Switching from Honda to Subaru

[Cameo]

They are horizontally opposed. I've heard them called Boxer
engines.

Thanks, Dean. I've had no idea of that flat Boxer engine design. After
your post I googled it up and indeed it uses the same cylinder
arraingement as the BMW motorcycles do which is a big selling point for
me.

http://www.subaru.com/engineering/boxer-engine.html

Subaru recommended replacing the belt at 110,000 miles back in
'99.

My Honda's belt needs to be replaced at 90K miles intervals.

The oil filter and plug on the 2.5l engine are really easy to get to
from the front on the car.

The oil filter is at the bottom, so how easy is it to get to it without
lifting the car?

 

[Dean Hoffman]

The oil filter is at the bottom, so how easy is it to get to it without
lifting the car?

It's close enough to the front bumper that I can reach mine with
the car on the ground. It's a 99 Impreza.
We have a ready supply of 4' long 4x4s at work. I use four of them
when changing oil in my company pickup. Ford 150 with a V8. I put two
in front of each front tire and drive the pickup on them. One 4x4 on
top of the other. I get a hinge effect by overlapping them instead of
putting one directly over the other.
I just read that Subie is coming out with another version of the
engine during this model year.

 

[Cameo]

The Subaru H6 is only available with a 5 speed auto. It's very smooth,
possibly a little more so than the 5 speed auto in my 2003 Accord.
The H4 Subaru is available with a 6 speed manual, which has an
acceptable
but not great reputation, or a CVT, with paddle shifters that simulate
6
speeds. The CVT provides outstanding mileage, better than the manual.
The turbo LGT is only available with the 6 speed manual.

I find it very useful to be able to use engine break on a long down hill
instead of burning the brake pads. Are these Subaru A/T-s capable of
using engine brake in such scenarios?

Another thing I keep forgetting to ask: do people still need a set of
winter tires with these AWD cars or all-weather type tires will do
pretty well even in winter?

 

[Big Jim]

The AWD with all seasons is awesome in the snow at lest the NE part of
the US. No need for snowtires

 

[Chicobiker]

I find it very useful to be able to use engine break on a long down hill
instead of burning the brake pads. Are these Subaru A/T-s capable of
using engine brake in such scenarios?

Another thing I keep forgetting to ask: do people still need a set of
winter tires with these AWD cars or all-weather type tires will do
pretty well even in winter?

Engine braking can be done. It's not as good as a manual, but it's
good enough. The CVT has paddle shifters on the steering wheel. When
you start going down a hill, you downshift to a "virtual" gear of your
choice. As long as you don't hit the gas, the car stays in that gear
for the duration of the hill. Once you hit the gas, the car returns
to automatic mode within a second or two. That's mostly what I use
the paddle shifters for.

When I bought my first subaru, I quickly found out that you don't need
winter tires to get going. However, I strongly recommend all 4 tires
to get stopped! If you are like me, you will get your speed up in the
snow because it is so much fun. Now you need to stop.

 

[Zeppo]

I've had 2 deer and gear in my Forester. Plus I was only out about twenty
grand

Foresters have gotten so big, I think you could fit a few elk in there as
well. My cousin was visiting last weekend and showed up with his 2010
forester. Parked it behind my sons 2001 Forester. Almost looked like it was
twice the size.

Jon

 

[Hachiroku $B%O%A%m%/(B]

Thanks, Dean. I've had no idea of that flat Boxer engine design. After
your post I googled it up and indeed it uses the same cylinder
arraingement as the BMW motorcycles do which is a big selling point for
me.

http://www.subaru.com/engineering/boxer-engine.html


My Honda's belt needs to be replaced at 90K miles intervals.

I was told on my '89 EA82 that 50,000 miles is the cut off.

 

[Hachiroku $B%O%A%m%/(B]

Yeah, sat in one a few weeks back when I was looking to replace my
Pontiac GP, which I ended up buying an '09 Pontiac G5. But I was looking
at Honda Fits, and Civics at the time, and this thing caught my eye too.

