Subaru Automobiles

[Torvy]

Why Forrester rather than another Outback?

 

[IndyIan]

I have a 2021 Subaru Forester Touring and am delighted with it. I had a 2015 Outback before that was totaled by a careless guy in a truck, but immediately bought the Forester. I live at the end of a curvy, hilly mile-long gravel driveway and found most other car models simply can't take the daily rough us - Subaru can. And, as others have noted, it is superlative in the snow... Particularly with the new snow setting for the trans. Our experience with the Outback and our need for a respectable ground clearance dictated another Subaru after the accident. But my wife is fairly short so we went for the more expensive Touring option because the passenger seat can be raised or lowered and she is finally able to see out easily - which was important to her. The newer Foresters have outstanding windows, solid equipment and decent gas mileage. I have had no maintenance issues. I did have a tire blow but I patched it and that has held fine for a year. I do find it important to adjust my thinking when I drive my old F-150 without the lane functions, cameras and such - but I like the car a lot and don't know I could have gotten a better vehicle for my needs. And the dealer service has been great - in or out of warranty.

Yep, IMO they are now just a good all round vehicle, with great IIHS numbers, good visibility, good standard equipment, decent mileage, well designed AWD, and they stand behind what they make. They KISS by really only making one drivetrain and 2 engines for all their vehicles, and it seems the bean counters don't screw as many things up with cheap OEM parts as some of the other brands these days.
The high belt line and/or low roof line designs of other manufacturers may look a bit "better" or more "aggressive" but for the simple task of taking you and some stuff to places on less than perfect roads, subaru does it better than most.

 

[MoKelly]

My wife has a 2019 Outback. She loves the car. 85000 miles and the only problem was the touch screen went out and had to be replaced.

The only issue I have with the car is the radio automatically starts when you start the car. Even if you turned it off before shutting it off. Annoying to me.

Anyone else have that issue and found a fix?

 

[Torvy]

We have that 'feature' on our '18. I haven't figured out a way to change it. Annoys me, too. I always turn off radio, fan, etc.

We also had the faulty touch as screen. No issues since they fixed it under warranty.

 

[MossRoad]

Try

My wife has a 2019 Outback. She loves the car. 85000 miles and the only problem was the touch screen went out and had to be replaced.

The only issue I have with the car is the radio automatically starts when you start the car. Even if you turned it off before shutting it off. Annoying to me.

Anyone else have that issue and found a fix?

this:

lso, meant to tell you about another interesting feature this "radio" has. Even AFTER the dealership reprograms your system, be aware that when the radio is on and the engine is on, the radio will remain on for about 15 seconds AFTER you shut the engine down (unless you completely shut the radio off before shutting the engine off). AND unless you have turned the radio off completely BEFORE you shut the engine down, the next time you start the engine the radio will still turn on automatically. So in order to prevent the radio from turning on automatically you must push and hold the left hand button (4-5 seconds) until the touch screen turns off and the radio turns off simultaneously, then shut the engine off. PLUS, if you open the driver's side door during the 15 seconds after turning the engine off, the radio shuts off, but will automatically turn on again when the engine starts. So the moral to this story is this, after your info-entertainment system is reprogrammed, the ONLY way to prevent automatic turning on of the system, is to be sure to push and hold the left hand button until the touch screen/radio shuts off BEFORE shutting the engine off. Forgive me if this is confusing or sounds like I'm repeating myself, but the dealership and Subaru of America tech reps were of little to no help in figuring out this problem. None of this information can be found in the manual for the info-entertainment system either. I'm one of those geeks that reads manuals, so I found it frustrating when it (manual) and Subaru were no help. Hope all this helps.

 

[Torvy]

The radio staying on after you turn it off is a feature (the A6 had the same thing). I guess so you can finish listening to the song or news story or whatever. Not a fan of it starting back up again.

Thanks! I'll have to try this out next time the Mrs. is in town with the Outback.

 

[buckeyefarmer]

Why Forrester rather than another Outback?

I prefer forester over the outback. Don’t like the big touchscreen. I like knobs for things, radio, tuning, ac controls.
Would have bought another forester last year if dealers had them, got Mazda cx5 instead. Sitting in mine now waiting on my son.

 

[jyoutz]

I prefer forester over the outback. Don’t like the big touchscreen. I like knobs for things, radio, tuning, ac controls.
Would have bought another forester last year if dealers had them, got Mazda cx5 instead. Sitting in mine now waiting on my son.

The Forester looks a little more roomy in the cargo area. Maybe that’s just an illusion? But since I am a forester, it was the natural model for me to buy.

 

[MossRoad]

The Forester looks a little more roomy in the cargo area. Maybe that’s just an illusion? But since I am a forester, it was the natural model for me to buy.

It is an illusion. The Outback has slightly more both behind the rear seats and with the rear seats folded down.

 

[Hay Dude]

I prefer forester over the outback. Don’t like the big touchscreen. I like knobs for things, radio, tuning, ac controls.
Would have bought another forester last year if dealers had them, got Mazda cx5 instead. Sitting in mine now waiting on my son.

I had a Mazda CX-5. Bought it for the kids When they started driving. Best small car I ever owned. Really fun to drive.