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I found out later my truck was recalled because of the VSC- but the dealer initially said it was 'normal'. :mad:
I enjoyed driving my STi in the snow- the VSC didn't kick in until I got the car pretty sideways, and then it simply gently brought the car back and then let me do it again! Fun! I never actually shut it off though- that would probably be fun in a big parking lot, but I didn't want to end up in a ditch! (or worse)
tom
Blame the whiners at CR - every time they complain about a little sideways action I'm sure the Subaru lawyers get nervous.
I think the guys at CR do evaluate the cars for the general public- there's probably a very small minority of the public that actually knows how to drive. They can't even put a Prius in neutral!
tom
They gripe that the Outback's handling not only sloppy at higher speed, but still has a tendency to throw its tail out in extreme handling.
Pity - I had hoped the '10's getting rid of the LSD's and adding the new rear suspension would have squelched that quirk.
However, CU's not tested the 3.6R H6 Outback. Whether that's any better in handling compared to the H4 Outbacks, I've no idea. When I drove an H6 '10 though, I felt a lot of grumbling in its steering while its handling, though OK, felt less precise than the '09 XT I'm used to.
http://www.insideline.com/mini/countryman/2011/long-term-test-2011-mini-cooper-s- -countryman-all4.html
Bob
Even when the 911 operator tells them to do it 3 times! LOL
I'm referring to the hoax Sikes perpetrated with his supposedly out-of-control Prius. A week later news breaks that he's wanted in two states for fraud and operates an adult porn site. LOL
On another note, the weather looks to be co-operating in all the wrong ways. Our 2 week deep freeze has been replaced by unseasonal warm weather and rain for the last 5 days. It is going back to normal (aka below freezing) next couple of days, so we should have lots of slush and glare ice with water film for testing.
I have not looked at the video but the stills are pretty representative of conditions across Outback Australia. Much of it is accessible in an All Wheel Drive although things can go from oklay to needing full on locked 4wd without warning.
I loved the photos of the Dodge Coupe that the author's parnets drove across Australia. Before I was born my parents lived in Broken Hill which is well into outback country. On one trip, my very pregnant mum had to push their Vauxhall repeatedly through mud bogs over several days before a steering arm failed stranding them near a rail line.
I have been pondering outback driving in recent days. Recent disastrous rains have drenched much of the East Coast. In Queensland alone are are the siz of Germany and France combined went under water. In my home state of Victoria, we are also suffering major floods and I had to drive through much of it last week. In an 800km trip, I was in flooded country for about 400km. I think that I made about 100 water crossings, from 10m long to 1.6km (one mile) with some flowing fairly quickly. The underside of the car is well washed.
With that trip, the front of the car is plastered with dead locusts (we are currently suffering a plague), the underside is washed perfectly clean and the rear is coated with dirt.
The trip that Motor Trend travelled would be an ideal one for the Outback - good bitumen and fast dirt with some challenging stuff thrown in.
It makes me feel enthusiatic for travelling in the Outback again. This week, we are staying closer to home. I have some leave and we are heading to Phillip Island, a decent sized island famed for the wildlife. Each evening, a huge number of fairy penguins make their way ashore to sleep, returning to the Southerno Ocean during daylight hours .
Cheers
Graham">
Subaru of America, Inc. Reports Record January 2011 Sales
On the back of record-breaking sales in 2010, Subaru of America, Inc. today reported a continued upward swing for the Subaru brand by posting record January sales of 18,858, up 21% versus January 2010.
Again, though, I hope they don't get complacent. These great sales are a double-edged sword. Some may say improvements aren't necessary.
They are always necessary.
Winter - Dry Road
I have indeed managed to slide around here and there when driving 'spiritedly' on dry, cold asphalt. The rubber compound doesn't handle severe cold as well as other all-seasons I've used and certainly not like performance snow tires. (I've had 2 sets of those, but most recently was 3+ years ago.) One time I took a left turn through and intersection at a speed I believed to be moderately fast but nowhere near the limit, and I was fine through the apex. Once the turbo kicked in at the corner exit, however, the car yawed maybe 15 degrees and drifted about 2 feet into the right lane. Obviously no one was there or I would have taken the corner far more conservatively, but I didn't intend for "dorifto" action at all.
Winter - Rainy/Damp Road
The tires are fairly sure-footed and hydroplaning resistant in the rain, a marked improvement over my previous set (BFG Supersport A/S). I don't drive aggressively in the rain, however, so I can't report on their performance at the limit.
