Subaru owners: Let's see your expedition rigs!

[GregSplett]

Amen

 

[thatbikefella]

Just a quick shot from our last blizzard cruise. A good before shot, before I get Forester struts on her, some lights, etc. My buddy's Foz, behind that, my cousin's BRZ.

 

[Dake21]

Havnt done much to it but been impressed with where it goes and how comfy it is but the road noise is a little maddening , might lift it and stuff a little more tire under it ... Might sell it , not sure yet .

Nice pictures! I especially like that rocky trail

 

[Smileyshaun]

Nice pictures! I especially like that rocky trail

I was amazed it made it up the trail , took a bit of two foot driving and picking good lines but the subie made it

 

[Kestrel]

Congrats!

 

[calicamper]

Week long trip up the CA north coast. No dog on this trip just our daughter we now have two kids. We have lots of trips planned for this spring and summer. This set up we typically run 21-26mpg pending hills and speeds the Ob is a 2010 2.5 cvt currently at 60K just replaced the brake pads they were just shy of the squealers. Prior Subaru was a 2001 Legacy GT Limited 5spd MT which did lots of trips over the years even the first 6 miles of Usual RD on the Lost coast in a rainy June. Replaced it for the added width and rear seating space for the kids.

Green tarp has 3 bundles of fire wood in it, wife called it the body bag. The blue kids wagon was a last minute add as we were leaving the house turned out to be a big win with the campground kids. We have a 42inchx42inch Target roof bag we load up on the deck of the trailer with most of the camping gear. This trip we packed a little hap hazard and also had lots of bulky little kid things like packnplay, kid backpack carrier diapers etc. Normally we run 54inch cross bars on rail grabs with our 30inch wide 7ft long roof box and bikes on the lid of the car we regretted not taking the bikes on this trip. The roof box opens up the rear trunk space and the dog gets plunked between the ice chests in his bed.

The CVT has been really good actually surprisingly good in the mountains where it really shines with the wide range of gear ratios. Getting the fluid inspected and most likely replaced in a drain fill at 60K is a must! Some 100k CVT's are starting to show up with failed shift solenoids and all seem to have one thing in common their original fluid at 100K. Our local dealer said that pretty much all the CVT's at the 60K check point have fluid showing signs of needing replacement.

 

[libarata]

Keep us updated on the CVT. I have my doubts about them, but I also have only driven one for a few miles(Impreza).

 

[calicamper]

I had serious doubts also my only CVT experience prior to this was a early gen Nissan belonging to a friend. We held our breath for about 500 mile round trip towing a 600lb trailer it acted as if any minute it would drop out the bottom of the car. The Subaru CVT so far has been good a nice match to the OB not sporty but neither is the OB LOL. We tow quite a bit with it so far no issues though keeping the fluid changed out at every 60K point is going to be standard proceedure. The old EJ 2.5 is in its very last tweaked form in the 2010 and so far its been really good. Granted our old 2001 2.5 was pretty good not counting the leaky gasket Subaru did at 60K at 180,000 it was fine no issues. That was the 5spd MT given the 4spd Autotragic was just tragic LOL. We went CVT given several MT test drives in the new 2010's the throttle response was very muted and with steep climbs the car would lug heavily for a car length or two before power would come on that was empty! The old 2001 on the same hill would snap to life and just power up the hill only lugged that hard with our 1800lb boat in tow. So we scratched the MT and got the CVT. I hear in 2013 Subaru sharpened up the throttle response so the MT might be better now. But I'd probably opt for the CVT again its been really good! Also it seems to be more sure footed in the really slick stuff vs the dumb 50/50 split the MT had.

 

[libarata]

I have no problems with new tech, so long as it is good tech! The Impreza had what sounded like a whining tranny. Almost sounded like a power steering pump. Dunno, did not like it one bit. My 4EAT Forester eats everything but steep climbs above 45mph up. It also REALLY hates sub 20* weather. Hopefully by the time we can afford a newer roo, CVTs will be proven to be secksy.

