Help me find a vehicle. I am frustrated.

Sac Arrow said:
I'm sure as time goes on I'll have some gripes and *******. The touchscreen that controls a lot of functions like selecting radio stations seems a bit laggy. I seem to get weird pulls from the steering wheel, not sure if that's from the AWD or it's trying lane assist stuff. I don't even know whether it's on or off, or even how to turn it on or off. Yet.
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It's the lane-assist most likely. It can do that even without the cruise being on. Hit the steering-wheel button on the right side cluster of buttons on the steering wheel. I had the exact same observation on the drive home from buying our Forester. I had to go home and read the owner's manual to figure things out.

The newer models do have complaints about laggy touchscreens. Ours still have manual environmental controls so we really only use Car Play on the touchscreens.
 
I love Subaru's green and blue colors. I wanted those colors, but we bought black because apparently some dealerships use the Henry Ford "any color as long as its black" ordering system. :D
 
Ed Haywood said:
What's the difference between a vacuum cleaner and a Bradley fighting vehicle?

A vacuum cleaner only has one dirtbag inside.
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Let's talk about that for a minute. I have a huge respect for Special Forces. That was my end goal. I was slated to go in Ranger Battalion. I went through RIP but not Ranger school. They sent all of us, and I mean all of us, to West Germany at the time. Most of the guys in my unit were ex 82nd Airborne from Grenada. We had a handful of Rangers.

Our Bradleys weren't stuffed full of losers.
 
Sac Arrow said:
Our Bradleys weren't stuffed full of losers.
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That's fair. My first assignment was as an infantry LT in the 25th ID in Hawaii. I had a great time and worked harder in the field than ever since. The troops and NCOs were great. Many of them later went SF or Ranger. Below is a picture of my Scout Sniper platoon climbing Mauna Kea.

But it wouldn't be the military if we didn't give each other S#!+. Same reason I mock the Air Force being a bunch of class-B-wearing hotel staying wusses while secretly being jealous that they get to fly badass airplanes. And why every Marine who ever lived is convinced he can beat my @$$.

scouts peak.jpg
 
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mark.staggs said:
It's the lane-assist most likely. It can do that even without the cruise being on. Hit the steering-wheel button on the right side cluster of buttons on the steering wheel. I had the exact same observation on the drive home from buying our Forester. I had to go home and read the owner's manual to figure things out.

The newer models do have complaints about laggy touchscreens. Ours still have manual environmental controls so we really only use Car Play on the touchscreens.
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I tried that. It worked.
 
You bought it before I could suggest you beat the dealer up and make them install the remote start module as part of the deal so you can at least have a fighting chance of having non-subscription based remote start if you wanted it...
 
bentmettle said:
You bought it before I could suggest you beat the dealer up and make them install the remote start module as part of the deal so you can at least have a fighting chance of having non-subscription based remote start if you wanted it...
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I got a few things out of the deal, but that particular option isn't something I care about.
 
Ed Haywood said:
That's fair. My first assignment was as an infantry LT in the 25th ID in Hawaii. I had a great time and worked harder in the field than ever since. The troops and NCOs were great. Many of them later went SF or Ranger. Below is a picture of my Scout Sniper platoon climbing Mauna Kea.

But it wouldn't be the military if we didn't give each other S#!+. Same reason I mock the Air Force being a bunch of class-B-wearing hotel staying wusses while secretly being jealous that they get to fly badass airplanes. And why every Marine who ever lived is convinced he can beat my @$$.

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Absolutely!
 
Well, so here are my first impressions...

1. It drives nice, it's quiet, and it has a decent amount of power. I had to disable the lane assist feature to be able to make the statement that it drives nice.

2. It has a LOT of sensors. And cameras. I kind of wish it didn't, because I'm paying for that. On the other hand, cameras and sensors are cheap these days. I'm not sure how I feel about the lane departure alerts. Okay I don't like them. And with the construction work on the 50 locally, I get confused with what lane is what and it might too. But, the blind spot warnings are not a bad thing. I still look. I always will. Either way, visibility is pretty good. I've driven vehicles where blind spot visibility is pretty bad.

3. It's not a small vehicle. It's about as long as a single cab pickup with a full bed. And wide. But not ridiculously long and wide. I pretty much ruled out Jeeps and Broncos for their width. So, I am sort of driving a large tall vehicle again. It does have a large tall vehicle feel to it, but not to the degree one of our company F150's does, or my previous Dodge extended cab 2500 Ram did. And the Ram didn't feel so big because of the narrow hood profile, like a semi, giving more visibility to the lane.

4. The dealership was in full send mode to sell me very pricey extended warranty packages. I always decline them. I have never experienced so much pressure to sign up for periodic dealer maintenance. Yes I get it that there may be some certain dealer only items that might have to be done, maybe the AWD differential fluid, but I intend on getting my oil changes and the local Firestone that I can walk to plus dealer service is $$$. No, I'm not bringing it in every six months, unless I actually accrued six thousand miles on the odo. I'm on fence about 10K oil change intervals. I did that on the Sentra and the engine ran like new at close to 100K when I traded it in. I'll follow the 6K intervals. By California law, third party servicing does not void the warranty.

