Subaru Automobiles

   / Subaru Automobiles #1  

MossRoad

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Power Trac PT425 2001 Model Year
Got into discussions in the EV thread about Subarus as some EVs and some Subarus (and I'm sure other cars as well) have similar yet different features like lane assist, adaptive cruise control, different methods for controlling traction on and off road, etc.

Didn't want to side track the EV thread any longer, so thought it appropriate to start a new thread.
 
   / Subaru Automobiles
  • Thread Starter
#2  
Wife got a 2020 Outback Limited. I'm liking it.

Has lane assist that nudges you back towards center if you get what it thinks is too close to the left or right side of your lane. It's not hands free by any means. If someone was following you and you were letting the car do the work, they'd see you wandering back and forth between the lines like a boat and probably assume you were drunk.

I find it will be useful if I ever got distracted and it would remind me to pay attention. By no means would I ever take my hands off the wheel or yes off the road purposefully, but once in a great while, you pay attention to something on one side or anther and your car drifts. It nudges the wheel you feel it.

You have to fight it to change lanes without signaling. Activating the turn signal and it doesn't fight you.

Has adaptive cruise control. You can set several distances where it activates. I also like this feature. As I mentioned in the other thread, I got on a highway with 2 lanes in each direction, sped up to about 75, and set the cruise control. When I came up on slower traffic in my lane, the car automatically slowed down to match its speed. I purposely tried to change lanes without signaling and the lane assist fought me. I signaled like a proper driver, and it allowed me to change lanes with no fight. Then it accelerated back up to 75.

I then came upon a slower car in the passing lane and was again automatically slowed to match its speed. When it finally pulled into the driving lane, the Subaru again accelerated back to 75. Worked great.

A lot better than using my foot to control speed, and no need to try and adjust the cruise control. It did what I wanted to do, but smoother.

Automatic braking. I was following a car on a county road and it was slowing to turn right. I purposely did not brake to see what it would do. It beeped and braked on its own. I had my foot over the brake just in case. As the car in front of me slowed to almost a complete stop before turning, the Subaru came to almost a complete stop as well. It even disconnected the cruise control when we got down to around 10mph. Once the car in front of us finally turned off, I had to use the gas to get up into the teens and just hit resume on the cruise and off we went back up to the last set speed. I was impressed.

It's nice to know that if I'd get horribly distracted, something happened in front of me while I was glancing in the mirror, or worse, incapacitated, the car would slow to a very slow speed on its own once something got in front of it.

Auto headlights. Still on the fence about this setting. I assumed it would switch between low beams and high beams, but it doesn't. It makes a blend-like transition somewhere between the two settings. When it's activated, you can't turn the high beams on. You can flash them, but not turn them on or off. It just determines the light it thinks you need and constantly, almost imperceptibly, changes not only between high and low, but off to the sides as well. While the lighting is always about perfect to me, it's obvious that it's too bright to oncoming drivers, as I had a few flash their lights at me. I know how annoying that is when I see it coming towards me, so I turned it off and then I could manually select either high or low beams. No one flashed me when the low beams were on.

Verdict is still out on that setting.

Rear camera. I like it. It works well in light or darkness. Enough said about that.

Rear crossing alarm. I like that, too. I put the car in reverse and immediately heard an alarm. I looked at the screen and saw nothing, but about 2 seconds later, a car came behind us from our right side. So it looked pretty far to the side and detected movement coming towards us. Nice!

Apple car play. First car I've had with that. Plug a cable between the phone and the USB port and my maps, music, contact, phone, etc. are all available in the large touch screen on the dash. All my voice activated phone stuff works through the car. Very nice.

Phone charging pad. First time I've used this technology, although I've seen it for a few years. Just lay your phone on the pad and it charges with no cable. Works through induction. Wife really likes that. My phone, however, is in an industrial protective case and won't easily slid into the pad slot. It will fit with a nudge. Her case is thinner and it slides right in.

Rear tailgate. I can open it with the button over the license plate, the button on the remote, or the button on the dash. Very nice.

It has a setting that you can set a limit how high the tailgate will open in case you have a low garage roof, etc. That's nice.

Rear seat flipper levers. If you open the tailgate and need to slide something long into the car, you can flip a lever on either side right inside the tailgate and the corresponding rear seat will automatically flip forward. You don't have to go to the front of the seat and release a latch. That's very handy and we used it the first day we had the car.

The rear seats fold fairly flat, too. However, our 2013 Impala folds completely flat. A surprisingly nice feature of the Impala.

The rear trunks space AND the back of the rear seats all have a rubber mat on them. That's nice to keep the backs clean.

Killer stereo! Wow! Just wow! Great sound. Very happy.

