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Comments
Now that you mention it, that's a manual so it's not a US-spec. Pardon the error.
I think some Alfas had the shifter there, the old Civic hatch as well. For someone who owned one of those before, it may look more natural.
My van has the pass-through, but I've never used it once. I can see how it would be useful with infants or toddlers, though.
The storage on the floor doesn't work so well, though. We put my wife's travel pillow and some umbrellas there, and they slide around, and pick up all sorts of carpet lint (in our Sienna).
That's why I'd prefer a covered bin, cup holders, cell phone holder, etc. in that location instead.
Mind you, Subaru didn't use that space wisely either. You've got a shifter, an uncovered well that is blocked by that shifter, and 2 square cup holders.
Check out a Pilot for a well sorted out center console.
Here's your (much better thanks) photo:
Now we can see the folding tray that lets the pass-through work. Makes more sense. That's just like my van.
It does let you hold several cups, but they missed an opportunity for a ton of covered storage space. My Sienna is just like that. A big console is an option and I went to buy one, until I found out Toyota charges $529 for it. :surprise:
I compromised and put a lidded plastic bin underneath it, but that slides around. The umbrella and head pillow get dirty because they don't fit anywhere else.
Not ideal but there's no way I'm paying $529 for a piece of molded plastic! :mad:
I can't tell but I think the door pulls are still fake metal? Are they clear-coated?
Also, the driver has an arm rest but it looks like the passenger does not? That's strange.
Where's the parking brake?
The carpeted mats do look richer than the berber stuff the Forester has.
Honda's press materials said they were targeting the "toddler mom" with the CR-V, and I think they hit the mark. Those moms will actually use the pass-through and probably stuff their purse under the cargo tray. Makes sense.
You should feel welcome here regardless of the vehicle you buy.
That doesn't mean we will agree with you, though.
Ever use paragraphs?
Then maybe I can read it.
I have white pearl paint on my XT and have noticed, like all car paints, there is some waviness here and there, and that an occasional fine scratch can be seen.
Given I've owned many cars and their paint jobs, I sort of accept this.
In California, there is a strong Lemon law for many vehicle defects - Oregon does not have that. I don't know if paint issues fall under the Lemon law, though.
However, parts of California have occasional strong windstorms that blow sand about. If the cars were on a carrier exposed to this wind, the paint on windward side would probably be scratched or otherwise damaged. Only way to avoid that is a thorough inspection before purchase.
Nothing is easy anymore.
Even the laptops we buy have a Service Tag. Without that we can't do squat. Doesn't matter if you have the model and serial number, they want the Service Tag.
They probably did that because Subaru uses 752 different shades of Silver (on the Forester alone) and people got them mixed up.
Auto parts stores keep generic touch-up paint in locked cases for the same reason.
kcram - Pickups/Wagons Host
The good:
- It's roomier than the 04, but still has fairly tidy exterior dimensions.
- Average MPG for my daily commute was 26.1 with 3/4 highway, 1/4 city. This is indicated MPG, not calculated.
- The 4-speed auto was reasonably responsive.
- Visibility is still very good, although the side mirrors have a strange shape and offset.
The not so good:
- Ride is mushier and the vehicle tends to float a little.
- Steering is very light, although fairly accurate. Makes the ride a little darty and harder to track in a straight line.
- Interior materials and design are much worse than my '04 - very, very cheap.
- The driver seat is not comfortable, and this model didn't have lumbar adjustment, or at least I didn't find one. My back was sore after 1/2 hour drive.
- LOTS of buzzing and rattling. Unacceptable for a brand new car.
- The 4-cyl non-turbo engine still feels underpowered. Normal driving is OK, but passing is painful. It could use another 20 hp.
Overall, a decent vehicle, but cost cutting seems to be too obvious.
Agree about the auto trans being responsive, too.
They lifted the whole vehicle a bit, so there's more body roll as a trade-off.
The Limiteds do have power lumbar adjustments, IIRC.
No fair comparing a turbo with a non-turbo. :shades:
- Ride is mushier and the vehicle tends to float a little.
