Outback Decision Time Coming -- 4 vs 6

No need to deprecate yourself, it is well known that CVT's are not as sturdy as regular automatics.

They are a trade-off in pursuit of better fuel economy. Vast majority of manufacturers were not equipping passenger cars with CVT's until quite recently. I think, were it known for sure, that prices of oil would stay low the CVT would be abandoned.

Of course a CVT can be designed and built for sturdiness but it costs. Much more than a regular 4 or 5 speed auto tranny.

Basia

Well, AFAIK the most prevalent CVT transmissions in use today, in highway vehicles anyway, seems to be essentially a souped up Reeves drive coupled to a computer and utilizing various sensing technology to make them play well with each other. The Reeves drive is really old-school tech. I've read that many CVT transmissions are easily confused and prone to allowing engine revs vary all over the place while Subaru's current configuration is one of the best.

The oil change on the transmission is an interesting thing. They use a really huge amount of fluid (at least when compared to the volumes of the liquids use in most passenger vehicles). IIRC the amount of liquid involved is several times larger than the oil capacity of the engine so if the fluid demanded is expensive I guess it could get expensive quickly.

Oh, and back to the original subject, I'm currently leaning toward the

4-cylinder solution given that I'll be driving 'bare' 95% of the time so the fuel cost saving would be pretty large. Not to mention the $2,000-or-so premium for the 6-cylinder.

Also looks like the 6 cylinder requires premium fuel.

No, the six is just a four with two extra cylinders added. Fuel grade is specified as 87 octane for both flavors. I believe it is only their 'performance' engines which demand premium fuel -- turbos and such.

To quote the description from the website:

Fuel economy**, 3.6R (hwy/city): 27/20 MPG Fuel requirement: Unleaded gasoline (87 octane) Fuel tank capacity: 18.5 gal.

Thanks for info. My quick google was incorrect. Mileage looks good but I suspect this is without CVT which is higher on the 4 cylinder with CVT.

Actually, that is the CVT. At least in North America there is no other transmission choice on the 2018 Outback. What they call it on the 3.6R is "Lineartronic HCVT (High-Torque Continuously Variable Transmission)" which, based on name alone, must be way better than a run-of-the-mill CVT. It must be a real chick magnet ;-) .

My bad again, I was comparing Foresters. CVT gives about 2 mpg better mileage.

People that have ridden in my Forester with the CVT have complimented me how smooth the ride is. Only car mags that don't seem to like it are the hot rod types.

I tend to keep cars until maintenance cost exceeds book value so at my age this could be my last car and I hope the CVT gives continuing good performance.

On 10/19/2017 6:46 PM, Frank wrote: snip...

Yeah. I just turned 70 last month and although my driving skill still seems to be aging gracefully I am clever enough to realize that my sports car days are over and my skills may slip before the car ages out. Thus, I am buying the model with every safety/assistance aid available. Right now having the car nag and warn me could be a PITA but in ten years (the average time I've kept my cars although the '91 Miata and a VW Rabbit Diesel pickup both lasted for 15+) I might feel differently. Oh well, I still have until January to debate the virtues of six vs. four and if I still can't decide there is always the possibility of a coin flip to decide the matter. Hell, I can't even figure out what color I prefer (or whether I should spell it color or colour).

Lot of folks our age do not like all those bells and whistles. I might have liked automatic emergency braking but it becomes only an option on upper models plus I do not like sun roofs and things you need to get to get the braking option. It must have taken me a half hour to reset the clock when daylight saving time came in. My brother incidentally bought the same Forester as me down to the color. He had to go back to the dealer to figure out the electronics and his salesman could not help him because he was new and had not learned them all himself. I know a much younger woman that had to do this.

I try to keep up to date and learn all these things. Someone told me that a lot of young people will trade in their cars every few years, not because the car is old, but because the car's electronics are old.

Guy also told me to update the maps for the GPS cost $200 and had to be done at the dealer. For a little over $100 you can buy a GPS with lifetime map updates as well as traffic.

One of our sons had a Mercedes with all the bells and whistles but they broke down and dealer had to replace. They told him it was a good thing the car was under warranty as repairs would have cost him $3,000.

It costs more, but if you get an iPad, you have the freedom of deciding which mapping and traffic program to run, and you can change your mind at any time, unlike being locked into one vendor's maps and service.

Patty

Yes and a lot of people use their smart phones. I might only use my GPS every 6 months. Funny, I did yesterday to go to an eye doctor I had seen 2 years ago whose office is on a convoluted street and map updated GPS took me on a different route.

I have a dumb flip phone. Tracfone costs me $150/2 years. I did Bluetooth to my Forester as you can with other devices.

I'm not too worried about operating the tech. That which is useful will be learned quickly and that which is not useful, at least for the moment, will always have an entry in the manual when needed. My background is as a broadcast engineer and I learn technical details quite quickly even at 70. I built my first computer from scratch six years before IBM got around to it and by then I was on my third scratch-built machine.

Too many seniors are intimidated by technology IMHO. I get the mental image of people in the 50s thinking it impossibly difficult to make a direct-dial phone call and declaring that the intervention of a human operator was the only proper way to accomplish the task since they would never figure out how to dial ten digits. And area codes! Who knows from area codes!?

I don't know how many seniors are intimidated by technology but do know several that are. I've been fortunate to have to keep abreast for my consulting work.

Smartphones are changing the way people drive and traffic patterns. You mig ht notice that more people are driving on your favorite secret routes and s hortcuts. It has democratized routes. I use maps apps even when I know how to get to my destination because it will often suggest routes that I'd neve r think of. Some of them are really great routes. The map apps know current flow patterns because the phones upload speed and location of cars using t he apps. It's a most wonderful, amazing, thing.

If I were still working and out of the house more working and traveling, I would have a smart phone but for my use it is not worth it. I don't need a phone bill every month as big as my electric bill. My Garmin GPS is fine for my use with lifetime map updates and traffic. The traffic routes you around roads under construction and the like.

Boy, I wish that my electric bill was only $40/month!

Unfortunately, my Garmin can't connect to a cellular network or the Internet, so I can't get real-time traffic on it. I haven't even subscribed to the traffic option in CoPilot GPS. However, while using Google Maps on my iPad once last year, I discovered that it provides some traffic updates when it's directing you to a destination. I was driving along when it alerted me that there was slow traffic ahead that would extend my driving time by 20 minutes, and it offered an alternative route. That was pretty spiffy!

Patty

There are different traffic options on their GPS's.

Mine does not require a subscription. Appears to have antenna built into power cable.

I have not looked at the Garmin line recently but they have to compete with cell phones and can have all the bells and whistles including dash cams, lane warnings and voice commands. Nice but stuff us older folk don't really need.

Frank, you responded to my posting, but that comment must relate to someone else's posting, because as I noted, my Garmin cannot receive traffic information.

Patty

Thought I was and was pointing out that they have different traffic options. When I bought mine it said lifetime maps and traffic but I don't think it refers to live traffic but something like a bridge closure. Few years ago with older Garmin I drove downstate to a friends anniversary and had to cross a bridge that was closed for 6 months. I knew where to drive to get around it but it kept trying to reroute me so I shut it off until I crossed the river. I think the one I have does this but it might miss an accident closure.