Elvis~SPARTA~ Posted December 5, 2012 Share Posted December 5, 2012 Living at Ice Station Zebra and commuting over 10,000 foot elevations (that's 3000+ meters), plus going to work at 10-11,000 in winter means it's a good idea to have a car suited to snow. We picked up a Subaru Forester and tossed on dedicated snow tires. One reason why (Don't drive like my brother:) Here's another: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zeno~SPARTA~ Posted December 5, 2012 Share Posted December 5, 2012 Good choice, does this model also have the flat 4 engine configuration. My friend had a Forester for his house in the mountains in north Carolina, he only had good things to say about it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elvis~SPARTA~ Posted December 5, 2012 Author Share Posted December 5, 2012 Yes, we picked up a 2007 that has a 2.5L, 173 hp (129kW) flat 4, the bread-and-butter Subaru boxer engine. I'm tempted to try the turbo version next time, but not because this one lacks sufficient power, but because I have the "more is always better" gene that interferes with logical decisions. The theory behind the balanced engine (working with the symetrical AWD for stability:http://www.subaru.com/engineering/boxer-engine.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skaz~SPARTA~ Posted December 5, 2012 Share Posted December 5, 2012 to be honest, that second video, was a bit biased. You are comparing fairly lightweight subarus, which have been developing AWD sedans for some time now, with heavy suv crossovers. Still impressive though! My parents had a subaru outback back in 02. We used to live in Denver, CO. And the car responded very well to adverse conditions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zeno~SPARTA~ Posted December 5, 2012 Share Posted December 5, 2012 Not so biased, the subaru tribeca at the end of the video performed flawlessly and weighs 4214 lbs. The Ford Edge AWD weighs 4236 lbs. I think the difference is in the type of diffs used for the all wheel drive system. Cars that are usually front wheel drive often have a transverse engine and use a Haldex type diff, i believe Subaru use a torsen type diff which is superior for real off road work. I think all of the competitor cars are primarily fwd cars and therein lies the problem! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Forrester~SPARTA~ Posted December 5, 2012 Share Posted December 5, 2012 (edited) http://www.youtube.com/watch?gl=NL&hl=nl&v=oSsCcIDAiTI try a volkswagen golf country.... fluid 4wd if that doesnt come thrugh..... impossible (exept for athlons sandbuggy maybe...lol but thats cold in the winter) Subaru is too heavy for me (fuel consumption weighs in heavy here) and doesnd do diesel (again fuel prises) And hey i may be called forrester but I do 40.000 kilometres mostly highway a year, hardly any off roading anymore. Edited December 5, 2012 by Forrester Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steel~Sparta~ Posted December 6, 2012 Share Posted December 6, 2012 Subaru is a great car in the snow Elvis... you will get many years of enjoyment with it. I will be buying a new car in the next few months and I have have come to the conclusion that for me the right car is a Chevy Cruze (Opel Astra for the euro guys). The Eco model gets 42mpg hwy. Like Forrester I drive 40K or so a year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zeno~SPARTA~ Posted December 6, 2012 Share Posted December 6, 2012 The Chevrolet Cruze is sold in Europe as a Chevrolet Cruze, it is not an Opel/Vauxhall Astra. The Chevrolet small car brand has existed in europe for a few years. It is in fact a Daewoo. This is not a criticsm or reflection on the cars competence. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steel~Sparta~ Posted December 6, 2012 Share Posted December 6, 2012 The Chevrolet Cruze is sold in Europe as a Chevrolet Cruze, it is not an Opel/Vauxhall Astra. The Chevrolet small car brand has existed in europe for a few years. It is in fact a Daewoo. This is not a criticsm or reflection on the cars competence. Really? I thought that I had heard that it was an Astra but that was a few years ago. Regardless I stand corrected, thank you for your clarification. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Watchman~SPARTA~ Posted December 6, 2012 Share Posted December 6, 2012 http://www.youtube.com/watch?gl=NL&hl=nl&v=oSsCcIDAiTI try a volkswagen golf country.... fluid 4wd if that doesnt come thrugh..... impossible (exept for athlons sandbuggy maybe...lol but thats cold in the winter) Subaru is too heavy for me (fuel consumption weighs in heavy here) and doesnd do diesel (again fuel prises) And hey i may be called forrester but I do 40.000 kilometres mostly highway a year, hardly any off roading anymore. Suburu do diesels now, definitely in the Forester and I think in their standard saloon/estate. They have a 2.0 & 2.5. The smaller is apparently good for mid 50 mpg. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Halli~SPARTA~ Posted December 6, 2012 Share Posted December 6, 2012 The smaller is apparently good for mid 50 mpg. A little better than my 10-11mpg 5.8L Bronco......... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
niall Posted December 7, 2012 Share Posted December 7, 2012 about the vw golf i think there are epc light issues when driving one at higher altitudes because the air is thinner and the ecu automatically thinks theres a fault with the engine if the fuel air ratio is off. hasn't happened to me as ireland hasn't got any great socking tall mountains but i'd well believe it, as great a car as they are they can be such hypochondriacs ive had epc lights go off for everything including driving through a 4" deep puddle. (maybe the emissions sensor got wet) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Forrester~SPARTA~ Posted December 7, 2012 Share Posted December 7, 2012 about the vw golf i think there are epc light issues when driving one at higher altitudes because the air is thinner and the ecu automatically thinks theres a fault with the engine if the fuel air ratio is off. hasn't happened to me as ireland hasn't got any great socking tall mountains but i'd well believe it, as great a car as they are they can be such hypochondriacs ive had epc lights go off for everything including driving through a 4" deep puddle. (maybe the emissions sensor got wet) I drove it in Bavaria up to 1800 m+ sealevel no probs, they are built for mountains, almost all forresters at that time drove it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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