Sign In Join 



Subaru Forester Prices Paid and Buying Experience

2740 messages,  Last post on Nov 19, 2009 at 12:17 PM

You are in the Prices Paid: Buying & Leasing Experiences Forum. Your Hosts are car_man & kyfdx

What is this discussion about? Subaru Forester, Wagon, SUV




Messages Page 225 of 275
1
...
222
223
224
225
226
227
228
...
275
Prev
Next
Last
Go To Msg #
Search This Discussion

#2237 of 2740
Re: Bouncing Baby Forester! [victor_pv] by pyewackett
Sep 01, 2008 (1:04 pm)
Reply

Replying to: victor_pv (Sep 01, 2008 12:23 pm)

No luck yet, victor - the light's still flashing.
 
Current status: when the car's off but unlocked, we are apparently in valet mode, with the light flashing once every 3 seconds. When the car's off but locked, the security system appears to be activated and the light flashes twice every 2 seconds (after that 30-second psycho-flash when we first lock the door with the remote).
 
Last night we tried the whole "deactivate to activate" procedure per the manual:
- we disarmed the system (2 successive pressings of the unlock button on the remote)
- then put the key in the ignition's "lock" position, immediately pressed the driver door unlock button, opened the door while holding down the button and kept holding the button for another 10 seconds
- we then heard the single beep indicated the system was activated
 
But that just increased the frequency of the flashes, to twice every 2 seconds.
 
You know, reading the manual doesn't help much. Each procedure is explained thoroughly and yet we can't connect the dots. I wish there was a simple paragraph explaining, "here's your normal status - when it's X you'll get Y, etc." My husband's an electrical engineer who works on satellites, and even he couldn't figure out what is the normal state is supposed to be, let alone how to achieve it!
 
So now it's back to once every 3 seconds. I'll let you know if/when that changes.
 
Thanks again for all your input -
 
- pye
#2238 of 2740
Apologies to all! by pyewackett
Sep 01, 2008 (1:08 pm)
Reply
My apologies to all who use this thread for its intended topic! I didn't intend to run this tangent as long as this.
 
So HUZZAH to all of us new Forester owners! Let's read about your labor/delivery experiences!
 
[And if YOUR security light doesn't flash, couldya let me know??? thaaank you]
#2239 of 2740
2009 Forester 2.5X Premium by rich505
Sep 01, 2008 (1:48 pm)
Reply
We took delivery of a 2009 2.5X satin pearl white, Premium, last week. It had the All Weather Package. Sticker was $25,211, sale price was $23,638. We traded in a 7-year old 4WD pickup truck. I would have preferred no sunroof but no choice with Premium package.
 
The whole purchase experience was hassle-free. I didn't have to haggle over the purchase price and I got what I considered an excellent trade in value for the 4WD pickup. I paid only $1,100 more than what a local Toyota dealer wanted for a pre-owned Toyota-certified 2008 RAV4 similarly equipped with ~17,000 miles on the clock that had been a Hertz rental car.
 
Other than the steering wheel off center about 5 deg (alignment/tracking is dead on though) this Forester is as close to a zero defect delivery new car as any I have every purchased. Dealer will take care of steering wheel/alignment when in for service. They recommend waiting 1000 miles before fixing any non-critical items. No squeaks or rattles.
 
I don't understand why some owners are so worried about the red flashing security light. Car owners used to pay thousands for add-on security systems that had a flashing light on the dash.
 
The head rests are exactly where they need to be to protect from whiplash.
 
Someone else was worried about the cold engine blue warning light. What's the difference between the light and having a real temperature gauge? The light goes out after about 1-2 minutes at 70 deg outside temperature.
#2240 of 2740
Inside lights by sgloon
Sep 02, 2008 (5:13 am)
Reply

Replying to: victor_pv (Aug 30, 2008 11:57 pm)

"But don't worry about draining the battery, would need probably months to do so,"
 
You DO need to worry about the light wearing down the battery!!! It has already done so in my car. (Not security light, I hadn't read through all the threads yet...)
 
I went camping, unloaded my stuff, and parked the car for 4 days. Somehow, while taking stuff out of the car, the rear light switch was unknowingly hit. (The switch sticks out rather than being recessed like in every other car I have had.) No battery at all when I went to go get the car less than 4 full days later....
 
The worse part was I had to jump the car no less than 4 times as I am packing the car because everytime you open the door, the front set light is on with any door being open, including the hatch. This sucked out whatever charge I had put on the car by driving it a bit. Then, you can't open the hatch if you shut it without going through major convolutions of taking the stuff back out of your car and pulling out a piece of plastic near the lower part of the hatch and pushing on it. The electronic only hatch opening is a bad design for those of us who actually fill up the car and go off in the woods.
 
The only good thing is I was camping where there were other people and that I had thrown my battery cables in with the spare tire, so I could get a jump. I had to leave the car running for more than a half hour to get enough juice to be able to finish packing the car. Generally a bad experience.
 
It is a major design flaw in my opinion that you can't turn the front seat lights off and that they come on so often.
#2241 of 2740
More on lights [sgloon] by sgloon
Sep 02, 2008 (5:28 am)
Reply

Replying to: sgloon (Sep 02, 2008 5:13 am)

Also had front overhead lights flashing regularly and annoyingly. Eventually found out it was cause by a door being ajar or not closed tightly.
 
