quote:

Originally posted by Flashlightboy:
Wait for the 2018 Crosstrek. It will incorporate all the new goodies and tech found on the 2017 Impreza. Should be available this summer for ordering and will be in showrooms around October.

Thanks, that's very good to know. For multiple reasons, it's sounding like the 2018 will be when I start looking.

I bought a yellow Crosstrek, May 2015.

Now has 13,000 mostly highway miles.


Hasn't given me a lick of trouble (touch wood) and the Seattle weather and road conditions haven't proven to be anything of a challenge.

quote:

Originally posted by Rinehart:
[QUOTE]Originally posted by Replacement Tommel:
I had two Subarus, a 2004 Forester XT and a 05 Outback XT. They both had the same issues: 1) cheap paint and 2) headgasket problems. They were otherwise rock solid.

Replacement Tommel- say, what was the Subaru "fix" for the headgasket problems? In the family we had several people who drove Subarus and they all had the head gasket leak problems. Supposedly all the dealer did was put in a little bottle of sealer... (And jacked the people around for months). Was the fix more than this?

Thanks-

A local shop used an a/m headgasket on them and I had no further issues.

-Tom

I always pop into the Subaru threads to voice my very positive experience with Subaru. I have a 2012 Subaru Outback, and my ownership satisfaction is phenomenal so far.

I really love this car. Everything is well thought out: from the boxer style engine and symmetrical AWD on (almost) every vehicle, all the way down to the control and amenity placement. I have yet to encounter a situation with the car where I have said, "What the fuck were they thinking?"

To really put things into perspective, you have to understand that I have owned and driven a plenty of cars--I am more than acquainted with Porsche, Mercedes, BMW, Lexus, Audi and Volvo, as well as all the more "basic" cars that you would get off of a rental car lot, and more often than not I walk away from the car thinking to myself, "That was nice, but I wonder why they decided to do [insert something wrong with the car]." Many cars, in my opinion, are outright terrible (anything by Chrysler Corp, for example).

In any case, my Subaru has 110,000 miles on it, and is going strong with no sign of any problems so far (knock on wood). It's the perfect size for 4 adults and camping gear, or two adults and gear if you want to sleep in it. The seats fold down flat enough to sleep in it, and the cargo area with the seats down is longer than a 4-Runner or Land Cruiser. The "under powered" 4 cylinder engine gets a solid 28 mpg highway, yet mated with the CVT will pull steadily up a grade without hunting gears.

You obviously have to understand its limitations though. It's a unibody vehicle. Great for improving interior space for a given vehicle size, but not so great for frame rigidity. You won't be towing anything (tongue weight less than 300 lbs, and towing rated less than 3000lbs). You shouldn't be rock crawling (too much chassis flex). And you won't be impressing any bros and you'll get lots of admiration from the granola types. But aside from those limitations, I do love my Subaru.

We have two Forresters. Only issues so far is the 2010 had a spot weld on the seat bracket break and at 7 years old the head gaskets weep oil.

Funny thing is I only have one actual complaint that couldn't be fixed on my Forester. At the trim level I bought the only option was the power tail gate. Even when it worked I hated it. Anecdotally it was the slowest motorized tail gate of all time. My wife's Toyota Highlander could open and close nearly in the time it took my Forester to open. Reaaalllly slow. Painful.

That was one reason I chose the Crosstrek, manual lift gate. Sold.

The biggest upgrade the 2018's is supposed to have is a much better interface with your electronics. Harmon branded radio with Apple Link or some such thing. Updated fascia too. Slightly bigger. Better motor, 4 more horses and slightly better mpg to boot. I didn't care about the radio or looks and I didn't want to wait till August. The new engine sounds nice though.

If you hold the button on the gate itself for 2 seconds you can operate it manually. I like the auto close button far more than the auto open.

