Yea, it's ugly. But it does have some major sleeper potential.
"Symmetrical" all wheel drive with limited slip. The layout of the engine and tranny make both sides of the car weight balanced or symmetrical. Front to Rear weight distribution is 56/44, yea can't do that with a cast iron V8 under the hood! The forester XT has a 4 cylinder aluminum engine. It lays flat instead of upright which gives it a much lower center of gravity. This is the same basic design Porsche has been using for the last 50 years in the 911.
The XTs also feature Subarus hill holder. This prevents roll back on hills while the clutch is depressed by trapping the brake pressure. I've found occasionally the brakes disengage late causing me to try starting from a stop with the brakes on resulting in me stalling out the engine. Im sure a simple adjustment will fix this. The Four wheel disc brakes no longer use a proportioning valve, front and rear brakes are electronically controlled. This optimizes the brake distribution based on load distribution, in my opinion this also causes ABS to kick in rather frequently. A slight bump in the road while braking engages ABS, there is definatly a bug somewhere in this logic. Braking while turning at low speeds will also engage ABS, this happens daily on my drive home from work getting off the freeway. In the snow Ive found I can drive up a hill from a stop, but be unable to stop on the hill because the ABS system. Perhaps there will be a firmware upgrade for this in the near future.
2.5 liter intercooled turbo flat 4, with variable cam timing, and distributerless ignition. It's conservatively rated 210 horse. People are starting to realize Subaru under rated the hp of this car, probably not to outshine the 220 horse wrx. I've had some engine pinging, but according to the dealer this is normal.
Cabin air filter, automatic (really goofy) climate control, seat heaters, mirror and wiper heaters, auto dimming mirror w/ compass, indash changer. The problem with the climate control is air does not flow passed the ambient air temp sensor. The sensor stays cold because it is in the dash, the heater will heat the cabin to about 90 degrees before the temp sensor reaches 70. The dash continues to heat to 90, then the air conditioner starts blowing cold. Its a very unstable system but thankfully there is a manual mode. A fix has been published to the web which involves installing a fan infront of the ambient air temp sensor.
My CD changer broke after six months, it started grinding whenever I tried ejecting a cd from slot 5. After this all CD functions were disabled, no eject, no loading, no playing until the car was turned off. Hitting the center console would jar the mechanism enough and the changer would finally eject the CD and start working. The dealership tried convincing me that the problem was due to scratches in my CDs, only after a lengthy debate did they finally agree to replace the CD changer under warranty. I hate Subaru! Why do things take so much effort to get repaired?
Everytime I have left any Subaru dealership, Ive always left completely pissed off. You really don't feel like anyone at the dealership is on your side, and any problems you have with the car are blown off and considered "normal", or the mechanics at the Subaru dealership write "could not duplicate customer concern".
Here's my on going shit list
my seatbelt causing the headliner to cave in since Feb 2, 2004. When I show the mechanics my problem they say "holey s###, the factory must have left one of the bolts loose", a month later I get my work order mailed to me stating "could not duplicate customer concern". "Your seatbelt operation is normal."
My engine pings, and when the mechanic test drives it, he never gives it more than 1/4 throttle and doesn't take it on any hills ( I rode with him ). This ended in "could not duplicate customer concern", and "some ping is normal"
The climate control cycles from full heat to full AC; set it at 75, you get 90, then 10 minutes later the AC is blowing 60 degrees.
Climate control test performed by Subaru mechanic encompassed setting dial to full cold and verifying AC comes on, setting dial to full hot, heater comes on. Ended with this is normal operation, "could not duplicate customer concern".
ABS kicks in and stays on if I hit a bump or after a sharp turn. In the snow this for sure increases stopping distance, and at times the brake pedal is hard as a rock but there is virtually zero stopping force.
The dealership crashed my car when I brought it in for its first oil change, and I had to pay my $1000 insurance deductible to get my car fixed properly. Livermore Subaru Flat out REFUSED to fix my car unless I let their body *cough* bondo shop do the work.
The Forester's 0-60 is 5.3 seconds and 1/4 mile is 13.8!!
