2010 Subaru Forester

[4-2LGW]

My daughter bought a new Forester last week and was told by a salesman not
to use the "sport shift" for 1000 miles or she would damage the
transmission. There is nothing in the manual that states that. I have two
other make autos that have the same type of feature and used the manual type
shifter right away. The same salesman said to turn off the tracking control
when it was slippery or she could do a 360, which was totally wrong. I
called the service dept and they referred me back to sales. TIA for any
info anyone has.

 

[Frank]

My daughter bought a new Forester last week and was told by a salesman not
to use the "sport shift" for 1000 miles or she would damage the
transmission. There is nothing in the manual that states that. I have two
other make autos that have the same type of feature and used the manual type
shifter right away. The same salesman said to turn off the tracking control
when it was slippery or she could do a 360, which was totally wrong. I
called the service dept and they referred me back to sales. TIA for any
info anyone has.

Did not know what a sport shift was and found this:

"Subaru's sportshift will hold whatever gear selected and will not
downshift on it's own like regular A/Ts.
It's mechanically the same tranny with a modified controller."

I recall in my '03 being advised not to drive long interstate miles at
one steady speed during the initial break-in. Maybe this is related to
what you were told.

 

[1 Lucky Texan]

My daughter bought a new Forester last week and was told by a salesman not
to use the "sport shift" for 1000 miles or she would damage the
transmission.  There is nothing in the manual that states that.  I have two
other make autos that have the same type of feature and used the manual type
shifter right away.  The same salesman said to turn off the tracking control
when it was slippery or she could do a 360, which was totally wrong.  I
called the service dept and they referred me back to sales.  TIA for any
info anyone has.

******New Car Break-in period:
1000 miles: Drive calmly for the first 1,000 miles.
Always note the blue 'cold engine' light on the dashboard- it means
the engine is cold and drive accordingly.
Avoid hard starts and stops.
Avoid over-revving the engine, try to keep RPMs under 4000.
Vary your speeds over the full range of city and highway driving
Don't use cruise control much, if at all.
City and freeway driving is fine because that will vary the speeds
1st oil change 4 cylinder models 7,500 miles, turbo and 6 cylinder 3
months or 3,000 miles. Note It is recommended to do the first oil
change on all models at 3mos/3,000 miles. ******

I can't vouch for the accuracy or completeness of it, it came from;
http://www.cars101.com/subaru/subaru_maintenance1.html


Perhaps you could ask another dealership what instructions they give
new owners and if they can suggest an official Subaru document online
that reflects it.

Carl

 

[weelliott]

My daughter bought a new Forester last week and was told by a salesman not
to use the "sport shift" for 1000 miles or she would damage the
transmission.  There is nothing in the manual that states that.  I have two
other make autos that have the same type of feature and used the manual type
shifter right away.  The same salesman said to turn off the tracking control
when it was slippery or she could do a 360, which was totally wrong.  I
called the service dept and they referred me back to sales.  TIA for any
info anyone has.

My take would be this: The salesman sounds like a moron. However,
would I really miss using the sport shift feature during a period when
I am not supposed to be driving it in a sporty manner anyways? I'd
play it on the safe side and not use it for the first thousand miles--
even though I'm 99% sure the salesman was wrong--if for no other
reason than to keep myself from driving it aggressively.

Bill

 

[4-2LGW]

I called a different dealer in the area and he told me that the "sport
shifter" can be used from the get go, so as I suspected the salesman was a
jerk. He also told her to turn off the tracking control when it was
slippery. Guess he didn't know that's what it was for. He was an older
guy, but sure didn't know the cars he was selling.

 

[John Varela]

My take would be this: The salesman sounds like a moron. However,
would I really miss using the sport shift feature during a period when
I am not supposed to be driving it in a sporty manner anyways? I'd
play it on the safe side and not use it for the first thousand miles--
even though I'm 99% sure the salesman was wrong--if for no other
reason than to keep myself from driving it aggressively.

The salesman is quoted as saying it's to protect the Xmission, but
perhaps he meant to say the engine, or was misquoted. Letting the
automatic do the shifting for the first 1,000 miles avoids
inadvertently over-revving the engine by forgetting to upshift.

 

[Dano58]

I called a different dealer in the area and he told me that the "sport
shifter" can be used from the get go, so as I suspected the salesman was a
jerk.  He also told her to turn off the tracking control when it was
slippery.  Guess he didn't know that's what it was for.  He was an older
guy, but sure didn't know the cars he was selling.

I assume he meant 'traction control' and for the life of me I cannot
think of one good reason to turn this off during the 'break in'
period.

Dan D
'99 Impreza 2.5 RS (son's)
Central NJ USA

 

[John Varela]

I assume he meant 'traction control' and for the life of me I cannot
think of one good reason to turn this off during the 'break in'
period.

The daughter is driving along at 40 and manually downshifts to
first. Revs hit redline. Car had 200 miles on it. Good?

A couple of weeks ago on CarTalk, a caller was going 60, tried to
shift to neutral (because that was his driving style when
approaching a stop) and overshot to reverse. Those things happen.

Safer to let the automatic handle it during break-in.

 

[Steve Daniels]

The same salesman said to turn off the

I assume he meant 'traction control' and for the life of me I cannot
think of one good reason to turn this off during the 'break in'
period.

My car (not a Subi) has an electronic stability program. Under
extreme loss of traction conditions, like snow on the road, it
can be helpful to turn this off because it just goes nuts trying
to keep the car from spinning out. I've turned it off twice in
two and a half years, probably for a total of ten minutes.

And I can't imagine what the break in period would have to do
with that. I've generally been floored by the lack of general
car knowledge salesmen show, let alone the lack of knowledge they
have for their own product. I can see why someone working in the
used market might not know all the ins and outs of the various
cars on their lots on a given day, but you'd think someone
selling new cars would know their product.