How many Folks Actually go Off Road?

[T Berk]

Lots of folks buy Subaru for different reasons but most have AWD.

How many folks keep it on the pavement and how many go out in the dirt?

(I'm supposing a WRX won't really be found out rock hopping with the
Toyota Land Cruisers and Jeep Willies.)


TBerk

 

[David Betts]

Lots of folks buy Subaru for different reasons but most have AWD.

How many folks keep it on the pavement and how many go out in the dirt?

Subaru awd is, of course, designed for use on tarmac, where it gives
huge advantages. In fact, Subaru don't build a true off-roader atall.
The Forester is the nearest you will get. That's not to say that a
Forester won't be better on gravel tracks than any conventional 2wd
saloon - and as good as most of the 'soft-roaders' - but don't expect
to take it where you would take a Land Rover.

David Betts
(e-mail address removed)

 

[Strap-on Sally]

911 turbo and WRX are AWD for same reasons.... who would want to go off
road???

 

[GC]

I was rear ended accident and pushed off the road, does that count?

Gary

 

[Frank Logullo]

How many folks keep it on the pavement and how many go out in the dirt?

I count myself as an off-roader because I take my Forester hunting, off old
dirt farm lanes and fields. When these areas are wet my friends pickup
cannot follow. Then there is the snow. I live up a steep hill which can
otherwise be impassable. OTOH most of the time I'm on the road and like the
car-like ride. I see all these pristine shopping mall goliaths that ride
like trucks and have never had a tire touch dirt
Frank

 

[Al]

Lots of folks buy Subaru for different reasons but most have AWD.

How many folks keep it on the pavement and how many go out in the dirt?

(I'm supposing a WRX won't really be found out rock hopping with the
Toyota Land Cruisers and Jeep Willies.)

That's why we got all-wheel drive, so we don't go off road
inadvertently.

Years ago (late 60's), a buddy of mine got a Toyota Land Cruiser. We
took a ride in the Lewis and Clark Forest in Montana and promptly got
stuck in the middle of a stream when it stalled. The water was over the
sills but did not come in. He was able to restart it even with the
tailpipe under water and we made it to the other side. I wouldn't dare
try that with my outback.

Al

 

[nItpIk]

We did once, but ground clearance is so low that someone had to be out in
front of car to tell driver how to turn wheels so as not to remove stuff
from the undercarriage. We were taking a "shortcut" home after a drunken
all-day concert in the mtns. We made it no problem, but it took us a couple
hours longer than it would have otherwise. Ahhh, the good old days. So ...
route selection can be critical.

 

[Marcus]

Dear Gary,

Just as long as you were not "rear ended" by Strap-on Sally !!!!!!!!!.

 

[Ron Ginter]

Subaru awd is, of course, designed for use on tarmac, where it gives
huge advantages. In fact, Subaru don't build a true off-roader atall.
The Forester is the nearest you will get. That's not to say that a
Forester won't be better on gravel tracks than any conventional 2wd
saloon - and as good as most of the 'soft-roaders' - but don't expect
to take it where you would take a Land Rover.

When you say the awd system is designed for use on tarmac, this makes me
wonder about the WR cars on all those dirt/gravel roads.

The reason I ask is that I'm currently considering a WRX or STI precisely
because Subies do so well in world rally racing, and I'd like to be able to
flog the thing on unpaved backroads.

What do you mean by "soft-roaders"?

....Ron

 

[Yousuf Khan]

Lots of folks buy Subaru for different reasons but most have AWD.

How many folks keep it on the pavement and how many go out in the dirt?

(I'm supposing a WRX won't really be found out rock hopping with the
Toyota Land Cruisers and Jeep Willies.)

Depends on what sort of "off-roading" you're talking about, because that
encompasses a large set of possibilities. I've taken my OBW onto the
backroads and mining roads, mostly gravel and dirt/mud. But do I go
rock-climbing with it? Not a chance. It has sufficient amount of ground
clearance for gravelling.

I actually bought the 4WD capabilities mostly for snow traction on regular
roads in the winter.

Yousuf Khan

 

[Rob Allen]

Take a look at some of the Soobs in this photo gallery. Some of the cars
are mine(Turbone). Granted, most of them are 80's models and do not
resemble a Subaru, but we can take some of these to extreme off-road
trails. 3 of our comrades just ran the Rubicon.
http://www.usmb.net/gallery/
http://usmb.ultimatesubaru.net/forum/forumdisplay.php?s=&forumid=2
Turbone

 

[Jim D]

I got my Outback for the New England snow, not for offroading. And
none of those clunky SUVs get 25 mpg in city and 30 mpg on the open
road like my Outback does!!

 

[ct]

(I'm supposing a WRX won't really be found out rock hopping with the

Toyota Land Cruisers and Jeep Willies.)

Nope. With a limited slip in the rear, I might have gotten up to the
campsite in Ouray (Colorado) this weekend...we ended up carrying the tent
100ft. up the road. But my old GTI wouldn't have made it up that far.

C

 

[David Betts]

When you say the awd system is designed for use on tarmac, this makes me
wonder about the WR cars on all those dirt/gravel roads.

