jay_fillion

So I was there today for my other appointment. Apparently they just received a service bulletin about the seat problem. They will be ordering the parts for me. Good news on that front. Now sadly...the issue I went for today was not yet resolved. The compass on the rear view mirror makes a high pitch buzzing noise. They replaced the mirror and the new one does it as well. They will go into diagnosis mode next time. Joy...

I have called. I'm actually going for my third or fourth visit for warranty work since I bought the care in September... I'm naively hoping they can have the parts in stock (rather than seeing the failure for themselves before getting the part) when I get there so I don't need to make yet another trip. It sound like it will work out for me...

I have a new 2018 Outback Limited with about 2.5k miles on it. This week I started getting a squeak noise coming from the driver side seat. It mainly occurs when the car is turning, but can also happen why I brake or just shift in the seat. It is fairly annoying. After much fidgeting I can't decide if it is in the seat or the back. It does not seem to be coming from the seat belt. Looking around quickly it seems that this is a fairly common problem. There seems to be short term improvement from nylon washers and things of the sort. Some people pushed for getting a new bottom seat or bottom seat frame. Has anyone come across any solutions which worked well?

That is kind of what I saw with it the more I looked into it last night. I see many larger cars (i.e. minivan and SUVs) have similar recommendations as well. I've moved it a number of years now with the minivan and I know I have to drive differently. I'll look into getting the brakes and if not too crazy of an investment I would likely go with them, just to be safer...at that point it will be the question of surge vs electric. If I go electric has anyone dealt with an easy retrofit so I can maintain both 4 pin but also add the 7 pin connections? 95% of the time I'll be using a trailer which has the 4 pin. It's just towing the boat where I'll need the 7.

Sorry for another question. I pulled out the manual today and for the first time I saw reference to the tow rating requiring trailer brakes. Is this something I need to get added to this trailer before use, and if so how much of an ordeal is it?

Update... The sales person was wrong and it did include the hitch. They just hid it in with the spare. Next week I'll try to buy a OBD device.

So I finally ended up on a new vehicle, and I bought the hitch from the dealership so I wouldn't need to worry about it. What I didn't realize until the end is that it didn't come with the ball or arm. I have a ball to use... now I need to find a class II arm. Awesome.

I'm looking at perhaps picking up a used vehicle with less than 4k miles from a different dealer (Nissan). If I do this I need to determine how to get the hitch added. If I get the ECOHitch where can I go to get installed that would be willing to deal with the bumper? And does that void warranty?

I'm not following as to how I can watch the transmission temps. Can I do it through the GUI of the car, or do I pick up some sort of external device to monitor?

I can try to look into the ECOHitch. Having a 2" would be nice so it can be common with my wife's van. I would like it to have a clean install. I might be weary of taking the bumper cover off myself, just because I wouldn't want to mess anything up. Plus, I can only imagine what my warranty concerns would be. And, if I end up leasing I think is "no no" for them. At least it is with my current Nissan vehicle.

I really don't know about the grades. I suppose I'm not really sure where I can find that information on the roads. There is one steep grade near my home (incline is as you are leaving my home). It's maybe a 1/4 mile long. There is a longer hill about half way there, maybe 1/2 a mile but the pitch is not as bad. In terms of temps, it would typically be May or September in New England, so the temps are typically in the 70's or lower.

Thanks. That looks like a nice new vehicle. I can't afford the extra cost, and the fuel economy would be no better than the Cherokee, which is much less expensive. With the re-design of the Forrester I wish they had increased the towing capacity on that vehicle. That would have been a nice way to go.

Thank you to everyone who has commented thus far. I should have said that the path to the lake is about 40 miles from where I live. Most of the roads are back roads, local highway sort of thing. The speeds are generally 40-50 MPH. There are a couple big hills, but I can take them slowly. I would not use this vehicle if I was going any great distance. Overall it sounds like I shouldn't be TOO worried about my application, as long as I am careful and monitor the status of the car. Is that a fair summary?

Hello. I've never owned a Subaru but am considering my first purchase and need some input. We live in New England where my family owns a cabin and a boat (17' bowrider). I usually transport the boat to and from the cabin for the season as well as taking it to the shop for end of year service. This is is mostly done with my wife's minivan (3k-3.5k tow rating). It can handle everything except the boat ramp. The ramp has a decent incline, but more-over it is dirt with a number of ruts. The van will always spin out on the ramp. I mainly attribute this to the fact that it's front wheel drive. In this case we usually schedule with someone else to have a truck on site when putting in / taking out of the water. I'm at a point where I need to change vehicles and ideally I would find something that can handle the boat, including the ramp. At the same time this is my commuting car, so I don't want to go wild with buying a heavy duty vehicle. I'm mainly considering the 2019 Cherokee (4k-4.5k tow capacity) or the 2018 Outback 2.5 (2.7k tow capacity). There are pro's and con's to both. I do like having the extra tow capacity on the Cherokee, but like the fuel economy of the Outback. My one concern is whether or not the Outback has enough margin on its tow rating and will really handle the boat. According to documentation the boat is 2.2k lbs dry. So I'm assuming it is about 2.5k-ish with gas, gear etc. Does anyone have experience with pulling a boat like this with an Outback (good or bad experience)? Also, does anyone know the rating on the hitch that comes from factory? I was surprised it was the smaller size, but I suppose it could still be a Class 2, which is up to 3k lbs. The dealer didn't seem to know much on the subject. Thanks