I have an 05 Outback VDC with the 3.0 engine, and love the car with two exceptions (which may be related.) First is the constant up-and-down shifting of the trans which I have learned to overcome by using the manual shift mode, especially on the freeway.

The second, and bigger concern, is the very significantly delayed throttle response whenever I have to floor it. My brother-in-law with a 4 cylinder non-turbo 05 Outback has noted the same thing. My son says he was almost killed a few weeks ago when driving my 05. He floored it to avoid someone, and nothing happened for a second or a second and a half.

Does anyone know if this car uses a drive-by-wire throttle? If so, does anyone make a software patch to fix this problem? I try to drive defensively, but sometimes you need the throttle to respond when you step on it, and I have never driven any car with such a delayed throttle response.

Thanks for any advice!

 

05 Outback 3.0 VDC

98 Outback Sport

Yep, it's drive and brake by wire :-)

 

Get your dealer to upload the latest firmware to the ECU. Throttle response thing is common.

Thanks very much! That would be great news if it fixes the problem!