Getting new Forester

Just make sure you break it in properly.

Hilly terrain is perfect. No big mountains (!) just small hills, up and down a few times, 10-20 minutes, just to put some load on the cylinders in the first

I like to put some weights into the car, or take someone along with me. There are plenty of small hills where I live.

Basia

Piston rings, precisely.

Basia

:-) It's amazing how much you can store in the back of a Subie...

Interesting. When I got my 2013 Outback, the sunroof was an expensive option to the Premium model, not standard.

I didn't even test drive an Outback before buying one. I knew it was the evolution of my Legacy Wagon, so I negotiated a deal via email, then went in, signed the paperwork, and drove it home.

Have you been getting Subaru Badges of Ownership? They're fun!

Patty

Good advice. I live in a hilly area and my house on a hillside is the main reason I buy Subaru's.

I have been interested to see how the CVT behaves going down hills. The hills are not real long but they are steep.

When I bought my '03 it was under the duress of losing my '98 to a ladies PT Cruiser and needing a car to visit friends about 700 miles away so I only had a mild break-in of a hundred miles or so before making the trip on the interstate.

I've been getting the badges and will go after number 4.

I was not even going to test drive the car but glad that saleslady pushed me to. I will have to learn the new electronics and she even put my flip cell phone into the cars Blue Tooth. Probably would have taken me a while to figure it out.

One slightly lacking option are cross roof rails. Every now and than I might have to replace a board on my deck and could easily strap a new one to my roof. Now I'll be using my wife's Forester to buy lumber.

I've transported my snow thrower, lawn mower, generator and a couple of deer at various times in my old Forester. New is slightly bigger and I am looking forward to it.

On 2/14/2016 8:25 AM, Frank wrote: snip...

I thought that all the new Subarus came with 'permanent' cross-bars which swing out from the rails unlike the old removable ones which clamp on. Not so?

I may be in the minority here, but I am not a fan of how the CVT/programmin g handles going down hills. On my 2014, if say, one has cruise control set, and a long downhill grade is encountered, the CVT will basically downshift (change the transmission ratio), trying to hold the car back, revving the engine in the process (sometimes quite high).

Personally I would rather use brakes in this situation to hold the car back if needed, as that is their purpose, and they are cheap and easy to mainta in.

Duane

I had thought that myself but was told they were an option on Forester but standard on Outback. I may look at it further. If needed, I'd think after market purchase as it should be easy to install.

Then there is the antenna on the middle of the back of the roof which might make it more difficult to carry things.

That's what I want to find out. Now I downshift a gear or two on my automatic transmission. I try not to ride my brakes and my old Forester did not need new front brakes until 50,000 miles and I have never replaced the rear ones.

mming handles going down hills. On my 2014, if say, one has cruise control set, and a long downhill grade is encountered, the CVT will basically downs hift (change the transmission ratio), trying to hold the car back, revving the engine in the process (sometimes quite high).

back if needed, as that is their purpose, and they are cheap and easy to ma intain.

I also try to plan ahead and not use brakes unless necessary. My 2014 Fores ter has 68k miles on it and I do not need new brake pads at this time.

Duane

I've always wondered about those roof-mounted antennas and roof-top carries. At the very least some things one might carry would interfere with reception even if not hitting the antenna. Do bikes or kayaks or ski carriers weaken GPS and other radio signals?

I would imagine interference only if metal touches antenna. GPS goes through wind shield and would not be affected. I have an off road gps and notice that a heavy tree canopy will make time longer to acquire satellites. My brother in law had worked on early antennas for satellite radio and pointed out signal was buffered for several seconds to allow for signal loss when passing under a bridge or other obstacle.

I got a smart TV for Christmas and wifi pickup was weak. Then I realized that I had it on the side of a metal filing cabinet. I removed the cabinet and now it works fine. Similarly with my desktop computer, I put processing unit on the desktop and cleared antenna from touching any other wires and signal improved immensely.

Several places on-line have the roof rack cross bars.

I'm going to forgo buying them as long as my wife has her Forester for me to use.

I'm sure that new vehicles with built-in navigation use the rooftop antenna for the GPS signals so any interference or blockage could cause problems. My '08 Outback uses the removable bars and I have tried it both ways and haven't been able to notice any difference in mileage or noise levels but YMMV -- the way I drive it, the old Subie gets pretty bad mileage no matter what.

That's on the Outback. The Forester doesn't have swing-out cross bars nor does it come standard with bolt-on cross bars.

A shame. It seems such a trivial thing to implement. I can't believe that they are cutting that many corners on the Forester vs. the Outback.