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I've been running Subaru/Dealer recommended oil and ASL Camguard in my '09 XT.
The Camguard, its maker (former Exxon oil chemist) tells me, enhances a number of properties that make the oil more resistant to turbo heat.
The alternative to that combo is a synthetic oil. However, when I asked both Subaru and my dealer about synthetics, Subaru said they had not done specific testing with it but felt it was ok ( provided I adhere to the regular oil change schedule - last part was in CAPS), and my dealer said I might encounter seal weeping and additional oil consumption by switching to Synthetic.
Foresterers, what've been your experiences?
I have not sent oil samples in for lab analysis, though I might if I had a high-performance car.
On my minivan, I started using synthetic at 170,000 miles two years ago and now have just over 200,000 on it.
I started using Mobil 1 back in '88 with my Dodge Shadow turbo and have been a believer ever since.
Mobil formulates their synthetic oil to protect against seal shrinkage, and if the rings have been seated properly there should be no additional consumption either.
Service tech and I talked about switching to synthetic and felt that around 10k miles would be good as that gives XT enough time to get thoroughly broken in.
So far it does not seem to be burning any oil.
Model, transmission and engine choices appear to be the same as the '09s
(no 6 speed manual, no 5 speed auto, no CVT, no XTI.)
There are a few new option groupings. Apparently they're using the same Kenwood nav system, but tweaked with bluetooth.
2010's are supposed to appear in June 2009.
Now I can stop worrying about a 5-spd auto outdating my XT ! :shades:
When you have a trailer it really helps line up your hitch.
X Premium gets a power driver's seat.
So our Limited is basically unchanged, since we didn't get NAV.
apparently derived from a Subaru press release....
except the photo's not a 2010 or 2009 Forester. :confuse:
I expect to get about 35k out of the OE tires.
I got only 28k out of the ones on my 1998 model, but these seem a bit better.
As much as that disappoints me, I am hop to get a new Forester this year - should have my annual $500 Subaru Bucks in hand by the end of June. But I may take a look at the 2010 Outback first. It will be interesting to see if the CVT or 5sp AT results in any mileage or performance improvement as the Outback NA engine appears to be the same as the 09. According to cars101.com the EPA for the 2.5i w CVT is 30 mpg highway
Do you think there is any chance the 2009 Forester Premium will have any of those fabled $2000 model year end rebates of yester-year?
I got only 28k out of the ones on my 1998 model, but these seem a bit better.
It'll be interesting to see how Nokian WRG2's do; rated for around 50 K miles.
They have wear bars for winter service limits as well as tread depth. The winter wear bars have a small snowflake on them and span the grooves, while tread wear indicator's embedded in the center tread ring.
Has anyone had this issue, and do you know a fix? I just hit 10,000 on my 2009 Forester, and my miles per gallon thingy (i'm sorry,, I can't remeber its official name) now reads -----. I looked in the manual, and thought perhaps I'd somehow managed to turn it off, but tried to follow the directions for turning it back on, and then really DID turn it off. Just empty space there. Turned it back on, and now have just dashes where the mileage used to appear.
Would love some help.
Thanks very much,
Sylviecat
Thanks!!
When either trip meter indication is reset, the average fuel consumption corresponding to that trip meter indication is not shown until the vehicle has subsequently covered a distance of one mile (or 1 km).
The display of the average fuel consumption indicator can be turned off.
To turn off the display of the indicator, turn the ignition switch to the LOCK position and press the "+" button adjacent to the information display for approx. 5 seconds. Then, the information display and the clock display will blink for 3 seconds to notify that the display of the average fuel consumption has been turned off.
To restore the indicator, once again press the "+" button for approx. 5 seconds.
what folks have told me is, In order to work in snow, tires need a fair bit of tread depth.
That tells a lot, at least how the manufacturer ranks a tire.
140 is the lowest I think. The summer tires on my Miata have that.
I've owned a set with a 460 tread rating but I felt the tires were old/hard and had to be replaced before all the tread was worn off.
http://jalopnik.com/5240271/2009-subaru-forester-unsupervised-off+road-mayhem
Bob
Seems like they were trying to get it stuck, yet it took a lot longer for them to succeed (LOL) than they expected.
Note that they made it through several times, even stopping in the middle of the mud pit and even making 90 degrees turns while in deep mud trying to get it stuck.
