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Comments
It could also be the CD needs some cleaning or scratched.
Not saying it is not the player; just covering possibilities.
-Dave
Glad to see you go synthetic for all the right reasons, but i would say wait till 3000-3500 miles. i went through a lot of pages and discussions to first decide whether i should go with synthetic and then when. from what i found out, it is best to let the engine break in well before putting synthetic. i remember someone even emailed Subaru about it and SOA said synthetic is fine, but to do it at the first scheduled oil change (3750). my 2c
i think the quotes around the expert say it all for the guy reviewing the Forester. Sure, it´s not a car for everybody but it doesn´t pretend to be either. Look at the demographics of Subaru owners... it´s definitely not mediocre. i have never thought of clutch being a problem and from day 1 my wife and i enjoyed the MT (we would never buy an automatic). as for erratic, maybe he was refering to the hill-holder without knowing about it?? backing on a hill is a bit different and several people would like to see the HH disengaged altogether...
The CD changer in our Forester XS has not skipped at all in the 7-8 months we have had the car.
Any easy thing to try is to put a lens cleaner in there. If all else fails, talk to the dealer. It's fairly easy to swap the radio, and they could put a new one in there under warranty.
Craig
I test drove Impreza and Legacy, but the curve of the console pushed my right heel to the left and caused pain in my knee and hip. The Forester console doesn't curve out, but is right up against my foot. I know this seems very picky, but unfortunately, I have to be. So, I was wondering what other people's experiences are with driving comfort in the Forester, as I'm considering trading in the Matrix for one.
I had owned a Toyota Corolla liftback (which just got wrecked in the last accident), and was hoping the Matrix would be as satisfying. I had absolutely no mechanical problems with the Corolla, just regular maintenance. So I'm also concerned about reliability of the Forester. And also if it floats on the highway in strong winds - I've noticed this with the Matrix.
Any suggestions/ideas would be appreciated.
Len
I recommend the Synthetic motor oil and Engine Oil - A slippery subject Part 2 discussions.
Steve, Host
(dead dino changed per the manual)
http://www.autoweek.com/cat_content.mv?port_code=autoweek&cat- _code=carnews&loc_code=index&content_code=00547840
Enjoy!
burnsmr4
Glad to hear February sales were up. I wonder if that big storm on the East Coast made people run to their nearest Soob dealer?
We have a 6CD changer in our Forester and Legacy, both from a WRX. I assume the unit is similar to the one that goes in the Forester, except it has a black surround vs. silver (which the WRX gets next year).
Any how, neither has ever skipped. My Miata has a single CD that skips like crazy on the same roads, so I'd have your stereo checked out.
kajko: how are ya? You get those replacement springs yet?
basschops: take a good long test drive and get comfy, try all the adjustments. I'd even ask if they have a loaner you could borrow overnight. I know it's a stretch, but it doesn't hurt to ask.
-juice
John
The pistons have already seated, else you wouldn't be using so little fuel. I'd say the light is green if you want to go synthetic.
-juice
good point, it depends how the car was driven, etc. unfortunately, in our case we had to make a long highway trip to Arizona with only a few hundred miles. i held off for the synthetic swap until i put more miles in the city in all kinds of revving. i too started getting nearly 30mpg early on (as long as your speed stays <65-70mph), but that i think has to do more with the ECU rather than the rubbing of the pistons, and the actual break in of the metal parts. actually, my average mpg jumped a bit after putting in the synthetic...
i heard Porsche and Mercedes break in their engines before assemblying the car, would be interesting to find out what they consider "break in"
juice: i´m out of the country right now so i won´t find out until the end of the month. will definitely keep all updated.
So, the snow sparked up a temporary demand for new cars? Interesting.
-juice
-B
Quoted here from the 2000 Owners Manual for the 6cd changer:
Do not use CDs listed below which could cause damage to the CD player.
 3-inch (8 cm) compact disc.
 Any disc with a peel-off or seal on it.
 Any disc with scratches and/or dust.
 Bent disc.
 Cleaning disc.
 CD accessory. (E.g., 3-inch (8 cm) disc adapter)
-Brian
Anyway, about 2 months into my ownership of my Forester, all of my CD-Rs started skipping horribly. Regular CD's played OK. I figured some dirt or haze got on the head and it was having just enough performance reduction to have trouble reading the CD-Rs.
So I bought a $10 CD head dry cleaner (it's nothing more than a CD with little tiny brushes glued on.) It didn't help. So I added a few drops of isopropyl alcohol to the brush tips. After doing this about 5 times, the head finally got clean and the problem has completely gone away -- it's been over 6 months since then.
I am sure Subaru has that disclaimer to keep you from doing anything that may potentially cause damage, but I can assure you it does no harm and solved my problem!
Elliot
John
Last MPG I got for my 01 Sub Forester S, is 23.49mpg, what I did was setting to 0 when I filled up the gas, and next time when I fill up, I put down the gallons used, and use that for the measurement, I used to just estimate the gallons used roughly by the fuel gauge, but it seems that fillup without topping off is the way to go.
Running a little late, I didn't have time to really let the car warm up (maybe 5-10 seconds) then put in reverse and backed to the end of the driveway. Brake, clutch in, no gas, waiting for traffic so I could back out.
