By accessing this website, you acknowledge that Edmunds and its third party business partners may use cookies, pixels, and similar technologies to collect information about you and your interactions with the website as described in our
Privacy Statement, and you agree that your use of the website is subject to our
Visitor Agreement.
Comments
So whose brainchild was that defunctive little jewel? The one on the 03 used the regular u-hook, so Anco or Trico both fit. Wonder if the 03 arm fill fit? Or for that matter does the regular 04 Forester X or XS use the same rear arm as the XT?
I really don't want to get locked into a proprietary wiper blade.
Larry
In terms of a regular change I think its a little easier with the Fumoto, but I already had to explain once to the dealer how to operate it for an oil change. Can't imagine the speedy lube places.
I really like the rig FRAM has which is on the same idea but includes a hose. Last I looked they still didn't make one for Subaru, however.
JB - don't know what you're using for a collection device but the oil collector I bought from Pep Boys holds 15 qts and is pretty close to 2 ft in diameter - very tolerant if you don't have it exactly under the best spot when you first remove the plug/open the valve. The oil collects nicely, but one does have to remember to open the vent plug first :<) . Forgot to the 1st time and was watching the oil get closer and closer to the rim until it dawned on me that little vent plug was on there for a reason.
Larry
The parts diagram for the plastic plate didn't cross reference a fastener for the cover, other than the one that provides the pivot point for the cover.
I tried them and they worked - I was a couple short when I went to change the oil after the dealer did the 1k change.
Larry - who still can't believe the Patriots did it again. For those from the New England area, you know what I mean.
http://www.cartoday.com/content/news/singlepage.asp?in=5549
Sorry if it's a repeat.
Stu - We've seen it, but we never get tired of it. :-)
-Dennis
I wonder if FRAM does not have the right size, or just doesn't know what size the drain plug is for Subies. Anyone know? Is it a 17mm bolt?
-juice
http://www.apexjapan.com/news/sti_forester/sti_forester.html
What 17" wheels (brand and offset) did you get?
- D.
18.76 mpg, 75% city 25% highway.
There will be a lot of highway driving this week, much of it done by my less-leaden better half, so I will be interested to see the results.
Bob got Rota SDR's that have a 48mm offset.
-Dennis
I was noticing some bitching by '04 non-turbo owners (on a Subaru newsgroup) regarding their mpg. I had suggested that those potential buyers who are turned off by FXT's low-ish mpg might want to consider an X or XS. It would seem that the actual savings of going that route aren't so much. Maybe 10 or 15% better mpg. No big deal. I suppose anyone that concerned about mpg's is going to look at a Prius
Did your Rotas require an unusual amount of weights to get balanced? Are they 7 or 7.5"?
My Rota Battle's required more weights than I would have liked.
Don
19 ain't bad on a green engine driving around Baltimore.
-juice
-Dennis
-Frank P.
John
If we take 5 mpg differential and use the XT as the base, the X/XS is about 20-25% higher in fuel mileage.
IMO, the difference can be broken down to about 2 mpg due to the final drive, and about 3 mpg due to the engine/driving habit differences. I am basing this in part on the Baja Turbo that has a 3.9 final drive, 500 lbs more weight, wider body, etc., but still gets 1 mpg better than the XT according to EPA estimates.
John
Nope. Mine, at about 5400 miles, has averaged about 20.2, and that's on about 80% freeway, 20% suburban driving, hardly ever over 70mph.
John
If the average for all XTs is 21-22 in mixed city-highway, I ought to be averaging 23 or better.
-mike
-Frank P.
chassol "2005 Subaru Legacy and Outback" Feb 3, 2004 6:54pm.
May have to trade the 2002 VDC Sedan come summer.
If they keep this up I'm going to have to work another job. 5 speed auto - 17" tires - 250hp -
0 to 60 5.5 seconds (MT or AT?) - Speedometer goes to 160 MPH
Man oh man Subaru is really coming to life........
60:40 hwy:city = 22.7 mpg
20:80 hwy:city = 21.2 mpg
No roof rack or crossbars, average highway speeds 65-70 mph. With nasty snow/ice storms, a lot of driving both city and highway has been at a crawl to boot.
Granted, we have had a much colder than usual January and we get the awful oxygenated fuels for winter. Still, majority reports of XTs in the low twenties (dismissing the high and low outliers) doesn't dissuade me a bit from going the XT route.
Must resist urge a while longer...at least until '05 color choices/options become known...
Ed
Larry
-Frank P.