 

[calicamper]

Our CVT was a little noisy for the first 15,000 or so though not as noisy as some others that I've heard/seen. Just like our old Subaru though didn't really get decent and predictable mileage till we had 25,000 on the clock. I bought my mom a 2010 Legacy also so technically speaking I have two CVT Subarus I deal with. Both are at 60K and zero issues have been pretty good so far. The Legacy has an easy life just checked the brake pads about 40% pad left at 60K vs the OB which we haul kids, crap and trailers with the pads were just to the squealers at 60K

The CVT is slow when its cold out going from park to Drive or Reverse to Drive etc which case you just wait let it do its thing then go.

 

[libarata]

I figured the CVT had its own break-in period. I have never owned a new car, and have no clue about those things. But I hate weird noises like that.

 

[NoOneBetter]

A couple from this weekend.

 

[Dranged]

The problem you would run into is climbing steep hills with the manual transmission, unless you have the automatic WRX. The STi has the larger R180 rear diff, If you could get that with the ARB locker for the Nissan R180 installed you would be pretty unstoppable. $4000 in parts alone .

I wonder how good the low range on the older manuals are (Not for US unfortunately).

steep hills and slow "crawling" are certainly the clutch-death of [USDM] stick-shift Subarus. HOWEVER, there IS a solution, as alluded to by machine1!

In the 90s when Subaru went to full time AWD, they dropped the dual range gearbox in US offerings, BUT they can be attained and they're a straight swap (within reason...e.g. you would probably have some difficulty putting one into, say a 2012 OB with CVT. . . )

There are some considerations and do some research, but JDM eBay sellers are starting to have the dual range FT AWD gearboxes. I have an AUDM dual range SF (gen 1 forester) 5MT in my USDM legacy. it has 4.11 (my stock legacy was 3.90) axle ratio, which I've paired with a RX's CLSD into the rear 4.11 diff. The first gen forester's DR gearbox has a 1.447:1 low range gear set, which I find 1.447:1 is pretty damned capable for a daily-driven, kid-hauling sedan, on 27" ATs, still pulling off 22 city and 25 hwy, as I've taken it down Moab's Lockhart Basin trail and the white rim road (pavement to pavement in under 5 hours) a couple times.
Most likely the DR 5MTs you will find will have the lame 1.19:1 low, BUT this can be swapped for the older PT 4WD Subaru's 1.59:1 low gear.

So, aside from trying to put a 4EAT into a stickshift car, one can get a dual range 5-speed, and it can be made pretty decent for an full time AWD car.
Along with the couple trails I mentioned, I've taken my rig places it has NO business being, in stock and questionably even in its currently modified version, and successfully so. I live in Moab, I'll leave it there. . .

ciao, and I'm loving the contributions to this thread! :smiley_drive:

 

[Hodaka]

I've alluded to this elsewhere, to no effect. It amazes me how people will spend big bucks to replace final drive gears, whole axle housings, t-cases, etc in larger rigs to make them stronger/more reliable, but putting a couple grand into a Subaru to do the same thing is "ridiculous". Then again, maybe if it became a popular solution, it would be more difficult for us to find the bits we need... Either that or it would create a new market segment and make it cheaper and easier.

 

[Dwing]

Hello all, never really thought about a Subaru but have one that I'll be looking at this weekend. It's a 87' 2.2 4 CYLINDER WITH AUTOMATIC TRANNIE with 118k on it for 1400$. Pictures look clean but was wondering what I should be looking for. Use will be mostly for my son, about 20 miles/week. We are going on a 7 day trip up the Cali/OR/Wash coast next summer and thought it would be cool to sleep in the back 2-3 nights. Any help would be great.
Edit, spoke with owner, said it needs a muffler after the rear axle. Any idea of cost?
-Jason