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Now that's just bizarre.
I know they offer Outback rentals in Colorado. That makes more sense. :shades:
-Frank
Car got its undercoating today (yeah, CU claims that is worthless and it probably is, but it wasn't ridiculously expensive and I figured it might cut down some pebble and rock racket in the fender wells, et all.). May get some clear bras and other enhancements down the road but wallet is busted for now :sick:
The '09 accessor brochure includes puddle lights.
Meanwhile the car behaved itself in Portland's latest round of storms. Only gripe is its creaking dash (it creaks when a wheel kicks _downward_ , as into a pothole or crevice ).
Heater seems to work ok though the car fogged up a bit with the AC in Auto mode (however, all I had to do was twist fan dial to high and air started moving). The Auto mode can either be full auto, or partial, depending on what portion of the system you set to automatic.
I think the last gen Forester fit that description to a t. The new one was designed to break out of it a little bit with the more traditional cute ute look, but I'm not sure it ultimately will.
That's right, atex...I knew I knew you from another forum...it was minivans and we debated Ody vs. Sienna. Of course, I ended up buying the Odyssey because steering feel was a big deal to me and I actually found the Ody more comfy for my 6'2 frame.
There was a bit more road noise on the Ody, but its not bad. My parents though the CR-V was worse but haven't driven an 09 Forester yet to compare.
The Passat is on lease and the only reason we took that over a Forester last year was the smokin money factor on the VW. It made the more expensive Passat cheaper than the Subie. The new Forester is already on the short list to replace the Passat when the lease is up in 2 years.
2021 Jeep Wrangler Sahara 4xe Granite Crystal over Saddle
2024 Audi Q5 Premium Plus Daytona Gray over Beige
2017 BMW X1 Jet Black over Mocha
I tested the Santa Fe twice, the CRV twice, the Mitsub Outlander and thank ja, found the 09 Forester a day after they had arrived at the Chgo dealer.
The Santa Fe was nice but a little too big for me~~also drove like a truck. I liked the CRV but didn't think it was all that. I really liked the Outlander (also biased since the car saved me from serious injury) but was hesitant due to high parts prices and rumors of Mitsub pulling out of ops in the US.
Hands down, the Forester won the prize!! When I saw the size of the roof, I was pretty sold. When I drove it, I was really sold. Their great reputation was also a deciding factor.
Tried to purchase from the Chgo dealer but they did not have a Premium X in a color I liked. So, I found one in Schaumburg~~~purchased last Monday for $50 over invoice plus the Ipod interface added and installed, which is a min $400 value. They tried to talk me out of the Ipod interface but I was firm. My goal was invoice so I was really happy.
Until, the electronic parking gate hit it 4 days later. Yes, it did. I screamed an obsenity at the top of my lungs into the universe. Surprisingly, along with the 6 inch scrape on the pass door, the gate also dented my new blue beauty. The fix it cost was a cool $643 but the car is back after 3 days and looking spiffy as ever!!
I didn't push for a free maint pkg as I live too far from the dealer who had the car.
The ride is great~~really smooth. I have noticed something is rattling when I go over speed bumps~~might just be the cargo cover.
The city mpg stated seems questionable. I just filled up for the first time to track it but I don't think it is getting 20 mpg in the city. Followup later~~~
Overall, I wasn't planning on a new car but I am very happy and excited about my new Newport Blue Forester.
Good luck to all!!!
....and I am still surprised by how flat the '09 stays when turning corners. Only other car I've driven like that was Audi A3 3.2, and that had little suspension travel by comparison (it didn't handle small potholes well - the Forester could care less )
I couldn't disagree more with this statement about the noise. Having taken a recent model CRV on a very long road trip it was a very pleasant car in all aspects with very good gas mileage. While the 4 cylinder engine, IMO, is just barely adequate the noise level and drive of the car was on par for what the car is, meaning the car is quiet, not LS 460 quiet. My '05' XT is much louder than the CRV, but a ton more fun to drive.