That's all I've got for now. Will post more as we learn more features.
 
   / Subaru Automobiles #3  
Post a picture!
My wife just drove this Forrester Wilderness off the showroom floor.

That was a 1st ever experience. Largest car dealership I’ve ever seen.

What do you think of the CVT transmission?
1678765037523.jpeg

I’m not sure I like auto adjust lights either. They seem too bright for city driving.

The Wilderness has a push button for a front camera view under the bumper. So you can see what your driving over. Haven't tried the cruise control yet. Only have 70 miles on it so far.

My dad’s Outback was much better driving through snow than my Ram2500 4x4 with all terrain 35” tall tires.
I remember driving through snow so deep that it plowed up over the hood into the windshield on a unplowed road. I had expected to get stuck anytime and it never happened.
 
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   / Subaru Automobiles #4  
Post a picture!
My wife just drove this Forrester Wilderness off the showroom floor.

That was a 1st ever experience. Largest car dealership I’ve ever seen.

What do you think of the CVT transmission?
View attachment 788330
I’m not sure I like auto adjust lights either. They seem too bright for city driving.
We had a forester for 6 years. The best highway snow vehicle I’ve ever had, and the CRV transmission was great. For a gas vehicle, it got great MPGs. Never a mechanical problem in 100k miles.
 
   / Subaru Automobiles #5  
I drove my Aunt's Toyota Corolla..or Camry..or something along those lines anyways. That car had that lane assist thing, and while it seemed neat in concept, it seemed as if Florida roads confused the living crap out of the system, and caused it to wander all over the dang road. My '59 International 2 ton with the factory original manual steering box wanders less than that Toyota did.

The adaptive cruise was pretty handy though, especially when I got stuck behind a blue hair that couldn't decide if they wanted to go 25 or 55, lol. Forgetting that I wasn't in my big block Pontiac when I finally got to pass was a whole different issue though :ROFLMAO: It was suprisingly responsive even at freeway speeds, doing 65 then coming up on that sudden wall of parked traffic. I never fully tested it, but it sure felt like I could avoid touching the brake pedal at all until I had to turn off somewhere.

Still though, I'm a pretty old school guy - the less "extras" the better...If it wasn't for having to feed it 91 octane at 8mpg, I'd still be dailying my '73 Pontiac.
 
   / Subaru Automobiles #6  
We had a forester for 6 years. The best highway snow vehicle I’ve ever had, and the CRV transmission was great. For a gas vehicle, it got great MPGs. Never a mechanical problem in 100k miles.
My son had a 98 Forrester for many years. We still have it, but it’s not used anymore. It‘s on its 3rd engine, but mainly because of my son’s poor maintenance and rough driving habits. I hate to get rid of it. It has so many new drivetrain parts. I was considering turning into an ATV style off roader. I was just looking at tow bars when I noticed Moss’s new thread! :D

My grandson is going to be here soon for Spring break and I thought it would be a fun opportunity to teach him how to drive a manual transmission. I was thinking since the Wilderness has a 3k towing capacity, I could tow the old one with the new one till we get to a nice off-road trail.
 
   / Subaru Automobiles #7  
My son had a 98 Forrester for many years. We still have it, but it’s not used anymore. It on its 3rd engine, but mainly because of my son’s poor maintenance and rough driving habits. I hate to get rid of it. It has so many new drivetrain parts. I was considering turning into an ATV style off roader. I was just looking at tow bars when I noticed Moss’s new thread! :D My grandson is going to be here soon for Spring break and I thought it would be a fun opportunity to teach him how to drive a manual transmission. I was thinking since the Wilderness has a 3k towing capacity, I could tow the old one with the new one.
Some of the pre-2013 Subarus had problems with the head gaskets and warped heads. They addressed that with re-design in 2014.
 
   / Subaru Automobiles #8  
Some of the pre-2013 Subarus had problems with the head gaskets and warped heads. They addressed that with re-design in 2014.
Yup, that was the culprit both times. Head gaskets. The mechanic said, if you turn it off as soon as it gets hot, you save the engine. If it actually “overheats” it destroys the valve-train followed then by the pistons.
 
   / Subaru Automobiles #9  
Yup, that was the culprit both times. Head gaskets. The mechanic said, if you turn it off as soon as it gets hot, you save the engine. If it actually “overheats” it destroys the valve-train followed then by the pistons.
We never had an overheating issue with our 2017. Not even when we drove to Phoenix in the summer at 120 degrees.
 
   / Subaru Automobiles #10  
I had one briefly as a rental. The adaptive cruise control is fantastic. The automatic braking I wasn't thrilled about. I was backing onto a gentle curving slope very slow speed nowhere near hitting the bumper and the stupid thing slammed on the brakes
 
 
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