Driving impression of subaru outback full#

It’s why I like the small-but-still working Microsoft SYNC/NAV infotainment system in my ’10 Ford Escape Hybrid. It will never be as good as a V6 Odyssey engine, which is basically a jewel.Īnd you know you can’t fix stupid when it comes to poor UI design, slow processors and dumb programmers! sqrt(-1) to that. Next time get the Turbo/more powerful variants. Overloaded cars or people trying to engine brake with overloaded vehicles for long periods of time and you compound the problem.īottom line: 150 horsepower cars with CVTs in the mountains of Colorado don’t make sense particularly when they get rented to people who don’t care if they abuse them. Engine braking on downhills is also affected. This is a rental car and I suspect that transmission has been abused, and is slipping. They also try to wring the most out of the engine in those circumstances. I told him point blank: “Kiss your CVT goodbye.” I know a guy who bought one and he said that he wanted to put a lift kit on it and go sand racing with an otherwise stock drivetrain because he was so excited to finally have a four wheel drive. I’m not saying this is you: I’m talking about knuckleheads. Now the kicker: some people I know who have Outbacks (or rent them) attempt to do very silly things like load them up with more gear, people and luggage than they are rated to carry, and then tow a trailer that may be too heavy for the car, up and down the mountains to ski and and have fun. Now tick off another 2-3% for lower energy winter blend fuel and you’re under 150 hp. If you factor in 3% power loss per 1000 feet of altitude, that 182 hp engine is down to 153 hp. This is in the mountains of Colorado, and Denver is the “Mile High City.” It’s a naturally-aspirated engine and Denver’s elevation means that its making considerably less power than at sea level. The sides of the pulleys are driven closer together or farther apart by the transmission and engine control computers to infinitely vary the gear ratio as the steel belt transmits power between them. It uses a system with hydraulically operated pulleys connected by a linked steel belt. It sounds like something is wrong with the CVT on that car. It’s no fireball but it doesn’t feel strained or underpowered. Our 2011 doesn’t do that, and neither did our 2008.

Still, I’m surprised it was making “alarming strained noises” when merging. I’m sorry and surprised to hear about that 2021 Outback and the “alarming strained noises.” It has a Continuously Variable transmission and the 4-cylinder model is rated at 182 horsepower, which is a far cry from the 280 hp V-6 you’re used to in the Odyssey. Who buys these cars rather than a Honda or a Toyota? The lane departure warning system is much more active than on the Honda and generates a lot of spurious warnings, e.g., when merging onto a highway from a ramp. Apple CarPlay is slow to establish compared to how it works on the Honda Odyssey and the entire infotainment system seems slow. There is a huge touch screen in the middle of the car and, as with Tesla, a lot of essential buttons are available only within the touch screen, typically at least one or two menu touches away. This is not the refined 6-cylinder powerplant of our beloved Honda Odyssey. The 4-cylinder engine made alarming strained noises when pushed hard enough to merge onto I-25 (even accelerating from 0 to 35 mph on a local road sounded like it was a dramatic event for the vehicle’s innards).

Driving impression of subaru outback full#

service industry, the vehicle was delivered only 3/4 full of gasoline.

As part of the Great Falling Apart of the U.S. On a recent trip to Denver, I rented a $550/week “full size” car from Hertz and received a 2021 Subaru Outback station wagon.