Wondering if my 2002 Subaru Forester can make a long drive/trip?

General Discussion
,
1

I’m planning a trip with some friends and I’m worried my car isn’t up for the drive. Looking for advice or reassurance on whether we should look into renting a car instead.

For reference, Flattest Route says my daily commute is an elevation change of 630 feet in 10 miles, with a max grade of 135%.

It says the trip route is an elevation change of 5000 feet in 200 miles, with a max grade of 20%.

My drive here from WA to CO was an elevation change of 117000 feet in 1300 miles, with a max grade of 10%.

I’m not sure how accurate these values are either…

Some background: I purchased a 2002 Subaru forester from our small town mechanic (friend of a friend) three years ago. It was a salvage title, but he’d rebuilt the car. It had no cosmetic damage from what I could tell, he’d replaced the head gasket, and it had less than 100k miles on it. In total, it was $5500.

I then loaded the car up with me, my dog, some small furniture and all my belongings, and drove it from WA to CO. It really struggled on the passes, which is something I hadn’t been expecting. I drove through them emergency lights on with the rest of the semis in the far right lane, but it was stressful.

I’ve now had the car for three years. Mechanic says it’s built like a tank every time I take it in. I’ve never had any problems with it other than

-the shocks are leaking and need to be replaced, but I don’t mind it enough to invest half the worth of the car in fixing them
-the car shakes when I slow down quickly (and again, I don’t mind it)
-the brakes squeak a lot (I’ve had them checked, even the drums in the back, and they got the all clear)

And, I drive it everyday from Denver to Golden–it does fine on 58 at the elevation change.

So, do you think my car can make the trip?

2

All things you mention I thin a rental would be a good idea.

3 Likes
3

Drive by any new car dealership garage and you will see plenty of new(er) vehicles being worked on (under warranty), any car of any age and or mileage can break down at anytime no matter the condition… I work at a shop in downtown Nashville with 3 interstates very close by, 2 of which I could throw a rock and hit them… lol, I saw lot of out of town breakdowns… That being said, I have seen plenty of young people by an old car and drive it cross country with little issues…

If the car checks out OK, go for it, but make sure you have towing on your ins or AAA or something… make sure you have flat tire, or new tire money, Subaru? make sure you have 4 new tires money just incase… Make sure your cooling system is good…

If you want more piece of mind, rent a car and let them deal with any issues that might come up… Again, I saw a lot of flat tires and break downs, I found Enterprise to be about the best to work with if the customer had an issue, meaning they took care of the customer better than most… No I never worked for them, just delt with hundreds or more rental car issues and ERAC (enterprise rent a car) always took care of the customers, where other nation wide rental company’s would give the customer the run a round, small independent rental cars just depends on them… lol

That being said, I have grabbed the family and took off on vacation in an old car and never thought twice about it, but now a days after seeing all the break downs, I would either go in a lower mileage newer vehicle or rent one…

Good luck and take plenty of pics along the way…

4

Compare the cost of renting a car with that of fixing up yours. I have an '87 - I’d drive it cross-country if I wanted to make the trip.

5

I agree with Mr. Barky , a rental sounds like a good idea.

6

I’d find out what’s causing that vibration when you use the brakes, whether or not you take it on a trip.

1 Like
7

117000 feet is about 22 miles - can a person even breathe that high ?

8

Perhaps the OP actually has one of the aircraft made by Nakajima, Subaru’s aircraft division. I think that their Ki-49 Heavy Bomber was capable of achieving that altitude. By comparison, a Cessna 172 has a maximum ceiling of 17,000 ft, so 117,000 feet is quite an achievement.

1 Like
9

117,000 feet of elevation change over 1,300 miles, not 117,000 feet of elevation.

10

Seattle, Washington elevation is 145 feet - Denver, Colorado is 5280 feet so where does this 117000 number come from.

2 Likes
11

sounds like your rotors are warped and need to be machined and/or replaced

That alone is an excellent reason to NOT take this car on that long trip

1 Like
12

Of course not. People start having breathing problems at about 8000 feet. Some have shortness of breath at lower altitudes. I used to travel for work to Boulder, CO about 5300 ft above sea level. Some people I worked with complained of labored breathing when there. I never had problems even though I ran after work.

13

There are a few mountain ranges between Seattle and Denver. 117,000 feet over 1,300 miles is only 90 feet of elevation change per mile and sounds very reasonable. Depending on the route the OP drove, a single mountain pass can have over 10,000 feet of elevation change. This is adding the elevation gain and loss.

14

Kind of an odd thing to say about a Forester, especially a 23 year old one. Do they work on a lot of Subarus? Subarus have their quirks, we found one that specialized in them for our '07 Forester.