That's odd Corax about the emissions, hope you have a good Subaru specialist nearby, that's something we're going to have to find for the future too.

The Forester rides harder on its 17" wheels, slightly better on the 16" winter set currently on and i have been tempted to re-wheel on 16" permanently, Foz more nimble much easier for parking, all round visibility helped by van style rectangular mirrors people who drive modern designs can only dream of, more road roar than the Outback though.

Yes i probably prefer the more laid back driving comfort of the Outback, but SWMBO loves the Foz, and one of the reasons being that the only distinguishing item to tell anyone what engine its got is the intercooler vent on the bonnet, other than that it could be the smallest NA engined model, no sporty looking twin exhausts to give any impressions, an ideal sleeper which suits her.

Despite the rear load area being slightly shorter, due to the squared off rear its much better overall for the dogs, heater is miles better than the Outback too for some reason, very quick to warm up, controls and switches are simple and effective.

The one thing i'm a bit wary of is just how quickly it can take off from rest, despite being TC autobox it's much more instant than any TC auto i've driven before, presumably just as torque engages the turbo is spooling up so unless you exercise restraint it would be a car that could easily catch the unwary out in tight traffic.

Its about the same on fuel as the 3 litre Outback was, the brakes are not muti pistoned huge Brembos or anything (though it does have Brembo friction materials all round cos i like how they 'feel') but are more than adequate for the job and it sticks to the road like glue no matter what, all in all i'm not sure what would prise her hands of this rather unassuming little estate car.

One surprise was just how large the oil drain hole is, hot oil comes out like a fire hose, it now sports a Fumoto drain valve which will make oil changes much easier, i thought the Landcruiser could empty its belly quickly of hot oil, but this thing's worse.:-)

Edited by gordonbennet on 04/02/2019 at 18:29

The place I went to with my last Outlander used the Tapley meter too. The tester just used 25 yard run across the yard, he didn't even brake especially hard.

I did ask was it still a Tapley meter, he said a similar type of instrument.

I'm a little surprised they haven't come up with a way of letting the other axle turn whilst the axle being tested is on the rollers, a short brake enough to make the Tapley happy isn't going to show any potential shortfall in an odd brake starting to deteriorate.

Very pleased to hear she's sorted Corax, so no worries about another few years of use if you are so inclined with just the cost of a CAT maybe at some point.

We swapped cars yesterday, i refill it with LPG every other week or so as the 56ppl LPG station is on my way home from work, 'twas an enjoyable journey to work at 3.30 am :-)

Concrete, yes i think Subarus are very good indeed, and the Outback looks at first glance like the ideal vehicle, but the 2.5 petrol is NA and that appears to be the only engine option in the UK, coupled to the CVT box and what that would be like for towing ability and noise i do not know, if a 2.5 manual was available that would i suspect be a better bet.

In some ways the slightly smaller Forester might offer better towing because you can still have the 2.0 litre turbo engine, which should in theory have much better mid range pull and when not towing would be an enjoyable road car.

The vehicles are great IMHO, but i'd want to test drive one towing a heavy trailer to see the towing ability of both engines, and i have no doubt whatever the maker's and Real MPG figures say on here, that your towing fuel consumption is going to be far worse with a petrol no matter who makes it.

I assume the CVT is reliable even with lots of towing work, and i have no doubt you'll be scouring the internet to find out if it is good enough long term.

Not a simple choice for you now if you are definately ruling out Diesel, so many of the new turbocharged petrol engines are small in capacity, when for towing you really want some decent CC's to get the combination moving in the first place, i know from my work just how frustrating small engines heavily turbocharged to produce a satisfactory headline BHP figure can prove in the real world, where a larger engine even if the BHP figure is the same as the smaller engine, is eons more flexible making driving pleasurable instead of a chore.

As ever, my suggestion would be Landcruiser (Diesel) :-)

Edited by gordonbennet on 13/03/2019 at 20:27

Thanks Hillman, we would have been very interested if we hadn't bought the Forester for SWMBO, which she really likes.

Time finally come to renew? another Subaru for you?

Sadly, I find that it's time to give up driving.

Now that is bad news, though that day must i suppose come to us all.

Hope you find the right buyer, had this news been twelve months earlier we would have been beating a path to your door on my next day off because i know you've looked after, good luck with the sale, someone is going to get one of the best AWD estate cars.

There was never a better writer about motoring than Leonard Setright. He waxed lyrical about Honda Preludes with 4WS, Golf GTIs (mk 2) and the way society changed because of the car. A great loss to automotive literature.

He also persuaded my family to look kindly upon Subaru so much so we ended up with three.