New Member, serious issue, car immobilized

[bmart]

It is excellent like a Prius is excellent. It'll run forever and never get your blood flowing. They're grossly underpowered and the manual feels like it has 1/2 the HP of the CVT. It is an utter embarrassment to MT drivers. I'm glad that you like yours. Each to their own.

 

[slipkid]

It is excellent like a Prius is excellent. It'll run forever and never get your blood flowing. They're grossly underpowered and the manual feels like it has 1/2 the HP of the CVT. It is an utter embarrassment to MT drivers. I'm glad that you like yours. Each to their own.

Yeah, we will have to agree to disagree. I found the CVT Crosstrek to be dull as hell and slower than the MT I bought. Maybe some of it is down to my more experienced driving habits with MT cars. I dunno.

Most of my life I've driven nothing but manual trans sports cars. Last one was a 1999 turbocharged Mitsubishi Eclipse GSX. My first car was a '65 Mustang 8 cylinder 3 speed which actually pushed the occupants back into their seats when I accelerated. Now that was fun!

In comparison the Crosstrek is underpowered but I find it very driveable. And even fun to drive. I was disappointed and confused to learn that the "sport" model of the 2023 Crosstrek didn't even come in MT!!! I woulda bought that for the extra HP...

But something very funny - I've blown away more powered cars at stoplights with this Crosstrek, like an Outback CVT Sport model last year. Although that one was saddled with stupid autostop and I could hear that car still starting back up by the time I was across the intersection!

 

[bmart]

You're not wrong! My 2.5 NA Legacies are adequate, but hardly exhilarating. They do handle very well for such heavy cars, mostly due to the AWD. But the turbos I have...much better! I monitor the MPG average. It is ~20 when I'm alone and 25 when others are in the car. lol

 

[slipkid]

You are making me pine for my turbocharged sportscar days. Before the MT 2nd gen '99 Mitsu Eclipse I had a 1991 MT 1st gen model Eagle Talon Tsi AWD (turbo).

The 1st gen Talons and Eclipses were the same car but the 2nd gen Eclipses were changed substantially in design looks. My '91 Talon was still going strong with around 115k miles on it but when I heard that Mitsubishi defanged the 2000 model line by removing the Turbos (yet they upped the cylinders to 6 from 4) I ran out and bought the last MT '99 GSX (AWD turbo) I could find in this area.

Those cars remained in demand for hotrodders since there were a lot of simple mods you could do to increase the HP or modify/upgrade the turbos. Unfortunately Mitsubishi cut a lot of corners in those cars (the 2nd gens anyway) and they rusted out like crazy, especially the strut towers which rusted from the inside out. Mine had that cancer when I sold it to a kid looking for that exact car to spruce up and upgrade the turbo, think a relative of his had a body shop or something like that. I had just had the trans rebuilt only about 10k miles b4 I sold it :-(

Anyways, we digress from the OPs central theme here, but nice talkin' to ya.

 

[15XVBlue]

Moving-On ; Going Forward : You sound like a Hands-On Person, which is where We-All started , so I'll make one relatively "short" final comment about "Repairing Modern Cars , and Their Wiring , BOTH "Hot-12" and "The Ground System"
When you first started working on Automotive Elec Systems, and Re-Connecting and Adding New "Stuff" you were probably handling wires that were a Lot Like what Ma-Bell used back in the 1950's for Wiring Phone Services in Buildings and Residences ! GONE ARE THOSE DAYS of decently SIZED , WORKABLE Wiring Revisions .... ! Todays Auto Wiring Mazes look a lot like what is also used on Modern Desk-Top PC , and LapTops ..... BUT THIS ANGEL-HAIR WIRING IS SCATTERED FROM BUMPER-TO-BUMPER , and everywhere in between ... ! It is absolutely "dangerous" (to the Vehicle) for Owner-Operators to be doing a lot of things that we used to routinely do 20-30-years ago in modifying OR REPAIRING Vehicles ; but even more so At The Dealeership , considering some of the People why consider themselves to be Auto-Mechanics !!!

What astounds me is that there is probably a lot more damaged wiring in our (used) vehicles that we know nothing about, until we start doing the NEXT JOB, and we AWAKEN the damage, and think that WE-JUST-SCREWED-UP .... when things go Side-Ways , or Plummet straight to .... !!!!!