Yousuf Khan

Sure is a slick looking car. They need to make one with the VTECH so you
don't have to cringe (it's only 122HP)

However, my '85 Corolla GTS (Hachiroku) was only rated at 112, and I
didn't have to cringe!!!

 

[David R. Birch]

On 9/18/2010 5:04 PM, David R. Birch wrote:

I've had 2 deer and gear in my Forester. Plus I was only out about
twenty grand

I used to be able to fit 2 deer and gear in my OBS, but I seem to be
taking more gear now, so the deer come home on the roof rack.

David

 

[John Varela]

Subaru recommended replacing the belt at 110,000 miles back in '99.
The oil filter and plug on the 2.5l engine are really easy to get to
from the front on the car.

Since my wife's '99 has yet to reach even half of that distance, I
had the belt changed about three years ago, at the prescribed time
interval -- 110 months (9 years 2 months) from purchase.

 

[Dean Hoffman]

Since my wife's '99 has yet to reach even half of that distance, I
had the belt changed about three years ago, at the prescribed time
interval -- 110 months (9 years 2 months) from purchase.

I completely missed that the timing belt change was also based on
time. That better be on my list fairly soon.

 

[Cameo]

I used to be able to fit 2 deer and gear in my OBS, but I seem to be
taking more gear now, so the deer come home on the roof rack.

You Bambi-killer!

 

[Stewart DIBBS]

You Bambi-killer!

Find Bambi Meets Godzilla here ...

<grin>
SD

 

[David R. Birch]

You Bambi-killer!

Yes. And...?

Do you also believe "Sleeping Beauty" and "Cinderella" are nonfiction?

David

 

[Catherine Jefferson]

You Bambi-killer!

I'm worse -- I'm a Bambi-eater. <VBEG> My father was a hunter (most men
I knew in Texas where I grew up were hunters), and most red meat I ate
at home before I was seven or eight was venison. Somehow I never
connected that and Bambi, although I saw Bambi in the theater I believe
the year that it came out.

I rather doubt that Cameo meant that comment as anything but a joke. I
live in the same area he does, and hunting is common here. However, for
the record.... Deer unfortunately overbreed without predators, so I've
never thought that hunting them was bad. It's necessary unless you also
make sure that other predators (like wolves) are present to keep the
herd sizes down. Hunting carelessly and causing unnecessary suffering
*are* bad, which is why responsible hunters practice their skills and
don't hunt at times of year when they are likely to kill a doe with babies.

 

[Cameo]

I rather doubt that Cameo meant that comment as anything but a joke.

What seems to have escaped everybody else. ;-)

 

[Catherine Jefferson]

What seems to have escaped everybody else. ;-)

ROFL! The thing to remember is that "hunting" and a few related things
like "fur" are instinctively questionable among most people in certain
parts of the United States, Europe, and (I strongly suspect) Asia. This
isn't because of any clear understanding of what hunting involves, or
clear thought about it. It's the barrage of propaganda that demonizes
it through catch phrases and mental images *without* any clear thought
or analysis.

Somebody (I believe Soviet KGB founder Felix Dzherzhinsky) said that if
you tell a lie enough times, people will come to believe that it is
true. That's true even when what you are saying isn't necessarily a
lie, nd disapproval of hunting is not a lie; it's an opinion. The
practice of simply repeating an assertion rather than actually arguing
for the assertion is a basic tool of propaganda because so many people
let the weight of what they hear, rather than the value of what they
hear, carry the day in their brains. :/

 

[Hachiroku $B%O%A%m%/(B]

I completely missed that the timing belt change was also based on
time. That better be on my list fairly soon.

Interesting, because I have never heard of a belt change being based on
time, only on mileage.

 

[Hachiroku $B%O%A%m%/(B]

What seems to have escaped everybody else. ;-)

I dunno. Bambi always tasted fine to me...

http://www.cronander.net/images/Saskatoon.jpg

 

[Hachiroku $B%O%A%m%/(B]

Find Bambi Meets Godzilla here ...

My favorite movie!!!