- Steering is very light, although fairly accurate. Makes the ride a little darty and harder to track in a straight line"
These were also my initial impressions. Now, after 12 months it seems just right.
Bill
I definitely agree that the Forester handling/steering is biased a bit on the "light"
side. I can't say I have any issues with straight line tracking or the overall handling.
For me, I've found I just get used to the handling characteristics, since this is the
only 4 wheel vehicle I drive regularly. But when I borrow my daughters car (a 2008
Hyundai Tiburon) it is instantly realized. The Tiburon (which is biased to be on the
heavy side, with almost no power assist in the steering) feels like I'm driving a
truck!!! I truly can't wait to get back to my "tossable", light-on-it's-feet Forester
(which is ironic, since the Forester is an SUV versus the Tiburon being a small, low
2-door coupe)...
http://www.autoblog.com/2009/09/10/officially-official-2010-honda-cr-v-recieves-- modest-tweakage/
180hp now for the CR-V, vs. 170 or 175 (PZEV) for the Forester. The Forester does still have more torque, 170 to 161. Honda also improved fuel economy by 1mpg, per EPA measures.
They fixed something I complained about recently - the door handles now have rubber grips. I had said the painted metallic trim on the old one would be a potential wear area, and apparently they got similar feedback from owners and made that change.
Any how, with Honda updating the interior, hopefully Subaru follows suit for the 2011 refresh. Less fake metal sounds like a nice upgrade to me.
170-175hp is OK but at least bring us that CVT from the Outback.
Thanks!
Connie
2009 Subaru Forester Limited
Anyone else had this happen (cloth seats)? The car only has 2800 mi. on it; I'm really po'd about this and will ask to have the cushion replaced at next service visit. I traded a 1999 Ranger w/158k on it and the seat fabric was still nearly perfect. I am really concerned abot the long term durability of this fabric- hoping maybe it was just a defective piece on that one cushion.
As for seat comfort, it took a few weeks for my back to adjust to the shape of the Foresters seat; I did find that the power lumber needs to be set fairly soft in order to be comforable. The seat back bolsters need to be spaced wider, I have a broad back and it sometimes feels "squished" in between them.
Otherwise, it seems to be a well-put together suv. I drove 'em all before buying the Sube and I still think overall it does things the best, especially if you use it as it was intended, ie lots of recreational activity.
By comparison, the '03 Saturn ION I owned (regretfully - was a rolling rattletrap) showed significant leather deterioration after around 20K miles.
When I set out to purchase a new vehicle, I wanted AWD/4WD, manual xmission, sunroof, good fuel economy, and a moderate MSRP. The Subaru Forester was the ONLY vehicle I found that met my criteria. (I briefly considered the BMW X3, but it gets lousy gas mileage and MSRP of $35K-45K).
I sure hope Subaru doesn't follow the others (Honda, Toyota, Nissan, etc) and drop the manual xmission option. If they do, I believe they will lose a significant competitive advantage!
$39,575 rounds up to 40 grand for a base model no options if you can find one!
I'm very sorry it's taken me so long to respond.
I bought a 2.5X Limited (4AT) PZEV vehicle. And the explanation you seem to have gotten is exactly the same one I did from my dealer's service manager. So, I guess I have to be content with that. It's still a little unsettling to hear the noise this thing makes when starting from cold, but if that's what it's supposed to do then I can't do much more about it.
Thanks so much for sharing your experience! It does help.
Both directions, at around 65 mph, yielded an average of 29 mpg.
A/C was off for nearly the whole run, but a brief period with it on did not seem to affect mileage much.
Vehicle mileage is around 13 K.
A huge improvement over when the vehicle was new, getting around 24 mpg on the same freeway. Nice to see given Premium fuel's nearly 30 cents/gallon higher than regular here in the NW
At least the turbo 4 gets far better mileage than most V6s in this class. The only exception is the RAV4 V6.
main things found were calcium, phosphorus, molybdenum, with small amounts of boron, silicon, sodium. soot was 0.1%, No water or coolant present.
Engine seems to be ok at this point.
