General Comments:
This is after having driven it 500 miles so far. After test driving the base model, which came with a 2.0 liter boxer 4 cylinder, I drove the next version up, the Sport which has a upgraded 2.5 liter engine. I would say it is a reasonably quick car. You're not going to win any races, but it's also not anemic and in fact sort of peppy.
The interior is laid out pretty well and is comfortable. Interior material quality is decent albeit a tad spartan. There are many little features that I am still trying to figure out. The most useful is a feature that detects vehicles that are coming up next to you, in particular the blind spots. A orange light comes on the mirrors just out of line of sight, but noticeable enough to let you know something is there.
This is my first car with a CVT (Continuously Variable Transmission) and as such, it's weird that there are no distinct gears per se. It took some getting used to. Many cars are going in this direction.
Fuel economy has so far been very "Meh" for a 4 cylinder. At best, I get close to 30MPG on the freeway. In town? It's more like 28. Not horrible, but also not amazing given the recent cost of gas.
For being a somewhat smaller car, there is a surprising amount of interior space. It used to be that small cars had cramped interiors. This one has plenty and even the back seats are comfortable enough for two grown adults - as experienced when I took my parents on a trip with it.
Maintenance-wise I will eventually find out what that is like. But I get a feeling I might find changing the oil a lot easier. The filter is located on top of the engine and has a drain that prevents it from making a mess when removed. The plastic cover under the engine has an opening to get at the drain plug versus having to remove it - which I am very happy about. The spark plugs look like they will be a pain to get at. Given that plugs generally last for 100k these days, I'll cross that bridge when I get there.
So time will tell. Will it last for decades and 100's of thousands of miles? We will see!
28th Apr 2023, 21:54
While many new cars may have similar problems - especially hybrid ones, I agree about Subaru no longer being what is was. Their quality went downhill actually long ago with their head gaskets and other problems. It's just that the Subaru community is very fond of these cheapest 4wd vehicles and will not admit the problems until they get really fed with it. At present time, if you want a hybrid buy a Toyota. If you want a 4x4 then buy a gasoline engine car. I have to say, I follow on Hyundai forums - which has hybrid 4x4 Tucson and I would not risk such purchase. Latest Hyundai models exhibit important issues with transmission, costly high pressure injectors and so on, and hybrid model owners have many complaints as well including with engine oil dilution just recently. That's on top of their infamous engine defect.