Subaru XT Turbo Forester

once_for_all

they expire 4 years from the date earned.

I have mine on auto-pay. I didn't notice the grace period being awful, isn't 3-4 weeks about normal?

The only down side I have is that I earn all $500 bucks in much less than a year. I have a second credit card that gives me 5% on groceries, gas, and drugs, and 1% elsewhere. I use that one for any situation that gives me 5%, and any off-season period for the Subaru.

The credit card companies are stupid IMO to offer such benefits to wise consumers. I have heard tell some of them dumping the free loaders such as myself, but that hasn't happened yet for me.

John

xtsfo

Ahh...from your "all $500 bucks" comment, I take it that there's a limit of 500 Subaru Bucks that can be "earned" per year. Well, at least they don't expire in 12-18 months.
So, at a 3% rebate rate, it would seem that one should not spend more than approximately $16.6K per year. You should theoretically just STOP at that point and charge everything else on a different card until the Subaru Bucks card "annual accrual limit reset date." Some readers may consider this line of thinking to be "crazy" or perhaps "elitist." However, if you're going to optimize the "bucks," one good way to do it might be at new car purchase time. If the dealer will let you use the card for part of the payment and not try to factor the credit card's merchant discount rate into the deal, then it would make sense to put $10K-$15K (or whatever JPMChase and the dealer will let you get away with) on the card and pay the balance with a check. Boom, you get a large Subaru Bucks accrual in one whack. Then, you immediately pay that transaction off on the card's first month bill. So what are people seeing as credit limits on this particular MasterCard? I realize that the limits are going to vary depending on credit ratings, etc. I'd like to know just "how platinum" does this particular card get? MasterCards are often marketed as Low Rent credit cards with $1000 limits, etc. So, are people seeing "non Low Rent" limits? $5K $10K, $20K, etc.?

once_for_all

funny you should ask, I wanted to charge a $26k New Holland tractor on this card a couple years ago. After 15 mins of suspicious questioning from at least 3 managers at Chase, they let me up the charge amount to $16.5. Then it turned out that the tractor dealer didn't want to pay Chase their approximately 2% commission either and we finally compromised with a charge of about $10k. The big ticket items I have found don't always allow credit card purchases.

You are right about switching cards once you have the $500 bucks in the desk drawer. That is when the Citi card comes out with its 5% and 1% depending.

John

atlgaxt

Have not posted in a while. Been generally very happy with my XT, which just hit 40,000 miles. Only other issue I have had was with brake rotors that are prone to warping, which I understand to be a common Subaru issue.

Ever since I bought my XT, I thought the butt looked like it was sagging. However, I tried to convince myself that it was an optical effect caused by the mudflaps and the hood scoop, both of which spoil the otherwise clean looks of the Forester IMHOP. But this just kept eating away at me.

Finally on Sunday (after 2+ years of ownership), I went by the local dealership armed with a tape measure. I compared my car to six other '03 - '05 Foresters on the lot. I did not look at '06s, since I figured those might be changed. I looked at a mix of turbos and non-turbos, which did not seem different. All of the cars were 1" to 1.5" higher at the top of the center of the rear bumper, and all of the cars had a 1" greater gap between the top of the rear tires and the rear fender. BTW, I have brand new tires of the correct size, and I noticed this even with my old tires.

Has anyone else heard of a defect like this? I have a hitch on mine. Is it possible that the weight of the hitch pulls the car down? Would new shocks fix this?

I would be interested to hear any input before I drag it (literally) back to the dealer. Thanks!

ateixeira

That is a pretty dramatic different. A hitch isn't heavy enough to produce a noticeable effect.

Could be the shocks, sure, or the springs may not be seated properly? Though I'm not sure if that's possible (I heard it is on Miatas).

-juice

corkfish

If you have a towing hitch, can it be assumed you were towing with it?

samiam_68

It's the hitch. When I first bought my '04 FXT without the hitch, it didn't look "saggy". After I put the hitch on, I see a tiny bit of "sagginess". I didn't measure it, but 1" sounds about right.

raybear

The customer in question had the car replaced by Subaru, the dealership and the SoA reps couldn't fix the problem after several turbo exchanges, etc.

atlgaxt

No, I have not towed anything with that car. I do use a hitch mounted bike carrier (probably less than 100 pounds for the carrier and two bikes).

Like I said, I got it with a hitch. From the beginning I thought it sagged, but only recently confirmed it.

atlgaxt

Thanks for the input. Do you know how much those hitches weigh?