Engine started to rev (was not touching gas) and went all the way up to 3K RPM, stayed there for ~5 seconds or so, then dropped back down. Got an open space in traffic and moved out.
Is this revving because I didn't warm it up enough? The car drove fine after, and within 5 mins or so the temp gauge was in the middle. It was just a little disconcerting.
Thanks for any feedback!
Julie
P.S. Gas mileage is supposed to be lower in break in period, correct?
P.P.S. The "expert" reviewer who didn't like the Forester 5 sp baffles me. It's a change from my old Honda, but still lots of fun to drive!
-Frank P.
What I will ask is that if you either have the backfire (seems to be manual transmission only), or more than one O2 sensor replaced, PLEASE go to the Subaru.com website and on the bottom right click on Contact and please report this as from this forum and the Gartland Subaru forum, this is more common than Subaru is letting us know. This is my 5th Suby and I am please with it. This is my only complaint. Thanks for listening.
I am personally own 03 XS with AT for about 10 months already.
I am setting all 4 tire's preasure at 32 psi, using a Costco brand (cheapest one in California) regular gas, the engine oil is Mobil 1 10W30 syntetyc, and car has 6.2k miles. But I was never able to get more 20 MPG (city/freeway combo driving).
My previous 97 Altima with MT was easily giving me 25/29 MPG. About the same engine size (2.4L 150hp).
But in anyway, I will not trade my Forester just because of the low MPG. The handling on a rainig day on San Francisco hills means more to me than a few more bucks per tank.
John: I'd love to see you break a record. I think the best ever was 33.4 mpg, all highway. Go for it!
The other John: no way, no how will a handy tool remove the big, 17mm bolts that fasten the two tow hooks. You need a 17mm socket and a long-shaft torque wrench, plus some strength.
There are 7 bolts overall. I used ramps to lift the back, and tie straps to hold the hitch in place while I bolted it up. I worked alone, but it would have been a lot easier with two people.
Julie: try to give it at least 10 seconds idling to establish oil pressure. The ECU adjusts the revs so it won't stall at first, so the high rpm is normal.
Michael: O2 sensors are normal wear and tear. In fact, Bosch recommends changing them every 30k miles. Of course they stand to benefit from that because they make them.
Leo: extra weight, AWD, and aerodynamics explains the difference between the two vehicles. Plus a little more displacment, power, and torque.
-juice
Craig
-juice
The "pop" does sound like it's amidships, not under the hood. My engine runs like whipped butta, and my mileage in on the high end of the range reported here, so I've ignored the "pop" as a quirk of the car. FWIW, I have the tailpipe extension too.
What happens on rapid decompression from ~3500rpm that could cause a popping sound roughly where the headers join the exhaust pipe?
-brianV
-juice
-Frank P.
I consistently get 24-26mpg on my 5-speed Forester with my 90% highway commute. I've hit close to 30mpg once when making a long road trip. The way I measure my mpg is simple -- reset the trip odo when I fill up, next time I get gas I fill the tank up to the point where the auto-shutoff kicks in (no topping off) and I record the total gallons from my receipt.
The backfire noise doesn't sound normal for a non-modified exhaust.
Ken
FYI: I did have the same MAF sensor replaced twice in the first 12k but I'm pretty sure that was a manufacturing defect.
-Frank P.
In my Civic there is no difference with mpg whether the a/c is on or off, but my old Old's Ciera could have 1/2 the mpg with the a/c on full time. With auto climate a/c is always on, has anyone seen a difference here?
Tom
Go with an aftermarket Bosch O2 sensor, they are about $70. Besides, the OE units don't you've gotten don't seem to be durable on your particular vehicle for whatever reason.
My mileage had ranged from 20.7 to 30.4 mpg, right there about a 50% variance with the same driver. EPA numbers are just an educated guess done in a lab on a dyno.
-juice
And if you need a tie-breaker, Subaru has a longer warranty.
-juice
The front seats in the '03 XS are more firm than those in the '01 S. And the XS seat backs don't seem, at least to me, to be as flat as the S seat backs. The upper portion of the seat back leads the lower portion by a bit.
I didn't realize just how acclimated to the XS seats I'd become until we took the S on an 800 mile round-trip last month. It was the seats in the S seemed uncomfortable! Well, only for the first hundred miles or so.
On a related note, the S driver seat has both fore and aft height adjustment knobs; the XS has only an aft height adjustment. The result of cost-cutting at work, I suppose. I've noticed that the '03 XS is missing some other features that were standard on the '01 S. I guess we had to give up something to get automatic climate control, weather band, and a body restyling, without a large price increase.
My wife and I drove her '01 S AT on an 800 miles round-trip to Arizona last month. Carrying a light cargo load (~300 lbs.) and driving at speeds of 65-75 MPH on the highway, the car averaged 25 MPG. I think the cross-winds in the high desert knocked the average down some.
I realize these numbers are good for this class of vehicle, but the 1989 Honda Civic LX MT that the XS replaced got 32/36 MPG (city/highway). But it didn't have ABS, automatic climate control and a cool six-CD stereo. ;-)
-mike
-Frank P.
About the cruise control, it's my observation because my 95 Galant shifts smoother in the same hilly area.
Anyway, thanks for letting me know.
-mike