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In the lowest setting, it's basically even with the passenger seat.
So raise it and it just gets higher and higher from there. All the way up and it's well above the passenger's seat.
To be honest, I didn't like it all the way up there, but my wife does, and I try to move the seat as little as possible (usually just back one inch).
Bob
-Frank
I guess that perhaps for me the Limited/LLBean model might be worthwhile. The seat height adjustment and lumbar support along with leather seats make it seem that those might be worth more money. Altho I like LLBean, I'm kind of glad that Subaru is ending that connection as it makes the car seem more commercialized.
I have one dealer offering $400 under invoice and another slightly lower than that on the Foresters, so I'm thinking that maybe the Limited might be ok if I can get that price.
Does that sound like a decent price, or do you think I should negotiate?
Any seat would be 4-way adjustable, unless someone out there knows of a front passenger seat that doesn't slide back and forth or let you adjust the seatback recline.
So 6-way would be 4-way plus up/down; 8-way (like my old Taurus had) would be 6-way plus seatbottom tilt front-up/front-down; and 10-way would be what the LL Bean/Limited has, 8-way plus power lumbar in/out. Each kind of movement it makes counts for 2 "ways" because it can move in two directions.
In other words, we *assume* a front seat to be 4-way adjustable. It's really not worth mentioning; in fact, describing a seat as 4-way adjustable is almost misleading, making you think it has something that it doesn't, unless you analyze it.
(I wish that each "way" meant the kind of adjustment, not the two directions it moves in; thus, a 10-way adjustable would become 5-way: seat slides, seatback tilts, seat cushion tilts, height adjusts and lumbar supports.)
So here's an oddball question: Not that it would be practical, but would a manually adjustable driver's seat from a country where they drive on the left work as a replacement for the passenger-side seat on cars designed for driving on the right? (The driver's seat in the U.K. is where our passenger seat is.)
I believe I tested one of these. The 4-way seat was up/down & forward/backward for just the seat part. The seat back was an additional adjustment.
A minor difference I saw with the electric seat was that it went separately in each of those four movements. While on the manual seat, as you lowered it, it also went backward a bit at an angle, which felt kinda weird to me. ie the electric has more position options than the manual. But once it is in place it won't really matter...
Thanks all for your help!
Acura, Audi, BMW, Cadillac, Infiniti, Jaguar, Land Rover, Lexus, Mercedes-Benz, Porsche, Saab, Volvo.
Also:
Various Buicks, Ford Freestyle, Ford Flex, GMC Envoy, Chrysler 300, Dodge Magnum, Dodge Charger, Hyundai Genesis, Toyota Avalon, Toyota Land Cruiser, Chevy TrailBlazer, Lincoln Navigator. Not available on Camry anymore now that they've got Lexus.
My favorite discovery, though: Tribeca, Outback and Legacy are all available with 8-way power passenger seat!!!*
*in Australia. :mad: (It's actually standard on every Australian Tribeca.)
I specifically asked my sales person about this today regarding the Forester, and she said that was only for the older model cars and the new cars you can drive however you want from day one.
Does any one have further info about this? Is she correct, or just not wanting to bother to give me the info? If we are suppose to break the car in, what are we supposed to do or not do? And for how many miles?
Thanks!
My salesman told me no cruise control, no autostick, and to keep it at or under highway speeds for the first 1000 miles. I would go with this recommendation, it really is kind of nice to go Zen-like and baby the car initially. I got 25.2 mpg today, my first commute, in mixed driving. I think this should only improve.
Regards
Your dog looks perfect in the photo.
Also thanks for letting us know that you got your iPod to work well.
It will do no harm and most likely good to follow those instructions. Every new engine needs some break-in period.
But then aren't the cardboard boxes in the way when you want to carry that ladder or other bulky items?
I normally keep the back seats folded and I find the rear cargo net handy when I've got 3-4 plastic bags of groceries that would otherwise slide around and lose all their contents. I just put the bags in the net and they're right there when I open up the hatch. If I'm going to be carrying something bigger, I just release the two top loops and the net lays flat of the floor.
-Frank
It is always wise to just baby a new engine for the first couple hundred miles, but too much of that is no good. The miles between 200 and 1000 are the most critical for an engine. Piston rings need to "wear in" with the cylinder walls and the only way this happens correctly is with changing cylinder pressure. This happens with acceleration and deceleration, and not with a fairly constant engine speed as you get with cruise control.
Moderation is the key, so you don't want to be running the engine up to redline, but occasional, temporary full throttle (high cylinder pressure) followed by no throttle at all (low pressure, high vacuum), and in fact downshifting (more high vacuum) to slow the vehicle, is the best thing for getting all parts working together.
After 1000 miles you can pretty much do anything you want, especially if you have changed the oil/filter and don't have metal particles and filings floating around in there.
Engines that burn oil later on in life are usually a result of it having been babied too much during "break in", and the rings and cylinder walls getting glazed and not fully seated.
btw, The other car we seriously considered before buying the Subaru was the VW Rabbit, which starts at under $16,000, and offers the following on all models, along with a long list of other standard features that were really, really tempting:
8-way manually adjustable sport front seats: fully reclining, height adjustable with adjustable head restraints for driver and front passenger
Manual Lumbar support, adjustable for driver and front passenger seats.
If VW can do it on the Rabbit, why not Subaru?
Still mostly in-town short hops for me, often with little opportunity for the engine to get up to temp (so as bad as it could be) for which I'm typically between 17-18. Did finally take a run up to Milwaukee earlier in the week (about 150 miles round trip) and got a tank average of 24. Assuming everybody's assurance that this will improve with time is true, I'm not unhappy with that for now.
