That would be great - thanks!Originally Posted by rayrevolver
That would be great - thanks!
I got a chance to see how the Outback did this winter on our ice covered, steep driveway. Fantastic. The Outback drove up it like it was summer. I would stop halfway up the hill and just drive on up. The driveway was so slick that a Jeep with 4WD and summer tires couldn't make it up.I've been pretty happy with my Outback.
The CVT is easy to drive. I messed around with the paddle shifters, but decided I liked to just put it in drive and go. It always seems to pick a good gear ratio. It has enough power for me. I have the non turbo 4 cyl. I used to like to drive a stick but I guess I'm beyond that now.
I didn't like the way my van acted when I pulled up to the mailbox when it was slick. I often had to back out. I haven't had a chance to try the Outback there yet.
I've had it for several months now and I'm sold on the All Wheel Drive.
My wife and I were discussing whether to take her Highlander Sport on longer trips or to take the Outback. I told her we should take the Outback because it was more replaceable than hers. I can go to the local Subaru dealer anytime and find another Outback that will be just as serviceable.
I'm getting near 30 MPG.
I'm now a Subaru fan.
Since this thread is back up...
I've been driving an Outback for a little over a month now. For lots of personal financial reasons, I decided to sell my beloved Tundra to cash out the equity and get something cheaper to purchase and operate. After test driving a bunch of stuff, I ended up in an Outback. It's 2020 Premium, olive green, 2.5, and had the right mix of bells and whistles (and non-bells and whistles).
I'm simultaneously a huge fan and soul crushed, if somehow that's possible. I am a truck guy at heart but it's winning me over bit by bit.
Good stuff...
The ride quality is outstanding. And I don't just mean in a "i was previously driving a truck" kind of way. Even compared to the myriad of other cars and crossovers i looked at. I see in reviews that was highly praised for the new '20s so I assume it's not just me. But it is really smooth and soaks up bumps in the terrible OK roads like a champ.
In my limited snow-ice driving during the recent winter shenanigans, I was impressed with its capabilities. No surprise there, it's what Subarus are known for, but I was still impressed.
Mechanically, the thing is pretty simple. Everything is readily accessible under the hood and well laid out. It doesn't look like they're trying to hide their crimes against maintainability with plastic cover panels.
Interior functionality, particularly in the cargo area, is great. Back seats flop down and there's lots of space, which is good because this is my truck now. Room in the spare tire area for all my tools and stuff so I'm not unprepared.
The bad...
I hate auto-start-stop. I'm still not acclimated to automatically pushing the off button, so it gets me some times. It's a magical device that makes every light turn green instantly, by shutting the engine off. My little little engineer/mechanic heart dies every time the system cycles without providing any benefit what so ever. I don't mind it so much if I'm stuck at the incompetency window (aka fast food drive in) and its going to be off for several minutes.
The front windows. I've been in the shop twice now for the front window regulator/tracks. Winders go down, winders no go up. WTF. First replaced drivers regulator. Then came back a few weeks later and replaced the track. That seemed to fix it *fingers crossed*. Had fun driving around in the cold/snow with a window that wouldn't roll up one morning. Thankfully I was able to get the passenger side to jam up in front of the service manager too so that's waiting on backordered parts to fix. Apparently this is a 2020 issue as they changed something and obviously for the worse. Hopefully it will be over with ones the improved parts are in and done. All under warranty of course and they free flowing with the loaner cars* so that's largely been an okay experience. Still, the new Subaru has spent more time in the shop in the first 2 months of ownership than every vehicle I've owned in my life cumulatively combined.
Neutral but noteworthy...
Power. Yeah i got the 2.5 and it doesn't scream by any means. Options for more power were a used one with the 3.6V6 which they don't offer any more, which commanded a large price premium, or going up several trim levels (and many thousands of dollars) to get one of the XT models with the 2.4 turbo. For my current purposes it wasn't worth the uptick in cost. But I'm not going to win an stoplight drags anytime soon.
"Infotainment". It's got a giant screen new for 2020. It looks cool, but functionality is a mixed bag. There are some things operated through the screen that would be 100% more functional with a simple button (I'm looking at you, front seat heater controls). At least the auto-start-stop button is always on-screen and easy to poke.
Cruise control. It's so smart it's damn near self driving. I rarely use cruise control, so this doesn't matter.
Safety features. It's not most, but not all of the bells and whistles here. The eyesight system is a little annoying in one particular instance - when a car is slowing and turning in front of you, it's too aggressive and will get pissy on the auto brake/warning when I've clearly observed that the car is going to be well out of the way and am not braking (or worse yet, try to start accelerating).
