski resort,
like in the park, dude, like crazy stuff.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And he like got, you know,
Monster Energy sponsors and stuff.
And he really like pushed the brand into a like whole
new echelon of like pop culture.
So I'd give him a huge amount of credit
for like making us less weird.
Yeah.
Yeah.
You got somebody like that coming into the scene,
you know, touting Subaru.
It's like, oh, maybe there's something more
to these cars than we thought.
Dude.
Yeah.
And he, you know, he just really changed
like the reputation.
And I'm sure there were other factors,
but yeah, no, the community now is just way different.
It's so much larger.
And even if it's, even if it was large at the time,
nobody knew that because we weren't connected
the way we are now.
You know, it's like, oh, just open my phone
and I can find 100 new Subaru friends in an hour.
Yeah.
And you know, and like, I feel like I missed out
on all of that nostalgia if you want to call it with,
you know, the early days of Subaru
and like Ken Block and all that kind of stuff.
Because I bought mine in, you know, September of 2020.
And before that, I just, I didn't really know much at all.
And then, you know, it took me,
I don't know if I hadn't started the podcast
and she was just like, you know,
average person out there in the community
with Subaru connecting with others
on Instagram, like, I don't know where I would be.
I don't know how much I would know.
I don't know that I would have,
I definitely wouldn't have done as much as I have
because I've been very blessed with doing the podcast
and being able to go to places that I've been able to go.
But I just like, you know, I feel like I missed out
on the forums.
I've missed out on the early days of Ken Block
and, you know, just some of the things
that people talk about.
Because like one of the other things, too,
is like, you know, you saw,
you remember like the first time you saw a Subaru.
I, you know, I recall seeing Subaru's around.
Like, you know, I remember seeing a brat
like not very specifically as far as like a date
and a time and a place or what year or whatever.
I just, in my brain somewhere, you know,
I remember seeing a brat.
I remember seeing like the STI hatches,
the WRX hatches and things like that.
But I just didn't really think too much
about the brand and the cars.
Yeah.
You know, the way I look at it in 20 years,
people are going to look back
at what we're talking about right now
and be like, man, I missed out on those awesome days.
You know, like this is what we're living in right now
is going to be that for somebody else.
Yeah.
Very true.
But it was a cool time period.
You know, in my opinion, it was peak
like Subaru design and engineering,
like they've done a lot to kind of modernize their cars
and to sort of, you know, make them still viable
in a landscape that has so many regulations
with the EPA and all the safety standards.
Yeah.
But man, like the OG days were sick.
Yeah.
I wonder if like the design of the new Forester
and the design of the new Outback and things like that,
if they're trying to keep up with the market
as far as like other brands that have similar design
and not purposefully not trying to be so different
because maybe they're worried
that they will lose out on sales being so different
trying to appeal to a new audience.
I don't know.
You know, I've thought about that.
I've actually thought about that a lot.
It's almost like a lot of people in the forums,
they'll scream and cry or even on Instagram
and be like, oh, Subaru's not giving the people
what they want.
And it's, you know, it's like,
well, the sales numbers say otherwise.
And they've had to do something to, you know,
they had to take their cars
because it used to be like wagons.
Like they were making tons of wagons.
The Outback Forester used to be like a legit, like true wagon.
The Outback was a legitimate wagon.
Now it's more of like an SUV.
Yeah.
Even into like, I think once the 2015 Outback came out
and then, you know, obviously the SH Forester and like,
was it 09?
Those were like, you wouldn't believe the amount of like
uproar that was, you know,
within the Subaru community at the time like,
oh, I'm looking cars.
These aren't Subaru.
Yeah.
And so I think the reality is, is it's like,
yeah, the enthusiast is important.
And the hardcore, like diehard, like,
OG Subaru Fanatics, they're important
and they definitely do a lot for the brand.
But it's what puts money in the bank
is what really matters.
And I think you're right, man.
I think it is there.
They're like, okay, this is kind of where style
is going in the market.
And we kind of have to follow it unless we do want to be the,
like, we don't want people to buy our cars and be like,
well, I guess I'm going to be the weird person
that drives that weird car, you know.
Yeah.
I'm wondering if it's like market research where
you've got a lot of younger people coming up
with younger families.
Because yeah, you've got the older people that are
really, really love the OG Subarus.
They love how different they are.
They like, that's one of the things that they like
about Subarus is because they are different.
But then you have these other people that are coming up now
looking for their first family car or something
and potentially they might be looking around in the market
and be seeing all these cars that are very similar.
But then like, if Subaru is still very, very different
then they go like, overlook it.
Like, this looks too weird.
I don't want a Subaru.
Yeah.
But if they design to kind of match
what else is out there in the market
but then stand apart because of the all-wheel drive,
because of the Subaru Love Promise,
because of the safety, you know,
those are the things that are going to help
continue with good sales is
and that's what will help Subaru stand apart.
But I think it's the people that have known Subarus
for so long and have loved them for so long.
They're the ones that are like,
oh, the new designs are just, they're not good.
It's not Subaru anymore.
It doesn't look like Subaru anymore.
Yeah.
But I don't know.
I hadn't really thought about that too much until just now.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And I mean, it's a constant topic online, you know,
even in Instagram comment sections and stuff.
But are you familiar with like,
Bug Eye, Blob Eye, and Hawkeye?
I mean, I know I've seen them,
but I couldn't differentiate them.
See, that's where my, what is it called?
My...
Broad knowledge.
Well, what is it?
There's a specific term I'm trying to think of
where you, what the hell is it called?
Where you're not like, you're doing something,
and man, why is my mind blank?
Outside of what you're used to doing, you mean?
Where you're doing something that everybody else really knows.
Oh, yeah.
Where I'm dealing, this is where I deal with imposter syndrome
because I know so...
Who cares, bro?
I know.
But it's like, I have all these people come on,
you know, like you, like you've been in Subaru's for so long
and people start talking about Blob Eye and Bug Eye
and you know, and all this stuff.
And I'm like, I couldn't tell them apart.
If you put them in front of me,
I wouldn't know which was which, you know?
Yeah, but you know what?
Nobody else is having me on their podcast.
You're the one that did it.
It doesn't matter, dude.
I know, I know.
People are like, oh, you've been,
you've connected so many people with so many people
over the past five years and you've, you know,
you've like brought us together in a way
that nobody else has.
You've shared people.
So, I mean, I know there's value to what I've been doing
to the community because I'm having people
on to talk about their Subaru's
and share their stories and their journeys
and how it changed their life.
And then you also have the people
that get to listen to the guests that are on there.
So, I know there's value to it,
but I just, you know, as creators,
you give yourself a hard time about what you do
or don't know and it's just the way it goes.
It's funny you say that
because I have imposter syndrome, bro.
Like, even when I started the website
and I was trying to write things
that would help people do this stuff,
I remember being like, yeah, I'm not an engineer, though,
and I'm not a mechanic.
You know, I'm not, like, I wrench in my driveway,
but I'm not an actual mechanic.
Like, there's people that know so much more about me,
but none of those people
were putting anything out there.
So, I kind of had to get over that.
But I guess what I was going to say, the...
So, in the United States,
in 2001, Model Year 02 Impressa,
that was the first turbocharged Impressa
that we got in the United States,
was in Model Year 2002,
which would have been calendar year 01.
Those were the ones that had the round headlights.
It was like the first WRX.
It was the WRX that I saw.
Gotcha.
And then two years later, we got the blob eye,
which looked, it was honestly the same car,
but just a redone front end,
where the headlights, they weren't round anymore.
They're a little bit more...
People call them blobby, like a blob eye,
because it had kind of a blob-looking headlight,
just a little bit wider, more robust.
Now, within the next...
Oh, go ahead.
Was that like a community term
that people came up with,
or is this with something that Subaru
actually called these cars?
Yeah.
People just come up with these names for them, you know?
Just...
Yeah, it's just a community thing
that the names just kind of catch on, I guess.
I don't think there's like an official committee
that decides, but it just sort of naturally happens.
But after the blob eye,
there was the hawk eye,
which again, same chassis,
same car basically,
that they reworked the front end
to kind of make it look a little bit different,
kind of like how they did with cross tracks.
Same car, just slightly reshaped
the body panels a little bit,
and the front ends and rear ends.
But the hawk eye, when that came out,
the hawk eye is now considered like the pinnacle
of like OG, Subaru, peak performance,
like that was the car that, you know,
Ken Block was, you know,
doing a lot of stuff in, you know,
the early, you know, DC stuff that he was doing.
But anyways, at the time, people hated it.
You know, and I'm sure there were people that liked it,
but there were a lot of people that are like,
that hawk eye, that looks like crap.
I can't believe they ruined a perfectly good car.
Now it's like everybody wants a hawk eye.
If you can get a clean hawk eye STI,
you're paying 30 Gs if it's 100,000 miles.
And what year was that?
So look up 2006 or 2007 STI.
You'll recognize it when you see it.
Steven Red, I think you had Steven Red on the podcast.
His rally car is based off of the hawk eye.
Okay, yeah, I see that.
Yeah, what do they do, man?
That car looks horrible.
Who would want one of those?
Yeah, Mitch was in that car when it wrecked.
Oh, yeah.
It kind of looks like, what's the other SUV
that nobody likes?
A Subaru SUV?
Yeah, I can't remember the name of it now.
Oh, the Tribeca.
Yeah, the Tribeca.
The Tribeca has that little front,
you know, the center part of the grill.
That tiny little grill, yeah, bro.
It's funny you say that because I think the Tribeca was released.
Actually, I don't even know when the Tribeca was released.
I think it was released right around the same time
as the hawk eye though.
Now I got to find out.
I don't know.
I should know this stuff, but
first model year was 06, same year as the hawk eye.
So you are so spot on with that.
The different eyes.
The Subaru eyes.
Yeah, and I think that only went for the imprezas.
Well, they separated the impreza
and the WRX STI line once the VA chassis came out.
But they, I think they continued it like
after hawk eye was like, man, what did they call it after?
And now I feel bad.
I can't even remember.
I don't know, but what's funny is like me,
I think we were at Subifest, Texas.
