Ended up buying a 2014 Forester XT: Part 4 (a)
Six months later—Top 5 things I like
More or less six months ago I bought the new 2014 Gen 4 Forester XT 2.0 Turbo. We have managed to put 8,500 kilometres on the clock at this stage so we are probably not going to hit 22,000 kilometres which is apparently the annual average ‘mileage’ per car in Australia. The main reason for the low mileage (somehow kilometreage just does not sound right) is that I am still taking my old 2005 XT Subaru back of forth to work—to save some wear and tear on the new car.
At this stage I though I might do a posting about the Top 5 things that I like about the Gen 4 XT Forester. Maybe some time later I will do a posting about the Top 5 things I don’t like.
Because I tend to write too many words this first posting actually only has the Top 2 from my Top 5. I plan to do the other three items in Part 4 (b) in a later posting.
(1) The CVT Transmission
When I was looking into the 2014 Forester there was a lot of negative chatter going on around the forums about CVT transmissions and that Subaru had made a big mistake going for a CVT. And as CVTs (apparently) are not good in high-torque high-power applications there was a strong view on some sites that Subaru had made an even bigger mistake putting a CVT into the turbo model.
Admittedly after six months and only 8,500 kilometres it is still early days, but I am finding the CVT amazing. Better than I ever imagined. It may just be that Subaru have managed to get it right, or it could be that a few days after posting this something horrid is going to happen with the CVT or the complex electronics that make it work so well.
One of the general gripes people seem to have about CVTs is that the virtual gear changes are laggy and soft. I certainly have not found this with my XT. The virtual gear changes (virtual because, really, there are no actual gears) are very quick. Quicker than the changes in my 2005 XT auto. Also the changes do not feel ‘soft’. This could be because the Subaru CVT has no torque converter involved (except at very low roll-speeds, under about 3 kph).
Also, unlike the auto in my 2005 unit, the CVT in the Gen 4 Forester never seems to ‘hunt’ when kicking down. Every down-shift change is quick and decisive. With the CVT I have never experienced that one or two second pause—common in the 2005 Forester—where the gearbox is working out where to downshift to.
I think the three CVT gearbox modes that Subaru implemented (only available in the Turbo models) are sheer genius. The [I] mode for totally automatic driving. A bit like Green-mode on a DSLR, or as some call it, wife-mode.
Then there is [S] mode, which is the ‘standard Sport’ mode in the manual. But as someone has pointed out on the Subaru Owners forum, this should be called Towing Mode.
In [S] or Sport mode there are six virtual gears and the engine is programmed to rev higher before changing up to the next gear—which is what you need for towing.
I have found that Sport mode is by far the least economical mode, but you would expect this in a mode designed to work best when towing something. Most likely when you are towing something this mode then becomes the most economical on fuel—if you can understand what I am getting at here (because of the higher revs it will then be able to tow in a higher gear).
Finally, my favourite mode is [S#] or Enhanced Sport mode. In this mode you get 8 virtual gears, the turbo starts to spool about 500 rpm earlier, the accelerator is quicker, and the gearbox is smarter. Smarter in that the engine-assist braking works MUCH better than it does in [I] or [S] mode.
Going down Kalamunda hill, which is a reasonably steep decent lasting about two kilometres (but I have not actually measured it) the engine-assist braking works perfectly. At the first good application of the brakes the gearbox goes from 8th to 6th, and with more braking goes to 5th. If you are not happy with the downshift timing or selections then you can always tap the left paddle and do you own downshifts. And as there is no torque converter you get very useful engine braking. Then as soon as you start to level out and you gently apply some accelerator the gearbox automatically trips back into non-engine-braking mode (i.e., back into normal auto mode). Very clever. But this only works well in the Enhance Sport mode.
I should point out that all of the above relates to the turbo model which has the high-torque CVT fitted. The non-turbo model do not have the high-torque CVT.
(2) Cabin quietness
This may seem like a somewhat trivial point, but for anyone coming from a 2005 model Forester you will know what I mean. The 2005 model has huge cabin noise that is a combination of high road noise and really bad wind noise.
There are three types of bitumen metal black top open roads (i.e., highways) in Western Australia: noisy, very noisy, and deafening. It seems most places I have to drive to via a highway has either the very noisy or deafening bitumen metal black top. As you drive along you can easily pick it when you change from very noisy to deafening and back again.
In relative terms, compared to the 2005 Forester, driving on these highways at 110 kph (about 65 mph for my American readers) the 2014 XT Forester is silent. This is so good after driving so many kilometres in my 2005 unit and wondering how much damage I am doing to my ears (seriously, I actually do think about that).
So for me the relative quietness of the cabin in the 2014 Forester is a big point.
Watch for Part 4(b) where I will cover 3, 4, and 5 from my Top 5 thing I like about the new Gen 4 XT Forester.
