We drove the car about 800 miles in the week after we bought it between my wife commuting in it and a weekend trip.
First off, Subaru has fixed the most annoying thing about these cars, that being fuel economy.
The best tank I ever saw from our '09 was around 28 mpg.
This '17 delivered a hand calculated 31.2 mpg and that included many miles in the young to mid eighties with the AC always on and this is obviously a young engine. Our '12 Accord won't do any better when driven the same way.
This car is quieter than the '09 but it rides and drives much the same, which is good.
Anyone who has owned a W123 or W115 (we've had both) would find the long travel suspension and ability to deal easily with rough pavement familiar. Either Forester rides better than our '12 Accord although they aren't quite as quiet nor are they as fast at higher speeds. The '17 is significantly quicker than the '09 even without running it really hard, which I didn't. I saw no more than 4600 revs.
The tallest available gearing appears to be 37 mph/1000 revs. The Accord is geared a little shorter at 31 mph/ thousand revs while the '09 Forester gives only 25 mph/ thousand revs.
Anyway, this is a very pleasant car and I could see owning one of these as my only car.
It is that pleasant and that capable. Did I mention that there is no better AWD from any maker?
If anyone is thinking of looking at a Subaru when shopping an Accord/Camry/Mazda6/Fusion/Rav/CRV/Hyudai-Kia, I'd encourage them to have a look and a drive. You'll pay a little more for any Subie, but it's worth it or we at least think so.
First off, Subaru has fixed the most annoying thing about these cars, that being fuel economy.
The best tank I ever saw from our '09 was around 28 mpg.
This '17 delivered a hand calculated 31.2 mpg and that included many miles in the young to mid eighties with the AC always on and this is obviously a young engine. Our '12 Accord won't do any better when driven the same way.
This car is quieter than the '09 but it rides and drives much the same, which is good.
Anyone who has owned a W123 or W115 (we've had both) would find the long travel suspension and ability to deal easily with rough pavement familiar. Either Forester rides better than our '12 Accord although they aren't quite as quiet nor are they as fast at higher speeds. The '17 is significantly quicker than the '09 even without running it really hard, which I didn't. I saw no more than 4600 revs.
The tallest available gearing appears to be 37 mph/1000 revs. The Accord is geared a little shorter at 31 mph/ thousand revs while the '09 Forester gives only 25 mph/ thousand revs.
Anyway, this is a very pleasant car and I could see owning one of these as my only car.
It is that pleasant and that capable. Did I mention that there is no better AWD from any maker?
If anyone is thinking of looking at a Subaru when shopping an Accord/Camry/Mazda6/Fusion/Rav/CRV/Hyudai-Kia, I'd encourage them to have a look and a drive. You'll pay a little more for any Subie, but it's worth it or we at least think so.