Subaru (Foresters): Edit: Make That Outbacks. Say "Yes" to some and let the other ones ride?

You’re not full of bologna, at least as far as this! I think it’s good advice for all AWD vehicles.

“You’re not full of bologna, at least as far as this!”

@texases
Ha, I set myself up for that one. I don’t know if he’ll balk on Subaru because of it. He works full-time, plays the rest, and is pretty thrifty.

That no doubt is good advice, especially for AWD…

What’s the best way to pull off tire rotations? Do Subaru dealers have a special deal or something?
There’s Wally-World with open on week-ends and lifetime balance and rotation, but can you trust your car will not be harmed or killed in the process?

What do others do ? He would have to get some jacks and jack stands to DIY it.

CSA

you are correct. My '15 requires oil change and tire rotation every 6k miles (I do every 5k).

And yes, towing is a problem. If I had thought of that before I purchased it, I might have picked a different brand, as I park on the street in a city and could be towed at any time. Subaru requires that the tow use a flat bed so none of the wheels are rotating. I think that most tow truck operators know this, but not all, and even if they know, the question is, do they care? They get paid by the number of cars they tow, and they may have only a “hook” type of truck.

And you are right about the tires. Here is from TireRack:
Subaru Within 1/4-inch of tire circumference or about 2/32-inch of
each other in remaining tread depth.
(this is worse case)

The subaru manual is vague about tires, only stating the following:
When you replacing or installing tire(s), all four tires must be the same for following items.
(a) Size
(b) Circumference
© Speed symbol
(d) Load index
(e) Construction
(f) Manufacturer
(g) Brand (tread pattern)
(h) Degrees of wear

But obviously they are never identical. Even 4 new tires from the manufacturer are not identical in circumference. There has to be some tolerance. But Subaru is silent on this.

here is info on rotation

@BillRussell
Bill, thanks for taking time to pass along actual Subaru and Tire Rack instructions. I will let my son have a look. Maybe I can get him on here.

His daily work commute is now probably fewer than 30 miles round-trip, 5 days/week, so keeping up on rotations shouldn’t be too awfully bad. Also, he has to pass a little Subaru dealer on the way. Besides, it is better to check out the car and brakes and such at least a couple times a year, anyhow. It’s just that I don’t think he was aware of this AWD maintenance.

Many Chevrolet drivers, and some Pontiac drivers, more or less just fill with gas and go and probably don’t do regular maintenance as regularly as one should. He’d have to resign himself to it or get another Chevy or ____________(fill in the blank) generic type car with FWD.

CSA

I’d have the dealer do the transmission and diff. fluid changes also as they require Subaru fluids.

“I’d have the dealer do the transmission and diff. fluid changes also as they require Subaru fluids.”

Good thought. What could possibly go wrong at some other place? (rhetorical question with unlimited unpleasant answers)

CSA

I’m lovin’ the spoonfuls of wisdom offered.

;-]

@insightful
That’s What I’m talking about! You know I had that tune in mind.
I’m still locked into oldies music. Told my wife yesterday while cruising in my Grand Prix Listening to Mick and The Rolling Stones on FM radio, I can’t believe I can turn the radio on and listen to the same tunes (Free Music!) I listened to while driving my old 64 bug and brand new 71 Super Beetle.

Long live the oldies! America, What a country!
CSA

Your son should look at the XV Crosstrek as well. It is a little smaller than the Forrester but is getting popular with the active outdoors crowd. If he and his girlfriend like camping and sleeping in the back of the vehicle, both the Crosstrek and the Forrester may be a little cramped, might have to look at the Outback.

Subaru is not the only company to require “special fluids” these days, it is getting to be unavoidable. Personally I would only worry about the ATF and maybe the power steering fluid. They do have a special coolant additive that you need to add at coolant changes, but it has to be added even if you use the Subaru brand, which happens to be Peak by the way.

No oldies stations in my area so I use an iPod. Old iPods don’t work by the way, by old I mean the first through third gen iPods. The touch, nano and shuffles work fine in a Subaru.

