Ask the Car People.SM


2009 Subaru Forester

3747 messages,  Last post on Oct 15, 2012 at 3:22 PM

You are in the Subaru Forester Forum.

What is this discussion about? Subaru Forester, Future Vehicle, Wagon

Messages Page 240 of 375

#2389 of 3747 Re: Contrarian approaches [board_jay] by volkov

Sep 22, 2008 (2:02 pm)

Replying to: board_jay (Sep 21, 2008 10:01 am)
I did do my homework. You might want to go back and see you have made a few mistakes. Diesels can be really clean, but the vehicle Subaru is producing for Europe is not. It is clearly stated in the article that the Subie is not emissions compliant for the US, therefore not as clean. In fact, most diesels aren't that's why there are so few in the US. I won't argue the CO2 point, but that only addresses greenhouse gases. I didn't say diesels are bad, I said dirty diesels aren't good. The Subie is the latter unless they can come up with a working filter system - again, go back and read the article.
The statement that new diesels produce the same smog and NOx is misleading and more commonly wrong. The new 2009 Jetta is supposed to be clean but the government smog numbers aren't up yet. The 2006 Jetta diesel you mention gets a 1out of ten for smog. (That's the worst score BTW) Other supposed clean diesels like MB's E series bluetec still only score 3/10 for smog. The not so clean versions - R, M, and GL series all score 1 out of ten.
 By comparison the 2008 Forester gets a 6 in the base and jumps to a 9.5 for the PZEV. In other words, the Jetta produces .6g/mile NOx to the Foresters .07 or .02. That's 9 to 30 times more per mile - a big difference.

#2390 of 3747 Re: New Black XT Limited -- now dog friendlier [crashdavisfm] by caliberchic

Sep 23, 2008 (5:34 am)

Replying to: crashdavisfm (Sep 21, 2008 4:34 pm)
Beautiful Aussie's!! I have a black tri female..I LOVE her!! I've just recently put a AKC Rally NA title on her and almost have her advanced title!

#2391 of 3747 Re: Contrarian approaches [volkov] by ateixeira

Sep 23, 2008 (8:36 am)

Replying to: volkov (Sep 22, 2008 2:02 pm)
I think we should compare the regular diesel to the regular gas engine, non-PZEV. How does that engine score?
 
The clean diesel would compare to the PZEV gas engine. That type of customer would choose between those.

#2392 of 3747 Re: New Black XT Limited -- now dog friendlier [crashdavisfm] by ateixeira

Sep 23, 2008 (8:38 am)

Replying to: crashdavisfm (Sep 21, 2008 4:34 pm)
Very neat. Perfect example of why a boxy cargo area is best.
 
EPA measure cargo volume but does not account for the SHAPE, and things tend to come in boxes.
 
According to CR, the Forester holds more cubic volume than a lot of bigger competitors. It beats the Mitsubishi Outlander even when the Forester has that intrusive moonroof, for instance.

#2393 of 3747 VW Tiguan by ateixeira

Sep 23, 2008 (9:24 am)

So I took my Miata to the body shop (4th time I was hit, yikes) and test drove a new Miata. Right next door was a VW dealer so I checked out the Tiguan.
 
I was ... well, disappointed. For some reason I expected to be impressed by the interior, and while I looked at a base model with manual cloth seats, it didn't impress me at all, not a bit.
 
I know VW is known for some fine interiors, but the arm rests on the doors are hard, with not enough padding, and the fabric is durable but anything but soft to the touch. To make matters worse, the center console is thinly padded and covered in a cheap vinyl material that doesn't even try to pretend it's leather.
 
The cloth itself didn't impress me, either, though I'm not crazy about the cloth Subaru uses in the Forester, either.
 
In the back seat, you get the same hard outer elbow rests, and when you fold down the rear arm rests it reveals ... hard plastic? Are they serious? This is a place where you are supposed to rest your elbows?
 
The headliner was just about the only part of the interior that looked better than the Forester. Below that, the pillars are hard plastics and the texture does not match the rest of the car.
 
The middle seat in the 2nd row is not comfy, though the Forester is only slightly better. Both have plenty of leg room in both rows, and 4 adults can get comfy, minues the armrests in the VW front and back.
 
The Forester really kills the Tiguan in the cargo area. The Tiguan's cargo floor is actually not too bad, but you have less than a foot of space from the back of the head rests to the hatch glass. Tall items just won't fit unless you fold those seats.
 
