Brand New 2006 Forester Premium Automatic

I just purchased a brand new 2006 Forester Automatic. Driven it less than one week.

Subaru gurus...What are some of the maintance things I should do/look out for as I just start out to maintain this baby for long, long life?

Also, I can't find seat covers for the Forester's side airbag front seats or the middle headrest back seat. any ideas. Thanks.

Steve

Reply to
Steve808us
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Make certain the tires are very well maintained. Rotated and never mixed with different types or sizes. Pay strict attention to flat tire/emergency spare instructions in your manual. Best thing, have it FLAT BED towed after an emergency.

make certain anyone working on the radiator/cooling system KNOWS Subarus and can take precautions if re-filling the system.

Beware of 'jiffy lube'-type places that may accidentally drain the wrong fluid.

you may enjoy some of the Soob specific newsgroups like

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and
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. I think there are a coupla Forester specific ones too.

Carl

AWD/4WD can 'go' very well. BUT you still only have 4 small patches of rubber on the road - don't get in trouble on slippery roads by thinking you can stop or turn better than other cars.

Reply to
Carl 1 Lucky Texan

Carl

AWD/4WD can 'go' very well. BUT you still only have 4 small patches of rubber on the road - don't get in trouble on slippery roads by thinking

you can stop True, all cars have 4 wheel brakes.

or turn better than other cars.

Not totally true. This is actually why I bought a Subaru rather than my other favorite Japanese brand. Four wheel drive has an advantage accelerating (increasing speed) over two wheel drive. The force of acceleration is spread evenly over 4 tires rather than unevenly over two tires. Even worse, most two wheel drive vehicles are Front Wheel Drive. As you accelerate, weight (down force) is shifted to the rear off the driven tires and onto the undriven tires. The front tires that need more traction (because they are providing acceleration force) have less traction and the rear tires that don't need more traction have more traction. 4 wheel drive spreading the acceleration force among 4 tires (especially the rears) is just inherently better. If you wanted to make the argument that 2 wheel FWD has lower transmission losses and better gas mileage, I'd agree. It's also cheaper to produce.

It was very easy to accidentally chirp the tires on my FWD Honda Accord making a U-turn from a stop. I have to get on it much harder than average to do this in my Subaru Forester.

Slippery road have a bigger difference in co-efficient of static friction and rolling friction than dry roads. Once you start sliding you have to reduce the cornering and acceleration forces quite a lot before before the tires hook up again. There can be a very awkward jolt when they do, especially if you car is all crossed up with respect to the direction of travel. Most drivers have no clue, so your comment is pretty good advice for the overconfident average driver. I particularly hate those TV commercials that say you can drive through storms without a care in the world.

Reply to
speednxs

All good points, and yes - my comment was generalized. thanx

Carl

Reply to
Carl 1 Lucky Texan

Basically if you adhere to scheduled maintenance you'll do great. Avoid quick lube joints like the plague for any servicing. And watch for dealership bonehead service as well (loose oil filters, wrong fill levels, scratches, beating on your car by the service tech).

Find a dealership with a responsible, impeccable service department.

Reply to
Bob H

Thanks for your info.

I have a new problem. I noticed streaks that look like I splashed in brown hair dye on the new Gold Forrester behind all four tires the night I drove it home. I take it to the local car wash emporium and have it washed a fe days later.They get off 60% of the brown splash marks, but say that it is "in the paint...in the clear coat etc..." and they can't get it out. They say that the tire gloss that the dealer used, must have did this. I drove the car home Jan 30 and it's Feb 6th now. I purchased the car from an auto broker who purchased it from the dealer. What shouldI do?

Thanks.

Reply to
Steve808us

Find a car detailing shop - a good one - and see what they say about it.

Carl

Reply to
Carl 1 Lucky Texan

It can also be trolley-towed without damaging anything: the main thing is to make sure the wheels aren't rolling on the ground, is all.

But he can certainly turn better in slippery conditions than lots of other cars. Depending on the kind of stopping we're talking about, and the willingness of the driver to engage the throttle to help matters along (putting it in reverse, for example, or when backing down a hill) he might even be able to stop better than 2wd cars too.

Reply to
k. ote

Took the car to the dealer to look ath the steaks behind the wheels of unknown origin. They wanted to say that I rode in something on my way home. I countered that the person who drove me to pick up the car drove behind me home and did not have the streaks on their car. That shut them up. They have to ask some local subaru people about the paint warrenty.

Reply to
Steve808us

Rear wheel drive has the most advantage accelerating over others as front wheel drive does on deceleration. AWD is sort of between the two.

FWD tends to under steer when making turns whereas RWD tends to oversteer and again AWD is between the two and more stable.

You'll find the steering wheel is quite heavy when making turn on FWD.

Reply to
Wayne Ng

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