Icy Conditions
The tires are serviceable but not outstanding in icy conditions and I only have 6k-7k miles on them. They will surely degrade in performance as miles pile on, but I'm not planning to own the car at this time next year. Average all-season, I would say.
Light Snow
The tires work well but you can feel some squirm here and there-- probably that tread compound, again. No issues with acceleration, braking or cornering.
Deep Snow
Wow! They really come into their own in deep snow. I am very happy with the traction, handling and braking. I realize they still have a lot of tread depth, but I still believe these are the best performance all-seasons I have driven in heavy snow, 6-12" deep on side roads. The car sits so low I wouldn't be confident in 18+ inches, but there's no way I could get stuck in 12" or less and clearly any sort of incident would be the fault of my own foolish driving. It's just too much fun.
edit: forgot rain performance
Possibly. I can only imagine that first-time Subaru buyers are in for serious disappointment the first time they encounter slick roads with their new car and its stock (POS) tires. :surprise:
All the more reason for Subaru to put decent tires on their cars, at least in any country that is likely to receive winter conditions (so, what, maybe 40-N and above as a basic rule?).
Funny, I did just get my WRX stuck in deep snow. We got about a foot of heavy, wet snow last week. In fact, we lost our electricity for about 20 hours. Most of my neighbors were out 3 days.
A neighbor with a snowblower helped with the hill on my driveway, but he had to go into work, and wasn't able to finish. So I shoveled a large section of the parking pad at the top until I just couldn't do any more. So I took the WRX and did about a half-dozen or so passes in the deep unshoveled area, and the car did fine. Then I pushed my luck and tried one more pass and got the car got completely stuck. Couldn't rock the car out or anything. The snow was up on the chassis and the tires were just spinning free. I then grabbed shovel and started digging. After several other tries, I finally got myself free.
So yes, if you work at it, you can get stuck.
Bob
Cute little bugger - foam ball w/ a hole in the bottom for push-fitting over the newer style stubby antennas and a stretch loop out the top for hanging. Unfortunately, I don't think the skin will come off no matter how fast I drive.... :P
Bob
Bob
I'm sure as the tires wear down they'll handle better in the dry but you'll lose your snow traction as the 'S' in the 'D W S' wears off.
Sounds like fun! I had fun driving my STi around in the snow as well- it would get sideways pretty easily at slow speeds, but it's a nice controlled sideways!
tom
Your entire post, Wes, was like you were speaking in a different language! The only word i recognized (and I am generally considered far from being illiterate) was 'antennas'.
Am I that out of touch?? Shhhsh..rhetorical question...that is, unless you want to fill me in please?
http://special.subaru.com/special/optin/full.jsp?eid=2010decgetmoregs
They made foam versions of the "Get More G's" tennis balls from their WRX commercials. Hint: Watch it to the end. :shades:
It took all of what, about four hours?, for their stock to be depleted. Luckily we had Bob here to let us all know about it in time!
I've tried it on the OBW, and it does work. The only huge issue is that it's got to be hell on the center diffy. I'd reserve doing this for only true emergency situations.
And it does work on our Honda Ody as well. But the move back to pedal operated parking brakes with the 'push on - push off' feature makes locking the rears for too long and loss of stability (rear end breaking loose and trying to come around) all too easy.
The two incidents occurred in the snow, but dad was driving a '79 Ford Bronco 4x4 the first time and a '75 Toyota FJ Landcruiser the second time. Both were modified for offroad use and had 32"x11" or larger mud & snow tires.
As a kid I thought it was really severe weather and the ditch couldn't be avoided.
As an adult I now think that dad was playing around and lost it. No ABS or stability management in those days...
I'd actually say it looks a little less awkward in person vs. in photos.
Bob
Only an AWD with extra reserves of power could make those slides so controllable.
That ad made me wonder about a question I had earlier..does anyone know if Subaru uses an oil bath shift linkage similar to what Mazda does on their Miatas?
They reserve such a luxury for the top line turbos? It would be even more impressive if they had it across the board tho.
Subaru is selling it in Europe and Australia.
Bummer. I was hoping the '12 Forester line might offer that model as I'm looking for a better touring car to replace my capable but aging '09 Forester XT within a year or two.
BTW, the Nokian WRG2 tires get pretty noisy when they wear down to the winter tread warning bars. I've replaced mine at 29000 miles and the XT is once again quieter and more capable of handling snow -- assuming we actually __get__ any snow in Oregon this year.