On another note, I take back my impression that Subaru is customer focused. Our local dealer got a bunch of '09's in yesterday and most have them had $400+ optional "wheel opening trim." I hate when manufacturers put useless options on their vehicles at ridiculous prices to pad their pockets.
He was in the pass front seat and as a Honda fan, he thought the car was surprisingly too loud.
Also, on the CRV, having the gear shift raised into the center console would take some getting used to although it would have prevented the nice bloodclot I got on my thigh when my leg bent the gearshift during my recent crash.
The only thing I would add to the 09 Forester would be side-imbedded turn signals. My Outlander had them and I thought it was a nice safety feature; esp helpful on the hwy.
Thanks for the well-wishes Tkay!
The trim's a lot tougher than the paint.
But yeah, it'd be better if those items were actually _options_ rather than "factory pre-installed" options.
The '08 CRV I drove, the top of line model, was pretty noisy on Oregon's roads, and probably a bit noiser than the Forester was.
I was not impressed by what I saw in the comparison item by item and prices. The number of options in the Forester is too many and it shows how Subaru America wants to rip off loyal customers, because I think Subaru owners are Subaru patriotic
Majority of brand new cars drive nicely not only Subarus. Going from 4-cylinders to 6-cylinders inflate the price above $30,000. Subaru has shown a disrespect and has buried hopes of Subaru fanatics with a 4-auto transmision that decreases performance by 15% in comparison with 6-auto.
I will like to hear why I should buy a 2009 Forester instead of a 6-cylinder 2008 Outlander XLS .with the same petrol consume and better few options. 6-cylinders has longer life than a 4-cylinders.
1. There are no limited slip diffs on the '09 Foresters, and no way to lock them. This means that it's very possible for that car to fail what the Outback did so well - park one side on asphalt, one side on gravel, and floor it.
My guess is the Forester will try to dig holes in the gravel before the VDC kicks in to control that. How the steering will feel under that situation, I have no idea (and nooooo, I am not trying that on __my__ Forester !!!).
You can see hints of this on the Subaru test track videos of '09's with two of their wheels in the air. When accelerated, these cars spin their free wheels for a bit before deciding to actually move.
I gambled the VDC can handle this situation. However, the user manual suggests you turn VDC __off__ in those situations, which then leaves the car wide open to a one side stuck-in-the-mud.
(as side note, the driver actually opens and closes one of the doors without any trouble, suggesting that '09 body is darn solid).
2. The trim's a step down from Honda, Audi and some other cars at or near the XT Limited's price. The Forester's headliner's almost a joke, but I'm short and hopefully won't bang into it much.
(side note 2: RAV4 Limited's about the same interior quality, with possibly a better headliner being the only major improvement).
I'll post after my first fill up to let ya know about the mileage etc. I love the seating, it is soooooooooo comfy and that sunroof is awesome! Just need some warmer weather!
Mostly city driving with a little freeway thrown in. :surprise:
Worst mileage I have ever gotten from any car I've owned.
Then again, to be fair, it's not completed break in, it's still 40 - 55 deg in Portland, the fuel is 10% alcohol, and the AC climate control is on most of the time.
We'll see how it goes.
I wasn't expecting fabulous mileage anyway - the price of an AWD car, unfortunately.
If anything the Forester seemed a bit quieter than either the CRV or the RAV4 I drove in comparisons.
I am doing "that" in the Forester.
Huh?
Did Subaru change the turbos for those two '08 models without telling anyone? My understanding was the turbos used for Legacy and Outback have been around for some time. And the 3 turbo Outbacks I drove were no way as responsive as the Forester turbos. The Outbacks had more of the classic "Turbo Rush" which kicked in around 500 - 1000 RPM higher than in the Forester. Yes, I realize the Outbacks weigh more, but I was monitoring what the engine was doing as well as how the vehicle responded.
This is not to criticise "Turbo Rush". Some folks really like that
In '09 Forester, You either have to unlock all the doors (inside door switch), or unlock the hatch with the remote control, and __then__ you can open the hatch.