Not only could you not open mine manually, if you preset the opening height (so as to not hit garage door) you can't even close it manually. If you tried it got all electronically mad at you and balked. Horrible design. What you are describing would have been nice. Maybe mine should have worked like that but it was jacked from day one.

I should say it was possible to open manually because you do it to set the opening height but it wasn't a workable way to open it on a regular basis. Still bad design.

While I never owned a Subaru, my ex loved her 2012 Impreza.

She was pretty consistently driving her gear, German Shepherd/Husky mix, and Great Dane around, and never had an issue with the thing for as long as I knew her.

No problems on our 2015 Legacy sedan at 17000+ miles....except last week bozo in parking lot ran into rear corner

Had a 2009 with some issues that popped up around 120,000 miles but mostly because i beat the everliving crud out of it ....

2016 Outback now with eyesight. Flawless miles so far.

Eyesight is the best investment I have made! In a year and a half of ownership it has saved me twice from rear ending someone in Pittsburgh traffic.

The adaptive cruise and lane keep assist really help on long road trips.

There is an exit on my daily commute that has a pavement joint that has been sealed too thickly with tar that catches the "eye" of the lane keep and lane departure .... its mildly annoying but I understand given how the system works.

Test drive a maxed out Outback when we were looking for SUVs for our growing family around Christmas. Decent enough but didn't feel like a nearly $40,000 vehicle. Bought a 2 year old Mercedes instead for less money. They're not even in the same class.

quote:

Originally posted by pedropcola:
.... Does the lane assist actually turn your car or just give you feedback that you are drifting?

If the system identifies the lane markings (both left and right) and you start drifting over, the steering will nudge you back a bit at first, and the system will start beeping if you get too far over. Yes, the wheel moves and you can see/feel it.

If you're driving along and "let go" of the wheel and you drift to the right, it will push you back left. Then if you let it drift over to the left, it will push you back over to the right. (Think a pin ball.) After the second bounce, the system beeps and tells you to put your hands back on the wheel.

The feeling is - at times - similar to getting pushed by a gust of wind.

quote:

Originally posted by hile:

quote:

Originally posted by Flashlightboy:
Wait for the 2018 Crosstrek. It will incorporate all the new goodies and tech found on the 2017 Impreza. Should be available this summer for ordering and will be in showrooms around October.

Thanks, that's very good to know. For multiple reasons, it's sounding like the 2018 will be when I start looking.

Cars101.com is THE Subie source for all of their cars. It's run by a Subie salesman out of the PNW but he likes the cars so much he created that site. In many ways that's one of the first places to start your research for a new Subie.

We'll see you in a couple of hours!

I hear the Forester can be good in snow? That may well be, but if one puts a set of quality snow tires on ANY vehicle, it is a MUCH safer vehicle to drive in the Winter.

I know a handful of sad deaths cause by sliding off the road or into oncoming traffic. Just saying, for us Northern drivers.

Between my wife, my step mother, and myself we've owned four Subarus in the last six years. Onenwas a lease, but we still have a 2012 Outback, and a 2014 Forrester and Impreza. We've had no major mechanical issues, and the few minor maladies were handed under warranty. I'm about to have the timing belt done on my Outback, then it's on to 200k miles!

quote:

Originally posted by Blackmore:
I don't know about the cars, but the Subaru=Love ads are BAD!

quote:

Originally posted by Wishbone:

quote:

Originally posted by Blackmore:
I don't know about the cars, but the Subaru=Love ads are BAD!

I love my Outback as much as she loves her partner, the Forester.

I'm partial to the "They lived" campaign. Thank you to those buying new Subarus. My 98 and 05 bought 12 years apart.

quote:

Originally posted by Flashlightboy:

Cars101.com is THE Subie source for all of their cars. It's run by a Subie salesman out of the PNW but he likes the cars so much he created that site. In many ways that's one of the first places to start your research for a new Subie.

We'll see you in a couple of hours!

^^^ this

Helped me to settle on the Yellow Special Edition.