Too much current is one of these itsy-bitsy-wires , all closely wrapped into pencil-thin multi-wire-harnesses , and the Whole-Assembly can have its Insulation melted into a consolidated Snake , but sstill "working" , .. then along comes an adventuresome , self-confident , and experienced newbee .... and POOF : one (or more likely several ) totally unrelated Systems all of a sudden are having Cardiac Symptoms !!!

The really SAD reality is , that the Same thing can happen to the Ground System !!!!!

And every manufacture , that used to Seal-Mig-Weld Unibody Sheet Metal Assemblies , now only Spot-Weld every couple FEET, with the Sheet-Metal Parts clamped on moving manufacturing Jigs ; then they (ALL !) apply (the Equivalent) HOT JB-WELD to all the inter-spacing "seams" , and by the time the assembly gets a few Yards farther down the line , this entire GLUED TOGETHER ASSEMBLY is used (cold) and ready to put the Skin on the Bones of a Skeleton that arrives from another Assembly Area ... ! To THIS "conducting" metal is added ELECTRONICS and WIRING HARNESES , ........... !!!

Then even a supposedly "trained" Mechanic tries to find a small hick-up !

Or a second or third owner tries to Bring Back To Life an unfortunate Victim of Reality-Land ... !

These Glued-Together Lego-Land Automobiles are suckering Good Owners , used to working on Quality, Properly Welded , Properly Framed , and Properly Wired Vehicles , into thinking that they can do the Act Of Creation, on a concoction that was headed into the Used Parts Bins from the Day is left the Factory ..... !

This is not going to end well for the Automobile Industry , and it may reach a crescendo in just a few more years : and for anyone who does not believ me ... Just Open Your Hood (if they still allow you to de even that !) and look at all the (combustible -!) plastic that only exists to keep the User of the Vehicle to NEVER SEE , let alone TOUCH any part of that SACRED COW !
FACT : most knowledgeable car operators could NOT jump start any recent model Vehicle if they were only several driving minutes away from a Bomb Shelter, and the SIRENS were blaring about an INCOMING THERMONUCLEAR MISSAL ! The Battery Negative GROUND is buried under several layers of Obstructing Plastic , none of which is Conductive for a Ground Path , and there is not a Metal Object of any kind Visible, except for the Metal Latch Assembly they touched while lifting up the Hood by Hand .... ! And so ends the Great Modern Automobile ! It works while it works , and it Dies an Eternal Death when it Dies for any "reason" !!!! Even the Dealers need to Re-Manufacture it in Whole Sections, b/c it was never designed , or built to be EASILY REPAIRED --- but it is supposed to Double or Quadruple the Dealers Profits AFTER Sale , by the very process of Re-Manufacturing , ... instead of REPAIRING what is actually mal-functioning ....

There’s a lot of wisdom in your words Raymond3006.

I certainly did notice that one of the wires I spliced into was made up of MANY fine strands of wire. After I killed the car, I actually did think to myself (and said to at least one of the technicians that looked at it), that it was nothing like working on a ‘77 Celica!

 

[15XVBlue]

I have a 2023 Crosstrek manual and have NO IDEA why @bmart would say that the manual trans in these cars "absolutely suck".

I've owned something like 9 or 10 manual trans cars in my lifetime and can most certainly say that the one in my 2023 Crosstrek does NOT suck on any level. It is silky smooth shifting and very ez to use the clutch.

I recommend if you find a 2023 MT Crosstrek in decent condition that you take one for a test drive and judge for yourself.

I appreciate your response slipkid. I certainly planned on a test drive but we ultimately decided to replace my wife’s Outback. She can handle the MT but has a regular daily commute with lots of traffic so she gets the 2022 Impreza sedan and our daughter will get the old 2015 Outback.

I know that there are plenty of opinions on MT, and I am happy to see you and bmart discussing pros and cons. About half of my 40 years of driving has been with MT and my #1 reason for loving it is how the act of shifting keeps me connected to the driving experience. That’s why I considered MT for my about-to-be-licensed daughter….it feels safer by making you pay attention.