And we see like, and this is like me and my son and my daughter.
And we're going around and we're like,
what the heck impreza, outback STI, WRX?
How is that all in one car?
You know, it's like so weird.
Well, it's really funny because the way that Subaru did things
for a long time, and I think they were smart to kind of change this.
They would just create trim packages of their cars.
So it was like, and it might have hurt them a little bit in certain aspects,
but it could have something to do with just like Japanese manufacturing is very efficient.
And it's like, well, we can just create a package in the same car,
run it on the same lines and then just integrate these different parts
into these specific models.
But yeah, like the the the impreza and the WRX and STI,
they literally all shared like the same headlights, tail lights,
chassis, like the unibody was all the same.
I mean, there may have been minor differences,
but they literally were the same car just with a different package.
And then like the legacy, you know, the legacy is where the outback came from it.
Yeah, it was just a legacy.
And that's what we would see is like legacy outback.
We're like, wait a minute, is it a legacy or is it out in an outback?
Because like now you have a legacy and you have an outback,
but you would see one that says like legacy outback.
Like what's the deal?
How does that work?
And you know what's funny,
even though they now technically separated the vehicles into their own lines
and they don't they don't classify them as the same car anymore.
The legacy and I maybe I've missed out on some news,
but last I checked they discontinued the legacy.
Yeah, they released, I don't remember when it was,
but the US Media Center released an announcement that they produced
the very last legacy in Indiana.
Yeah, I'd heard about that.
I just wasn't sure if maybe they'd gone back on that.
Unfortunately, it sounds like they haven't.
But yeah, it's the legacy and the outback,
even up until the most recent iteration of the legacy,
they literally were the same car, same, you know, platform.
They obviously had to change the unibody a little bit
to account for having a SUV rear end on the outback and stuff.
But yeah, I always thought that was funny too.
You know, it was like they even had an impresa outback.
They had the legacy outback, impresa outback.
Yeah.
I think it was.
It's funny.
I think it was 2010 is when they finally brought the outback
over to its own thing, which I think did them a huge favor
that transformed their business for sure.
With your forester, where do you typically take it?
Because I know you've said that you live in an area
that's not the greatest for hitting trails
and going off-road and everything.
So what do you have available
and where do you go when you can go off-road with it?
You know, I bought this specific forester in 2020, I think.
Oh, it's not too long ago.
Bro, you know what's really bad?
That's almost six years ago.
I know.
Yeah, I know.
I say it's not too long ago.
I mean, I'm thinking like 10 years is like,
oh yeah, I was a while back.
But almost six years ago, I guess, okay, whatever, man.
It's a new Subaru.
It's literally the most recently purchased Subaru.
So for six years, I haven't bought a new Subaru,
which is absolutely mind-blowing.
Is that? That's impressive.
Well, are you doing okay?
Me? Oh, yeah, dude.
I'm just fidgety, bro, all the time.
I mean, like, you know, are you okay
not having bought a Subaru in six years?
I gotta get a new Subaru real quick.
Breaking out in hives.
Yeah, bro.
I need that fix.
Now, so when I bought it,
I was still living on that side of the state.
So a lot of the stuff that you see,
like Derek and, you know, Michelle,
that whole crew, Brandon.
All those losers.
Yeah, all those nerds.
So a lot of that stuff,
that area, I'm not the first,
but I'm one of the first people to take a Subaru
on a lot of the trails in the area where I grew up.
Again, not the first.
I'm not gonna act like I'm an OG,
but one of the first people before...
Yeah, I mean, even before Crosstrex became popular,
I was lifting Subarus
and kind of taking them out into the woods.
So I definitely, just in the, you know,
six years or whatever that I was really doing stuff
out in that area in Subarus,
I did so many stupid things to these poor cars
in that amount of time.
Toward now, it's like, okay, okay,
I've seen what I can do in these cars.
Now I gotta be nicer to them.
But we do have sand out here.
We got sand dunes.
Occasionally, I'll get out there.
But, you know, the sad thing is,
is unless you're talking about real flat sand dunes,
Subarus without like a low gear,
it's not good for the cars.
It really isn't.
But I'll still, you know,
now my favorite thing to do with the Forester
is to get it out to good camping spots.
Like that's my jam.
And anybody that's from this area
or anybody that knows me personally
has probably heard me talking about
going out to the Trout Lake area,
which is, it's kind of across from Hood River, Oregon,
like Washington and Oregon are separated
in large by the Columbia River.
For most of the border of Washington and Oregon
is separated by the Columbia.
And so it's just across the river
and north up into Washington.
Over the river and through the woods.
Exactly. We've been to Grandma's house this week.
But that's about two and a half hours from where I'm at.
So it's not that bad, dude.
It's easy for me to be over here and cry and whine
that I don't live 30 minutes away from, you know,
the off-road trails like I used to.
But it's not that bad, dude.
We're still within driving distance.
So when you get out camping,
like what's your camping setup?
Dude, my camp,
this is going to sound really silly coming from me
as somebody who acts like they do a lot of off-roading
in their cars.
I'm like the worst person when it comes to camping.
Like I literally just, if it's just me,
I just post up in the back of the Subaru
with like a real basic camping mat
and a sleeping bag and just like whatever other stuff I need.
But I do not have like a good overlanding setup,
which I know a lot of Subaru people do.
I just don't.
And I think, I think the reason for it is
I never did a lot of like, you know, multi-day trips.
I do now, but on occasion, just if I need to,
because I live so far from everybody else.
But like, man, I've just always been so busy.
It's like, man, I can't take two days off
from all this other stuff I'm doing.
Like I'm going to go, I'm going to leave at 7 a.m.,
get back at like 9 p.m. and go to bed.
Day trip, huh?
Yeah, yes.
And I lived so close at that, you know,
previously I lived like within an hour and a half
drive from literally some of the sickest stuff on planet Earth.
And so it was easy to get spoiled in that regard.
Oh, I can imagine.
Yeah, dude.
Yeah, I did a lot of hiking, which, yeah,
that's how I got into the whole lifting thing was
because of like off-trail hiking.
But yeah, so now it's, I pretty much just do
like minor off-road stuff.
There's a place called Hepner, Oregon out here,
which is still like an hour and a half from me,
but I'll go in there and there's some really beautiful stuff
out there and we'll, you know, hit some nice,
you know, just minor trails, nothing crazy anymore.
You know, I like these cars and I know what
they're capable of.
And I got to a point where I was like,
I want to also do like really bad stuff like rock
crawling and actually beat the crap out of an off-road rig.
And that's kind of why I decided to add the Jeep into the mix
because I was like, I can do this indefinitely with the Jeep,
but if I can do stuff like this to the Forester,
I'm just going to destroy it.
It's going to be totally flapped out.
It's already, you know what's funny,
that poor Subaru, when I bought it,
it had a rebuilt title.
I checked the car over and it, you know,
drove pretty great.
Everything looked good.
Some of the repair on it,
you could tell was kind of just hacked around.
But I got the thing for like $1,700.
Man, that's nice.
Something like that, you know,
which is how I shop for cars.
A lot of times I buy cars where I'm like,
oh no, it's got a little ding on the bumper here.
Oh, you know, it's got a dent on the door.
It's like, it doesn't matter.
I'm going to cut half the bumper off anyways.
I don't tell the seller that.
You know, it's just bargaining power
because like I already planned to ruin the car.
I really want to, you know,
I don't know how that thing is bothering me.
Why don't you take like another $200 off?
They see it and they're like,
you fooled me.
Well, they'd never recognized the car now,
but yeah, no.
So it was in a front end collision.
I have a photo of it somewhere that I found online
when I did a VIN check.
I have a photo from the wrecking yard
or the towing company that it ended up with.
The whole front end, like on the driver's side
was pretty smashed.
Didn't really do too much to it.
Mainly got the driver's fender, like front fender
or most of that up.
But underneath like everything else
looked pretty solid.
There's no like crazy structural damage,
but man, that poor car is probably like,
let me die, bro.
How many miles did it have when you bought it?
When I bought it, I want to say it was like
one,
maybe like 180.
Oh, wow.
It was a little bit up there,
but I was like, dude, this is perfect.
I'm going to be mean to this car.
How many miles have you put on it since?
Okay, so I don't remember.
I don't even remember what's on the car right now.
I want to say,
dude, you're going to laugh at me for this,
but it's not my daily driver really.
I mean, I do daily drive it, but
I want to say it's only like
207,000 miles or something
at this point.
Baby miles.
But you got to think, bro, like
Everything was close.
Well,
like you said, it wasn't a daily driver.
Yeah, everything was close.
But the thing is, is like
everything I did in that car for like a good,
I don't know,
two years was like heavy metal, dude.
Yeah.
That poor car, but yeah, it's actually funny story.
That car's been underwater.
People have heard me tell this story, but
yeah, I sank the poor thing in a pond.
And pond is maybe not the right way to say it.
That maybe sounds a little dramatic,
but it was enough water
for it to come up over the hatch
of the rear of the vehicle.
What?
To recover it. Yeah, dude.
Wow.
So it was literally in the water.
And it's so silly, man.
I was actually up near Trout Lake
after the Oregon Trail Rally
in 2022
or 23.
I can't remember which year.
They had it in a later part of the year,
one season.
I can't remember which year that was,
but because of scheduling conflicts.
And so we went out there afterwards
to go wheeling a little bit.
And it was snowing up there.
And I just like driving like a bozo,
you know, like hitting ditches and stuff
when it's snowing.
It's so much fun.
Well, they dig out these massive culverts.
Like it's hard for me to describe it
without you seeing it,
but there's these big like,
they're trying to kind of manage the drainage
so that it doesn't just destroy the roads
because a lot of these are logging roads.
And so off the side of the road,
there will also be these big canyons
because of just the natural formation
of the hills out there.
And so there's this one spot
where it just looked like flat snow.
And I'm just ripping around this corner, bro.
And like, I didn't realize that it was like
piled up snow.
Dude, it was just enough snow
on the top of this little pond.
I mean, because it completely filled with water.
And I'm talking like if I got in it,
at the deepest part, it would have been like
up over my head, you know.
And it's an abrupt like drop too.