5. Ask any mechanic, what is the worst thing you can do for your engine? Start it. 90% of engine wear occurs on startup. Starting with the '26 model, although there is a button at your fingertips that you can (and should) push every time you start the engine to disable idle shutoff, there is no software option to change the default. Fortunately, there are aftermarket overrides available and I have one on order.

6. Power seems to be decent and matched for the vehicle. But I haven't really put my foot down yet. I'm old school on break in procedures.

7. The electronics seem to be slightly quirky. I'm supposed to be able to unlock the door without pushing a button on the fob by touching a sensor on the door handle. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. The driver's side window hiccuped when I tried to lower it.

8. One of the things they tried to upsell me on was extended warranty window replacements, arguing that a rock creating a crack in the windshield will render the lane and traffic cameras useless. My thought? So what.

9. Fit and finish is good. But, I expect that from any of the top name Japanese manufacturers. I think the others are starting to slip a bit though.
 
Sac Arrow said:
I'm supposed to be able to unlock the door without pushing a button on the fob by touching a sensor on the door handle. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.
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Lick your thumb before you touch it. :goofy:
Sac Arrow said:
One of the things they tried to upsell me on was extended warranty window replacements, arguing that a rock creating a crack in the windshield will render the lane and traffic cameras useless. My thought? So what.
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Check your insurance. It might be a part of comprehensive.
Sac Arrow said:
Fit and finish is good. But, I expect that from any of the top name Japanese manufacturers.
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I would say Subaru is firmly in the middle tier.
 
Sac Arrow said:
I have never experienced so much pressure to sign up for periodic dealer maintenance.
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I wonder if they're taking a page from BMW's playbook. BMW will sell me "oil changes for 2 years" (which on an EV+rex is like, 3 of them -- on what is a Kymco 660cc scooter engine, mind) -- but the oil change comes with all mannnnnnnnner of insufferable junk fees to clear the computer, scope the computer, do some video walkaround and inspections (mind you, I pay for the 4G monitoring of this car, they should be able to download this junk already), and the free oil change ends up being a $400 cash booth grab that I get to fight them on.

It's infurating. I'd hope Subaru was still better than this. My very infrequent experiences with their dealerships were a LOT less thirsty.
 
schmookeeg said:
I'd hope Subaru was still better than this.
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Definitely not the manufacturer, per se, but rather the dealer with some better than others even across the same make. The ones I've visited, I find that after the 3rd or 4th firm "no" is when they relent on the hard-sell and just go through the motions of offering. Definitely helps if you aren't financing, you aren't trading in and you sound like you know what you are doing.

"Pre-paid oil changes? I rebuilt my last transmission with just a rock and a screwdriver. Extended warranty? Fedex will have the stage2 ECU on my porch before I get home."
 
Gf basically required rally armor flaps on her crosstrek. Wouldn’t let me get her red ones tho.
 
Sac Arrow said:
Well, so here are my first impressions...

3. It's not a small vehicle. It's about as long as a single cab pickup with a full bed. And wide. But not ridiculously long and wide. I pretty much ruled out Jeeps and Broncos for their width. So, I am sort of driving a large tall vehicle again. It does have a large tall vehicle feel to it, but not to the degree one of our company F150's does, or my previous Dodge extended cab 2500 Ram did. And the Ram didn't feel so big because of the narrow hood profile, like a semi, giving more visibility to the lane.

7. The electronics seem to be slightly quirky. I'm supposed to be able to unlock the door without pushing a button on the fob by touching a sensor on the door handle. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. The driver's side window hiccuped when I tried to lower it.
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The Forester is slightly shorter and easier to maneuver in parking lots, parallel park, etc. That's part of why we liked it over the Outback. The Crosstrek which ended up being our second one (kinda by accident) with the 2.5L is actually fun, very tight turn radius, and can get into anything (it's basically just a lifted Impreza). Your Outback can haul longer stuff, so that's an advantage IMO.

The electronics can definitely be quirky. You'll appreciate the autostart/stop killer. I put that in the Forester, and not having it in the Crosstrek increases the number of WTFs when I drive it. Yesterday I couldn't lock the Crosstrek bc the autostop kicked in as I put it in Park, and it thought it was still running...even though the engine didn't start when I lifted my foot off the brake. I didn't realize it was still "running". Ugh. There's bugs in that system for sure.
 
Sac Arrow said:
5. Ask any mechanic, what is the worst thing you can do for your engine? Start it. 90% of engine wear occurs on startup. Starting with the '26 model, although there is a button at your fingertips that you can (and should) push every time you start the engine to disable idle shutoff, there is no software option to change the default. Fortunately, there are aftermarket overrides available and I have one on order.
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Auto start/stop is one of the more annoying "features" on modern cars, but I don't think it causes the kind of wear you see on a cold start; typically it's not stopped for long enough for the oil film to drain off the bearing surfaces. But it certainly does cause more wear of the starter and related electrical system (Jeep even adds a second battery to support the system), and if you're needing to zip out into traffic it can't be good to go from engine stopped to full throttle that quickly.
 