If you don’t like the CVT which seems to work OK, they tend to over rev the engine a little, you can always opt for a manual.

Well, just don’t get distracted by her older sister.

Keith, my experience with the Forester is that the CVT tends to underrev the engine. The one problem I have is trying to drive at a constant speed about 30 MPH. The CVT keeps the engine RPM at about 1200, which is lugging the engine. It would behave much better if it were running at about 1500 instead.

It doesn’t rev above 2k until you get above 70MPH, if you keep the throttle pressure low.

In fact, it’s interesting to watch the behavior if you are running under cruise control at, say, 70 MPH. Normal transmission, the RPMs stay constant. With the CVT, the RPMs go up on an upgrade and go down on a downgrade. I suspect that optimizes fuel use.

Bill, yours in a 2015, my Legacy is a 2014. They reprogrammed the CVT for 2015.

I’m not sure what happened with the earlier transmissions but I suspect that the programmers were used to programming the shift points on geared transmissions to shift at 10% over peak HP for each throttle position. This is optimum for a geared transmission, but a CVT should run right at peak, not 10% over. Mine feels like it rus at 10% over all the time.

There was a boost in fuel economy with the reprogrammed 2015 CVT transmissions.

Keith, perhaps there is a dealer fix to reprogram it??

@keith
Thanks. He is looking at a 2013 Outback Premium CVT 2.5 at a local Subaru dealer with quite a bit of drivetrain warranty remaining and they would give limited bumper-to-bumper. Pretty car. He drove it, likes the size and plastic cladded sides, although the mpg takes a hit compared with a forester. The one he’s checking out was quite a pricey car when new.

If he gets it is he going to run into the excessive oil consumption problem? I checked TSB’s and found Subaru was replacing oil rings in cars with legitimate customer complaints.

Looks like a year-old superseding bulletin calls for short block installation. Seems they stepped up and are owning the problem.

Do they all burn excessive oil or just a certain percentage?

CSA

@jtsanders
"Well, just don’t get distracted by her older sister."

I almost had that tune out of my head. Now it’s back and playing in there. Oh, well. I can think of things much worse. I’ll enjoy it.

Many of the oldies writers/performers were real artists, extremely talented, and I’m not kidding. Rhyming Paul Simon, Neil Young, Carlos Santana…

America, What a Country! I still get free over-the air music and TV! (That’s about all the TV is worth), but the music…

CSA

I don’t have any inside information on the Subaru issue with the rings. But most manufacturers use multiple suppliers so if one supplier has a issue (labor problems etc) they don’t loose 100% of critical parts. They also pit the suppliers against each other for price breaks. It could be that one of the suppliers made rings that were of a poor quality or of a soft material.

That makes it a bit of a gamble for the consumer, but Subaru seems to be stepping up and fixing the issue so your son really doesn’t have anything to loose except maybe some inconvenience.

Update
I learned from my son that his local insurance agent has a check for him in the amount of approximately $11,000. I believe he’s going to pick it up and put it down on the 2013 Outback Premium that I referenced previously. I’ll update as it unfolds. He’s excited.
CSA

From reading the chart in the August issue of CR the 2013 Subaru’s
2% of 6cyl Legacy’s
3% of 6ycl Outbacks
and 4% of Forester owners needing to add at least a quart between changes.

13% of 2012 6cyl Outback and Legacy owners needed to put in a quart or more. According to the survey.

That Silver 2013 Outback Premium Was The One!

The happy “new” Subaru owner picked it up yesterday afternoon and left his town with it @ 5:00 a.m. today on a 200 mile drive to a 2-day business convention.

I went to help with bringing the rental car back. I was totally impressed with the vehicle and by the small, but details oriented dealership. I met the saleswoman, dealer owner, service/parts director, etcetera.

People fight over these cars as soon as they hit the sales lots. I’m already thinking that one just doesn’t buy a Subaru, but joins a cult-like following of these vehicles.

I’m trying to get him to join this community and hop on with questions and comments when he gets a chance. He did come on last night for a moment to read the helpful contributions.

CSA