But it filled up with water
and there was enough snow on the top
to where I couldn't distinguish
that it was like a just full of water, bro.
And it just stuck the car right in.
And I was like, oh no, this is bad news.
Immediately shut the car off.
I was like, okay, I'm going to hydro lock it
if I don't turn the car off.
But yeah, so that car has seen some things.
What is like the furthest distance
you've driven like in any of your cars?
Like, do you take any road trips?
No, I really don't.
Man, I sound like a dork on here, man.
I'm trying to think here.
I have done, I went to Idaho randomly
like probably three, three and a half years ago.
I just was like, I kind of want to drive to Idaho today.
How far was that?
It's probably, you know what?
I don't even remember.
It's probably about six hours.
Okay, that's not too bad.
Yeah, probably about six hours
from where I'm at to the spot that I went.
I just wanted to do it.
That was actually kind of still during the shutdown and stuff.
Oh, yeah.
Idaho was more lax.
And I was like, let me see what's going on over in Idaho.
Why not?
Yeah, I just ripped out there.
But dang, I'm trying to think.
You know what?
I drove to Nampa, Idaho three years ago
and met up with the homie,
him and his fiance live out there.
Me and my buddy Kyle, actually,
they got on my shirt right now.
We ripped out there.
And yeah, that was maybe,
that was also about six hours from where I'm at
currently to his house.
But you know, I've never done any like really cool road trips
like what most people on here have done.
Because again, I just live so close to so many things.
I was like, oh, I'm two hours away from this,
you know, mountain or whatever.
Yeah, you don't have to road trip to a mountain.
Yeah, yeah, exactly.
That makes sense.
Even where I'm at now, I'm spoiled.
Yeah.
I've definitely done some crazy things.
So in terms of like, you know, like off-road trips,
we did, I don't remember which sections,
but in 2022, we did like a two-day trip
on the Washington Back Road Discovery Route.
Oh, I've heard of that.
Yeah, yeah, people just call it like the Wobbiter.
But we did that.
That was probably like the furthest I've traveled off pavement
at one time.
Okay.
So we went out there and kind of did that.
And that was a lot of fun.
That was when those people tried to like threaten us with guns.
Maybe you heard me tell that story.
Yeah, I think so, yeah.
I guess there was a naked dude off the side of the road too.
It was absolutely wild.
That's probably, yeah, we can cut all that other stuff
and actually make it sound like a dude overlanding.
But yeah, that was a fun trip.
That's actually where I met Michelle Wazubaru.
Oh, yeah, yeah.
And, you know, my good buddy Michael McAllister,
he was on that trip.
He's cool.
He's got a Forester XT, a bunch of other rad people
on that trip.
It was a good time.
Absolute, like just, you know, fiasco,
but those make for the best trips.
Yeah.
You mentioned the Oregon Trail Rally earlier.
How many times have you gone to that?
You know, this is going to sound really dumb,
but I've probably only been six times,
even though like I've only six times.
That's not bad.
That's my backyard, man.
Some people haven't been at all.
Okay.
I told you, brother, you have a place to stay out here
the next time you want.
And I'll even help fly you out.
Yeah, I want to make it out to a rally.
Dude, it is actually, it's funny.
I just mentioned my friend, Mike McAllister,
that was on that wobbler trip with us.
He is, I think for the last two Oregon Trail rallies,
he has volunteered as a tech for, you know,
part of the service team.
I can't remember what car number it is,
but the gentleman that owns the company
that used to be called SubiWorks,
that makes the Porsche axle conversions
in, I think they're in myriad of California.
They had to change their name recently due to like a,
you know, you know how that goes.
I guess they weren't allowed to use SubiWorks for some reason,
but he has a rally team and Mike actually volunteered
to help out with their service team.
He teaches auto shop at a trade school out here,
which is pretty cool.
Yeah.
But dude, the Oregon Trail rally is sick.
It's like one of the coolest things you can experience
if you're into cars.
And even if you're not into cars, it's an absolute blast.
Well, I mean, like the only thing,
the only place I've seen it is on Instagram
and Subaru Launch Control.
And I've mentioned before, like, you know,
for people that aren't really into rally,
maybe don't know much about it.
The way that they present Subaru Launch Control
was like, they do such a good job with the show.
And it's just fun to watch it, you know,
and they just, they released one.
I mean, we were recording this well before your episode
will be released, but they released one
and it was 13.3, so I had to watch it.
It was pretty good.
Nice.
Nice.
Yeah.
It's got a very grassroots feel to it.
It is well organized, but it doesn't feel
like this big official thing where it's like,
oh, you can't go over here.
Oh, you like a huge production.
You can't park here.
You can't park.
It's like a free-for-all dude, but it's like a very,
like low-key, awesome, just, you know,
everybody there is respectful.
Everybody's there, kind of understands like,
okay, you know, we know we're allowed
to park here for Spectation and we know,
yeah, it's just, it's not a crazy hectic event,
but like the people that are there driving,
like even the local teams, like those dudes,
man, they like lay it down for the people,
man, I absolutely love it.
But then, you know, you'll be walking around
during like the expose, like in the morning
when they pull out all the cars
and you're like, oh, there's Travis Pastrana
or back before he passed.
Ken Block could just be walking around,
you know, going into the coffee shop,
get a coffee, you know what I mean?
Yeah, just like a normal day at the rally.
Yeah.
And you know, I have yet to actually approach Travis
because like, I hate being that dude, man,
like as much as I would love to have a picture with him,
it's like, you know, this poor guy,
his poor body is even more beat up than mine.
He just got done, you know, with a full day of racing
and you know, I hate to be that guy
that's like, could I get a picture with you?
No, I know what you mean, yeah.
Yeah.
But the more it goes on, the more I like,
I'm realizing I actually need to take more photos of things.
Well, you need to, and you need to take the opportunity
at least once to go up and like, hey,
just wanted to say I love watching you.
Yeah.
Cool.
Gotta get a picture real quick.
Yeah, just whatever.
Yeah.
Well, you know what really made me
start to feel stupid about that whole thing was,
you know, last year I was like,
well, I never, you know, took 30 seconds
to bother Ken Block and now I'll never get to do that.
Yeah.
You know, and so I was thinking about that
and you know, we don't know how much time we got.
You know, I always try to be respectful to people
but that's always my hesitation.
It's like, I don't want to be a bother.
Yeah.
And then what if you can't,
you don't have the opportunity to be a quote unquote bother,
you know, and you miss that chance.
Yeah, exactly.
But, you know, everybody's so rad, like we were talking.
Oh, yeah.
You know, when you were on my show,
we were talking about Rhiannon and, you know,
she just like spent all day at the Overland Expo
just chatting with fans and talk to her.
She's like such a, you know.
She's awesome.
Perfect human being dude.
Like super kind hearted.
Yeah.
Speaking of like Overland Expo,
you know, I met you at PNW
because that's where you are.
So it's cool because like I can add you to the list of people
that I've met in person that I've had on the podcast.
Likewise.
But it was also at PNW that I met somebody
that you know very well and that you respect
and that you run his stuff.
But I finally got to meet Mitch
at a Fermilay design firm.
And he is.
Nice to shout out.
Yeah.
He is, he's such a great guy.
He's like such a great supporter too.
Yeah.
And a super, super busy guy,
very humble though,
but just all around great guy.
And I'm glad I finally got to meet him.
Yeah.
You know, the unfortunate thing is I wasn't able
to be there the day that he was there.
Yeah.
So have you been able to come?
You've met him in person though.
Haven't you?
Oh yeah.
Oh, okay.
Okay.
I mean, I just, let's see.
I was going to say,
you better not live there and not have met him.
No, I've definitely, no, no, no, we,
I'm probably the worst person at texting Mitch back
because, you know, I help him out with certain things
on his website occasionally.
And sometimes I'm just like so overloaded.
I just, you know,
you're the worst about messaging anybody back.
It just gets, it just gets overloaded.
I stared a screen for probably anywhere from
eight to 14 hours a day just depending.
And so it gets a little overloaded.
Yeah.
But anyways, no, it's funny.
The way that I first met Mitch in person was,
I got my first battery and battery box and he saw that I lived,
I lived in Vancouver, Washington,
which is just, you know,
like 15 minutes across the bridge from Portland.
And at the time he was living in Portland.
Now he lives a little bit further south,
you know, maybe another 30, 40 minutes south.
But he was like, hey, I'm going to bring this to you.
And I was like, bro, say less.
All right.
So he just like rolled up to the house and brought the goods
and, you know, we just kind of chatted a little bit and,
you know, talk, man,
we probably talked for like 45 minutes or something.
But yeah, that was like, that was 2020.
So I was like, oh, gee.
Yeah.
Back in the day.
And are you running the full throttle battery?
Oh, bro.
I got.
That's what, yeah.
That's what I'm running to.
There have been so many full throttle batteries
to come through my address.
It's not even funny.
So we definitely got to give a massive shout out.
Like Mitch has designed a whole, I don't even know what to call it,
just like a whole like platform for like the world's best
performance batteries that are available now,
like Odyssey, full throttle, anti-gravity Braille.
And I'm sure I'm forgetting something, but,
but yeah, man, I'm running a full throttle FT-410
in the Forester right now.
And no, no, no.
Sorry, I got that mixed up.
The FT-410 is in the legacy.
Okay.
I've got an FT-560 in the Forester.
And both of them are in Melee Design Firm Battery Boxes.
Oh, yeah.
Dude, I'm running it tough, bro.
Yeah.
And dude, I beat the heck out of those batteries.
I've trained both of them.
Oh.
Both like more than once and they still work, man.
Nice.
That's good to know.
Shout out.
Yeah.
Oh, dude.
It's crazy.
Yeah.
Because I was, my battery had died the day I was going for an interview
from the job that I got laid off from and my battery died,
but I had an anti-gravity little charger.
Jumpstart.
Yeah, jumpstart that I bought from Mitch.
And it worked.
It started my battery, but then my battery kept dying
and I kept having to use that.
And then it was like one time it almost didn't work.
So I was like, Mitch, I need another battery.
And so he was like, yeah, I've got these full throttle batteries.