Generally, plastics and materials are just not up to usual VW standards. They are par for the class, no more no less. Yet premium pricing means it should be better, IMHO.
 
The dash has lots of buttons but mostly sins for simply being boring to look at. There's just no Audi flair in it.
 
Perhaps the higher level models are better, but I sort of doubt they're all that different.
 
I guess I felt that a 5 door GTI would make more sense. You don't really give up much space, and they're nicer all around. I don't feel that way about the Impreza vs. Forester at all, to me the Forester easily justifies its higher price compared to its little brother.

#2394 of 3747 Re: Contrarian approaches [ateixeira] by volkov

Sep 23, 2008 (9:53 am)

Replying to: ateixeira (Sep 23, 2008 8:36 am)
That's what I meant by base. Reg 2.5L gas Forester scores 6/10.
I really wish we had the PZEV in an option other than the Leg/OB. I would happily pay a few hundred extra for personal reasons to get the PZEV. It's just that the car it's coming in isn't my choice. In another one of those "whaaaaaa?" moments, literature for the PZEV prior to its arrival here in Canada indicated VDC on both models. Then the Legacy arrived without it and in fact they are the only Legacies not to get TC or VDC. Felt a little 'bait and switch' to me. SOC says they want to guage customer demand before bringing in more PZEV products, but how can they realistically assess demand for an option if it's slapped on a mechanically inferior product?? At least the OB gets it, but costs $7k more than the Legacy which had been Dra's preference.
As for me, I'm still a slave to the shipping manifests as I wait to see if my dealer can get a Blue Forester Limited. We can't factory order so we wait.

#2395 of 3747 Re: New Black XT Limited -- now dog friendlier [caliberchic] by crashdavisfm

Sep 23, 2008 (10:53 am)

Replying to: caliberchic (Sep 23, 2008 5:34 am)
Beautiful Aussie's!! I have a black tri female..I LOVE her!! I've just recently put a AKC Rally NA title on her and almost have her advanced title!
 
Rally is pretty neat. I may do that with my oldest Aussie, Crash, who is now 11 1/2 (not pictured). He's still doing agility (he loves it and it keeps him active) but I need to retire him soon and Rally might keep him interested. I used to do alot flyball with Crash and Keeper (the black tri on the right in the pic) but now we just do agility -- alittle easier on the older bodies (Keeper is 7 yo). Gunner, the blue merle, is just starting his agility career, he's 2 yo.
 
They are great dogs but alot of work -- they are way too smart and very driven (to make this car-related )
 
Anyway, sorry for the off-topic dog discourse, but it's nice to know there are fellow Aussie lovers out there!
 
aj

#2396 of 3747 Re: Contrarian approaches [volkov] by ateixeira

Sep 23, 2008 (11:21 am)

Replying to: volkov (Sep 23, 2008 9:53 am)
Well, I don't feel too sorry for you because you guys have had many nice things we never got - like standard heated seats on the WRX, and the Forester Dynastar model.
 
Ski rack and brand new skis for something like $300.

#2397 of 3747 Re: VW Tiguan [ateixeira] by kurtamaxxxguy

Sep 23, 2008 (11:25 am)

Replying to: ateixeira (Sep 23, 2008 9:24 am)
VW has this thing called the Euro that keeps tripping them up. Given their huge labor costs, only way to keep things affordable (aside from loosing money) is to save on parts. Sometimes that has clobbered their reliability (new Beetle). But perhaps with Tiguan they had to chinz on lower models' interior. Only time will tell if Tiguan's reliable.
 
The '09 Forester XT has slightly better interior than X (there's weave pattern imbedded in headliner, and armrests/door inserts are microfiber).

#2398 of 3747 Re: VW Tiguan [kurtamaxxxguy] by ateixeira

Sep 23, 2008 (11:27 am)

Replying to: kurtamaxxxguy (Sep 23, 2008 11:25 am)
Our X Limited is a mix of those - we do not get the nice headliner from the XT, but we do get the microfiber arm rests.
 
I guess I noticed the stark contrast - our Forester has comfortable arm rests in every position for all 4 passengers. They put the Tiguan's to shame.

Messages Page 240 of 375

To POST a message, please Sign In.

Advertisement

Browse by Category

Browse by Vehicle
   View All Vehicles

Browse by Board
Browse by Topic
View All Topics

Edmunds Community

Advertisement