If the hitch drags the car down, I'd hate to see what a trailer would do...

p0926

George- Where exactly did you measure and how high from the ground was your bumper. Since I've got the trailer hitch on my FXT, I'll measure mine and see if it's the same. I seriously doubt it will be though since I don't see how a 50 lb hitch could cause a measurable difference.

-Frank

atlgaxt

Frank, it is somewhat hard to explain without showing. I measured from the ground to the top of the rear bumper at the center of the hatch (the point where a dog would step when getting into the car). Mine was about 22.5", I believe the others I measured were closer to 24". It is somewhat inexact beause the parking lot is not level. Then I measured from the top of the rear tire to the bottom of the fender, on the exterior. Mine was 4", most others were 5". Thanks. I'd be interested to see what you come up with.

samiam_68

The OEM hitch is about 60 lbs. Most of it at the very tail end of the car, so that weight has a lot of leverage. If you put 60 lbs of luggage in the back cargo area, the car won't sag much because the weight would be centered right over the rear suspension.

ateixeira

Did you buy it used, since you said the hitch was already on it? Perhaps the previous owner towed a lot, and the struts are spent.

Payload is about 900 lbs, so I don't see how 60 lbs (less than 7% of the total payload) can affect the rear suspension that dramatically.

I stand on the rear bumper to load the roof rack and it sags, sure, but that's 220 lbs even further back than the hitch. Plus the hitch itself. 280 lbs can do it, but just 60?

-juice

atlgaxt

Nope - bought it brand new with about 7 miles on the odometer. I asked the dealer to put the hitch on basically for bikes and just in case I needed to tow something, which I have not. I have a Mazda truck for that kind of stuff. I do not think anything wore out or broke. While I only recently did the measurements, I think the vehicle has been like this the whole time. I'm planning on taking it in maybe Friday, but just thought I would get some feedback first.

On another issue the heated seats and power mirrors just went out. Checked the fuse and it was not the problem. Probably just a bad contact or something. I'll report what I learn. They gave me a 4 year 60k bumper to bumper warranty, so I am not worried at this point.

p0926

George- I measured from the floor to the top center of the rear bumper (which includes the plastic bumper guard) and it's maybe 23 inches. From the top of the rear tire to the bottom of the fender is only 3.5 inches. Out of curiosity, I measured the same distance on the front tire and it's 4.5 inches ;-)

-Frank

atlgaxt

Hey Frank,

Thanks for looking into that. No doubt there is a variation in how you and I performed the measurements (you did it right). In any case, based on my method, my car was coming up a little lower. Of course, you have a hitch also...

We'll see what the dealer has to say. Maybe I can get it jacked up like one of those old muscle cars.

paddyk

Bad news. The transmission started making a whining noise on my 04 manual FXT. :sick:
39,000 miles on the odo.

The good news is that I bought the 6/60 extended warrantee.

Has anyone else heard or transmission problems with so few miles?

I just bought an 05 OBS and skipped the extended warrantee and now think I may change my mind and buy it.

atlgaxt

So I took my XT to the dealer. They told me it was within 0.25 inches of specs, and that 0.25" was likely due to the hitch. They also told me that the ride height of the XT is lower than the regular Forester. My unscientific survey did not note a difference between Turbo and Non Turbo. My unscientific survey also showed that mine was 1" to 1.5" lower than other Foresters I measured.

I do not feel like fighting them more about this at this time, but at least I have this problem documented.

They also told me my heated seats were out because of a fuse. I told them that I changed the fuse as shown in the manual, and that the original fuse did not look bad. The fuse I changed was behind the coin holder. They said they changed a secret fuse under the hood that apparently somehow relayed power to the fuse behind the coin holder. Huh? Going to dealers always gives me a headache...

corkfish

The factory powertrain warranty is good for 5 years or 60,000 miles anyway. Not sure why the extended warranty is relevant in this case.

p0926

George now be honest with yourself... you really didn't expect the dealer to tell you there was anything wrong did you? Besides, I'm assuming that you went to Royal and personally, I don't trust their service writers as far as I can throw one of them ;-)

-Frank

ateixeira

Rest assured, your OCD Club membership is secure. Welcome to the Club!

Who was it that kept measuring the front fender height just above the tires? That was hilarious.

-juice

paddyk

I know I read the warranty stuff when I bought the car but forgot about the longer drivetrain warranty. I guess I should forget about the extended warranty on the OBS.