That's what I would recommend.
And I was like, man, this thing's like 350 bucks.
And he was like, yeah, but it'll last forever.
So, yeah.
He's not wrong.
No, I haven't had it too long.
I haven't had it nearly as long as I had the OEM battery.
But yeah, I just, I don't even worry about it.
But yeah, I've got the full throttle battery.
I've got the Group 35 battery box with the Subinu podcast logo
etched on the front.
And then the top is signed by Bucky Lastic,
which is cool, the little flap.
And then...
So jealous.
And then I've got a Melee pitch stop.
I've got Melee engine bay caps.
Caps.
And then I have the front strut tower bar.
And then some Melee decals on the car.
Pretty decent setup.
Yeah, I think I've got all those same upgrades
on both my Super Rids.
Yeah, they're good.
I didn't need any of this stuff.
So he gave me full disclosure.
He gave me the battery box.
But of course, I bought the battery
and I bought everything else that's in there.
I didn't need any of the other stuff.
But it helps...
The engine bay looks cool now
because I've got all these other things in there.
But I also wanted to help support him too
by buying stuff from him.
Because he's been so supportive of the podcast
and it's like, I don't need these things
but I want to buy them because I want to help support him.
Yeah, I kind of...
You know how some people collect like
Jordans and other sneakers and stuff?
Yeah.
That's kind of how I am with just anything
that's made by someone that I know and care about.
It's funny to me.
Yeah, I've become such a sentimental old man.
I found out my brother,
he just had got a wild hair
to start making these custom copper lamps.
And I was like, Bro,
why didn't you tell me you were doing this?
It's a piece of artwork.
I would love to have one of these in my house.
He was like, oh, do you actually like them?
I was like, yeah, I like them and they're made by a loved one.
Yeah, you're my brother. Come on, man.
I need that in my house.
Because we've gotten to such a weird place in society
where everything's made in the same factories.
Batteries...
There's only five manufacturing facilities
that make 99% of all the batteries.
There's maybe two manufacturers of TVs
that make all the TVs.
And just across all industries,
everything has become so mass produced.
And so when I find stuff like what Mitch is doing
or any of the other companies in the industry
that are making stuff that's small batch
or just specialized where you don't feel like
it's a big off-road company
that notices an opportunity in the Subaru market
and it just starts making a bunch of crap
to try to capitalize on it.
Dude, I will spend all the money and represent
hands down every time.
Yeah, and it's fun to and feels good
to support these smaller brands
because they work so hard at what they do.
They put a lot of work into it.
And yeah, a lot of them aren't...
Sometimes they present as though they might be
kind of bigger than they actually are.
And you find out like, what? Three people work here?
That's crazy, you know?
So why do you say that?
Well, it's because it's like Go-Treads.
When I had Go-Treads on,
it's like the guy, his dad, his mom,
and his sister or something.
I think there's like six or seven people
total in the whole company,
but it kind of presents as like this big company.
And man, it's just like a family-owned business
with not that many people running.
It's pretty cool.
Well, that's like, it's so funny.
I mean, I kind of knew this just based on what I know
about how a lot of businesses can be run,
but when I first actually talked to Patrick Anderson
at ADF, I was like, you know,
I don't even know what we're talking about,
but he was asking me some questions about marketing
because that's what I do professionally,
he was like asking me how to do something.
I was like, oh, you know what?
Like this is how I would do it if somebody on your team,
you know, you're probably busy,
but I'm sure somebody on your team,
if you allocate three hours a week for them to do this thing,
like it'll probably help.
He'd be like, how many people do you think work here?
I was like, I don't know, maybe five.
He was like, no, man, it's me,
one other guy and my brother.
I was like, what?
Which I knew that they ran like a really small tight ship,
but you know, it just goes to show,
like if you're dedicated and you're wise
and you work your butt off
and you're not looking for participation trophies,
like you can create something like ADF,
something that's become like a worldwide phenomenon.
And I think the other thing that you mentioned,
like wanting to support these people
that are working their butts off like Mitch,
a lot of people don't realize he had,
I mean, I don't think I'd be out of line
to say that he was making a healthy,
very healthy six-figure income.
Oh, yeah.
Now he mentioned it when he was on my podcast,
that he left a six-figure income to start Melee
and you know, it took him like, I think he said about,
maybe he said three years to finally get out
and branch off and do that solely
and yeah, I mean, but he, I mean,
now it's not like he's making a killing,
making battery boxes and all this other stuff.
I mean, he works really, really hard in long hours
and he travels a lot and yeah, he's just,
but he's doing what he wants to do.
Exactly.
Yeah, and I mean, it's,
if you knew anything about like OHSU,
which is where he had just gotten,
I think his most recent job,
he had been recruited
and head-hunted to go over and work for them,
but they're like one of the premier
like research institute hospitals or whatever they are,
like in the entire region.
But yeah, to think that somebody was like,
and again, like I work in the medical industry
and I see the kind of money
that people in specialized fields make,
that dude was willing to like walk away
from that kind of income and be set for life
and do this passion, which I think is sick.
Yeah, that's why to this date,
his episode is my favorite because of what he did.
Just when people ask me what my favorite episode is,
it's his.
Yeah, and I tell him that too,
but part of the reason it's my favorite episode
is at the time that I recorded with him,
I was like really, really, really dug in
and working really hard with the podcast
and doing an episode a week
and doing the Soobie Scoop once a week too.
And on top of working a full-time job,
on top of being a dad and everything.
And I was like trying to see
if there was a way to do it full-time
and just hearing him tell his story
and about working his full-time job
and this big income
and then going and doing what he wanted to do,
I'm like, that's what I want to do,
but how do I do that?
It's not easy doing what we're doing
to do it full-time.
Not even a little bit.
Yeah, this has nothing to do with Subarus,
but I have a friend whose name is Kevin
and shout out Kevin Dude.
He's like, actually, you know, it's really funny.
Me and Kevin,
when I started the Lifted Imports website,
he and I sat in the exact same Starbucks
together for like eight hours at a time,
grinding on our own side projects.
So he's been like one of my OG supporters
since day one.
He's never even owned a Subaru,
but no, it's funny because this dude,
he has a master's or an MBA
and he was the head of...
not the head, but one of the
competitive intelligence officers
for HP North America,
like the inkjet department,
competitive intelligence.
It's this crazy practice
I'm not fully aware of exactly how it works,
but it means something to somebody
who knows what it is,
but it's kind of like aggregating
tons of data and trying to make
strategic business decisions
based on publicly available information.
Like, hey, we just saw that this supplier
just got a massive order of these
specific microchips that are used
in this specific type of printer.
This company's never made a printer like this,
but we think because of that,
they're probably going to introduce
this type of a printer to the market
in the next eight to 12 months.
Let's start seeing that type of thing
way above my pay grade,
but he was making a quarter million dollars
a year driving a Lotus
and just a baller.
And then he kind of,
I guess, had some type of
personality conflict with one of his managers
and got laid off,
but he was like, man, you know what?
I don't think I want to get a job anymore.
Like, I think I'm going to do my own thing.
And so he just was like,
he started grinding, started doing like,
I think I was telling you about
how he does like task rabbit.
This dude made 40 grand this year
working like, I don't know,
10 hours a week doing task rabbit,
then started doing like Uber
and then bought a bunch of Turro cars
and now rents out cars and like,
now he's starting like an epoxy
flooring business.
Like, you know, gave up this huge
income and was like,
I just don't want to be told what to do.
Don't want to have the rug pulled out from under me.
I'd rather be in charge.
That's inspiring, dude. I love it.
All right, I just, so I was thinking of something like if,
and I've asked this question
occasionally, I don't ask it all the time,
but you know, because we've talked about
how many old Subaru's and the love
of all these old Subaru's and how Subaru
designs have changed and everything,
but if somebody like,
let's say somebody was like,
you know what, I'll buy you
whatever newest model
Subaru you want,
you get to choose one Subaru
and the newest model
what would it be?
So something current, current
Yeah, like current,
like right now.
VB, chassis,
WRX, all day.
For all the hate that the
VB got,
it's such a fantastic
platform in my opinion, and it's funny,
you know, we touched on this a little bit earlier,
but I remember
the STI hatchbacks that everybody loves
and wants now, everybody hated
those when the narrow body WRX
was released in O9, people hated it.
Now everybody wants
an STI hatch or a narrow
body WRX.
But yeah, dude,
the VB
WRX, I mean, I don't think they have
a special edition out.
Yeah, I can't remember what it's called,
but yeah.
Like a little bit of a special package
that's tuned a little bit
more aggressively.
But dude, it's such a good
platform right out of the box
for what it is that still kind of
holds true to
just like
Subaru Heritage, man.
Still a boxer,
but it's modern, you know, the FA
2.4 DITs
just got
all kinds of headroom, all sorts of potential.
Even right out of the box, man, those things
cook, dude. It's available
with a manual. Dude, six-speed manual, bro.
There's not a whole lot of stuff
on the market now.
And Bucky Elastic's got one, come on.
Yeah.
Bucky is the man, bro.
But yeah,
for all the hate they got back in,
what was it, 2022,
that they dropped,
I just think it's a great
car. And I would definitely
buy one, mob the heck out of it
if I
was given unlimited resources.
Yeah.
But yeah, that would be the one for sure.
But I'm also not hating on
the new
Impresa hatchbacks.
I honestly think those are kind of cool.
I know it's not turboed, but the Impresa RS
or whatever it is that they've recently made,
I think that's a good looking car.
Probably wouldn't go finance
one with my own money, but
yeah. All right, so
that's a
really good pick.
But what if somebody said
any
more off-road capable
Subaru because you've got the Cross Trek,
the Outback, the Forester,
the Ascent.
So those are your four choices.
I'm doing
Forester all day.
Become a huge Forester fan.
Legacy is like my
legacy platform is kind of like my first
love with Subarus, even though
it took me a while to realize how sick they were.
But dude, the Forester, man.
Patrick
over at ADF, he
is currently building that white one.
And man, he's really
unfortunately
right off the lot, they look
a lot like a Ford Explorer.
But man, the way he's got his sitting
with
even just a basic lift
with those Milestar
AT Pros.