The weird thing was the symbol on the dash (door open) did not come on for about 20 minutes. When it finally did come on it was just for a pretty short period of time, then went out. The overhead lights continued to flash in the front seat area until I finally figured out it was the door issue. Couldn't tell by pulling on door that it was ajar.
#2242 of 2740
Headrests by ateixeira
Sep 02, 2008 (9:49 am)
Reply
Funny thing is I like the new ones.
 
I had a 1998 Forester and I actually swapped the front headrests with the rear ones, because they could be tilted forward, closer to my head for support and whiplash protection.
 
We're all shaped differently, but I actually like them this way.
 
Congrats to another week's worth of new owners, demand still seems to be very strong:
 
* victor_pv - group buy, neat idea
* cleocat
* pyewackett
* outpost05
* rich505
 
Amazing that even in late August these are still selling.
#2243 of 2740
Re: Inside lights [sgloon] by outpost05
Sep 02, 2008 (10:00 am)
Reply

Replying to: sgloon (Sep 02, 2008 5:13 am)

The battery on my old Duster once died because the dome light was on for a week while I was on vacation.
 
  The small blinking security light on the Forester is a different situation. It is supposed to be blinking when the vehicle is not in use. It won't drain your battery.
 
I also was surprised to find that I couldn't manually turn off the front seat lights. After turning off the engine they come on then slowly dim and go off over several seconds , but there is no just plain on-off switch.
#2244 of 2740
Re: Inside lights [outpost05] by sgloon
Sep 03, 2008 (9:54 pm)
Reply

Replying to: outpost05 (Sep 02, 2008 10:00 am)

I read further in the manual and found out that the dealer is able to change the settings for the front overhead lights. As I have an appointment on Friday, I will be asking them what are my choices for settings on the overhead light and probably change it, as I don't like that it is on all the time any time any of the doors or the hatch is open.
 
When packing/unpacking or camping in general, doors/hatch can be open for a long time....don't want to risk the chance of loosing the battery just because an unnecessary light is on... seems rather odd that the dealer has to set this rather than have a switch.
 
I wish Subaru would put out a list of items that are "dealer only adjustable" so that we could make just one appointment to get them all taken care of, rather than having to go in several times for these dealer only issues as they come up as we realize they are problems and that we can't change them ourselves...
#2245 of 2740
Re: Inside lights [sgloon] by p0926
Sep 03, 2008 (11:28 pm)
Reply

Replying to: sgloon (Sep 03, 2008 9:54 pm)

I agree that it doesn't make any sense why they would eliminate the maunal off switch. Although... on several occasions, the overhead light switch has been inadvertently moved to the off position by my dog's head when she's riding in the back (yes she's a big dog)
 
When packing/unpacking or camping in general, doors/hatch can be open for a long time....don't want to risk the chance of loosing the battery just because an unnecessary light is on
 
Assuming your battery is properly charged, it should last for many hours so I don't see that as an issue.
 
There's been a time or two when I failed to completely close the back hatch (when it was daylight) and didn't notice that the cargo light was still on. The next morning it fired up no problem. Your's was a special situation where you left a light on for 4 days so of course the battery got drained. Also, I'm pretty sure you need to drive (not idle) for at least 20 minutes after jumping starting before your battery is close to being fully charged.
 
-Frank
#2246 of 2740
Re: Inside lights [p0926] by sgloon
Sep 04, 2008 (6:57 am)
Reply

Replying to: p0926 (Sep 03, 2008 11:28 pm)

Frank,
 
I love those big dogs! Gotta have 'em.
 
The missing manual light switch I was talking about is for the lights in the front seat area. But the ones in the back used to be recessed (at least in my old subaru), so your dogs wouldn't have been able to inadvertently hit them.
 
I sometimes don't drive my car for a few days when it is parked in the garage (I use the bicycle whenever I can for transport.) So, I may not notice the light on if it is inadvertently moved to the on position for a few days (sometimes more). So Unfortunatley, this could happen on a regular basis. I'm going to have to watch it carefully. Right now, I have all dome lights turned to the OFF position so hopefully it won't be an issue again.
 
Unfortunately, I had to drive only about a mile or so from where the car was parked to where the camp was before I had to pack, so I wasn't going to be driving for 20 minutes before having the door light issue affect the low charge on the battery. If the light switch in the hatch area had been recessed, it would not have been an issue to start with. I don't know why they aren't recessed. And they are very easy to move, no real click to know it is moving, feels more like a slider type switch.
 
At this point, just something to be aware of so it won't happen to someone else.

Messages Page 225 of 275
1
...
222
223
224
225
226
227
228
...
275
Prev
Next
Last
Go To Msg #
Search This Discussion
To POST a message, please Sign In.

New? Join Now!

Forum Tools

Please sign in.
Email Address:

Password:

Forgot Password?

Search Forums

Enter Keyword(s)

Advanced Search

Browse by Vehicle



View All Vehicles
Advertisement
Ask the Community
See What People Are Asking

Browse by Board

Browse by Topic


View All Topics

Today's Chats

Advertisement