I have a 19' Forester- Premium model. After 3500 miles, here's what I like and dislike about the car.
Likes
- CVT transmission. Live in the mountains and it always finds the perfect RPM for power.
- Power. From all the reviews I read, I thought this thing would be a dog. I can hit 90 with no effort on 7 percent grades.
- Better gas mileage than my 2010 Forester.
- Xmode and Hill Descent Mode- Use this a lot for winter mountain driving. There are several steep icy roads where I have to creep down at 5 mph.
- Adaptive Cruise Control. It made my commute to San Diego 10 times easier than in my old Forester.
-Big back seats. Front seats are very comfortable.
Dislikes
-NO WAY TO MANUALLY SELECT gears in the Premium model. Those of us who live in mountain communities always use engine braking to slow the car down. I only have Drive and Low (the low is a useless gear because it is not the right gear for engine braking). In my old Subaru, it was either 3rd or 2nd gear.
- The Cheap black plastic molding around the LCD and media screen- it shows the smallest amount of dust. Wish they would have used a different material.
- Android Auto...I use it but I think it can be improved.
Overall I love the car but Subaru really should put a way to manually shift gears like in the old Foresters using the gear shift lever. I don't care about sporty driving, I just care about maintaining control driving down the mountain.
Likes
- CVT transmission. Live in the mountains and it always finds the perfect RPM for power.
- Power. From all the reviews I read, I thought this thing would be a dog. I can hit 90 with no effort on 7 percent grades.
- Better gas mileage than my 2010 Forester.
- Xmode and Hill Descent Mode- Use this a lot for winter mountain driving. There are several steep icy roads where I have to creep down at 5 mph.
- Adaptive Cruise Control. It made my commute to San Diego 10 times easier than in my old Forester.
-Big back seats. Front seats are very comfortable.
Dislikes
-NO WAY TO MANUALLY SELECT gears in the Premium model. Those of us who live in mountain communities always use engine braking to slow the car down. I only have Drive and Low (the low is a useless gear because it is not the right gear for engine braking). In my old Subaru, it was either 3rd or 2nd gear.
- The Cheap black plastic molding around the LCD and media screen- it shows the smallest amount of dust. Wish they would have used a different material.
- Android Auto...I use it but I think it can be improved.
Overall I love the car but Subaru really should put a way to manually shift gears like in the old Foresters using the gear shift lever. I don't care about sporty driving, I just care about maintaining control driving down the mountain.