Chef's Kiss, bro. Like those are sick.
Well, and then the one that
Milton and Kerry built out for the Rebel rally, too.
The hybrid.
Yeah. That looks amazing.
I see.
Is Patrick, is he posting it
on his Instagram page, the white one?
Or is he not posting anything yet?
I think they are.
That's what I want to see.
I want to see somebody do something crazy
with a new Forester
as far as like making it
more off-road capable.
And then I want to see somebody drop one
and make some sort of like street build
looking Forester, look crazy, you know?
Yeah.
So it's funny because that's kind of my favorite
that's kind of my favorite thing
and it might have been born out of the necessity
to
to do that
early before
lift kits were readily available.
Back in the day, you used to have to take an Impressor
or Legacy and lift it on Forester suspension
and
can you hear that dog by the way?
I don't hear it.
Thank God.
My backdoor neighbor's got a dog.
But yeah, that's how you used to have to lift them
was by using
Subaru suspension
off of a car that was bigger.
And so I always thought it was
cool to lift the car that didn't look like
it was supposed to be lifted and slam the car
that looked like it was supposed to be like
off-road, you know?
But yeah, I would
totally be down with that. I'd even love to have
like another
2010-2011
6-speed manual
outback and slam the car out of that thing.
That would be sick.
6-speed manual, dude.
Let's go.
It's got to be a manual.
It's just so much more fun.
Yeah.
For off-road, I prefer
a true automatic
personally.
Even a CVT off-road is going to be less
likely to burn up clutch.
But without low range, that's kind of my jam
is
I never bought an automatic actually
until
the Forester that I have now.
I'd only ever bought
one other automatic in my entire life
in my whole career of driving
and
it was a 93
legacy turbo wagon. And the only reason I didn't
buy it in a 5-speed is because it was never made
in the US in the manual transmission.
You could only get the sedans
in a 5-speed.
Other than that, my first automatic
was the current SG
that I have.
Yeah.
This is my third manual
because I had a 1990 Ford Ranger
that was a 5-speed manual
and then I had a 1997 Ranger
that was a 5-speed manual.
It's just something about driving a manual.
It's so fun.
Yeah. If it's a daily driver
and it's not going to be loaded up
with heavy tires,
oh dude, manual transmission all day.
Yeah.
Every single time, dude, that's absolutely
my jam.
Yeah, first car was actually
a 5-speed.
I had no idea how to drive it
so I just taught myself.
That's the best way to do it, man, is to own one.
Yeah, dude.
Sink or swim, you know, you better figure it out.
Yeah.
Yeah, when I had that first
Ford Ranger
I had never owned one.
I had tried to practice driving one
so I kind of knew what to do
but I'm like, I'm going to have to
learn how to drive it. I don't have a choice
because I needed a car at the time
and I did it.
That was fun.
I still remember the first time I actually tried
to drive on the road.
I still remember where I was at.
I still remember what we were doing
and I still remember being like, oh dude, this is actually scary.
I hope I can make it work, you know.
We were actually skateboarding.
We were like running around town, skateboarding different spots.
I still remember who I was with too, man.
Yeah, I made it home, dude.
Yeah.
My first experience trying to drive a manual
was with my first girlfriend.
She had a Volkswagen Rabbit
and she...
Yeah, and so I got
in the driver's seat and I'm trying to, you know,
get out of first, but
what I didn't realize is that
you should make yourself comfortable
with your seat back so that you've got plenty of reach
with your legs because
my legs were all squinched up, you know.
And so that's probably
I wasn't comfortable
and I didn't have like the perfect, you know,
range of motion with my left leg
and so I kept stalling it
and then I just gave up.
And she didn't really know how to teach it, you know.
Yeah.
But that was fun.
I still stall occasionally.
Same, actually.
If I was driving the blue car,
I would definitely stall it on occasion.
What is your,
what is your like ultimate Subaru,
like production car that...
This is...
So ultimate, can I just pick any Subaru right now?
Yeah.
If I had unlimited money right now
and could make an offer
to
anybody
that could guarantee me
their car that I want,
it would be, man, I'm...
I don't even know how to say it.
He's like one of my good friends.
I've never heard him say his last name.
But I'm not going to say his...
Okay, he doesn't have his last name on his Instagram
so I'm not even going to try to say it
because it's probably private, but...
I'm going to do
story time. Here we go.
Okay.
Back in the day when I had my first
first-gen legacy
there was a forum
on the internet called bbs.legacycentral.org
or something like that.
It was a first-gen legacy forum
that was started, I think, by a guy who'd done
like a full, like, STI swap.
I don't even remember what all this guy did,
but it was a first-gen legacy forum
and I remember there was
some photos
on that forum and some photos
that I found on the internet,
like on Google, because like at that point
first-gen legacy turbos
were like my jam, the legacy SS
the sickest car I'd ever seen
and there was one
that just was so clean
it was very well kept
and just was styled
very well with a bunch of JDM import parts
and
I saved that photo
I didn't even know where it came from
didn't know who owned it
but I was like, this car is tight
put it as my background on my computer
and had it on my...
had it as a background on my computer
for a long time, right?
Well, this one day
I'm on Craigslist
when the dinosaurs roamed the earth
I needed some headlights for my first-gen legacy
and I was like, hey
I need to get these
I can meet you over here in Vancouver
whenever, wherever
he was like, all right, cool
and so I met up with him
and I don't remember
how I put, oh, I remember what it was
his email address
had this
specific name
and when he showed up
I was like, yo, this is going to be crazy
but do you own
like a 94 Legacy
SS that's like completely
kitted out with JDM stuff
and he was like, yeah
and I was like, bro, your car has been
like
my screensaver on my computer
for like five years, bro
like, you literally
own the sickest legacy
on planet earth currently
and he was like, oh, yeah, that's that's mine
and so it kind of became
friends about parts from him and stuff
over the years, he's a super good dude
but that is the car that I want
and his Instagram
is mrbradical
mr underscore
his name is Brad
so radical radical
but uh, yeah
it's a 94 Legacy SS
it's got, it's even got
the rear
glass
imported from Japan
for the rear, you know, the rear window
because it has the windshield wiper integrated into it
you could not get those in the States
this idiot freaking imported
the rear glass
wired it in
like no
no games with this guy like
he's got an STI
WWX swap, second gen legacy
wagon
like, oh
oh man, here's the front end on that car
oh yeah
hand it over bro, like
mr underscore radical
yep, that's the one
so yeah, if I could own any car
it would be
his 94 Legacy
sickest car ever
yeah, that's cool
so with your Forester
what kind of mods do you have
for the Forester
what have you done to it
and I guess
maybe the major stuff
so
the major stuff
okay, so let's say you have
the exact same car that I have
okay
you want to take it off-road
here are the mods
that you would need
in order to start taking it off-road
I have a 2 inch lift
from Anderson Design & Fabrication
it's just a spacer lift
spacer lifts are okay
to put on Subaru's
100%, you don't need a suspension lift
I promise you
but that's what I run, it's got the 2.5 inch
spacer in the rear to eliminate
rear suspension sag
when you load the car down
but I've got that lift in it
and it does come with the rear trailing arm spacers
which
in that chassis you need
trailing arm spacers in order to
re-center the rear wheel
it's kind of the same thing as what
current model Subaru's use
that are called multi-link spacers
just a different suspension style
but sure that means something
it does
it just means you won't have a goofy caster
in your rear wheels
the car will handle better
and you'll have more room in the rear wheel wells
so that's what I got for a lift kit
and again I really want to encourage people
that if they're wanting to lift their car
and they're just intimidated because they want to do it right
but they don't want to spend too grand on coil overs
because
there's so much talk online about how like
oh that's the only way to really lift a car
with Subaru's it's completely different
a spacer lift in my opinion is the most
efficient effective
sustainable and
reliable way to lift these cars
you can do a suspension lift but
with the spacer lifts
do you have to do like subframe drops
and do other things in order to
accommodate the
like
because I know like in the front you have
some things that you probably should
take care of because of the travel
and everything you're going to change up
some things I don't remember exactly
what it is but I know there's some stuff you have to do
yeah so if you're
as long now it's going to vary
from car to car if you're not sure
what the max lift that you
can do without subframe spacers is
just go on ADF's website
and just look at whatever the biggest
spacer kit that they
sell for your car
that's probably the max because
they've done a lot of the research to figure out
what they like
but
on average if you're staying below
a two inch lift you don't need to subframe
space the front that's what I was thinking
yeah it starts to get
real crazy when you
surpass like the two inch
mark because then it's like
and I've made videos about this
but you literally have to space the entire
drivetrain of the vehicle down
and so you're lifting the unibody
up
but you're not getting really
anything out of it because you're
bringing everything else down which is
bringing all your clearances
down the center of the car back to
where they would have been with a two inch lift
you're going to get more approach angle
more departure it's negligible
dude
and it's at least a thousand dollars
more to do it that way and now you got to
fabricate a steering shaft
your radiator hoses all
have to be modified your pit stop
mount has to be extended like
it's just a whole bunch of headache in my
opinion for really
no extra benefit
but yeah that's really all you need
in my car to get it
going is just a two inch lift
with the rear trailing arm spacers and then
you're pretty much ready to start
doing silly things
as far as the lift goes but
I did install
a set of 235
75R15
mud terrains on it
and it's about a 29 inch
tire and
in order to fit that
tire you have to be down
to just start cutting
you got to be down to take
the saws off or the
dremel or whatever and you might
you're probably going to have to remove
your a lot of this stuff
I just pulled off anyways because I was like
I'm going to rip this stuff off on the trail who cares
but just go for it
I pulled the mud flaps off
pulled the side skirts off
hammered the pinch weld in
with a sledge hammer
and cut the front bumper
so you are going to have to do
some stuff like that if you want to run a 235
7515
but it's
honestly been one of my favorite mods
is running an aggressive
mud terrain on the car
but probably not for everybody
most people same car
I would recommend a 215
75 which is what you're running
that's honestly such a good
tire for the car that I own
if you're going to have to drive the car on a regular
basis and
you know it's actually like a daily or something
that you're going to drive long distances
and you don't have to do nearly as much modding
and it's still going to give you enough sidewall
to kind of get in there and start doing some
some saucy things on the
trails but that's just
my opinion but the tires
that I'm running they're just a
they're just a cheap
tire made I think in the
Philippines they're just Accelera
MTO ones
sickest tire I've ever run
a car they're just dirt
nasty mud terrains but they work
nice nice
and let's see what else have I
done
those are the two major things and I've
got them wrapped around black rhino
boxers just 15 by
seven with a 15 millimeter
offset nice