If you want out of manual trans shifting mode on the Automatic, you must bat the shift lever to the right (out of the manual / sport slot). To get back into sport mode, you flick the lever back to the left. There are no paddles on the steering wheel (not a major issue as the lever is easy to move around).
The heating system, true to virtually all Japanese systems I've seen, will send air out the side vents no matter what air flow mode you select. The airflow out the side vents reduces slightly when you are in defrost mode. Ironically, very little air comes out of the side window "defrost" vents.
You have the option to manually close the side vents to send maximum amount of air to the defroster.
There is a cabin air filter, located behind the glovebox door.
Wrt Headlights, there is a niceity in that the headlights go off when you stop the engine and take the key out.
An oddity is that for daylight driving, not only are the tiny marker lights above the headlights on, but the high beams (at reduced power) are also on. I've no idea what these marker lights are for (a leftover from Japanese light regulations of some kind ??) :confuse:
Finally, Subaru got back to me and told me there is no "formally approved" filter for keeping leaves and other junk out of the intercooler. They did warn me not to block airflow, so it will be a challange to come up with something that doesn't reduce airflow but still catches some of the garbage that could come through the scoop.
Article Comments - 2009 Subaru Forester XT First Drive
Are you sure the tank was completely full when you got it?
-Frank
Puddle lights - these are neat. I didn't realize how useful they'd be until my Sienna, which has them. Very cool feature. I will look in to adding these on or LL Bean when we get one.
kahanatina: congrats!
fanatical: same you to, congrats.
I have to get in gear and go buy one, seems like I didn't get the memo and have been hesitating.
FWIW, I rented a 2007 Accord when we went to Florida last October, for a wedding.
As throroughly competent as it was, road noise was my #1 complaint. The engine is quite, wind noise seemed normal, but we noticed tire noise. Perhaps it depends on tire choices, I dunno. The rental car was nearly new.
Maybe some Hondas are better than others, or maybe its the tire choice. Who knows. That's just my observation.
Also, I test drove the Ody and Sienna back to back. Again, I felt the Sienna was more isolated.
If I had been looking for a driver's van I would have picked the Ody due to the Sienna's numb steering alone, but we wanted a trip vehicle and comfort was a top priority.
Let's see what the instrumented tests say. The Forester has generally done well. Car & Driver measures sound levels at idle, at speed cruising, and at speed coasting. In the 2 comparisons I've seen for the Forester, it was the quietest in both.
Let's see for the 2009. Competitors have improved. Has Subaru kept up? I guess we'll see when they publish sound levels in the full road tests.
While I personally don't consider Subaru to be particularly "customer focused", I don't see them doing anything different than most other manufacturers. As has been previously discussed, Subaru decontented the 09 Forester to make it more price competitive with its peers. This resulted in a big increase in the number of available options.
Previous generation Foresters came with pretty much everything standard in a given trim level with very few options to choose from. Ironically, before we had people complaining about too much being standard and too few options and now some are disgruntled that there are too many.
Another thing, your average Subaru dealer doesn't carry a lot of inventory so they and Subaru have to guess at what the most popular options are going to be and stock their inventory accordingly. Obviously this results in many compromises on what the vehicles are going to be equipped with.
The good news is that it’s pretty easy to factory order a Forester to your exact specifications. The downside is that you have to wait 8-12 weeks for delivery. Also, refusing to pay for unwanted options is a viable negotiating tactic.
-Frank
I see from your other posts that you are actually shopping for the best price on a left over 2007 Outlander. So low price was a priority for you, not rally fair to compare a brand new model that just came out. Of course pricing is higher. The 07 Outlander has very low demand.
The fact that there are still new 2007s left over proves that. You are buying a car noone wanted!
Subaru America wants to rip off loyal customers, because I think Subaru owners are Subaru patriotic
This is funny given what I've observed from Outlander fans - the most "patriotic" that I've ever seen. You obviously had a sip of their Kool Aid.
If you even bothered to read this thread, you'd see people like Kurt are first-time Subaru buyers. He came from a Chevrolet. Other traded in Hondas.