Dana said:
Auto start/stop is one of the more annoying "features" on modern cars, but I don't think it causes the kind of wear you see on a cold start; typically it's not stopped for long enough for the oil film to drain off the bearing surfaces. But it certainly does cause more wear of the starter and related electrical system (Jeep even adds a second battery to support the system), and if you're needing to zip out into traffic it can't be good to go from engine stopped to full throttle that quickly.
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Hot starts are better than cold starts, but wear is wear. Once the engine stops, the bearings no longer float on an oil layer, and it's metal to metal contact.
 
mark.staggs said:
The Forester is slightly shorter and easier to maneuver in parking lots, parallel park, etc. That's part of why we liked it over the Outback. The Crosstrek which ended up being our second one (kinda by accident) with the 2.5L is actually fun, very tight turn radius, and can get into anything (it's basically just a lifted Impreza). Your Outback can haul longer stuff, so that's an advantage IMO.

The electronics can definitely be quirky. You'll appreciate the autostart/stop killer. I put that in the Forester, and not having it in the Crosstrek increases the number of WTFs when I drive it. Yesterday I couldn't lock the Crosstrek bc the autostop kicked in as I put it in Park, and it thought it was still running...even though the engine didn't start when I lifted my foot off the brake. I didn't realize it was still "running". Ugh. There's bugs in that system for sure.
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You made me look. For some reason it feels like a long vehicle, but it's actually not. It's roughly 192 inches long. My two previous company vehicles, an '08 Explorer, and an '04 Crown Vic, were 193 and 212 inches long, respectively. They felt shorter to drive, and I'm not sure why. Width wise, the Outback is at 76 inches, the Crown Vic at 78 inches, and the Explorer at 74 inches.
 
If you mention the Jeeps & Ford, may as well throw the few year old Tacoma in the mix. They made the manual until recently, likely better reliability.
 
Sac Arrow said:
You made me look. For some reason it feels like a long vehicle, but it's actually not. It's roughly 192 inches long. My two previous company vehicles, an '08 Explorer, and an '04 Crown Vic, were 193 and 212 inches long, respectively. They felt shorter to drive, and I'm not sure why. Width wise, the Outback is at 76 inches, the Crown Vic at 78 inches, and the Explorer at 74 inches.
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Yeah, it looks and feels longer than it should. Here's Forester vs Outback. I wonder if it's the turn radius that makes it feel longer.

1769354404028.png
 
Sac Arrow said:
Hot starts are better than cold starts, but wear is wear. Once the engine stops, the bearings no longer float on an oil layer, and it's metal to metal contact.
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If frequent hot starts cause extra wear on engines, then engines in hybrid cars would have short lifespans, which they do not.
 
mark.staggs said:
Yeah, it looks and feels longer than it should. Here's Forester vs Outback. I wonder if it's the turn radius that makes it feel longer.

View attachment 149270
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No, I figured it out. It's high. Taller than the previous generation of Outbacks, so you get the perspective of a pickup truck.
 
A few more things....

1. Ordered and installed a third-party idle stop override. It didn't work. That is frustrating. But it didn't screw anything up either. That is relieving. I sent a support request to the MFG of the part, and actually got a prompt response with some questions, but I just don't have time right now to deal with it. Installing it was a semi-big deal. I had to pop off a few trim pieces from the front windshield camera mount (no biggie) but the Phillips screws I had to remove were SO TIGHT that I had to try multiple screwdrivers, and a vice grip latched on the handle to break them free. I was afraid I'd strip the heads. Torx or bolts would have been a better choice. I'm not going back in there anytime soon.

2. Taken a trip up to the mountains. In January. But not up to snow country. Point being the trip mileage was actually pretty good for the size and weight of the vehicle.

3. The cameras inside the vehicle actually TRACK YOUR EYES and tell you to keep your eyes on the road if they think you aren't. That's freaking scary.

4. I'm surprised more pilots don't like Subarus. They are equipped with airplane engines.
 
Sac Arrow said:
4. I'm surprised more pilots don't like Subarus. They are equipped with airplane engines.
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I love them. The engines are very easy to work on. Most accessories if you will are right on top and easy to reach for R&R. The generation we have now 2010-2014 have been very reliable.
 
Sac Arrow said:
3. The cameras inside the vehicle actually TRACK YOUR EYES and tell you to keep your eyes on the road if they think you aren't. That's freaking scary.
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That's the trade-off for hands-free driving. You can't just set cruise control and take a nap.

 
Sac Arrow said:
4. I'm surprised more pilots don't like Subarus. They are equipped with airplane engines.
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Yeah, but changing the headlight bulb will make the preacher use swear words.

I have had 2 Subs. Both went to Alaska and back. The first one was a rebuilt wreck. I sold it for more than I had in it.
 
Zeldman said:
Yeah, but changing the headlight bulb will make the preacher use swear words.
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Yeah, that's the truth. I spent an hour or so trying to figure out how to do it, then another hour searching online how to do it, then gave up and brought it to my mechanic to change the stupid light bulb. He said it was designed to force people to take their car to the dealer.
 
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