kind of the standard Subaru thing
the offset T2 offset makes it
makes any Subaru looks so good
you gotta have the offset
yeah it helps a lot
too with clearance issues
in certain
cases like if you
were to just take a
like an old school 15 inch
Subaru wheel put the same
try to put that on a more
modern Subaru it's not going to fix
they don't have enough offset to
pull the wheel away from the brakes
and just even actually
away from in my case
like the strut towers
your tire will actually contact the strut
towers if you don't have
a wheel that's offset enough
away from the body of the car
but that's what I'm running you know I also
have owned
and currently own a set of method MR502s
like everybody's got
the Ryka stuff is good
Sparkos are sick man there's
so much good stuff out there but oh yeah
that's just what I have on the car
currently because they're lightweight
wanted to cut down
dang what other mods
you've got a front bumper too
yeah okay so funny story
during the
that happened in 2020
I literally
I don't know man it more than
10 I reached out to more than 10 fabricators
because I needed a bumper for
the car because I wanted to run a winch
couldn't get anybody to do it
I would call people and say hey
promise I'm not a soy boy I'm not
going to be in pain
these people they're building like straight axle
swap Toyotas and huge
wheelers and rock crawlers
yeah I'll pay in advance
I'm gonna fudge I just need a bumper
no luck no luck at all
and I had this one fabricators like oh yeah
I'll get you on the schedule
four months after that date I was like
bro what is the deal
you never hit me up I still don't have
a bumper and I ended up stuck and stranded
in the force because I didn't have a winch
oh man you're pissing me off
now I just absolutely despise that guy and hope
his business doesn't succeed but
but I finally found a dude
Austin Westfall in
he lives north of Vancouver
Washington he
has a
97 out back
that's lifted I think four or five
inches and
he even swapped in a dual range
transmission from New Zealand
oh nice bro this
guy's Subaru is sick and I
saw pictures of his car
a couple times and he has this crazy
front bumper and then I ran into him at a
Subaru meet and I was like dude
this is gonna sound weird but can I pay you
to build me a bumper you know I don't really
do that professionally but
he's like yeah I guess I could
yeah I just paid him
to do it so
yeah it's just a
basic you know one off
thing and
that's cool it's unique
yeah yeah it's
you know I kind of
feel bad I put him on the spot but
it gets the job done
it's seen some trees
and has pulled me out
of some stuff but that's how that happened
but man I've also got
like I just got a cheap
Harbor Freight like
basic winch on the front
but I do have
the melee design firm battery box
and the full throttle battery
because I literally
almost got stranded up in the forest
like years ago and I will never
make that mistake again
even if the battery costs more it's worth all the money
to not be stranded or to miss out on
an appointment or whatever
um
and then dude what else do I have
you've got the rooftop basket
oh yeah it's just like a cheap
like El Chivo rooftop basket
that I've crushed
with a tree
you and the trees man
oh bro all sorts of stupid stuff
so I do have on that car
I have a torque locker from
torque masters
I've got that on the car and when I installed that
I also did a rear diff breather mod
which
some people say it's unnecessary
I just felt a little better about doing it
it's where you put a
hose fitting on the rear diff
and then you've vented up into like
a spare tire well that's how I did it
just to make sure that no water
can get in through the
like cheap factory breathers
and so I did that
um
unless you put it in a small pond
yeah
believe it or not dude I
I did a drain and fill and it did not take
on water that's good
somehow I don't know
I got ADF parts on that car
I've got the
molly panel on it
I've got the
rear diff like
they make a brace for the rear diff
I put that on the car
um I'm trying to think
pretty much anything that ADF makes for that car
like I have
bought it and have it
on the car or have it sitting in the garage
waiting to go on the car
yeah and I've got it same as
you man I got the strut tower brace in the front
pitch stop mount
and uh
probably some other goodies but it's really not that
cool of a car the only other mod
that I think most people should do
so I took the ECU
off the floor board
and they sit in the
passenger foot well
and so if your car ever takes on water
and gets uh you know which
mine did actually within months of me doing this
uh it will brick the car
right your car will not
start you'll probably have
to pay a bunch of money to get a new ECU
and get it reflashed I don't even know how
that works with the pain
but yeah just cut a hole in the back of the glove box
routed it up in there
because you don't even need to cut the wires or extend them
or anything there's enough wire loom
there where I just like put it
up there and like I think I have it held
down with some velcro or something
sitting in the glove box nice yeah
yeah man save my
my butt that day
nice so besides
the uh
the putting it in the water
and some trees it sounds like
have you had any other like
big mishaps with it
um yeah dude I'm trying to think
I
have you ever gotten stuck besides the water
like in snow or mud
yeah oh yeah
oh not it not even a question
yeah so most
of my off-roading
my early off-roading
went around
like what people would refer to as real
4x4's
so I would go out a lot with
my buddy Kyle
again the dude on my shirt
he just passed away like a month and a half ago
oh man I'm sorry
yeah that's right you talked about that yeah
yeah dude Kyle's a man
he had
we kind of got into off-roading kind of like
like more heavily at about the same time
he got a 1994
Toyota 4Runner
they just had like a basic lift
but it had 529 gears
which is enough to easily
run
35 inch tires
and we would just go do the craziest
stuff and I would just follow him dude
and uh
my car has been stuck so many times
like way up in
probably like
northeast Clark County
in Washington
that thing has seen every
forest road up there and it's been
stuck like
in three feet of snow
I've gotten it stuck in the mud
I ripped the rear bumper off in a massive
mud pit that had been
I'll not explain it
it was just like this big mud
crater sort of
without showing it to you like it happens
all the time out here because of the weather
and because of the type of rigs people drive
just as actually a big ditch dude
that somebody on 40s had just
gone through and dug out and I was like
I bet I could run through that
and it just when I got to the bottom of it
just grabbed the rear bumper and like ripped it
pulled it off and I was like oh well
guess I'm going to chop my bumper off
so that's what I did
what else have I done in that car dude
I don't even know
um
there's a
there's a pretty like
infamous situation that happened up at
in like back in
2020 there's a
club out here called like the subi adventure club
or SAC for short
we think that's pretty fun
we all met up this is actually
where I first met Mike McAllister
and then there's a lady
you might have met Melissa at the
at the expo
she doesn't help back and she does a lot of
like I think so maybe
maybe I've met so many people
it's hard to keep track
oh exactly she got her ascent
stuck in the snow up there
and I was like well
I bet I like I want to run through
this snow in my forester and
I got almost all the way through the snow
I think I got the farthest of anybody but then I got
stuck too so I had to get pulled out
but I was in short shorts that day up in the
snow so there's some photos of
me somewhere floating around with I think
I was wearing like red short shorts
and oh that's funny that's my jam but
yeah dude it's been stuck it's been stuck
all the
all the toe points on the car have been
bent and mangled from being pulled out by
rigs that are way too big to be
you know dealing with
but yeah I've done some gangster's things
in that car
what uh how would you say that
I mean you've owned so many Subaru's
but like how would you say that
I guess owning Subaru's has changed your life
especially maybe recently
too
probably ruined it
just kidding
I have this addiction to Subaru's
dude you know what's great
actually you know what's even funnier
when I actually think back on my life
and all the stuff that I do now you know what
really
is crazy to think about
skateboarding which is something I got into at the age of
like
11 or 12
that's why I own Subaru's now
and that's like what got me
into the trajectory of my life completely changed
because I picked up a skateboard and thought I wanted
to be Tony Hawk
but
that's why I started driving Subaru's
ultimately was because
I grew up skateboarding and then naturally
as I got older I was like I want to try snowboarding too
that got me into Subaru's
and uh
to get to the snowboarding spots
what's that
to get to the snowboarding spots exactly yeah yeah
you got to get up to Timberline bro
from four wheels with a board to four wheels
on a car
exactly
yeah so it's actually really funny
because yeah you're right like owning Subaru's
opened me up to all these crazy experiences
that I've had and all these
people that I've met and
you know just rad
rad
like connections that I've made over the years
but it's even funnier to think how it all
like really started was
skateboarding and then just kind of like
evolved over the years but dude
like such a good community of people and
um
I think it's it's what really got me
um it's like what
kind of prompted me to start wrenching on cars
man like I think if I'd owned anything
else or just become like a normal
you know person that didn't care about cars
like if I hadn't started
Subaru's I don't think I would have really
you just been driving them
oh yes because you know and that's fine
I know a lot of people are you know that's their thing
they don't care about cars are like this is just my motor
transportation I don't have anything against that
but yeah that's not me could
never be me bro like yeah
I yeah and
I think about that like
looking whenever I see a stock
cross-track drive you know a white
stock second-gen cross-track
and I'm like you don't know how did
I like how did I drive that car
around for now and
it's like I when I
bought that car like I loved I
loved it then yeah and I had no
idea I was gonna do what I'm doing to it
now and like I look
at my car now and I'm like it's not
like a crazy build
but it's so much more to
me than what it was and
it's like I just I love it I just I
couldn't imagine not having
it the way it is I couldn't imagine like having
to go back to stock you know yeah
oh dude that's how I feel
about a lot of cars that
I've owned I mean I didn't
even start like heavily
modifying cars really until
I started lifting
them that was like
you know really when I started doing it and
part of that's just because I was poor and having
money I had to put myself through school
man you think I'm gonna go spend
1500 bucks on like coilovers or whatever
like not a chance bro
like I gotta pay what you gotta do
yeah um
but yeah it
I'm trying to think man like
I didn't remember the last time I owned
a car that didn't have any like
significant modifications
you know like yeah
I guess my first legacy
escaped unscathed
I owned it for probably
six and a half years before I
had to sell it I should
have never sold that car I would
love to find the original owner and if it's
not wrecked I if they still had
it and offered to sell it to me I
would go get a trailer and buy
it right now
but yeah dude like they've all been
modded and it just makes the experience so much
more fun because you it's like putting on
clothes that you like wearing you feel more confident
in it and yeah your mindset
kind of changes a little bit and it's a way
to express yourself to through your car
yeah yeah so
I'm guessing it's it's safe to say
you'll always own a Subaru
yeah you know unless something crazy
happens or something changes
I mean if I ever
moved back to Asia I probably
wouldn't own a car but even when I lived
in Asia I owned a Subaru State
side you know
nice
but another thing I wanted to mention
too
in terms of like how it's
kind of altered my life or improved my life
