Subaru Owners Registry
- Thread starter Wawa Skittletits
- Start date
Stickers make it faster.
Enthusiast II
I can update mine a bit. No huge changes of course, but I feel like the BFG Trail-Terrain T/A are my forever tire. As soon as I switched from my street tire these sounded quieter (which I was NOT expecting) and felt more comfortable than the previous tire that came with the car. I off-center the roof box and add traction boards just in case. Added a few other images over the past couple of years.
I also built a carry-all box to have a collapsible toilet, TP, canister vacuum, tow hitch, tow strap, and other random items I need to keep from rolling around my trunk.
My main use isn't trail thrashing. I need it more for driving on farmland. It works out to be a pretty good little car.
I also built a carry-all box to have a collapsible toilet, TP, canister vacuum, tow hitch, tow strap, and other random items I need to keep from rolling around my trunk.
My main use isn't trail thrashing. I need it more for driving on farmland. It works out to be a pretty good little car.
Enthusiast III
I'm going to put my Subaru in here too, even though I sold it. It will always hace a special place in my heart.
Has anyone added Ironman 4x4 suspension and coil spring buffers to their Outback? I love the way the car handles when it's not loaded, but I'm disappointed with how little I can carry. I've been known to put a little weight on it :) Feel free to PM me if you have any suggestions.
Autism Family Travels
Rank IV
Enthusiast III
I have read they are a little stiffer but no uncomfortable unloaded. Can't give more information than that. Love the outback though. Since the Jeep acquisition never materialized da wife and I have been talking about an outback. We are checking into it as we speak.
We're digging the Forester Wilderness.
Haven't really taken it very far yet, winter hit and we hunkered down.
With cookies...
Haven't really taken it very far yet, winter hit and we hunkered down.
With cookies...
Autism Family Travels
Rank IV
Enthusiast III
We have been going back and forth on getting a new wrangler or a wilderness outback. Two totally opposite rigs but two that we like alot. Question for the outback owners. Are they as contrary as the youtube videos state about crawling over loose gravel and rocks? The videos I have watched show they just sit and "moooooo" at any type of obstacle. I hope that's not the case.
Enthusiast III
The AWD is pretty good. If they got rid of the CVT and put a regular transmission in it with a low ratio, it would be AWESOME at everything. They need to either use a real transmission or treat the CVT as a CVT and stop trying to make people think it's a real transmission with "shift points".
The reason the Subaru sucks rock crawling, or any slow type of crawling, is because the AWD system is smart. The wheel spin is super high so it will slip and does slip and so it cuts power to those wheels because they're just slipping anyway. There's a guy who tested this on youtube, he was a member of the subaruoutback.com forums. Somehow he was able to turn off the VDC/traction control and didn't make it any further up the hill. The vehicle is smarter than you and knows about wheel spin.
Anyway, it's hard to lift a Subaru. I lifted mine 2" with an ADF spacer lift. I had a horrible vibration after the lift, garbage. With the lift, you have to do a subframe drop. So, the frame of the vehicle is at the same level but the body is higher up, more space in the wheel wells.
Now, the decision, buy a Subaru or a Wrangler. Both vehicles are awesome, just in different ways.
Subaru:
Comfort
Fuel Economy
Okay on mild/moderate trails
Cheaper
More cargo space
Lower cost of ownership
Jeep:
Fun
More fun
Nothing beats it on ANY trail
Fun
What's more important to you?
I hope this make sense... I was at an Alicia Keys concert and this beautiful girl sits down next to me and I never get to meet girls with lip rings and she had one. I don't know exactly how this happened but one of her friends started passing around some stuff and they said it was clove cigarettes and I'm sure that it was clove cigarettes Everyone in the aisle was doing it....... if you get my reference.
Protector II
- 8,868
- First Name
- Dave
- Last Name
- Addington
- Member #
-
10123
- Ham/GMRS Callsign
- KN6BKH
My Tundra is my rig but my company car now is a 2020 Outback. I got my company to upgrade my tires for the Idaho/Montana mountain passes to Toyo AT3’s. I did change out the wheels to LP Adventures. 
Expedition Master I
- 5,079
- First Name
- Drew
- Last Name
- Hawley
- Member #
-
1537
- Ham/GMRS Callsign
- WRBZ674
- Service Branch
- USN veteran
Okay sooo I have some comments about what you shared. While I agree with the faux shift points the CVT has repeatedly received a bad rap. I will admit that I wish they would put a traditional slush box in it so long as it was a reliable option. Also the ‘wilderness’ models get unique gearing for slow speed stuff and climbing.
