2025 Forester Sport and the CVT

[Bartholomew]

I am seriously thinking about purchasing a 2025 Forester Sport. I know next to nothing about car mechanics. I rely only on trying to understand things I read and videos I watch.

As everyone can guess, I have come across many articles and videos which debate the reliability of the dreaded CVT! From what I can glean, Subaru's CVT is basically a reliable transmission, with most of the failures, if they occur, happening in the 100,000-mile to 150,000-mile range. I also understand that there are four possible issues that might cause problems: the torque converter clutch, solenoids attached to the valve body, chain slip (supposedly rare), and main bearings.

I learned these things from someone known as Mr. Subaru, a title bestowed upon this gentleman during an official crowning ceremony, I'm sure, although I didn't see it on the news.

So, here's the bottom line: I have never put anywhere close to 100,000-miles on a vehicle, I am not concerned with 0-to-60 time, and I don't race around the roads and highways like I was participating in the Gran Prix. Also, I should ignore Subaru's claim that the transmission fluid is a lifetime component that does not need to be changed. Mr. Subaru says to service the very expensive fluid every 30,000 miles, or so, which will help avoid CVT failures.

So, should I be worried about purchasing the Forester with its supposedly controversial transmission?

 

[izzyman]

I've owned multiple generations of Subarus with CVT and in my experience as long as you do your maintenance religiously you won't have issues. All of the CVT issues I've heard about were in warranty or were due to owner negligence. CVT fluid is very important and there's no shame in asking the service tech to have a look at it.

It is a different Driving Experience for sure, Subaru added fake shift points so people felt like it was a regular automatic transmission. I wish they would allow a driver to turn that off. My point though is you need to get used to how the CVT Works differently than a regular automatic transmission.

 

[Bartholomew]

Thank you for your encouraging reply...

I am interested in the 2025 Forester Sport, and from what I have seen in review videos, the CVT does not have fake shift points, but rather, it does have shift paddles that can be used in Manual Mode. The paddles progress through different "ratios."

Do you know if that is true?

I certainly need to test drive the vehicle to see and feel the experience of the CVT.

 

[bmart]

I think that the newer ones work pretty well. We just got a CX-30 yesterday instead of a plan to buy the sport. Driving both, there was no contest.

 

[izzyman]

Maybe "fake shift point" wasn't the right term, "fake gear change" then.

The CVT has no set gear ratio vs gear "number" but it definitely has a fake "gear change" feel that the CVT does when accelerating.

I'm not talking about the shift paddles, I've never found the need to use those at all. The paddles I believe do correspond to specific ratios, but I've literally never used them even once.

https://www.subaruoutback.org/threads/cvt-fake-shift-points.545699/

 

[bmart]

My parents have owned a few newer Legacies/Outback. Some produced the sensation of shifting, others not. Subaru could never come up with an answer and even replaced one of them free.