Many say "4 wheel ABS" in their specs, but that doesn't necessarily mean 4 channel. Subie on the other hand.....
And this is one that has bothered me for some time. Maybe someone can make sense of it.... Sales literature for my OBW advertised 4 wheel, 4 channel ABS. While I was researching something to help a friend recently, I came upon this in my Subaru Service Manual Operational/Technical Description supplement.:
The ABS is a 4-sensor, 4-channel system; the front wheel system is an independent control design*1, while the rear wheel system is a select-low control design*2.
*1: A system which controls the front wheel brakes individually.
*2: A system which applies the same fluid pressure to both the rear wheels if either wheel starts to lock. The pressure is determined based on the lower of the frictional coefficients of both wheels.
To me this screams 4 sensor, 3 channel implementation.
An independent on-line reference supports this...
3-channel ABS v/s 4-channel ABS
In a 3-channel ABS system hydraulic pressure is supplied to the front brakes individually, and is supplied to both rear brakes as if there were only one, although wheel speed is measured at all four wheels individually. This system is less complicated and cheaper to build but it does not provide as much safety and control as a 4-channel ABS.
In a 4-channel ABS system hydraulic pressure is supplied to all four brakes individually, wheel speed is measured at all four wheels individually. Wheel lockup can be controlled and prevented on all four wheels individually. Improved safety and control over 3-channel ABS.
If your ABS is also tied into stability control, independent (all 4 wheels) control is a must and I assume that it is indeed there. But it looks like many Subi models without stability control might really only be 3 channel systems despite the sales claim. Confusing! Am I missing something?
My guess would be that when a rear wheel locks up due to braking, Subaru cycles both rear wheels simultaneously to keep the vehicle stable.
I would be surprised if VDC or other stability management programs were INcapable of braking each rear wheel individually, however. If you are at massive yaw angles (slide or imminent rollover) you certainly want to brake the inside rear wheel and not the outside.
Thus, 4 channel ABS.
Again, quoting from the "Book of Subaru":
1. OVERSTEER SUPPRESSION
When the vehicle starts to spin during cornering, the VDC control module (VDCCM) actuates the brakes on the front and rear outer wheels. As a result, a force that counteracts the oversteer-causing yaw moment is generated so that the vehicle’s behavior is stabilized.
2. UNDERSTEER SUPPRESSION
When the vehicle starts to drift outward during cornering, the VDCCM causes the rear inner wheel to be braked. As a result, a force that counteracts the understeer-causing yaw moment is generated
so that the vehicle’s behavior is stabilized.
But on non-VDC Subi's, cycling both rear wheels simultaneously smacks of a 3 channel operation, despite the 4 channel claim.
As for the itouch, Apple manages to maintain retail pricing on their products. Basically, no discounting unless the retailer tosses in gift card to their store. Target and Walmart tend to do that?
She likes to keep work and play separate, and the iTouch would be strictly for play, for music during exercise, etc.
Bob
I thought about it since Verizon does have the best coverage here, but I get a 15% discount for T-Mobile thru my work, and as a beta tester I always have spare devices laying around.
Long term it would cost a bunch more, and she is change-averse.
If she changes her mind, I'd still give the iTouch to my daughter, who has been wanting one for a while, so it won't go to waste.
Walmart and Best Buy have the same price, $209 for the 8 Gig touch. I think I'll go ahead and get it from Best Buy and take the $20 gift card.
They use the wi-fi for web browsing, e-mail, FaceTime video chats, etc., in addition to movies & music.
While I have an original IPhone which I still love, the phone really IS the weakest link in the package! For everything else it's great. So, unless you really want to text and make calls on it, an ITouch does what you want and your "phone" does the rest ... (but get the most storage you can)
If she doesn't need anything super portable, how about an iPad? It's much better for video and as a multimedia device. If she want's something portable for music get a Nano- I just wouldn't want to watch movies on it!
Although, i don't reeally like watching movies on something as small as my iPhone either!
tom
-Brian
The achilles' heel of these devices is the battery life. I solved that problem years ago, and would be a wealthy man today if I had had the smarts to market my little toy. I went to Radio Shack and bought a swiveling UPS socket, a 4 cell fully enclose AA battery holder with a built-in switch, 4 2500mh nimh batteries and an ipod to usb docking cable. An hour later I had a pocket external rechargeable powerpack that could juice my movies from JFK to Toyko, and recharge from my laptop for the return flight!
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