I'm not really complaining that the Forester (& Impreza) lacks a height adjustment. I agree with you that for the most part the competition does not either. My complaint lies mostly with the higher cowl. Height-adjustable passenger seat is simply my suggestion for a solution to the cowl... it's a lot easier to raise the seat than lower the cowl.
It looks like you can't redeem any rewards until you accumulate at least $100 and get the certificate. That would equal charges of about $3,333. Is that the way it works in practice?
It says the unused balance of a certficate can't be returned in cash. Does that mean that if you have a certificate of $100 or greater and get an oil change for $30, you lose the balance? Or do they give you a certificate for the remainder, or credit your account in some way?
I am going to call Chase, of course, but sometimes you get clearer answers from other consumers.
Yes, that's exactly how it works. Limit is $500/year in certificates. Equivalent to $16,666.66 in credit card charges.
It says the unused balance of a certficate can't be returned in cash. Does that mean that if you have a certificate of $100 or greater and get an oil change for $30, you lose the balance? Or do they give you a certificate for the remainder, or credit your account in some way?
You don't get anything back. If the oil change costs $30, don't use the certificate - that would be a waste. Use it for more expensive services such as 15K / 30K miles / brakes / tires.
http://www.foresterpartsstore.com
Also, because of (A) the new redesign, and (B) the recent dramatic shift in buyer's preferences thanks to fuel costs, finding "good" Forester discounts are getting harder to find as well.
Bob
I'm sure you could always order the one you want...
On a related issue, it says at what speed to shift gears for the MT. I grew up relating to shifting based on RPMs. Has something changed? Or is there a place to look for the RPM at which we should be shifting? :confuse:
The '07 (turbo, with lower profile tires than the '09) got stuck several times.
The '09 didn't get stuck and I saw very little lag in its VTC.
and:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N_hOjhfzV_Q&feature=related
shows the '09 fording a stream.
They've got about everything, but be sure to figure out all of what you want in advance and order it all at once--their shipping prices are ridiculous if you're only buying one or two things (and eat up most of the discount).
1 - Luggage compartment cover
1 - Set of Door molding protectors
1 - Set of mud flaps
1 - Bumper cover
1 - Cargo mat
1 - Ipod tray
Shipping worked out to be around $45 which I can see can eat up the discount quickly. Have a good one!
If you open the fuel cover, is there any pressure?
boomxr: congrats and welcome to the club. :shades:
kurt: the 09 really does perform well, though I think the 07 would have done better if they had aired down the tires.
Kids are loving that moonroof, though. When given the choice of the DVD/movie player in the van or the moonroof, they opt for seeing the sky.
First I spent $100 on some accessories, a cargo liner or something like that. And a net, for my wife's Legacy.
Then we had some body damage, the Subaru dealer's body shop accepted $300 in Subaru Bucks. We got paid by the insurance company, so that was cash in our pockets. Ka-ching. :shades:
The other $1600 went towards our 2009. We've had it for 4 years and hit the $500/year cap each time (business expenses for the wife go on that card).
The next $500 can pay for the 30k or 60k service, like you said.
You can even save up and pay for an extended warranty this way.
When we hit our cap, we use our Shell gas card. The rebate is only 1%, rather than the 3% the Chase Subaru card, gets, but before you know it a year is up and we're back to using the Chase card.
Over time, the fine print has not stopped us from cashing in, BIG TIME, on the Chase card.
If you look at other plans, like the Chase freedom rewards card...well, sounds better, right? Wrong. It caps out at something like $18 per month in rebates, which is pathetic. Even then, you're only getting the 3% on 3 categories of purchases. After the $18 and outside those categories, it's just 1%. Way more restrictive, IMO.
We basically buy what we want, accumulate $500, then switch to the gas card. Much simpler, IMO.
There's always a catch, and this one really isn't that bad considering the alternatives.
We plan to keep our Forester six or seven years, although if Subaru came out with a hybrid Forester I'd be sore tempted to trade sooner. Or I might use 'em on a Subaru for me when I pass the Ford on to the young 'uns! I deserve some fun, too.
... Way off topic, but the best deal by far I've found on cash back is to become an executive member of Costco. The benefits way, way more than pay for the membership, and the no-fee Amex card gets unlimited cash back -- 3% gas and restaurants, 2% travel, and 1% everything else. In addition to that you get 2% cash back on all Costco purchases up to a $500 annual cap. I'm only saying this because between these two cards, I've got it made.
Affirmative. In fact we spent ours at 1stSubaruParts.com IIRC. It was definitely on-line. We mailed them the Subaru Bucks, and they knocked $100 off the order, and put a small balance on my credit card (therefore earning 3% more on the balance, LOL).
I like your plan - you seem to leave yourself lots of options on spending the Subaru Bucks. :shades:
The Costco card sounds good, if you want one all-around card to use and just not worry.
The Shell card gives 5% on Shell gas only, but it's OK because that's the most common station around me, so I rarely go out of my way. We use that for gas year-round, it's basically our gas card all the time, and then becomes our primary card when we max out on the Chase Subaru card.
Jeff: you won't regret it.
Do you also have the rear bumper protector?
I use the Trip odometer instead. Zero it out when I get gas, then drive 250-400 miles or whatever, depending on the vehicle (Miata has a tiny gas tank, the van's is huge).
With a trip computer, you have a pretty good idea of when you're truly empty. The Forester has 16.9 gallons, let's call it 16 gallons to be safe, so we can go about 384 miles in town since we're getting 24mpg. So I'd get gas around 350 miles or so.
Having said that, yours should still be fixed.
I didn't go for the bumper protector. Saw negative comments about them, but have not seen one up close.