Forester 5 Spd or Auto

[Treefrog]

I am a new Forester owner. I was the proud owner of a 93 Civic 5 speed. I
bought a used 2001 Forester last month and have been disappointed by a few
things. My car is the S model, automatic. First, I do understand that I
will no longer get the 40mpg I had with the Honda, but I am surprised that
I am only getting 19-25mpg, and 90% of my driving is on the interstate. I
average between 65-75 mph. And there have been times when driving and
wanting to quickly accelerate and I have gotten nothing. I have tried
this both on the highway and in city driving, sometimes literally punching
the gas pedal to the floor and its like the car thinks about what to do
first, and then it will pick it up, but still is 'doggy' and somewhat
unresponsive about it. I am not used to driving an automatic and wonder
if I have unrealistic expectations about the performance? I am seriously
considering trading for a 5 speed, but wanted to see what others
experiences have been. Another issue for me is that I enjoy using the
cruise control, but when I took a weekend trip this month through a rural,
hilly area, I found the cruise control was too agressive on the automatic.
When going up a hill, the car would agressively downshift, killing any
hopes for fuel efficiency. Is this normal for this car? I really find
that I enjoy the convience of driving an automatic, but I don't know if
that convienence is enough. Do the transmissions on the automatics or 5
speeds have other differences in performance and reliability?
One note, about 10 days after purchasing the Forester, it was missing and
sounded more like a Harley Davidson at idle. I took it to the dealer I
purchased from who said they couldn't do anything until after the $600 30K
mile service was done. The car has 50K miles and no official service
record. So I took it to the mechanic I used for the Honda who found that
the fuel-to-air-ratio sensor was faulty. He replaced that for $300 and I
have not had any problems since. But because of that, I am wondering if
my poor performance and gas mileage could be related to something not
being configured right with regard to the fuel and air.

Any advice or comments would be welcome.

Thank you,

Genevieve

 

[gundlion]

19-25mpg is what 80-90% of Forester owners are getting. This is due to a
combination of a not-so-fuel-efficient 2.5L engine, low gearing resulting in
higher rpm at highway speeds, and the aerodynamics of a brick. Also, the
automatic loses ~20hp compared to the 5spd so that may account for some of
the sluggishness upon acceleration.

Subaru's solution to the underpowered Forester is the '04 XT version with a
stated 210hp (closer to 250hp in reality) that out-accelerates every SUV in
production this side of the $100K Porsche Cayenne Turbo.

As for the aggressive cruise control, it's just trying to maintain the set
speed. If there's insufficient torque to do so on uphills, then a downshift
is required. Incidentally, the XT automatic with its 235 lb-ft of torque
almost never downshifts when going uphill with the c/c set.

Cheers,

David

 

[Jkpoulos7]

driving, sometimes literally punching

the gas pedal to the floor and its like the car thinks about what to do
first,

dont push the pedal all the way down. Get a k&n filter and use synthetic oil

 

[2 Stroke]

If there are no service records, you should first check the condition
of the air filter, then all the other items that should have been
replaced at 30k miles. If the air filter is original, it has to be
very clogged/dirty. That will rob lots of power and cause ALL the
symptoms you describe. You should consider having the 30k service
performed, or at least find out the status of the spark plugs,
coolant, etc.