XT vs. XT - clearance

Where did you get the ground clearance specs for Outback XT from? subaru.com does not list them. AFAIK regular 06 Ouback already sits at 8". I could not imagine the truck with the turbo is jacked up higher than that.

...scroll about half way down. It's not much of a difference, but it is different. I wonder why?

I read that raising the ride height allowed the OBW to move from EPA car to truck rules, therefore requiring a lower EPA estimated gas mileage target.

so what about Legacy GT - the same engine?

That's just some "You can make a more efficient engine" nonsense from environmental activists. To answer the original question. Yes, the same engine as in the Legacy GT, there is a dedicated legacygt.com website and an abundance of aftermarket suspension parts.

if so, the reasoning about higher clearance to make it truck to pass emissions is plain stupid.

That's right. I read about that. So why did the XT receive an additional suspension lift beyond the other OBW's? Just curious.

I don't think so. AFAIK the cars and trucks made by an automakers fit into two separate buckets with 27mpg and 21mpg averages.

My understanding is that by shifting Outback XTs to the truck category they cleared the way for making Legacies and Imprezas with turbo and still making 27mpg target.

I won't mind paying a gaz guzzler tax for a fun to drive car so that I won't have to drive a Prius like vehicle, but I would imagine a lot of people would mind paying a grand or two extra. But the market segment below $30k is probably very sensitive to the price. Besides, Subaru is probably concerned about the image it presents to the greens. Greens drive Priuses anyway. The smart ones Civic or Accord hybrids. I don't see why that is such a problem for Fuji.

For Ferrari 575M the ggtax is $5,400 which is about 2.5% of the price of the car.

2.5% extra for a few seconds shaved off 0-60 time seems like a bargan to me. I don't think STI owners would mind paying either. After all, all the gas in turbo is used for extra fun, not to push a 4000-6000lbs brick on wheels thru the air. The EPA car/truck requirements discriminate against the specialty automakers who do not produce trucks. I'm delighted to see that Subaru found a way to correct that.

How is gaz guzzler tax calculated for a given car? Are all cars for a given manufacturer get slapped or just the top gaz guzzler?

IMHO I think more and more people like to take Subaru's off-road, or brag about clearance. Most people buy Subaru's as an alternative to the traditional SUV. You can still take an Outback off-road, to a point, but they buy the cars because they are smaller, lower, reliable and get better gas mileage than most larger SUV's. If Subaru tries to get around the issue of good gas mileage they are shooting themselves in the foot, errr, tires. I believe the article, but I don't believe they would do it to get around government specs. People just seem to like vehicles that are 10 feet off the ground.

In article , sea snipped-for-privacy@earthlink.net says...> >

And what's the XT's MPG rating?

Read up on "CAFE standards", ;-).

ALL of the 2005-2006 OBW's are classified as light trucks. That minor point (major in some peoples eyes) is out of the way. That doesn't answer the question as to why the OBXT is higher than the rest of the Outback line, while the Forester XT is lower than the rest of the Forester line. The height increase for just the XT when compared to the other Outback offerings would have nothing to do with the CAFE standards. Sheldon has a reasonable answer to the OBW XT lift...image.

I think your point about people liking higher vehicles answers the OBXT lift question. Maybe there's a real world reason, but I think the sex appeal of a taller XT (if that 0.3" rise is even noticeable) must be it. Now 0-60, that's another story. ;)

Let's say this again, S-L-O-W-L-Y this time. Hold my hand... There ya' go! Now, here we go!

By putting the one vehicle, the OBW XT, in the TRUCK category, it changes the average for the whole line. It dosen't really matter that other cars have the same engine. If Subaru needed to add a second vehicle to the truck count , they just as easily could have raised the Forester XT to change the average, as well.

Read this:

Ah yes, old wise...one. Not reading anything in the link above that states the 0.3" increase to be the magical "truck" number I'll concede to you obvious superior intelligence on that matter.

So Suby could have raised *any* or all of the OB line if the CAFE "truck" status was at issue, right?. Why did they choose to raise the Outback XT? Again, the Forester XT - the most performance oriented model in the line - is lowered to improve handling. That's plausible. So they raised the OBXT (performance model) to *reduce* the handling agility? They could have easily raised the OB i, limited, LLB, VDC or any combination thereof. Maybe it was just a back room coin toss to make the final decision and the XT

*lost*.

excellent post! I once argued with someone who seemed irate at Subaru listing the Outback as an SUV (truck actually, and felt they were now as bad as Ford, GM /whatever. I pointed out that they still had a long way to go before their corporate average was as bad as companies making Suburbans, Expeditions, Hummers and F650 trucks (it's a completely bogus system anyway since trucks are the number one passenger vehicle in the US!) If people can afford the gas, let 'em drive those monsters. There very well maybe some folks with big families who are getting higher PER PASSENGER mileage than I am. Though I see a lot of big vehicles with just a driver in them. Not for me.

Carl

1 Lucky Texan

I dunno, but perhaps the Forester's taller BODY had something to do with lowering it. Lower CG and lower side gust profile?

Carl

1 Lucky Texan

Here it is. 8.4" and 8.7" on Outback XT.

Blair

Anyone who cares about handling agility would go for Legacy GT anyway. Outback XT owners probably don't care about handling as long as they can go fast in a straight line. As for the Forester XT, probably only about 5% of all Foresters sold are with the turbo, so there is no reason to jack it up and punt to the truck category. Rather they lowered it to improve the handling. See? It is that simple. Outback XT for the managers of cowboys and Foresters for the chefs travelling in their cooking garb to work. While we're at it do you think our fearless leader would ditch his Jeep and use an Outback to do the ya-hoo!!! thing on his ranch and the parking lot broncos in the Wash DC? That would help to cut the dependency on the foreign oil supply if the rest of the responsible citizens follow the suit. There might be fewer arguments over selling control of the ports to the arab nations catering to the Jeeping habits of this nation.