If the turbo starts spooling at around 1,500 - 2,000, I don't think you will be at off-boost during cruising speed.
-Dennis
The mystifying thing is that some XT owners report getting 25 and more on occasion and others, like myself, have never gotten anything like that. We've been thru all the quantifiable factors and haven't pinpointed the reason for this. It isn't my roof rack or my lack of highway usage. Hi mileage XT's are not getting babied to get those numbers. Seasonable variations and differences in gas formulations in different areas don't produce consistant differences either. Like I said, it's a mystery to me....
I don't know anything about weights added to the wheels (whether they were added or whether there are "a lot", but the total weight of the new 17" ROTA's + 17" Falcon Ziex tires is about the same as the OEM wheel/tire. About 38-40 lb.
Downshifting a gear and staying off the gas will send rpms up but there will be no boost. Not only does the turbo have to spool, it has to spool at a rate that is fast enough to push rather than be pulled by the intake flow. I think boost is related to load more than rpms (granted there is a minimum required rpm to get boost). A steady speed may or may not cause positive boost. If the speeds are low enough then there will be no boost (65 in my wrx = no boost), if there is enough drag (wind, hill etc) then there will be boost at a steady speed.
Downshifting will send the rpms higher which reduces the time the turbo takes to go from neg to pos boost but if the car is kept at a lower gear and driven at a steady speed (lets say 55 in 3rd), there will be no pos boost.
I do not know what the turbo's rpms are during all this.
Don
-mike
Not correct. As with any turbo, the XT's boost is highly dependent on throttle and engine load. While it is capable of developing positive boost all the way down to 1500 RPMs, it does so only when considerable throttle is applied, i.e. acceleration is demanded.
Conversely, the XT is perfectly capable of maintaining steady-state level-ground cruising (no acceleration, light throttle load) clear up to 80 or 90 mph, and the XT's turbo will not be generating any positive boost. This is what Frank meant, and he's correct.
One XT owner on another forum said he maintained a level-ground steady-state cruising speed of around 105mph and still observed negative boost (less than zero) on the gauge. I have not, of course, attempted to duplicate this...
-Water
Think of it this way: The XT and regular Forester have the same exact body profile, and they each require approximately the same amount of horsepower to overcome all types of drag and maintain a given steady-state speed.
The naturally-aspirated 2.5 Forester is capable of reaching a top speed of around 110 mph with no boost assist whatsoever. Likewise, the XT will be able to reach and maintain that same speed without going above zero on the turbo boost gauge. Only when the XT's engine is required to make more power than the X/XS versions at any given RPM will the turbocharger spin up and develop positive boost. The rest of the time, the turbocharger is essentially idling. Unlike an engine-driven supercharger, a turbocharger is purely an on-demand device.
My turbo is set to come on lower and as you mentioned, it is very sensitive to slight load changes but the same rule applies...at steady state cruise it stays off boost.
Don
Is the sound coming from the strut? Spring? Styrofoam rubbing bumper? Chassis flex? Any idea?
-mike
Ken
True, but the XT/STi engine has other power-improving advantages, such as variable intake valve timing and better-flowing heads, that probably allow this newer engine to make more power at WOT and at any given RPM than the 2.5 naturally-aspirated engine would be capable of.
It's all academic, anyway. The fact is that the XT can easily maintain flat-ground steady-state cruising speeds reaching into triple digits without any positive turbo boost at all. At more normal highway speeds (70-80mph), it can even provide a moderate degree of acceleration while still showing zero or less (i.e. negative) boost. It's a misconception to think that it necessarily would be running on boost under these conditions. It's not.
Either the XT engine is less efficient...
or, the turbo is putting more fuel/air mixture into the engine.
"Boost" can be negative too, and still supply a higher fuel/air flow than the 2.5 NA.
John
1. Shorter final drive, requiring the engine to spin faster at any given speed, creating more friction to overcome (which requires burning/wasting fuel). Friction rises with the square of increased RPM.
2. The XT/STi engine is quite likely programmed to operate at higher fuel/air ratios than its naturally-aspirated brethren to reduce the possibility of overheating and to enhance durability. In other words, Subaru may have traded off optimal air/fuel and fuel consumption in favor of durability.
3. The forced-induction XT/STi engines have lower compression ratios than the NA 2.5. This reduces their ability to extract the maximum power out of a unit of fuel.
These and other differentiating factors could and do cause the XT to consume more fuel even when producing identical steady-state power outputs.
I haven't decided whether to switch to synthetic. If one cannot lengthen the change intervals, then I'm not convinced that the higher price is worth it.