Originally Posted By: demarpaint
Originally Posted By: Trav
Simple to work on, nothing too quirky about them they are similar to any other water boxer. I do wish they would loose the open deck cases however and return to a closed deck and loose the CVT or at least offer a real auto or manual box in the grocery getters like they do in other parts of the world, for me the CVT is a deal breaker.
I have done a couple that with converted closed deck inserts from IAG and that made them bulletproof. Other than that awesome cars.
The CVT is a deal breaker for me too. My father has a Subaru with a CVT which is a complete turn off to me. There is nothing nice about that transmission imo. Nice car otherwise, but no thanks because of the CVT.
Which year and model? I guess if you are used to a car with 250+hp and a regular auto, the CVT with the 4 can feel pretty weak if you're trying to stay near the front of the stop light GP, and the engine doesn't sound great above 4k. But for just going with the flow, the Subaru one works very well IMO, and if you are trying to get good mileage, its very impressive at that. I find it amazing how smoothly it gets to highway speed just sitting at 2k rpm. Compared to my old CRV with a 5 spd auto where it had to noticeably shift every time the grade changes, in and out TC lock, then to 4th, back to 5th, then 4th TC unlocked... I like the CVT more, as the engine just varies between 1500 and 2500 rpm with no real auditory change. I'm not sure which year they started simulating shifts when you use a lot of throttle, but mine will do that, and it has 7 "gears" in manual mode, but running in manual mode is much less efficient as often 7th is a bit too tall and 6th spins the engine faster than it needs to, and shows much higher fuel consumption, than it would be in auto variable mode.