The WRX bears no relation to the World Rally cars. Those are pure
racing machines which use reinforced versions of the same shell and
the same engine block. I doubt anything much else is
interchangeable...certainly not transmissions/drive trains. They
aren't even built by Subaru - they are built by Prodrive in Banbury.
Apart from anything else, the World Rally cars will have completely
different suspension, wheel, tyre and drive-train combinations for
gravel and tarmac rallies.

When I say the WRX's awd system is designed for use on tarmac,
however, that doesn't mean it won't work better than a 2wd system on
dirt roads....of course it will. The point I was trying to make is
that you don't have to drive off road to gain the benefit from it. No
reason why you shouldn't, though, as long as you avoid deep ruts, deep
mud, big rocks, steep descents, etc. The car doesn't have a lot of
ground clearance and it doesn't have low-range gears.

What do you mean by "soft-roaders"?

Pose-mobiles from the likes of Mercedes and BMW which look like
off-roaders, but are never really taken off road and have very limited
abilities when they are.

David Betts
(e-mail address removed)

 

[T Berk]

I was rear ended accident and pushed off the road, does that count?

Gary

8D


TBerk

 

[Dominic Richens]

When you say the awd system is designed for use on tarmac, this makes
me wonder about the WR cars on all those dirt/gravel roads.

The reason I ask is that I'm currently considering a WRX or STI
precisely because Subies do so well in world rally racing, and I'd
like to be able to flog the thing on unpaved backroads.

A "real" 4x4 (like a Jeep) has the front and rear drive axels "locked"
whereas a Subaru has a center differential between the two.

The MT versions have a viscous coupled rear drive axel, that is the
transmission directly drives the front wheels, but goes through something
like a torque converter to drive the rear wheels. The front and back wheels
can turn at different speeds when you are, for instance, driving around a
parking lot, but if you get a front wheel on ice, the large difference in
speed of the two ends of the center differential causes the viscocity of the
liquid to increase and turn the rear axel, despite the difference in torque.

AWD is as good as 4x4, unless you are driving across bolders and through
foot deep mud, which is why it works great for WR cars, which are doing
100kph on dirt/gravel roads, but also need to drive on dry pavement.

 

[S]

Hi TBerk, All!

Lots of folks buy Subaru for different reasons but most have AWD.

How many folks keep it on the pavement and how many go out in the dirt?

(I'm supposing a WRX won't really be found out rock hopping with the
Toyota Land Cruisers and Jeep Willies.)

I have traveled offroad extensively in my old GL wagon, and have
embarrassed drivers in full-sized 4X4s. Ya gotta be good at driving
the high line, and callous indifference to dings and bashes doesn't
hurt either ("What the hell; it's just an old Subaru!"). It doesn't
like rock crawling, deep water or deep mud (even with all wheels
chained . . . don't ask), but other than that it's a game little car,
and will go 95% of anywhere my lifted, locker equipped Jeep Cherokee
would; but in greater comfort, and with far better mileage. Sold the
Jeep, kept the Subaru.
I drove my WRX wagon all of the way to the end of the Spruce Creek
jeep road last friday (SW of Breckenridge CO), goin' fishin' (fishin'
but not catchin', alas . No problems, and was the only non-SUV/4X4
parked at the trail-head. Had good rally-fun on the way out as well,
passing several lumbering SUVs. Again, you gotta pick a good line thru
the rocks and wash-outs, and then be able to stay on it.
Caveat: Spruce Creek isn't (IMO) a very difficult jeep trail, and
there _were_ a couple spots where the WRX _wouldn't_ have gone if it
had been much worse. Never-the-less, there and back in fine style.
Didn't stop for fotos Friday, but visit
<http://chester.uccs.edu/wrx/offroad/> for fotos from a trip last
fall. Lincoln Gulch Road in the White River National Forest east of
Aspen CO (significantly easier than Spruce Creek, BTW), and the
fishing at the lake (Grizzly Lake ~12.5K ft.) in the last foto was
good. Snowed a bit on the walk out, tho.

ByeBye! S.

Steve Jernigan KG0MB
Laboratory Manager
Microelectronics Research
University of Colorado
(719) 262-3101

 

[Jim Stewart]

Lots of folks buy Subaru for different reasons but most have AWD.

How many folks keep it on the pavement and how many go out in the dirt?

(I'm supposing a WRX won't really be found out rock hopping with the
Toyota Land Cruisers and Jeep Willies.)

As others have pointed out, there's not enough ground clearance
for hardcore offroad use.

Subarus excel at bad roads and snow. I've done 40mph on badly
corrigated logging roads in relative comfort. The independent
suspension handles bad dirt roads with ease and the AWD works
great in snow. If you want to do serious offroad stuff, get
a jeep. If you need to traverse bad roads and snow reliably
and comfortably, get a Subie.

 

[William S. Hubbard]

ROFL!

 

[Dan Duncan]

Pose-mobiles from the likes of Mercedes and BMW which look like
off-roaders, but are never really taken off road and have very limited
abilities when they are.

My Unimog is NOT a pose-mobile.

-DanD