Going from 4-cylinders to 6-cylinders inflate the price above $30,000
Not true, look at an Outback H6. Plus, the Tribeca is not in the Outlander's league, the Endeavor is.
4-auto transmision that decreases performance by 15% in comparison with 6-auto
Source? Wait, don't tell me - Mitsubishi. Of course! And Subaru buyers are the "patriotic" ones?
same petrol consume
No, sir. Wrong. Outlander is rated 17/24. The Forester XT gets 19/24, and it makes more power and more torque. Why is the Outlander's V6 so inefficient in the city, given it makes less power and less torque? How do you explain that?
To make things worse, the gas tank on the Outlander is only 15.8 gallons, so your range in the city is a rather pathetic 269 miles. Forester has a 16.9 gallon tank, and with better fuel efficiency is can go a reasonable 321 miles.
So it seems like your V6 is only 15% better at ... displaying the low fuel light.
6-cylinders has longer life than a 4-cylinders.
Source? The most durable automobile engine in the world was a 4 cylinder diesel by Mercedes. Source: Guiness Book of World Records.
And before you look, 2nd place also went to a 4 cylinder.
Most of those comments are already here but I can recap if anyone wishes that.
So it seems like your V6 is only 15% better at ... displaying the low fuel light.
LOL! Juice I think you have a future as a comedian :shades:
-Frank
I do apologize, though, for the 15% comment.
That was very unfair. I'm sorry.
Seriously, I apologize ... to Forester owners. Range is actually 19% better.
Won't happen again. I swear.
Bob
You will see that light come on if the Auto Trans selector/shifter is moved from Drive position to the center of the + / - slot. Moving Selector back to Drive turns SPORT mode off.
Putting the auto trans in SPORT mode changes the shifting so that auto trans lets engine rev higher in each gear before shifting, and allows more rapid downshifting on hills.
And yes, it really works
Outback:
Quieter interior (little road or wind noise) but some rattles now and then
Softer suspension (less thumps from potholes, etc.)
More lean in turns when cornering
Less low end torque - not much until over 3K rpm.
Classic "turbo surge" when accelerating.
Some drive line lash and occasional clunks while driving.
Limited slip rear diff helps side-side torque
Rather crowded inside (intimate front, rear seats had no toe space)
Lots of cargo space in back, but lower overall heigth.
Little cabin storage space (small door slots, center cup holders.
Euro class trim similar to that of Audi
Auto trans reluctant to kick down, even in Sport Sharp mode
Intelligent mode reduces passing ability - beware!
Cannot comment on mileage
Forester:
Reasonably quiet interior but can be noisy on coarse roads
Firm suspension - potholes kick back more but are not harsh.
Very little lean in the corners, unusual for an SUV.
Little drive line lash
No limited slip diffs - side/side power handled by braking spinning wheels.
Broader power bandwidth
Turbo response comes in two stages.
4 speed trans responds quickly to throttle input - SPORT mode helps,
Mileage not so great (expect around 18 - 20 in the city)
Much more usable interior space (rear footroom! Reclineable seats!
Interior trim in line with other mid- level Japanese cars (less posh than outback)
More cabin storage in doors and center console.
Fewer observed rattles than in Outbacks (but some dash creaks are in mine).
Summary:
Outback is more luxo, and possibly a better trip car
Forester is more eager, practical, and fun to drive.
I priced such at the local dealer, but $400 for 4 pieces seems mighty steep (their add on spoiler was $700 ( the XT Limited already has one of those )).
The downside of the Freestyle? Rear brake pad wear is the only one that bothers me. It has a hefty engine sound when under strong acceleration, but I don't mind that. There are rattles when driving over the purposely uneven brick streets in our neighborhood (that's another story!) but on decent roads, there are no rattles. It is an excellent highway vehicle, for me.
I understand the 2009 Forester is redesigned and should be more accommodating than the 2005. The same could be said for the 2008 Taurus X over the Freestyle, as it is quieter (with the 6-speed automatic transmission, more sound insulation, larger engine, etc.). I have not seen any brake-related issues with the Taurus X, but they are not selling many of them, apparently.