They finally did find the limits....of the tires.
Wow, impressive. Check out the tires especially, you'll see the AWD and traction control do a good job of keeping all the tires spinning at roughly the same speed, maximizing traction.
That's with 55 series street tires! Imagine with some knobby tall tires.
I'm not much of a tire person...so not sure if that is the UTQG rating?
I didn't see anything else on the outside of the sidewall that it could be.
The H is the speed rating. I think that's 130mph, correct me if I'm wrong.
I was referring to the aspect ratio, though. The 55 series referes to the fact that the sidewall is only 55% as tall as it is wide. That's a low profile, most trucks have 60-75 or so series tires, much taller and more sidewall to flex and meet the contours of off road terrain (as opposed to smooth pavement).
Imagine that Forester with a moderate lift and some knobby tires.
The Geolanders did surprisingly well.
It looks like they got stuck when the vehicle underside got hung up (on mud shelf, etc.).
An all-season winter tire (which has larger, more widely spaced blocks) may have helped in some of the stuff.
Bob
http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tiretech/techpage.jsp?techid=48
TireRack lists the UTQG for the Yoko Geo as 320 B A, which is only fair. It is hard to compare across brands but the range for tread life within Yoko seems to be 300 to 700 for other all-seasons. They have a summer tire that is only a 180.
From a practical standpoint we have found that while our Geos still have tread after 30K the winter performance starts to suffer so we replace them.
There is a TSB on door rattles so if you get them, the dealer can fix them.
FYI, my '09 XT had door rattles (fixed), headliner rattles (fixed), bad HVAC fan (replaced). So far no other issues. 9000 miles so far.
The Nokian WRG2 tires I have on my XT are supposed to last 55K miles (so far wear checks suggest they will get there), However, winter performance will deteriorate markedly once the tread wears down to the winter tread depth indicators. Guess is that will be in 2 - 3 more years.
In Oregon they should do fine as we do not have a lot of hot weather.
In S. Calif, though, I'd have done more research on extensive summer driving.
So far, for around 7000 miles I've used up 10% of the tread (evenly worn, the tire shop told me), so they seem to be wearing well.
Thanks for the info...think I replied to the wrong person. Hopefully the 2010 model year addresses the issues that you identified.
320 is decent, actually. The summer tires on my Miata are just 140.
B is for dry traction. This is an all-season tire hence the compromise to gain a bit of grip in wet and snowy conditions. No one tire can do it all.
A for heat resistance is the best rating, so that's good. Should hold up well at higher speeds and with heavy loads (such as when towing).
The first letter in the UTQG is straight ahead wet traction, by the way, not dry.
Wow, time flies.
WARNING: Do not rest your arm on either front door or its internal trim. It could be injured in the event of SRS side air bag deployment.
The illustration shows the passenger with his right arm resting on the passenger door armrest.
Uh...
the door rests are padded to suggest the driver and passenger can rest their arms there, and the Manual says it's dangerous to do so?
This does NOT compute. "Warning, Warning, Will Robinson (or whoever rests their arms there)" :surprise:
You might call SUBARU and ask them why the ring is flashing.
Yes, going back to dealers for fixes is no fun. I've been back several times for various problems. However, the '09 Forester is a first year model, and every manufacturer always has glitches with first year models.
I just saw a TiVo'd episode of MythBusters and they busted the myth that your thumbs could get ripped off if they are on the steering wheel at 10 and 2 o'clock.
They did all sort of testing and the dummy's thumbs were fine, in fact the only time they were "injured" was when they were directly in the path of the exploding air bag. That would mean your elbow would have to be between the seats and the A-pillar to suffer any sort of damage.
Having them on the elbow rest pretty much ensures that will *not* happen.
How timely that I watched that last night, LOL.
I have 09 Forester 2.5X AT PZEV with 4,000 miles.
These last several days, the cold start in the morning has been very rough -- Temp about 60 deg F. All winter in cold temp there was no problem.
On cold start the engine fires right away, but then revs and then almost dies a few times running very rough. It takes about 20 seconds for it to settle down. I expect some roughness on a cold start but this seems extreme -- sounds like a piece of junk. Seems fine once it is warmed up.
Are others experiencing this? Any comments/thoughts?
I wanted to ask for comments before contacting the dealer.
Thanks,
Bill