or affected it
I cannot
express to people how reliable
these cars are I'll talk to people and it's like
they're driving
a car that they bought new three years ago
and they're like oh man this
FN cars back in the
back in the shop or back in the dealer
oh man oh my car broke down
or whatever man and it's like
I got this legacy that's got
Rodknock and it's had Rodknock
for a year and a half and I'm still
driving it like
yeah you know it didn't develop
Rodknock until like
205,000 miles
on the original engine and
it started knocking because
of something stupid I did so it's not
the car's fault but like
oh they're such good cars
and you take
care of them
they drive right
they handle well
and they really are well
engineered vehicles I absolutely love them
yeah my
son's outback he's had some issues with it
and he has this thing
happen occasionally
where he'll be driving and he's got the
five EAT
automatic and the
3.6R yeah he's got the
3.6R but he'll be driving
and
and it only happens in third gear but it'll
like kind of hesitate
and then like rev
and then all of a sudden shift really hard
and then like shoot forward
and
a lot of times most of the time
his like cruise control
light is flashing his battery light is on
and check engine
light is on so he has like these lights on
you know and
there's a few things wrong with it but
I mean other than that
like it still drives like really
really well for a car that has
200 and I think like 12,000 miles
or something
that's impressive so
yeah I mean we just don't have the money
right now to like really really get it fixed
and figure out what's going on with it
but I'm guessing you guys did a fluid change
yeah so we did
we did a drain and fill on the transmission
we had
to change his
his passenger
side axle most recently
because it was the boot split somehow
and was flinging out
grease everywhere
he changed out all six
of his spark plugs on his own
and we had to change out
the AC discharge hose
and that's really about it
but
but yeah
so I mean yeah they're good cars but
we'll go ahead and get into this
this last segment which is to get to know
you a little bit better
but who is
who's been like describe yourself
man
you know this is the one question I should actually
thought about
I'm kind of an old man that just
loves original cars
I love the outdoors
but I work
you know people might think
you're just a
dude that has a podcast and runs a website
but no actually I have a
full time W2
position
with a medical company that's in a very specific niche
I'm not going to share
what that is or exactly
you know that type of thing
but
I work I do marketing
and it's crazy I just I got into marketing
you know
I have a business degree but
never had any intention of getting into marketing
or doing that and
I actually met a guy
on an airplane
about
what year are we in now
probably
I want to say I met this dude
about seven or eight years ago on an airplane
and
we just got to talk and we started talking about how much
taxes
and government regulation
just
about how much we just want to like live our lives
and be left alone type of a thing
anyways we just hit it off man
it was almost like we just had known each other
forever we just met on this really short
connecting flight
and he was like hey what do you do for a living
and I was like I work in the automotive industry
and he was like
do you want to like
if you ever thought about working in the medical industry
what I am now like what's up
you know
I manage you know like I'm the chief operations
officer of this company
um
you should send me a CV
and a resume and I was like dude say less
like get that to you in the next couple of days
and he
you know when he gave me his car he was like
we don't have any positions available right now
but I'm going to make one like
so get you in here like you
you know just talking to you like I really
enjoyed you know
working with you and whatever well anyways fast forward
to today man like he and I are like
I would consider him
one of my best friends he was at my wedding
just a couple of months ago
and that's a big deal
yeah man we've made each other
a lot of money and
yeah he's just like
and there's other people at that company that we are currently
working with that are
I would consider like really really close
nice but that's what I do
professionally that's how I actually pay the bills
and pay the mortgage but man I just do all
kinds of stuff
I try to be helpful to people
man I think that's my that's my life goal
man should just encourage other people
even though I like cyber bullying on occasion
yeah
not really not really
but now I'm just kidding
but yeah I just I love
being positive and I love going to the gym
and
like we were talking about earlier
man just being a good steward of
of our just our resources
and I think our body is
probably the most valuable resource that we
have yeah and
I got a lot of injuries but man I still
I still try to get down in the gym you know
pushing pushing some weight where I can
you know yeah but that's yeah
that's pretty much me man I just I'm just kind of
a kind of a goofy old man that just
loves Subaru's I love jeeps
I love going off-road get stuck in the snow
you know that type of
type of thing and
just learning man learning
all the time that's that's my jam
learning how to do new things like
doesn't matter what it is
a lifelong learner
I guess you could sum me up that way
that's good good to learn
heck yeah dude
what is a favorite memory from your childhood
oh dude
okay let me
man I didn't even think about any of these questions
even though I've heard you ask them so many times
I should have actually thought about this
that's why I send them out
no this is actually cool because it's just
right off the dome and I'm not actually thinking about it
so I have this memory
I have really bad eyesight
I've had bad eyesight since
since I was a
child can you see me okay
so a lot of my memories
I didn't even come to this realization until
recently but
I remember thinking like man I really don't have a lot of memories
for my childhood and I was thinking about it
I was like well I couldn't see
you know like
so how would I have vivid memories
but one of my
earliest memories is of me and
my mom
we were in the backyard at this house
that we lived in in Portland
and we were dirt poor bro like it was bad
but I have great
parents
I have this memory of me and my mom
I must have been like three
yeah probably three
and we were in the backyard just
being goofy having like a cherry
fight because there was a cherry tree in the backyard
bro we were just like throwing cherries
oh that's awesome
so that's probably like my earliest funny memory
but yeah I got all kinds
of good memories I got a good family
my parents are some of the best people I've ever known
but yeah that's
probably takes the cake
that's funny yeah that's a good memory
yeah
so we already discovered what you do
for a living if you
could do anything you want man what would your dream
job be
you know
and it's a hard one because
um I just
it's gonna sound weird but it's like making money
like
nothing wrong with that
yeah if I can make money doing something I don't hate
and I'm delivering value to
whoever I'm working for
or whoever I'm you know if I'm doing
contract work or whatever if I'm delivering
value that's really all I care about
but something that I really really
like
I like the idea
of coming into
yeah and I know this is something that people do
but I would love to be part of
a team
that comes into businesses that are
good
they're run by somebody who knows their craft really well
but they're maybe not
maybe they don't know anything about advertising
maybe they don't know anything about
you know
how to do their accounting in a
in a modern way
but coming into businesses like
that being like yo man we're about to take you
from the guy the guy that really knows
what he's doing like the mechanic that's like an
OG mechanic but is getting crushed
by this other shop out here that
actually sucks but just does better marketing
I'm about to come in here and like
be back on top homie like we're about to do this
we're about to increase your margins
because like the other people I work with
they're also business minded
and we've all you know we've all talked about
you know doing things like this
but I think that would be my jam dude like coming in
and helping people
that are business owners just like optimize
their yeah
optimize their business and like
just helping them helping them
do better and provide better
you know because if you're good at what you do
owe it to the general public to sell
your services and to get in front of people
yeah and to to remain in
business but you know like
honestly
if I could just like build
cars all
day like if I was rich I would
hire some of the best mechanics in the world
like Jay Leno style
you know
and I'd be like I need you to teach me how to weld
I need you to like help me build these cars
I just want to like learn this stuff for the rest of my life
like that would be
ultimate like lottery winner type stuff
yeah not hire people to do everything
for you but hire the people that know how to do
this stuff to teach you how to do it so that you
can do it yourself
now that's that's that's the way to do it man
absolutely and then I would document
everything so that everybody can learn from it
like that would be my jam right there
each other people
what is something that makes you want to get out of bed
every day
so
today it's
I'm not going to lie
it's been cold out here so it's a little bit tough
but
if
every day it's just like but you know you got to do what you
got to do and I'm you know what
I'm gonna stop being negative right now I
actually am super
grateful every time I wake up and I'm not
six feet under breathing dirt
that's like a good
day like even just baseline
being alive is pretty
sick and so I'm thankful I try
to be thankful and like
I don't know a good word for
but just you know having gratitude
every day I think helps me like feel a
little bit like more motivated
but
if we got a wheeling trip
somehow I'm magically
able to wake up at 4 30 in the morning
dude yeah load up
the Jeep or the Forester and get
out to where we're going I don't know what it is about
that but it helps me wake up it's the excitement
man because like every time I have
to get up really
early to go do something that I really want to
do I have no problem
but like getting up for like when I was
when I was working getting up for work
every day it was like
but then yeah
and like I could have
less sleep getting
up to go do the thing I want to do and I'm
just up and I'm like dude
let's go because you're excited you're
excited for the day you're excited for what's to
come and that's like
you know it's not that I don't want to
work a full-time job but if I worked at a full-time
job where I was
really excited to wake up every day
and go do that job it would be
like being excited to go
out on a trip or something you know
I don't want to not want to wake up
every day and
I'm getting off-tropic but anyway
no I'm glad you said that you know
um you know it's
funny
I actually wish for everybody
in the world
at least
even people that probably don't deserve it because the world's better
when everybody's doing better but
I wish for everybody to actually
like find that thing that they're
that they're gifted at that they're meant to do
on planet earth
and to be successful at it dude when I see
people
doing well that gets me so pumped
me too yeah
there's a guy maybe I
talked about this but I got a homie out here
locally that um
he was working a job that was exactly like what you just
described it like hating it
and he
he's a real talented guy and I was like man
why don't you just do handyman work
around town like start selling your services
someone will pay you 800 bucks to go
pull a stupid shrub out from their yard
like go do that he was like
okay I guess so
they started doing it and then
he just messaged me the other day
I haven't been back to my old job in three weeks
and I made like four times the amount of
money I was like
I told you brother like
like he sends me updates anytime he gets
a new job like when he bids a job
and gets it I'm like yes dude like
cheering on other people I think
