utback and Merge Into Highway ?

Can't speak for the 2003 from personal knowledge but my 2008 OB with base engine and automatic does fine getting up to speed on the ramp and is able to merge at 70mph when it needs to. Not like my MX-5 but it isn't a sports car. All that is necessary is to be willing to floor the OB accelerator which will wind the engine to higher RPMs before shifting gears. I can't imagine that they made an automatic without 'passing gear' as it used to be called. If yours doesn't shift down when floored at moderate RPMs then something is probably wrong.

The Subaru tranny from that era would keep the car in the highest gear possible, allowing one to press the accelerator pedal all the way to the floor without shifting, if you are careful. It is quite difficult to do, but possible. There is an End Wrench article on this somewhere.

With this in mind, if you are too gentle with the gas then performance will be lackluster. Should you ask for power a bit more aggressively, the transmission will downshift and let the revs roar. Or manually select a lower gear before pressing the gas, and you will get what you want. Shift up immediately after the revs are up in case you forget to shift; it is an automatic, after all.

Hi John and everyone,

Thanks for info. Thanks for help. At my age, i guess, things get a bit confusing.

"All that is necessary is to be willing to floor the OB accelerator which will wind the engine to higher RPMs before shifting gears."

Are you saying, therefore, that even with the CVT, all you do is hold the gas pedal all the way down to the floor for the added speed when merging ? No need to play with the Paddle Shifters ?

Thanks, Bob

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The MX-5 is a sportscar?!? Could have fooled me. ;-)

Technically I'd call the MX-5 a "roadster" like the British MG-B it was cloned from, which of course is a sub-class of "sportscar".

Well, I don't have this vehicle. I went from a 2000 OBW with manual transmission and the base engine, to a 2008 Tribeca with an auto transmission and 6-cyl. Didn't have the base engine and the auto in between.

But regardless, I think the base engine is mated to a CVT these days rather than a traditional auto. I'd really like to see how the CVT works in these cars one day.

My Tribeca has a "sport mode" position on the transmission. I wonder if the CVT tranny has a similar position? Of course, there's two ways to skin a cat, you either put it into sport mode, or you smash down the accelerator pedal.

Yousuf Khan

Please don't change the Subject header in a reply.

I have never driven a CVT so I can't say. In any case I don't believe that Subaru had a CVT in the year the OP was concerned with.

Hi Bob,

I have a 2013 Outback with the 2.5L and CVT auto trans. I'm pretty satisfied with the acceleration and my previous car was a WRX 5speed manual trans. Obviously the Outback is not that quick but for normal driving I find its performance more than adequate and actually like the CVT behavior in regular auto mode. If you feel the need to shift manually just slide the lever into manual and use the paddle shifters on the wheel.

I haven't actually floored it and wound it up to red-line yet as there is

Subaru should recall them all to add the extra "O" to the name plates. ;-)

Hi,

Don't know what you mean by "extra 0" ?

Bob

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"O", not "0". He was just making a little joke about the typographic error in your Subject line.

Patty