X mode gets the most out of a vehicle with 2 open diffs and they’ve further refined it since it’s inception. That said the intrusive nannies from a slow speed or stop can be annoying but knowing how they behave helps you avoid them. The person you mentioned from the forum did something that wasn't really new. It was ~20 years ago when we were putting the TC fuse on a switch for the then new 350Z. Pulling a fuse to completely disable the nannies could potentially help in some situations but hurt in others. I took my Outback all sorts of places a Subaru didn’t belong and never felt the need to do it because off road experience with a modern Subaru will help you understand how to get the most out of it. Start with x mode, disable VDC/TC as much as you can (hold the button), and drive in manual mode to keep the CVT from ‘shifting’.
Your vibration was likely the trans mount which was easily and inexpensively fixed via an insert.
So yes a Jeep will always out wheel a Subaru but ultimately it depends on where you want to go. Do you want to go crawling? Or do you want to be able to drive by gas stations? Haha. I have a Colorado Bison now and it obviously makes super easy work of any trail I go down now (2 lockers=cheat mode) but I do miss the mpg, internal storage space, and how quietly/comfortably it did everything I ever asked it to do. That said, my Bison is much more endearing.
Autism Family Travels
Rank IV
Enthusiast III
I have owned 2 Wrangler JKU's. To be honest, all of our trails around here we really did not even need it to be in 4wd. Most of our stuff is miles and miles and miles of forest logging roads with some washed out sections. Underbody protection and good tire choice is much more important than crawling ratios etc. I think the wilderness with the extended "X-Mode" and some good suspension bits for some increased ground clearance will be a great rig for our areas. Plus when we are on road trips, I can get 700km plus out of a tank of gas compared to squeezing 400 out of my previous JKU's.
Autism Family Travels
Rank IV
Enthusiast III
After watching a metric craptonne of videos, the base model outback will suit us fine. Add on some rallitek goodies, and we are good to go. Plus the 900 plus kms from a tank we will get will be even better. The wilderness while a great rig, is not worth the 11g increase in pricing. That's all the mods we want to do to the car plus a few trips for gas money as well. I will take the hit in power, which will be like the patriot when driving which is fine, but almost 2 times the range as our patriot per tank. The Pat has a tiny gas tank. 52 liters i think. we make about 450 per tank, depending on speed and wind.
the patriot will be our second rig then. We owe nothing on it so it's only costing us maintenance costs. But I fear at close to 10 years old in our salty crappy road conditions rust will start to take over on the rig soon enough. there is no way to stop it.
The ice silver base model outback looks great for 2023 with it's black accents. I may purchase the orange upgrade accents as well.
the patriot will be our second rig then. We owe nothing on it so it's only costing us maintenance costs. But I fear at close to 10 years old in our salty crappy road conditions rust will start to take over on the rig soon enough. there is no way to stop it.
The ice silver base model outback looks great for 2023 with it's black accents. I may purchase the orange upgrade accents as well.
Autism Family Travels
Rank IV
Enthusiast III
the dog in the last pic looks like the meme of the girl with those on fire in the background....I'm going to put my Subaru in here too, even though I sold it. It will always hace a special place in my heart.
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I was having a similar debate and ultimately decided on the Subaru Outback Wilderness. I haven't had a chance to test it on a trail at all but plan to do so in the next week or two. So far I'm loving it though.
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I think it boils down to what you want to use the vehicle for. I personally have a Subaru Outback. It gets me to all the places I've wanted to go (thus far) and has even suprised me in some pretty gnarly situations (I don't just wheel fire roads). As many state the Subaru is great for many applications. There's no denying however that a true 4x4 with locking diffs, solid axles, manual transmission etc are going to perform better on the trail but everything comes with a trade off. I personally will be moving to an SUV or truck 4x4 platform for my next adventure vehicle, but there hasn't been a time yet where I felt like the Outback was holding me back (I just like to wheel hard 
).
The Subaru has pretty good storage overall if you are organized and is even better with some sort of roof rack to hold some of that gear.
I attached some images of my build the way it looks currently.
).The Subaru has pretty good storage overall if you are organized and is even better with some sort of roof rack to hold some of that gear.
I attached some images of my build the way it looks currently.
Attachments
Enthusiast III
Manual transmission sucks for wheeling. It is better than the CVT though. I’m with you on the Outback, my lifted OB got us to some awesome places!!I think it boils down to what you want to use the vehicle for. I personally have a Subaru Outback. It gets me to all the places I've wanted to go (thus far) and has even suprised me in some pretty gnarly situations (I don't just wheel fire roads). As many state the Subaru is great for many applications. There's no denying however that a true 4x4 with locking diffs, solid axles, manual transmission etc are going to perform better on the trail but everything comes with a trade off. I personally will be moving to an SUV or truck 4x4 platform for my next adventure vehicle, but there hasn't been a time yet where I felt like the Outback was holding me back (I just like to wheel hard
The Subaru has pretty good storage overall if you are organized and is even better with some sort of roof rack to hold some of that gear.
I attached some images of my build the way it looks currently.
