usastew Posted June 11, 2014 Share Posted June 11, 2014 hello, I may be new to Subaru. i will be needing a more practical car with AWD. my husband is a big fan of Subaru and their reliability and safety record speak for itself. i am strongly considering getting the 2015 forester. i have driven it and liked it very much. it doesn't have all the fancy bells and whistles that i am used to. we roadtrip often with our dogs. my drive to work is 33 miles each way in dc traffic. the forester cant be beat as far as fuel economy. what are the pros and cons to this vehicle and what is your insight on the reliability of the Subaru navigation. currently i have a cute Kia Soul! that is awesome with fuel economy. i'd like something a little bigger with AWD or 4 wheel drive. any input is welcome. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tedbull Posted June 11, 2014 Share Posted June 11, 2014 (edited) I have a 2014 Limited forester. Our third Subaru. It has been a great car. Great fuel economy for an SUV. It handles very well. Sits up nice and high. And has great visibility. Also we love the giant sunroof. The CVT transmission takes some getting used to because its just different. That is were the great fuel economy comes from but it just feels "weird" to me even still. I am so used to manual transmissions and regular automatics. Time will tell if the CVT transmissions hold up for 200,000 - 300,000 miles like I would expect from subaru. Lots of electronic gagets that could fail, but that's true with all new cars. I heard the Subaru navigation was sorta junk so I did not buy the touring edition. Looking back on it now I should have bumped up to the touring edition for the sound system upgrade alone. I have no interest in the eyesight technology since I am not a distracted driver and know when to stop. Both my previous subarus have more cargo space than my new forester, a trade off for more passenger cargo room. The new outback might be another Subaru to consider, it looks to have more cargo room but I did not test drive one. The 2015 line up has a few small upgrades I wish my 2014 had. The 2015 Subaru Forester Touring is what I would buy if I was looking for an SUV. Edited June 11, 2014 by tedbull Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
halotree Posted August 23, 2014 Share Posted August 23, 2014 New 2015 Outback owners, and prospective 2015 Outback owners.........beware of a significant design flaw. The thin readout display just above the ac/heater controls has an issue with severe glare, making it very difficult, and sometimes impossible to see the display. Previous generation had these readouts on a recessed/hooded and shaded display, so it wasn't a problem. Light entering the 2015 Outback hits the display and acts like a mirror, causing severe glare. If it's bright outside, the problem is even worse, and it's worse early in the day, and late in the day, when sunlight shines more directly into the car. If you have your sunglasses on, the problem is even worse, because the sunglasses make the readout light even dimmer,(and it's nowhere near bright enough as it is, to be seen through the glare). There is no way to turn up the brightness either. Subaru needs to do several things to address the problem. 1. Hood and/or recess the display. 2. Use a non-glare material for the display. 3. Increase the brightness of the display. The dealership said that they have already had several complaints about this. They said that if it's not a safety issue, Subaru is unlikely to fix it UNLESS they get many complaints, and they worry about it showing up on discussion forums, where it may scare away potential buyers. I love the new Outback in every other way, and really want to get one, but I'm not going to spend that kind of money on a new car that has such a major problem. We need to be able to see our displays easily at all times. I'm asking all current and possible future Outback owners to please complain to the dealership, and more importantly to Subaru corporate. They will likely fix this if enough people complain about it. Also, I hope that the big reviewers (Edmunds, Motortrend, etc...), will pay attention to this problem, and mention it in their reviews. Please pass this info and posting around as widely as possible so that something happens asap. Thanks everybody. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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