While in service for most of the day, I looked at the 2010 redesigned Outback. Quite nice!. I hope that the fit in finish in the outback will be transferred to the Forester someday
With sun roof open there is a rattle from the rear. Sometimes. And sometimes not. Annoying.
I hear an occasional squeek from the back of the moonroof also, only when the cover is open and the moonroof itself is fully closed.
Haven't looked at it yet, though.
My dealer had to send the sample to another dealer with that test service.
The oil used in the XT's a Chevron 5W30, fortified with ASL Camguard.
Like others here, I've intermittant rattles in the rear doors, back hatch, possibly the rear of the roof. Fortunately they only occur on worn or rough roads.
I recently put them in my 2010 Forester and had my first "get 'em wet" trial (wet shoes at boat launch)- the holes that the 2 pins insert into on the drivers side mat are slightly lower than the edges of the mats and let water seep down onto the carpet below. I had only a moderate amount of water on the mat when this occured.
Anyone with these mats should be sure to leave the drivers side out for awhile when removing/dumping the water, as the carpet gets damp and could breed mildew.
Randy B.
Hopefully in future we will see a version of Camguard aimed more towards automobiles.
Ours is OK, besides a couple of door dings, but it never hurts to be more careful.
The new one is roughly 4" x 8", and covers the bulge of the rear fender from the lower plastic trim to 8" up.
Let me share with you my experience after having this work done.
When I reluctantly turned in my Forester to the Subaru body shop for this work, I made certain to get assurances from the service manager that "absolutely the
paint/body work would be done flawlessly", as I was very nervous having my brand new car in the shop getting repainted...
My results wound up being mixed. The body work (sanding out the rock chips) and the new paint match were done well. It's pretty much unnoticable that the fenders were repainted. BUT - I have the black plastic wheel well mouldings, and these are primarily affixed to the vehicle with dbl-sided adhesive tape. Well, either the body shop tried to reuse the tape (which is a one-shot deal), or they used new tape which wasn't strong enough...because after about a week, the mouldings started coming loose from the car. So I brought it in. They apologized and said they would take care of it. 2 weeks later - same thing. Brought it in again. "Fixed" again. 2 days later - came loose again (in fact, the moulding half fell off the car, scraping the tire as I drove down the hiway). Brought it in again! And again!
At this point, the service tech told me that Subaru was having "issues" with these mouldings falling off the Foresters, and were working on a solution. Finally, he called me in (for the 5th time!) and they reattached the moulding with some "super duper strong-as-heck" tape.
The new tape has held up so far (about 6 weeks now)...but the tape appears to be slightly thicker than the OEM tape, and thus the edge of the moulding doesn't sit tightly flush to the body the way every other piece of moulding on the car does. Aaargh!
My advice to you if you have the body moulding accessory is to absolutely insist that they order/install new mouldings when doing this work. I also suggest you take very detailed pictures of the car "before" the work, and inform the service manager that if the bodywork is not performed flawlessly, you'll expect payment for "diminished value" to the vehicle.
It's great that Subaru is willing to step up and address an early production defect, but it's not worth much if they can't/don't perform a quality repair. And FYI - despite inconveniencing me with 5 return service visits, the dealer did not offer to compensate me in any way (how bout a tank of gas? a car wash? an oil change?) and they didn't do any paperwork each time back (I suspect to keep this from showing up on their Quality/Satisfaction reporting systems)...
Good luck with your repair, and I hope this helps...
I must have had them on there for 5+ years by the time I sold it, and they stayed in place.
Love the manual tranny, but wish it was available in all trim packages. Would have liked a Limited.
As I expected, the heated seats just make me feel uncomfortable (even on the lowest setting). The cloth does a very good job of warming my body all by itself.
Rattles.... that is par for the course in Subaru's, at least in all three that I have owned since 2005. My '10 is actually better than I expected. So far (2250 miles), only the driver and passenger doors have them.
We're in a car port so we haven't really tested the wiper de-icers.
Of note, I am not sure how fast the road crews are completing that construction project in PG, Dave, but winter is fast approaching! I hope this is not something that is being put on hold until Spring!