2014 Subaru Forester

Great value. Plan to drive it for a long time.

Saturday, June 24, 2017

At my husbands suggestion we traded our 2010 Subaru Outback for a 2016 Subaru Forester. We didnt feel the need for all the technology so we opted for the premium rather than go all out for the limited edition. We get great gas mileage and I am thrilled with that. Pick up on the highway when passing is awesome and the cruise keeps it at a nice even pace. The Forester sits a bit higher so as we are aging it makes it easier to get in and out of. Not quite as much room in the back for hauling things as my Outback. My only real complaint are the seats. I find them very hard and uncomfortable. I have tried adjusting my drivers seat every which way but I cant find anything that works. Ive even purchased some sheep skin seat covers thinking they would help but that hasnt made much difference. I read somewhere that it might have something to do with the heating system in the seat but I dont know how accurate that is. I often wonder if the limited edition seats are more comfortable although that doesnt help me now.

A wise SUV purchase or lease. XTmodel

Tuesday, January 09, 2018

This is a great car. Subaru is famous for not having the best exterior design as Germans, but let me tell you, We (wife and me) leased 12 Cars in 15 years. I drove from Honda Civic up to Audi A4 and BMW X3. All people complain about turbo lag on turbo engines but on Subaru it is almost not present. CVT transmission makes this car fast having linear acceleration with few time between the demand for an increase in power . Subaru has many of years of experience in Rallies with turbo engines, while other brands such as Mazda, Ford and Toyota has poor experience (Check reviews on turbo problems for 2017-2018 Mazda Cx-9 and also for Lexus cars). I changed wheels for a wider ones and it looks great and perform better (It has a greater offset). Now, due to its boxy design cargo area is amazing. Lots of visibility and room. Interior design is simple but logic. All controls are placed in the right spot. Also Eye technology has many years on the market. Subaru is the pioneer on it, and it works great!! My sister is starting to have problems with the Honda sensing technology on her brand new 2017 CRV. Her car stops by itself with no reason (it seems suffers from shadowing). Sound system (Harman and Kardon) is great with huge bass. However, No car is perfect. Subaru needs to improve seats. Those are very flat and not comfortable for long trips. I hope the new Ascent will have better seats. Getting 22 MPG in city on premium for a 250HP car is great. Magazines such as Car and Driver and MotorTrend do not like to mention this car or compare to others because it will beat many common competitors such as Honda CRV, Toyota RAV4 or Tucson. ANY of them offer a real powerful engine to compete with Subaru Forester XT. This is my Second XT in 3 years. It is a great SUV making a balance among price, performance and Reliability (XT model is still assembled in Japan!!!)

Great overall value

Monday, October 30, 2017

Great visibility and comfort. Fuel economy has been in the 28.5 - 30 mpg range. Access and interior comfort is much better than the civic we traded. Only 5000 miles at this point and no negative comments. The only problem we have experienced is you must assure the mat over the spare tire cover is pushed forward to prevent it binding the rear hatch.