*on the "loaner cars" note, one was a higher trim outback and it has some extra safety features that drove me crazy, namely the one that looks at your face to judge driver attention. It kept griping at me for looking at the side mirrors for too long. Bleh. Avoid. Also turning that off was too deep in the menu. I could see it being a nice feature if you're sticking your teen driver in the car though because it'll definitely call you out if you're looking down at your phone.
--Josh
“Formerly we suffered from crimes; now we suffer from laws.” - Tacitus.
I tried to steer towards Subarus but nothing sparked her fancy. Showed her a video on the newer, big 3-row Subie, didn't like it.
Glad I am not the only one. The idea that the starter/battery are getting hammered every time you stop does not compute in my brain. I wish it was off, and had to be turned on.
I was curious how hard the battery needs to work for the auto-start-stop. Twice now while in the garage I decided to plug up the battery tender. Her car has an AGM battery, not sure if that makes a difference. But both times the charger showed less than 80% charge. I was expecting it to be above that after a normal 15 minute drive, with maybe 1 or 2 start stop cycles.
I will say its very clearly a "smart" system as it will not cycle unless a lot of conditions are met in the background. Engine temp, charge levels, etc. It won't cycle repeatedly back to back in to short of a time frame. One the one hand this makes me feel a little better that it's not going to kick off and unwittingly not be able to restart, but on the other hand it's a real pain as it'll kick on/off at a rolling stop and then sit and idle at the next stop for 3-5 minutes.
With a new car this is all pretty much just an annoyance but when these cars start getting old - in age, not just mileage - I wonder how these systems will hold up. I expect a lot of dead cars at stoplights blocking traffic.
Being a data nerd I looked at the gas savings timer and in the ~2000 miles I've owned the car it says it's saved me like 1 gallon of gas. so 50 gallons over 100k miles? a couple fillups? That'll get wiped out the first time the battery gets The truly important thing to remember is that these systems are 110% about squeaking extra into macro level fuel economy metrics and are a net negative to the end user.
--Josh
“Formerly we suffered from crimes; now we suffer from laws.” - Tacitus.
The only auto start / stop system that makes good mechanical sense to me is the kind that the Prius (and maybe other hybrids of it's type) uses which doesn't use a starter at all...that function is performed by the motor-generator.
I spent a little quality time with a '13 Prius replacing it's engine about a year ago, and I was impressed by all of the stuff you don't have to deal with on a hybrid engine. There's no starter. There's no alternator. There's no serpentine belt. Power steering is electric and chassis-mounted. A/C is powered by the big battery pack and the compressor sets aside quickly. Engine replacement was a snap.
Would've been even faster if you didn't have to pull the cowl and wiper assembly to get to everything, and if the EGR system wasn't so nutzo. Which, by the way, is the reason for a lot of that generation Prius's engines going bad. Better clean out that EGR cooler and the intake manifold every 100k at the most or you'll be dealing with hot spots in the heads, blown head gaskets soon after.
Luckily the JDM engine cost about $1200 and my friend's car is back on the road doing great with 414k miles on it.
We also have a 2016 Legacy and the 2019 Outback has a better ride.
No auto start stop on mine is one reason I got a used 2019 rather than a new 2020. My wife's Highlander has that and it drives me nuts when I drive it. I've learned that you can feather the brake pedal to keep it from stopping the engine.
Just got a new 2021 Outback Limited 2.5L engine. I came out of a truck for this car. (Never used the truck for truck stuff, just hauled me and my work bag).
Initial Impressions;
-This is our third subaru, we are familiar with them.
-Touch screen infotainment took some getting used to but overall good
-Seats are comfortable and can be configured alot of ways
-Storage, so far is good, not as many front cubbies as the truck but very clean lines
-goes without saying that Gas mileage is good.
Keep us updated. I've been eyeing this model for when my current (18yo) grocery-getter dies.
How annoying is the infotainment system? That seems to be one of the major gripes I see coming up in the reviews.
From Older Offspring after a discussion of coffee:
"If it doesn't come from the Kaffa province of Ethiopia, it's just hot roasted-bean juice."
Infotainment system is not that bad. Once i got it set up for preset stations, temperature and what i wanted to see it basically stays set. The heat and AC controls are on the bottom, touch and it brings up the main temp control screen. Overall, I don't adjust much, basically have it set up the same as in my truck and leave it, except to change to defrost. I haven't used the apple car play yet. The driver distraction thing is annoying, however can be helpful also.
Will report back to provide updates.
Now time to take stock if what i really need to carry in car:
current items below;
Jumper cables, Jump Pack, Tire plug kit, fix a flat, 12v inflator, fire extinguisher, blanket, basic tools, mag lite, first aid kit, tie down straps. All fit into one of those trunk organizer things.
Thoughts if it is too much??
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