subsince77

We have a friend visiting from NM right now. She is looking for something to replace her aging SUV. We were driving between here and Crested Butte yesterday and she suddenly said, " there are so many Subarus here!" there are also a lot of Highlanders, Mazdas, Volvos, etc., but no comparison to the number of Subbies of every description. We are on our third, and every one has been great. I haven't had the 09 in any real snow yet, nor have I had any good tires on it yet. This is the first auto, and the first with the newer traction stuff. It will be interesting to compare come November.

I just thought this was interesting. I know my Outback works great in the snow and ice ( about six months of the year for me) but I had no idea about these other vehicles. I wonder if this is really accurate? http://http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z6-ERc-DfhA&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Thanks Cougar. The only reason that I haven't talked to the dealer yet about it, is that they are 2 1/2 hours away, and I'm not sure that I can reproduce the problem. I think I'll call and see if it is a known issue. Otherwise I may just have to live with it. At least around home it doesn't happen that much.

Just wondering if anyone else has had this problem, or knows a solution. I have an 09 Outback. I have noticed that I sometimes get electronic noise through the speakers. I first thought it was coming through my iPhone which was hooked up and being used as an iPod. But then I found that after disconnecting the iPhone, and even turning the sound system off, I was still getting the noise. It is the sound that you get sometimes when your cell phone is near a set of speakers or a radio and receiving data. I don't know how else to describe it. I have even gotten it when my phone was not in the car, so the system is picking it up some how. We live in a rural area, so not a big problem around here. But every time I go to a city, it is annoying. The car is on warranty until November. Is this something that should be looked at?

As to the trickling noise, my 97 Outback did that all it's life. It was full of coolant and well burped, so I don't know what that was. The rest, well, the test will tell you.

Again, 09 OBW 2.5i 4eat, roof box and bike on the rear rack. 200 miles of mountainous driving today, 55 to 70 mph, more downhill going out, more uphill coming back. Averaged 29.5 all day. I'm happy with that. Oh yeah, and this trip included an hour of driving on dirt including a few miles of steep 4wd road. Not bad.

2009 OBW 2.5 AT- roof box on all the time. Locally, mix of town and slow rural roads 25.5, highway 28 to 29.5, best yet 31.5 one 160 miles of pretty flat road. All of our trips include mountains, and much of this has been in temps from below freezing to 50 degrees, no summer driving yet. One thing I have noticed is that the computer estimate on the dash is ALWAYS way off, at least two to three MPG. It lies on the high side. So if you are basing you milage on that thing, forget it.

Also, the first post seems to start kind of mid-stream. What year and engine is this?

Thanks. Yes, the blue coolant is quite lovely. Matches the exterior paint. But I must say that I am a little disappointed that you guys can't mind-read the dealer and tell me if my car has already been treated. Quite disappointing. Guess I'll have to make a phone call. I don't seem to be able to get used to the fact that the car came from a dealer, there is a dealer involved, the car has a warranty, etc.

He is talking to a friend of his now that is a good independent Subaru mechanic. He is understandably leery of putting any kind of stop leak in his vehicle.. I told him that a lot of people on this forum have had great results.. My 09 has the new blue coolant in it. Is this something that should be added at a certain point in it's life?

My brother recently bought a 2002 Legacy Wagon. The dealership had just done a tune up and changed all the funds. When he looked in the coolant overflow, he could see some gray blobs. He asked about them and they said it was a system sealer that they had put in. He assumed that meant something that would potentially plug up the heater core, so he told them he wanted the coolant replaced. They did so. Today he and I were talking about the various HG problems that have affected various generations of Subarus. BTW, he is no dummy, he is a master BMW mechanic and has owned many Subarus. This is his first 2.5. Anyway, I was telling him about the second gens having the external, rather than internal problem, and about the HG conditioner from Subaru. He got wondering if that was what he was seeing, and wished that the dealer had explained it the way I did. He is going to check into it and be sure he has the conditioner. So my basic question is, if the conditioner had just been added, could you see it? Would it look like that? I have never seen the stuff. A related question, my 09 has the blue coolant. Would it have the conditioner already from Subaru, or is that something I need to get at some point?

25 to 30 isn't bad considering all the advantages I get from this car, especially in the winter. I have always felt that I have plenty of passing and uphill power, so I'm happy with it. It was just when it was looking like I was going to struggle for 22 that I was concerned.

You would probably do best to read the thread. The car in question is an 09 AT, our old one that I was comparing it to was a 97 MT. But everything is working well now, and the car is getting decent milage.

