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Old Not Bold Hiker



Joined: 12 Dec 2006
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Old Not Bold Hiker
PostMon Sep 10, 2018 9:04 pm 
Brucester wrote:
The whole CVT thing is blown out of proportion? Why do so many mechanics not like them or have nothing but negative things to say about them? I read a never do list of things not to do with a CVT it seemed obvious. Take care of your car?! Although I like my automatic, I may check out the 5 speed's. Is it true they're more expensive now? A friend said that and it seemed odd. How's the sleep in the Forrester? For the six footer? Couples? The sound system? Speaker placement? Scion got that right. The sound is really good for stock. Maybe to get you pumped up for the 3,000 dollar shop bill you'll have to pay before 49,000 miles?
Not all CVT's are created equal. Some of the other brands out there had attempts on CVT's that gave CVT's a really bad reputation. I think Nissan was one of the Fails. Subaru seemed to have a bit more development up front before launching theirs. I think there were a few bad apples in the early Subie CVT's but it was very sporadic and not a trend. And Subie has continued to improve their CVT. Subie sound systems? Are you going to listen to your car or drive it? That seems to be Subie's philosophy. Not a problem for me, because I tend to have higher priority on driving than sound, but that could be a down side for some people. Subie has been steadily working on improving their cabin noise deadening in recent years, which effectively improves the music sound system. CVT (automatic) get MUCH better gas mileage than manual transmission these days. What is the attraction of stick shifts in this day and age. Our Impreza has paddle shifters so I can pretend to manually shift as needed. I was a bit freaked by our Forester not having even paddles, but only a "low range" position. In actual use, having a flick of lever give you a "downshift" at ANY speed turns out to be pretty darn good useful design. Also the (highly recommended) X-mode option is handy for extreme traction required situations. My only complaint on it is it cuts out at 19mph max. But that is probably for the good to keep me more cautious. I was reading the above link on the 2019 Forester and noted the Sport model has paddle shifters and a Sport Mode, in addition to X-mode. That could be one heck of a lot of fun. I have been in a lot of Subarus, carpooling in groups, and in a lot of other car models getting to trailheads in Oregon. In general, Subaru is NOT an "off-road" vehicle, but I have noticed there is nothing like a Subaru, at any price point, for smoothing down anything faintly resembling a road and giving more traction confidence compared to all the other options I have been in. I try to avoid sleeping in my Subies, because I am only in them driving. eek.gif Outback gives you about 6 inches more sleeping length than the Forester, Forester gives you about 6 inches more sleeping length than the Crosstrek. When we were buying our Forester the sales guy was saying the people he was selling to before us were laying down in the back to try it on for size. He seemed to imply that was odd, but not unusual, I thought it made perfect sense. Try it. Just my opinions. Gather data points until you feel good about a decision.

friluftsliv
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Brian Curtis
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Joined: 16 Dec 2001
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Brian Curtis
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PostTue Sep 11, 2018 6:11 am 
ejain wrote:
I used that service for a long time, too, but now rely on an app (Automatic) that captures data from the ODB port. This appears to be at least as accurate, and more detailed (can review fuel consumption per trip, rather than just between fill-ups).
That looks pretty cool. You like it? Does it give you enough other information to justify the expense?

that elitist from silverdale wanted to tell me that all carnes are bad--Studebaker Hoch
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Brian Curtis
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Brian Curtis
Trail Blazer/HiLaker
PostTue Sep 11, 2018 6:16 am 
My only complaint about my still new CVT in our Crosstrek is that it has fake shift points. Dumb and not as efficient as it could be. But the paddle shifters are great. I can drive down logging roads without ever touching the brakes.

that elitist from silverdale wanted to tell me that all carnes are bad--Studebaker Hoch
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iron
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iron
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PostFri Sep 14, 2018 2:32 pm 
we have a 2014 outback with CVT. 4 cylinder. i've towed 2000lb loads with it up some pretty steep hills (at least 10% grade, gravel). no problems. it's a little weird with parking brake stuff and i'm generally leery of it, but so far (40k miles) no problems aside from a frame that is probably factory-screwed-up. gas mileage is 27 mpg for us, which isn't as good as our former 1994 subaru legacy wagon 4cyl, 5 sp manual (30mph). suspension, stability, and traction are night and day different in the 20 year gap. like different entities altogether.

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ejain
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ejain
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PostFri Sep 14, 2018 3:45 pm 
Brian Curtis wrote:
That looks pretty cool. You like it? Does it give you enough other information to justify the expense?
Saves me the hassle of logging fillups (which I did to keep an eye on fuel efficiency), and fiddling with a device or app to record tracklogs for individual trips (so I can plot them on a map). Once the device is set up, you can pretty much forget about it. Automatic also looks up the cost of gas when you fill up, and uses that to calculate the cost of each trip (useful when hiking with people who insist on paying "gas money"), and there is some kind of crash alert system (which made me feel less bad about letting my Subaru Starlink subscription lapse). Drawbacks: The tracklogs aren't always 100% accurate. Trip stats are only synced via AT&T's cellular network. Development is no longer very active since the company was acquired by SiriusXM (so any bugs you find are now "features"). The cost should work out to <$3 per month over the 5-year lifespan of the device. If you're looking for a cheaper alternative (minus a few features) check out Dash, which works with a generic $10 OBD dongle.

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Brucester
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PostThu Aug 01, 2019 5:37 am 
New or used? Best dealer? Cargurus or?

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RichP
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PostThu Aug 01, 2019 11:14 am 
These folks did me right if you want to go used. https://roosales.com

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Navy salad
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Navy salad
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PostThu Aug 01, 2019 1:24 pm 
We bought a 2019 Forrester a while back through Costco and it saved us about $5000 right off the top. Note they will still refer you to a dealer, but the dealer invoice clearly showed the $5000 discount.

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Brucester
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Brucester
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PostFri Aug 09, 2019 7:04 am 
boot up wrote:
How's the sleep in the Forrester? For the six footer? Couples? The sound system?
So I sleep in my car, I've been doing it since 1987. Hike your own hike.... Music? What nature doesn't inspire, music fills in the gap! Anyway, thanks for the info.

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Backpacker Joe
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Backpacker Joe
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PostFri Aug 09, 2019 10:22 am 
Since I cant get a Subaru Outback diesel, I was looking at one of those CrossTrek hydrids. Looks interesting, allbeit expensive.

"If destruction be our lot we must ourselves be its author and finisher. As a nation of freemen we must live through all time or die by suicide." — Abraham Lincoln
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mb
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PostFri Aug 09, 2019 6:34 pm 
The first gen Subaru hybrids were apparently terrible, like heavier and slower with minimal improved efficency . Not sure if the newer ones are better.

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Brucester
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PostMon Dec 16, 2019 1:22 pm 
How's your new/old Forester running? Rave's, comments, issues? The flat tire thing? Doesn't the space saver ruin the awd system?

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mike
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PostMon Dec 16, 2019 3:09 pm 
Backpacker Joe wrote:
Since I cant get a Subaru Outback diesel, I was looking at one of those CrossTrek hydrids. Looks interesting, allbeit expensive.

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Brucester
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PostSun Dec 29, 2019 1:29 pm 
THIS is the place to ask about Subaru's! While they aren't for everyone, you see a heck of a lot of 'em places you go! The perfect vehicle may not exist but at least you're getting awd and good actual mpg.

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