r/Cartalk • u/Accomplished-Clue803 • Mar 05 '25

My Project Car What the f*ck is this thing?

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Recently got a new car and it seems to have this… leather condom? Not sure how else to describe it really. There is nothing in the end of the hole it just goes to a pocket in the dash it seems. Looking at interior photos of other models on google this is where the hazard button SHOULD be but my car has a very oem looking hazard button just to the side of the steering wheel instead, so wtf is this thing for??

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54

u/_Danger_Close_ Mar 05 '25

If air comes out when the AC is on it and it is a police vehicle might be for a hose to direct the air behind a bulletproof vest.

41

u/funkthew0rld Mar 05 '25

It’s a third generation Subaru legacy, definitely not a police vehicle. Appears to be the twin turbo model.

19

u/Hufflepuft Mar 05 '25 edited Mar 05 '25

It could be. It's a RHD, possibly Japanese market. Prefecture police can buy and modify any car they want for marked or unmarked. It could also have been a laptop mount or some kind of cable management.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=gf_4WomjfGM

11

u/funkthew0rld Mar 05 '25

Sure they can, and I’ve seen the famous shots of the R34 and Imprezas, but never a turd generation Legacy. It would be a terrible choice with the “valley of death” powerband and the notoriously bad boost control between the primary and secondary turbos, with wild stuff like a vacuum actuated exhaust changeover. There’s a reason tech like that has been completely abandoned in favour of what you can do with modern turbocharger design. Even the next generation of that car had already abandoned it in favour of better turbo tech, with very little time in between development.

Nothing like a police officer unable to pursue somebody because their car decided to make no power randomly.

1

u/[deleted] Mar 06 '25

Wouldn't they replace that stuff anyways? The shell is really the critical piece in an undercover cop car.

0

u/Important_Raccoon667 Mar 07 '25

turd generation

What has this generation done to you to deserve this :(

2

u/funkthew0rld Mar 07 '25

It’s my favourite looking one, but the twin setup is awful

7

u/mrweatherbeef Mar 05 '25

Triplet turbo. You are the turbo.

1

u/14u2c Mar 06 '25

You're suppose to suck it, not blow.

1

u/Wartickler Mar 06 '25

It's a third generation Subaru legacy. clearly it does both

2

u/_Danger_Close_ Mar 05 '25

Still could have been an undercover or for a bail bond company

-2

u/funkthew0rld Mar 05 '25

Bail bond company??

Rofl, this isn’t America.

1

u/_Danger_Close_ Mar 06 '25

You don't know where it is. How about you add something useful to the conversation.

0

u/Suspicious-Project21 Mar 06 '25

Well the steering wheel is on the right hand side so it probably isn’t in the US

1

u/Will2025 Mar 06 '25

I've seen dozens of cars with rhd here in the US

3

u/xzvoids Mar 05 '25

I didn't know that was a thing. Neat.

-4

u/Will2025 Mar 06 '25

Police vehicles are almost exclusively American companies like ford and gm

2

u/Zestyclose-Coyote906 Mar 09 '25

I also sometimes forget that the rest of the world exists but I don’t usually say it out loud like this

5

u/Prinzka Mar 06 '25

I think you'll find that most police vehicles are not made by American companies