Subaru Automobiles

[MossRoad]

You would actually have to remember to hit the paddles

Past two cars we've had (Mazda and Buick) both have a slap shift option on the gear shifter. Other than playing with it with the Mazda just to check it out, we never used it.

Same for the Buick. I've accidently engaged it once.

I use the gear selector in our Impala fairly often going downhill. Wife and I go to a lot of state and national parks and recreation areas with sketchy roads. People kinda look at us funny when we show up in an Impala.

It's in a stupid location with both up and down behind the left hand on the steering wheel.

 

[cqaigy2]

I hit the paddle shifter going down hill too. Mine are on each side of the steering wheel, left side is down shift, right up shift. I think.

 

[BX23S-1]

@MossRoad
I bet that Subaru Outback will serve you well. Love the color of yours! My wife bought her Outback last summer, she loves it. It`s loaded right up nicely. We did shut off a few of the features though. Neither one of us wants a car to drive for us, (we know how to drive). Always felt like we were fighting it to keep in the lane where we wanted to be. Especially when you`re trying to avoid potholes like where we live. Other than that, i`m a truck guy myself, but i love driving her Subaru. Fantastic driving car, and very comfortable! I`m very surprised how peppy it is! Seems more powerful than her Subaru Legacy was. This is her second Subaru. She had such good luck with her last one, zero problems ever, so she bought this second one. If it runs as long as her last one did, there'll never be a complaint from us. If i were a car guy, i wouldn`t hesitate buying the Subaru Outback after driving hers.

If there is only one thing that really annoys me with hers, its how the remote start is set up. You remote start it, then when you go out to get in the car, as soon as you open any door, it shuts the engine off. I wish knew how to delete that feature.

 

[Slowpoke Slim]

They don't use the starter to restart the car. The computer stops the engine at the exact point that all it has to do is fire off that spark plug.

I can't say I've been looking at new cars anytime recently. But my brothers Chevy absolutely used the starter. You could hear it. Every. Single. Time.

I think it was a '12? Malibu.

 

[Bocephous]

We've had 3 Subarus: An '02 Forester, an '05 Outback, and a '17 Legacy.

The Forester was totaled in an accident in which an immobile vehicle with no hazards or lights on was parked in the right north bound lane of interstate 81. My wife clipped its left rear with the right front of the Forester at 65mph and flipped it into the median. She had a bruise on her shoulder from the seat belt; that's it. Very good car in the snow and well built.

The '05 Outback suffered from the notorious head gasket leak. It also went through wheel bearings and brake calipers on a regular basis. We had the head gasket fixed at around 125,000 miles and we traded it at 148,000 on the Legacy.

The '17 Legacy was a great car. I put all weather tires on it and for all its meager ground clearance it was very, very good in the snow, and the most comfortable vehicle I've ever owned. It got great mpg (30-32) with summer gas, average mpg (26-28) with winter gas. I drove it for almost 5 years and traded it in at 58,000 miles on my wife's 2022 Mazda CX-5, her first new vehicle and 50th birthday present.

Overall, I really like Subarus, but something deep down inside me has a distrust for the durability of CVT transmissions. I really wish they had stuck with a traditional 6 speed automatic.

 

[Egon]

They don't use the starter to restart the car. The computer stops the engine at the exact point that all it has to do is fire off that spark plug.

You mean there is never any compression leak down when the engine is shut off.

 

[tacticalturnip]

I'm a fan of Subaru; the missus has had two of them, and I enjoyed both quite a bit.

 

[jjeff]

I'm a fan of Subaru; the missus has had two of them, and I enjoyed both quite a bit.


View attachment 788524View attachment 788525

Sweet brat/baja, how was that one? always intrigued my somewhat different taste in cars.

 

[tacticalturnip]

Sweet brat/baja, how was that one? always intrigued my somewhat different taste in cars.

It was fun, a lot of fun. For most of the time we owned it we were living in Texas; the flat, curvy, open roads made for fun driving. It was naturally aspirated, and while it wasn't a speed demon it was quick on the back roads. When we moved back to Maine the car was a champ come winter; it could climb icy hills with no issue, and really hugged the road.

Unfortunately it only sat 4, despite seemingly having a rear bench; when we started having kids we had to get rid of it. We actually sold it to my in-laws, and they still have it, though it sits most of the time these days. The only issue we ever had was the head gasket; we replaced one, and my in-laws replaced another.

We both loved that ca(t)r(uck).

 

[reb]

Not sure why you think adaptive cruise control wears the brakes. I've only seen it use the throttle. It lets up or gives it more gas.

The adaptive cruise control on my Toyota truck brakes when it detects a vehicle changing lanes ahead of it. Using the throttle would be ok, I guess.