Thanks for the reminder.

corkfish

Another thing you could do is get a Chase-Subaru credit card which pays Suabru benefits. I've self insured because I have several hundred dollars in Subaru Bucks. In fact, since you can still buy an extended warranty well after you buy the car, I'm thinking of using my Subaru Bucks to buy the extended warranty. That way it cost nothing out of pocket!

xtsfo

Has anyone ever looked inside one of the exterior door mirrors or tried disassembling one? Why? Well, from a cussory inspection, the housings appear to be plastic or mostly plastic. Might they make good radomes? Might be great places to mount concealed gps (patch) antennas, etc.

p0926

Who was it that kept measuring the front fender height just above the tires?

Oh yeah! IRC, that was one of our Daves. What's that you say, every 3rd Subaru owner is named Dave? :-) I think this one owned an Outback and lived out west. I don't think we've heard from him in quite a while...

-Frank

apackerfan

My first winter with the 05 FXT and I have noticed an avg 2mpg decrease in fuel economy. I let the engine warm up since its in the 20's in the morning, and try to be easy for the first few miles too. After that I drive the same moderately aggressive style i always do. Any thoughts?

Side note: got beat by a vw golf gti looking jerk yesterday, never seen a vw go that fast before, couldn't have been stock, just no way. Still saddened by it so goal for today is to find a Mini to shame. They hate that so!

Stacie
05 FXT
Oregon

samiam_68

Your MPG decrease is mostly due to winter gas formulation. That's usually close to a 10% hit. Warming up the car also wastes gas, no need to warm up more than 30 seconds.
Side note: if you fold the back seats, you can fit a Mini inside your Forester.

dstew1

This is my first winter with my 06 XT and I've also noticed about a 3mpg decrease since the weather got a little colder. I'm also due for an oil change though... but it seemed to start happening all of a sudden on one tank of gas around the end of November/beginning of December. I always get gas at the same station so that might be when they started getting the new stuff.

GTIs are fast on their own, but it probably shouldn't have outrun you. Any chance it was an R32? The only thing I've gone balls out against was a new Mercedes CLS and it ate me for lunch (and breakfast).

Doug

apackerfan

Suppose it could be the winter gas then, thanks, i can live with that. Only 30 secs for morning warmup? Reading all the posts i thought i should go more to min or two, but hey 30 secs is much better if that does the trick.

GTI must have been an R32 but it was too dark last night to tell. Is the R32 an upgrade from their VR6 engine? I had a Jetta VR6 couple years ago which was quick but not even close to initial acceleration of the XT! Interesting, will have to find a VR6 to swallow up after the Mini. Too bad there is so much holiday traffic, its so frustrating!

Stacie

raybear

It's also just the cold....an engine runs at about 200 degrees so it takes a certain amount of fuel to bring it to operating temperature as well as keep it there.

ateixeira

On my normally aspirated engine, my average drops about 2mpg in the winter. A bigger drop than in the summer, due to A/C!

-juice

vali48

Hi there Ed,

Maybe u can help me. As the MY06 F2.5XT came in in Europe as well, I'd like to trade my own MY05 F2.5XT 210hp 5MT for the 230hp 4EAT. Comes here with sport shift and VDC as well. Any experience with the 4EAT? Is it worth to trade mine MT for AT? As from the books, loosing 1.6 sec from 0 to 100km/h.
Can I switch off the VDC or is always on?
Anybody else can HELP ME PLEASE ?
Thanks, Vali

jpfkk

Juice,

Very strange. My 06 XT is fairly new but so far I am getting much higher gas mileage than I expected. I am certainly getting better gas mileage than the 04 XT, but Subaru was clear about that. Of course, I am not looking a gift horse in the mouth...but very wierd, indeed.

ateixeira

There is a VDC off switch on all models here in the US, so probably there too.

The auto is more fuel efficient, and while not as quick it's not hardly slow. Fair trade off, if you ask me. Sportshift would be nice, too. Go for it...

-juice

raybear

And I'll bet you check your tire pressure too, most people miss that trick.

lark6

Vali:

Wow, a question directed to me! Guess I need to come out of the woodwork.

First I must say I'm envious of your option to purchase a Sportshift and VDC equipped 4EAT XT. We in the US still do not get Sportshift; my car is a MY05 FXT 4EAT. I've managed to convince myself that I don't miss the Sportshift feature as much as I might. That's not been too difficult for me considering the 4EAT's learning ability combined with my increasingly arthritic knees.

As for power output there are those who claim that the 2.5XT engine was making at least 230 prior to MY06; dyno outputs posted on other forums would reinforce those claims.

I don't know what else to tell you except that, were I in your position, I wouldn't trade for the '06 unless (1) you really have developed a need for AT over MT and (2) you really find the styling and other features of the '06 preferable to the '05. Otherwise I imagine you will take a considerable loss in depreciation of a one-year-old car. The additional money you would spend to buy the '06 could be used for many other things, including enhancements to the '05.

