Maverick
old-school
- Location
- Anywhere, thanks to my geeky droid
I was also interested in the Forester and we drove one, but I guess the Outback is bigger. I like the 2.5xt turbo option, I wonder what real world mpg's are.
Subaru...getting past the hype
- Thread starter Maverick
- Start date
I was also interested in the Forester and we drove one, but I guess the Outback is bigger. I like the 2.5xt turbo option, I wonder what real world mpg's are.
Maverick
old-school
- Location
- Anywhere, thanks to my geeky droid
Wishing we had it today. My work truck is on a project in Idaho, my son is using my Excursion to haul his friends to a school dance, and the cold Jeep sucks for running errands with the wife. I'm in minivan hell.
I bought my wife a 09 Outback 2.5 Limited 2 months ago. She had spun out a couple times in her previous car(Mazda 3) and she needed something safer. The traction control that it has is awesome. I took it to a snowy parking lot and tried to get it to spin out and it would not do it. You could get it to start to slide out and then the traction control light would light up and it would straighten itself out.
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- Location
- Riverton, UT
For what it is worth. Last Sunday a car skidded on ice out of the Church parking lot right in front of a Subaru Legacy. The Legacy just pulled around it with ease like it was on dry pavement. My respect for the Legacy has greatly increased. As close as they were I don't know how they kept from hitting the other car.
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Maverick
old-school
- Location
- Anywhere, thanks to my geeky droid
That's what we like to hear. It's nice when things work the way they are supposed to.
- Location
- Riverton, UT
Just found out it was a Legacy not a Forester.
I did almost the same thing in my FWD fiesta on 12/9 with Michelin X-ice's. There was a car going down 5400S kind of crabwalking sideways. I didn't spin a tire getting around him. I thought for sure that guy was going into the curb. In your situation I would have liked to see the tires on both cars.
(sorry for my snow tire rant(s))
Nathan
Maverick
old-school
- Location
- Anywhere, thanks to my geeky droid
Tire tangent: Sure not impressed with the Nitto Terra Grapplers on my X. They are NOT as good up on the mountain as the BFG AT KO's (at the same level of wear) or the Toyo AT's. They don't have the little snowflake on them, but neither do the Toyo's that I have, and the Toyo's have been ok. Thinking about a set of Duratracs on 17's for winter tires and keep the Nitto's on the bling rims for the other 6 months.
- Location
- Riverton, UT
Both had street tires.
Maverick
old-school
- Location
- Anywhere, thanks to my geeky droid
Blizzaks and X-ice look just like street tires, very non-aggressive actually.
My cousin had some snow's from Costco on his Outback that looked like they'd bite you. Tons of siping and edges and razer blades and stuff. They rocked it pretty well. Not sure how it would have done yesterday though, 5" new snow on top of 7" of crusted stuff. It was enough to slow down the chained up blazer pulling the X up the uncleared hill.
We thought about the Forester. I liked the taller cabin, but cargo is smaller than the Outback. I also like the CVT better than the 4-sp auto in the Forester (2014 Forester will also get CVT).
A friend of mine had the Legacy turbo model. He was around low to mid-20 MPG. Sure was fast though.
RE: Tire tangent: Found the same with Nitto's. Even REVO's I had were much better. But the best I've had (and currently have) are BFG KO's. I'd like to try Duratracs someday, though.
Lastly, my wife just got 34MPG in the Outback (99% highway). 65-70MPH average.
A friend of mine had the Legacy turbo model. He was around low to mid-20 MPG. Sure was fast though.
RE: Tire tangent: Found the same with Nitto's. Even REVO's I had were much better. But the best I've had (and currently have) are BFG KO's. I'd like to try Duratracs someday, though.
Lastly, my wife just got 34MPG in the Outback (99% highway). 65-70MPH average.
- Location
- Riverton, UT
I think the engineers worked overtime on the handling of FWD vehicles. In the old days FWD would plow and the rear would go all over the place but it did not matter if you knew how to drive. RWD you were always having the rear try to trade places with the front but again with good tires like Pirelli Cinturato or Michelin X you were good on dry pavement but not in snow, ice, or wet.
I will say that while I lived in Montana I have never seen so many Goodyear Duratracs. Folks up there LOVE them during the winter months.
Jared
Maverick
old-school
- Location
- Anywhere, thanks to my geeky droid
Thanks Jared, I appreciate that feedback. There are a lot of trucks up on the mountain that have them, and they are rarely running chains. With new BFG AT KO's I don't have to run chains, once they are half worn then I have to run chains, so basically, every other winter.
OT (on tangent): When I was looking for new tires for my truck I did a lot of research. Read reviews, looked for tires with the snowflake, wanted to find something good on thin or hard packed snow as well as the deeper stuff. I came up with 3 strong candidates, BFG AT KOs, Duratracs, or General Grabber AT2. I chose the most aggressive with best offroad reviews option, the Duratracs. So far so good, a great tire for a mix of DD, wheeling, and snow.
Maverick
old-school
- Location
- Anywhere, thanks to my geeky droid
I did the same research with the same conclusions. However, since I was running the Toyo AT's on my work truck, and they were sufficient (and had run 3 sets of BFG AT KO on my X) and the Nitto's were supposed to be the same as the Toyo's, I went with the Nitto's due to cost and long term wear. My fall back position was that if they sucked in snow, I'd get Duratracs for the snow and run two sets. Which is where I find myself. Now, do I run 315/75r16 ($254) on my old rims, or 315/70r17 ($296ouch) on some new rims? 325/65r18 are $325ish, too much.
My girlfriends gen 2 (2003) outback with blizzaks handles incredibly in the snow. I've lived a the top of little cottonwood canyon for 15 winters driving a ram, xj, and now a zj. The big rigs are better driving through drifts when the plows aren't around, but for general packed snow or dry pavement black ice combos, the low center of gravity and the blizzaks rock. Her 2.5 isn't the quickest coming up canyon though.
Maverick
old-school
- Location
- Anywhere, thanks to my geeky droid
Good to hear. Couldn't make out that last part, static noise or something. Oh well, probably wasn't important.
TurboMinivan
Still plays with cars
- Location
- Lehi, UT
I predict Brett is going to post in this thread again soon. 
Oh, and I strongly second the recommendation for dedicated winter tires. If you want something that grips well on hardpack snow and ice plus can handle loose snow, slush, etc then I think the General Altimax Arctic is the best value out there:
It is studdable, as you can see, but even without the studs it is a proven good performer on glare ice. For daily use on a car during the winter months, it's tough to beat.
Oh, and I strongly second the recommendation for dedicated winter tires. If you want something that grips well on hardpack snow and ice plus can handle loose snow, slush, etc then I think the General Altimax Arctic is the best value out there:
It is studdable, as you can see, but even without the studs it is a proven good performer on glare ice. For daily use on a car during the winter months, it's tough to beat.
Honestly, I'm not surprised. I hated my Nittos and my Toyo MTs. I've decided to just stick with the BFG AT KOs. Usually a little more spendy, but at the end of the day they just work.