PLEASE READ BEFORE BUYING - We bought a new 2019 Forester base model last week. Love it!!! Smooth, quiet, comfortable, roomy, etc. Everything is wonderful.
Until this morning. I went up to a local state park (Cooper's Rock) to take sunrise photos. The road leading up to the main rock is about 3 miles of narrow 2-lane through the woods. No street lights - pitch black. (Well, duhh, it's in the forest!) Well, with the low beams on, I was shocked that I could only see about 75 feet in front of the car, and only a couple of feet off the ground. It was like someone pulled a black curtain halfway down over the windshield. As I approached roadside signs, all I could see was the bottom of the post, and could not see or read the actual sign at all. There was plenty of light - it was just all focused less than 3 feet off the ground. There was a razor-sharp cutoff, and above that line it was pitch black. Not dim, pitch black.
I'm over 60 and drove cars before they even switched to halogen, and this was scary! If I had approached someone standing in the road, I would have probably first seen their shoes at about 75 feet away, and maybe their pants and belt before I ran them over. There was just NO light above 3 or 4 feet up and 75 feet out. With just low beams, I would have been over-driving the lights any faster than 30 MPH. I drive over the mountains all the time with my 2013 KIA Soul, and I'm very comfortable with the low beams even at 55 MPH.
I took the car to the dealer, and they adjusted them up. I'll be going out there again next week sometime and will update.
IF YOU ARE THINKING OF BUYING A 2019 FORESTER - Please take time to drive it at night, especially on a completely dark road (no streetlights or stores). If the one you are looking at acts the same as mine, see if they will adjust and let you re-try another drive.
Hopefully, mine is just an anomaly and it's fixed.
.
Until this morning. I went up to a local state park (Cooper's Rock) to take sunrise photos. The road leading up to the main rock is about 3 miles of narrow 2-lane through the woods. No street lights - pitch black. (Well, duhh, it's in the forest!) Well, with the low beams on, I was shocked that I could only see about 75 feet in front of the car, and only a couple of feet off the ground. It was like someone pulled a black curtain halfway down over the windshield. As I approached roadside signs, all I could see was the bottom of the post, and could not see or read the actual sign at all. There was plenty of light - it was just all focused less than 3 feet off the ground. There was a razor-sharp cutoff, and above that line it was pitch black. Not dim, pitch black.
I'm over 60 and drove cars before they even switched to halogen, and this was scary! If I had approached someone standing in the road, I would have probably first seen their shoes at about 75 feet away, and maybe their pants and belt before I ran them over. There was just NO light above 3 or 4 feet up and 75 feet out. With just low beams, I would have been over-driving the lights any faster than 30 MPH. I drive over the mountains all the time with my 2013 KIA Soul, and I'm very comfortable with the low beams even at 55 MPH.
I took the car to the dealer, and they adjusted them up. I'll be going out there again next week sometime and will update.
IF YOU ARE THINKING OF BUYING A 2019 FORESTER - Please take time to drive it at night, especially on a completely dark road (no streetlights or stores). If the one you are looking at acts the same as mine, see if they will adjust and let you re-try another drive.
Hopefully, mine is just an anomaly and it's fixed.
.