Hope this helps.

Ed

ateixeira

there are those who claim that the 2.5XT engine was making at least 230 prior to MY06

More like 240-250, actually. Dyno-proven power is well above the 227hp WRX models for instance. More torque, too, and sooner in the rev range.

-juice

xtsfo

For completeness, I'm cross-posting this from the subaruforester.com site. I recently stumbled across:

http://www.audiocubes.com/category/Car+Audio_2+Din+Receivers/product/Alpine_MDA-- W920JB_CD,MD,MP3,Tuner_receiver.html

Audiocubes appears to be an importer of Japanese Market electronics.

They describe the "new for 2005" Alpine MDA-W920J as a double-din receiver that "correspnds to the Subaru interior" and "also supports iPod media." It also appears to support minidiscs, a format that never really made it in the U.S.

BEWARE Item: Japanese FM runs from 76-90 Mhz and the Audiocubes converter models (either 12 or 20 mhz offset) can't shift the ENTIRE u.s. fm band at one whack. So, if you really like FM, pick your poison. You're going to lose either the top or the bottom of the U.S. FM frequency range.

ateixeira

It's a pretty standard size, a lot of aftermarket stuff will fit in there. Crutchfield has good info and includes a harness for any thing you buy from them.

-juice

corkfish

Cobb Tuning has a website where they've posted stock XT Dyno runs. The charts pretty cleary indicate that the wheel HP for the XT is greater than the wheel HP for the WRX. Throw in the 444.1 gearing and you have the sub 6 second 0 to 60 runs.

dstew1

The R32 has a 3.2 liter V6 that pushes 240 horse (vs the 200hp 2.8 in the VR6).

On a related note, some nutjob in a VR6 was doing a kamikaze run on a windy not-so-deserted stretch of Ozark highway last night. He passed me doing about 65, darted upt to 85, and started passing other drivers over double yellow lines, barely missing oncoming traffic. Not just once or twice, but repeatedly - it was dark, there were lots of dips and curves that were impossible to see around. Crazy.

samiam_68

This is interesting. Note the availability of the 13-pin adapter. Have no idea if this will work on US models.

http://www.caraudioplus.co.uk/pp/iPod_Car_Adapters/iPod_Adapters_for_Factory_Rad- ios/Subaru_iPod_Ice_Link_Plus_Adapter.html

lark6

Thanks for reminding me; I neglected to mention the differences in gearing.

Ed

mlang

Howdy,

I have inherited a 2004 Subaru Forester XT as a company car. I spend a great deal of time on the road. It had 54 K on it when I received it and on my first road trip, it exhibited an annoying tendency for the cruise control to disengage. Sometimes going up hill, sometimes down, but with no real pattern of failure. It's been in the shop twice and of course, they tell me it works flawlessly. Did the simple replacement of the CC module fix the problem? I have been told it's a $200 fix. I have no problem pulling the trigger on this (it's a company expense), but I want to make sure it IS fixed. Please respond if you can.

Thanks

ateixeira

I had mine installed by the dealer, it was $300 or so IIRC, so basically it should not cost too much to replace the entire system. Mine included the switch, even.

-juice

akasrp

Well, I finally took my 04 XT in to have the guys see if they could ferret out the dash rattle that has plagued me since day one. No sweat! Changed out the 'dash pocket' - said it had a bad hinge - and all is well. Now I REALLY Love my XT!

Quick question: does anyone know which Fram Air filter (engine not cabin) fits the 04 XT? Fram doesn't list the Forester in its parts list - or do I just punt and just grab a few from the dealer or one of the sube mailorder parts places.

Anyway, hats off to Lancaster CA Subaru Service - now, I gotta get my better half into a new Outback!

srp

mrthody

Has anyone out there been unfortunate enough to have to replace their back bumper skin. Mine was recently destroyed by some mystery driver in a parking lot who of course didn't bother leaving a note on my car. Wondering if anyone has a ballpark figure on a replacement or any suggestions on possible aftermarket options. Thanks

lfdal

According to the last crash manual I have, it should be about 180.00. You might be able to beat that by shopping a bit as that's a body shop's list price.

You can ask the dealer to cross p/n 57704SA010 and see if its the correct part. There's a myriad of clips, etc that may need to be replaced depending upon the damage.

Also, that 180.00 does NOT include the cost of painting.

HTH

Larry

ateixeira

I had to replace mine a while ago when a Saturn sans ABS rear ended me - pretty hard. I lost a taillight and a bumper, one was $125 and the other about $150, I forget which was which. The dealer I bought from went out of business a while later, though. Still miss Darlene.

-juice