it's such a valuable thing and oh of course
yeah man it like
changes your mindset to be just
yeah to be happy for other people and
when you see somebody that's like
doing well don't be like envious
jealous of them be happy for them you know
I used to be that guy
anytime I saw like a young successful
dude I was like must be nice to have rich
parents and it's like that's not going to get
you anywhere or if I saw some dude that was
jacked like oh but that guy's on steroids
you know like I was that idiot
and that all that is
is a lack of self confidence that's all
it is yeah it's like and it's more about
what you lack and
yeah you know then what they have it's
yeah but and that dude's
dad might have a bunch of money on bottom of
Lamborghini or he might be on steroids but who
cares what's that have to do with me like yeah
exactly just motivate me to do better
yeah what is something
that makes you want to stay in bed
if I'm like
stressed about
something or depressed
that makes me not want to get
up and maybe the cold
yeah the cold doesn't
help thank god
I've got I got central air
in my house so it's usually not too bad but
I don't crank it up too high in the winter
but you know what and I'll be
honest with you I've got
pretty substantial like
spinal damage from accidents
as a kid
my back
you've been hanging out with Travis Pastrana
dude you know what he takes
the cake for sure but a lot
of the chronic pain that he describes which
you know nothing that's happened to me is
nearly as traumatic as
what his body's been put through like
I can't even imagine it there's probably
not a bone in his body that's not connected
to aftermarket parts
of some sort
but you know a lot of what he talks
about when I've when I've heard him
kind of talk about this in different interviews
kind of the same thing you just have a lot of chronic
pain and you just start to kind of
learn how to live around it and work
around it and you sort of become numb
to it in certain respects
like even right now I come in pain
dude
well let's wrap this up man
get out of here
but yeah man that makes me want to stay in bed
when I wake up with a tension headache
or my pinched nerve
my back's killing me bro I'm just like
I'm fixing to go right back to sleep
what is something that really scares you
you know
what's crazy man actually
the idea of doing a podcast
really scared the heck out of me
oh yeah
big time
public speaking scares me
oh god yeah I hate it
it used to scare me a lot
and it's funny because once I started making videos
like the videos that you and I are making
for that certain platform that we've talked about
not OF
not OF
but
but doing that and making youtube videos and stuff
actually made me less concerned about public speaking
it's like I don't have as big of a problem
with it anymore
it does still
freak me out a little bit
I have a memorial service
that I'm going to have to go to in about a month
and I would typically
never push myself to talk
at a memorial service or to speak
this is one of my
best friends
I do not get
upset about people passing away
like it just doesn't bother me at all
but
this one really kind of hit me a little bit harder
and
I think I'm going to
say a few words that is funeral
and that actually scares me to even just think about it
I'm like oh yeah because I'm going to get emotional
and look like an idiot in front of all these people
yeah
I totally everybody's looking at me
yeah and I think
the hard part for me is saying something that's actually
like that actually means something
to me that's like
sentimental it's hard for me to
verbalize that stuff out loud without getting emotional
so yeah that's
pretty much the only thing that scares me bro
not much else dude
I've almost died a few times
and I just
it's not that scary once you've been right there so
everything else is cool
what is something that really excites you
oh man
honestly just
exploring dude exploring
whether it's in a car
hiking trail
I really love that
I love
seeing something new
or being like oh I wonder what's up that road
oh yeah
I wonder what's on that side trail like dude
that was an addiction for me
hiking
in the northwest to go see waterfalls
that's a big one for me dude
that's like
next level because you saw some good waterfalls
when you were in the
central Oregon area
but where I grew up
there's just tons of them bro and it's addicting
it was an addiction for me for a while
we looked it up there's like over
260 waterfalls
in Oregon we were like how
how's that even possible
it's crazy
and probably a hundred of them were within
an hour of where I grew up
absolutely crazy
yeah I couldn't even imagine that dude
that's awesome
that gets me pumped and you know what
the other thing I like again
there's something about
I get excited
at the idea of putting in a good
hard days work
and accomplishing things
and then being compensated for it
like getting paid dude
and I think it's just because of the way I grew up
like I just didn't have anything
and being able to provide a service
or work hard or whatever
and then actually be compensated for that
that's actually fulfilling for me too
it's not as glamorous as hiking and seeing waterfalls
but it gets me pumped
yeah that's good
what would be your best bit of advice
to give to someone about anything
oh dude
if there's anything you want to do
just start doing it
and get yourself around other people
probably one of the most
basic
like base level things
is to just start changing
just kind of where your head's at
you know we were talking about this a little bit
but it starts all
between the years man
if you start viewing yourself in a positive way
and start like
just
you know just believing
like yeah I can be successful
at this thing that I want to start doing
or I can do this
I can make these different things happen
that's half the battle right there
because if you don't believe it in your head
100%
that right there that'll put it into it
even before you get started
or you'll just self sabotage
but yeah man help everybody you can
you know you don't need to
you don't need to like put yourself in a bad spot
to help other people that's not what I'm saying
like you can't help other people if you're not doing good
but
yeah always be willing to say yes to
pretty much everything you can
learn new things
and yeah get around good people
all that stuff has been
just eye-opening to me
there's a lot of good people in the Subaru community
yes
absolutely man
yeah
well cool man
thank you for taking the time to record with me
now
bro this is like a little dream come true
for me homie
no it's fun
I always get excited too
and somebody has good equipment
like separate headphones and mics
you know that's like
oh dude it sounds so good
and so clean
yeah you uh
I tried to mute my audio anytime
I was like gonna adjust something
or take a drink or whatever
I do that too
I might have a couple of pops in there
but feel free to
cause it's boring I ramble a lot
I'm not gonna be offended if you trim this way down
but uh
we went from 2 hours and 40 minutes to 30 minutes
nah
nah
that's probably about all it's worth
no no there's
there's some stuff off to trim out but
off the air stuff
yeah I just ramble a lot dude
it's okay man I think people
just like hearing conversations
especially with people that they know
and you know because it's all about
I mean yeah this is a Subaru themed
podcast but
very very quickly in the very beginning
it kind of became more about
like the person behind the car
and the account you know
because you can only talk so
long about your mods it's like
if we just came on the podcast
like hey what mods do you have on your car
okay when did you buy it
yeah exactly
there's no value to that
the only value would be like
oh I could do that to my car
what else do you
because so much about the
this community this car community
or this community that's built around
cars in a particular brand
is the people that own them
it's not
you go and you see this person's car
and you're like do that car is awesome
and then you start talking to the person
and it's all about the people
it's about the cars but it's so much more about the people
and that's what these
you know podcasts are about
is listening to people talk about something
they enjoy even if you go off
topic yeah
no man I agree dude
you know we
we talked about that a little bit when
you're on on mine you know it's like
you just get to talk to people about like whatever
man like yeah you can
kind of theme it around the car
or whatnot but
a person's experiences
and life and they're the way
they live the stuff they're into that all
influences like how
they you know mod their cars
or why they got into the cars you know
that yeah stuff but
you know people are just interesting
I see a lot of that
isn't that that popular
sentiment like oh I hate people
or oh I love cats more than I love
people and it's like okay we cool you love
cats but like human beings
are pretty awesome you know there are
some butt heads out there
but yeah humans are rad
I love them yeah
absolutely
cool man
yeah it's been fun
yeah thank you man thanks for letting me
chat your you're off all night yeah
no it's awesome what time is it there
man 11 19
I don't have to get up for anything tomorrow
that's right nice feeling
but yeah yeah it's been great
thank you oh man
thank you you're welcome
hey everybody thank you for tuning
into another episode of the podcast
and thank you for tuning into the very
first episode of 2026
we're moving into year six
so we've done five years
of the Subin you podcast
and that's a pretty big accomplishment
because I did an episode a while
back talking about
podcast statistics and
the subin you podcast is in a very
very elite
part of all of the
podcasts out there because like
the numbers of
or like the percentages of
podcasts going past like 50 episodes
is really low
and we're in that percentage but it's
not just me it's all of us we're all
doing this together so thank you so much
for listening thank you so much for sticking
around thank you so much for sharing
I really appreciate it thank you to
my guests thank you to my
sponsors and
thank the community thank you
Subaru of America too
it's been such a great journey and I
look forward to what comes in 2026
so with that we will close
this episode out get this one done
get this year started and
I hope you all have
a wonderful week and I hope
you all have a wonderful year
we're just getting started there's so much
more to come for everybody
so let's all make it a great year
let's all be kind
to people let's all be kind
to ourselves and
just have a good time and enjoy
living life much to be love
RAF
the Subin you podcast is hosted by Raphael
in a closet in Houston
produced by Raphael in a room
next to the closet in Houston and edited
by Raphael on a computer
in the room next to the closet in Houston
with music by Luke Ruiz
in another room in Houston
you can find the Subin you podcast
wherever you listen to podcasts including
Apple podcast Spotify and many more
to support the podcast
please head over to patreon.com
slash Subin you podcast
once you join you will have access
to the discord channel and discord chats
with other patrons if you'd like
to get in contact with the show
you can find them on Instagram at
Subin you podcast online
at Subin you podcast.com
Subin you podcast at gmail.com
that's all for this week
you
you
About this episode
Ben, known as Lifted Subarus and host of Dirt Subis podcast, joins Subie & YOU! for a free-flowing conversation about Subaru culture, personal stories, and vehicle modifications. They discuss the evolution of Subaru designs, community growth, and the appeal of older models like the Forester and Legacy. Ben shares his passion for off-roading, camping, and the challenges of lifting Subarus. The episode also highlights supporting small businesses in the Subaru aftermarket and reflects on how owning Subarus has shaped their lives. The chat blends technical insights with heartfelt memories and future aspirations.
My buddy Ben, the host of the Dirt Subies podcast, hops on the mic to chat all things Subaru and just have a fun conversation. Be sure to check out his podcast as well and show him some Subie Love!
Links from the show, links to sponsors and discount partners, and ways to support the podcast: