The cars and bikes thread!

[mlcor]

Does anybody here have real world experience with the 4th generation Subaru Out back wagon?

I might have a decent deal on a 2011 model.

I have two main concerns. First, the cvt transmission. I know Nissan s is bad and Toyota s isn't far behind. How about Subarus? I have read about them, but most reviews I find are from Subaru connected companies.

Second, and here I can find no information, how is the driver comfort on long trips? I'm used to larger well appointed cars and I like comfort. No sports car feel.
On a 5-10 hour drive, do you have to fight the steering? Will my first stop after a trip be to the proctologist?

How about it?

No experience with the Outback, but my son has a 2014 Impreza with the CVT. As CVTs go, it's not horrible, although I think CVTs generally suck. I've driven several Nissans with them, and they were considerably worse in terms of sounding and accelerating like sewing machines. The Subaru CVT is, IMO the best of the lot. But in the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king, as they say. I would never get a car with a CVT, it would drive me mad.

Other than that, the Impreza has been a good little car, better handling than you'd think, reliable, and a real bargain. But I can't comment on the Outback one way or the other.

[FuzzyB]

Does anybody here have real world experience with the 4th generation Subaru Out back wagon?

I might have a decent deal on a 2011 model.

I have two main concerns. First, the cvt transmission. I know Nissan s is bad and Toyota s isn't far behind. How about Subarus? I have read about them, but most reviews I find are from Subaru connected companies.

Second, and here I can find no information, how is the driver comfort on long trips? I'm used to larger well appointed cars and I like comfort. No sports car feel.
On a 5-10 hour drive, do you have to fight the steering? Will my first stop after a trip be to the proctologist?

How about it?

I'd recommend checking out this forum: http://www.subaruoutback.org/forums/...n-4-2010-2014/. It has some of the best information out there about real world experience with Outbacks.

We have a 5th generation Outback. We've had it a little over a year, and it's been a solid car. I'm not sure if the CVT changed much between generations, but the CVT in ours is decent and has significantly less rubber band feel as other CVTs I've driven.

[Samanator]

I've driven several Nissans with them, and they were considerably worse in terms of sounding and accelerating like sewing machines.

.

I think it depends on which Nissan. I've been in a few that were sad, and then I drove a Juke, and a new Maxima and it was pretty darn good. Both in sport mode even blipped the throttle on downshifts, and act like a 7 speed conventional auto. The SR version of the Maxima actually has the paddle shifters, and It worked better than the ones on the Lexus we had with a conventional auto. By better I mean it actually made me believe I was controlling the shifting. The Lexus took it more as a suggestion.

On the Subaru my younger brother has one about that year in PA. He has had no issues?

[mlcor]

I think it depends on which Nissan. I've been in a few that were sad, and then I drove a Juke, and a new Maxima and it was pretty darn good. Both in sport mode even blipped the throttle on downshifts, and act like a 7 speed conventional auto.

On the Subaru my younger brother has one about that year in PA. He has had no issues?

The Nissans I've driven were a few years back, so hopefully they've improved.


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[boatme99]

Thanks for the replies, guys.
The Subaru is out. I won't take a chance.
I find absolutely no info about driver comfort. That's my number one priority. It appears that the Out back is still a vehicle geard towards different needs than my own.

If I could get a better deal on it, I'd buy it and turn it, but at the asking price it's not worth the hassle.

I'm also eyeing a 2011 Ford Taurus SEL. We'll see.

[Samanator]

So the two newer cars we have have this auto stop/start feature. I wish I could permanently disable it. I think it's dangerous especially on the Infiniti with the smaller turbo engine. Down here even on the secondary roads people fly (like 70-80 in a 45 zone). To get out of our neighborhood you have to get across four lanes and make a U-turn to go west in about 150 feet. Yesterday when a hole opened in the flow while the car restarted meant the oncoming car was right on top of me by the time it moved into the lane. If the engine was running I would have easily been across all four lanes and in the turn lane. You can switch it off on both cars if you remember to, but it resets back on every time you shut down the car. I want it to work the opposite way...only on when I want it on (which is probably never). I also wonder how much this shortens the starter, battery and engine life? Maybe if I was in LA stop and go traffic it would make sense and actually make a difference, but here it is mostly just dangerous IMO.

[mlcor]

So the two newer cars we have have this auto stop/start feature. I wish I could permanently disable it. I think it's dangerous especially on the Infiniti with the smaller turbo engine. Down here even on the secondary roads people fly (like 70-80 in a 45 zone). To get out of our neighborhood you have to get across four lanes and make a U-turn to go west in about 150 feet. Yesterday when a hole opened in the flow while the car restarted meant the oncoming car was right on top of me by the time it moved into the lane. If the engine was running I would have easily been across all four lanes and in the turn lane. You can switch it off on both cars if you remember to, but it resets back on every time you shut down the car. I want it to work the opposite way...only on when I want it on (which is probably never). I also wonder how much this shortens the starter, battery and engine life? Maybe if I was in LA stop and go traffic it would make sense and actually make a difference, but here it is mostly just dangerous IMO.

I have it in the Porsche; it's usually OK but can be annoying. There is a button to disable it but it defaults back to on. If you have the car in sport mode it's also disabled, but again the car defaults to normal mode when you re-start it the next day. Not sure if you can change a setting for that.


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[tribe125]

It does what I want 90% of the time so I leave it alone. I sometimes have to negotiate a 'getaway' junction and I don't think it makes a critical difference there. Responses on some cars may differ, I guess.

[mlcor]

It does what I want 90% of the time so I leave it alone. I sometimes have to negotiate a 'getaway' junction and I don't think it makes a critical difference there. Responses on some cars may differ, I guess.

Yeah, the Porsche's is pretty quick. If I think I need to accelerate really fast, I'll have it in sport mode which solves the problem.


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[gnuyork]

Yeah, the Porsche's is pretty quick. If I think I need to accelerate really fast, I'll have it in sport mode which solves the problem.


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You mean you don't keep that thing is sport mode 100% of the time?