Ok, I will stop flogging this thread now, this is my last post. My wife just got back from a 700+ mile trip. 300 miles of 65 to 70 mph highway, over some mountains, then rolling but slightly downhill - 100 miles of city driving - then 300 miles of rolling slightly uphill and back over the mountains on the way home. Over the entire trip, the 09 Outback averaged 28.7 mpg. Again, that was with 3 adults and luggage on board. So, I think that was great. Around town it only gets about 24, but this is very acceptable to me. I did run the 44K injector cleaner through it, and I changed the air filter, and put synthetics all the way around. But I think the biggest difference was just us learning how the car likes to be driven, as opposed to our 97 MT.

So are the newer EJ25's the same? Do I have adjustable valves on an 09 Outback? Not shim and bucket? That would be an improvement, although the old never touch em hydraulics were nice.

New is an 09, Old is the 97 I drove until three weeks ago. I had already seen the big drop in mpg due to ethanol on the 97. That whole thing doesn't make any sense to me. Add 10% ethanol, lose at least 10% in milage ( I know people with 2010 vehicles that still lose that), use at least 10% more fuel, pay more at the pump and the grocery store.... Anyway, I think the biggest difference was in trying to drive the auto the same way I have always driven the manuals. It has taken a thousand miles to get the feel of the car, and the new shift points. If you read through the thread, you can see the progression. It seems to be doing fine now. Also, yes, speed is a big deal. Both the 97 and this one seem to drop drastically right around 70, maybe before. most of our driving around here is at lower speeds though.

The clutch in my 97 OBW went at 175,000. The new one had 65,000 on it when I sold the car. With proper care they go a long long ways, but someone could have fried it, oiled it, or replaced when it didn't need to.

My wife took the car on a 320 mile road trip today. The first 165 miles is up over one pass then fairly flat to slightly downhill. The roads are mostly 65 to 70 mph. They may have had a slight tail wind, I'm not sure, but she got 31.48 mpg. This was with three adults and luggage. So all is well with the car. It doesn't do quite as well around town, but the same or slightly better on the road. Good enough:banana:

My last two fillups were better. A 28.8, and a 25 something. The two averaged out to 26.9. That was a combination of highway miles with climbs and descents, and around town. Three changes have been made. First I am getting more used to the gearing on the car, and I think I am simply driving it better. Second, I took off the roof top box for a week or two. That doesn't affect my comparisons to my old car because it always had the same box on it. Also, on the old car the roof top box made exacty 1 mile per gallon difference. Third, I ran a bottle of BG 44K through it. I suspect that my driving habits are making the biggest difference. In a couple of weeks when I put the box back on, I will see if I lose 4 mpg. If so it just rides differently and catches more air on this car.

Exactly. I started out crawling up hills with a VW bug, 40 hp, later 60 hp, but always making sure to keep it reved up and cool. We moved to the 77 Subaru DL, very slow but a great car, a 1.8 liter Isuzu Trooper. That poor thing couldn't hold 55 on flat ground in a head wind. Even our 1985 Nissan pickup went up passes in second. The 97 Outback flew from my perspective. For the first time I could actually pass people without risking my life. It was a revelation. That's why when people complain about the power in these cars I know they are coming from a different world than I did. This car has plenty of power for me. But, the gearing is very different than what I have been driving for the last 10 years, so it is taking some time to get used to it.

Yes, I realized that it isn't so much that it is a newer car, but my unfamiliarity with automatics of any age. I have driven them of course, but emphatically refused to own one until now. As to the issue of shifting, hunting gears, on hills, If this didn't have the sport shift and such easy access to manual gear selection, I would definitely hate it in the mountains. But as it is, it works very well.

Dang it. Now I'm going to have to google locking torque converter so I know what that is. Who knew getting a newer/ different car would be so time consuming. Just interesting stuff to a die- hard MT guy.

Cool. Yeah, I never use the cruise on passes. The first time it woke me up by jumping two gears before i thought it would shift, right up to 5900 rpm to try to hold speed, I got that. Much of the time on the gentler stuff, 4 & 5%, just using Sport is plenty, otherwise I drop it into 3 in manual. On Monarch pass I have used 2 on the really steep section at about 50 mph. 3 feels a little luggish. I may try to just hold 3 next time for fuel sake, but I don't think these engines are happy pulling grades below 3000. They seem to love the 3500 to 4000 range on the steep stuff. I know it uses more gas, but there is more to a happy engine than fuel economy. I just try to make up for it the rest of the time.