Subdriven | The Subaru Enthuisast Website

Late last summer, the wife and I decided it was time to replace our 80,000-mile Isuzu Rodeo. Not that the Rodeo was a horrible vehicle, but it was consistently returning about 16 mpg and had recently taken to drinking a bit too much oil. Kelly (the wife) is an environmental educator by trade, and a passionate environmentalist in practice. The combination of SUV fuel consumption and our particular vehicle’s oil consumption was not setting well with her, so a change was in order.

Unlike many SUV owners, the Rodeo was a genuinely practical and necessary vehicle for our needs. Our four Jack Russell Terriers travel nearly everywhere with us, but most importantly they go to Jack Russell Club field trials. As the name implies, these typically take place in fields, some of which are muddy, most of which are rutted, and almost all of which are on uncut grass. Throw in the occasional hunt from a rutted farm trail, and features like all-wheel-drive and ground clearance become a real necessity. A station wagon or minivan may get the job done, but Suburbans and Expeditons are most popular for good reason.

With all of these concerns in mind, we set out to find a practical, economical, all-wheel-drive vehicle. What we settled on was a 2005 Subaru Forester XT. The suggested fuel economy of 20 mpg city and 23 mpg on the highway were both good for an additional 3-4 miles from every gallon of gas compared to the Rodeo, even if the Forester would demand premium fuel instead of regular. It also had one of the lowest hydrocarbon outputs (an important figure my wife researched) of any of the vehicles we were comparing it to. And we were working on the assumption it would not consume a quart of oil every couple hundred miles. All the way around, it seemed like a solid environment choice.

The tall, squarish cargo area of the Forester won out over other Subarus, notably the new Outback. Even if it wasn’t as handsome, the more practical shape meant less compromise from the way we had come to use our Rodeo. We could still position the dog crates up high for travel, allowing storage space beneath, even if that meant I would have to fabricate a platform to accommodate this.

Our annual trip to Maryland for the national Jack Russell trial is in mid-October. We took delivery of our XT on Labor Day, and proceeded to break it in gently before our big trip. By the time we hit the road for Maryland, we had logged a little over 1600 miles of mixed driving, mostly around town though, varying engine speeds regularly.

The week before our departure, it was clear that we would not have nearly as much room inside the car for our week on the road. A roof-mounted storage basket was ordered to hold our soft-sided cargo carrier. We also had the rear windows tinted to protect the dogs and to provide some privacy as we traveled.

To make the long drive more tolerable, we had installed a Sirius satellite radio receiver. We had become accustomed to our XM radio, integrated into an aftermarket head unit in our Isuzu. Our decision to switch service came down to the fact that Sirius offered an NFL package. Since the Subaru was not pre-equipped for satellite service, an auxiliary receiver was installed, operating over the FM band. It’s not nearly as nice as a direct input, but it got the job done as the miles rolled by.

Loaded to the gills, we set out. Despite a slightly rearward weight bias, the Forester proved much easier to drive fully loaded on the highway than the Rodeo. The ride is far superior to that of a truck-based SUV, and the wind noise was significantly lower, even with the large, panoramic sunroof. The turbo engine, while thirstier than its naturally aspirated version, provided ample acceleration with the full load.

The first big drive went fine. I noticed only two disappointing characteristics: the brakes, while effective, offer little in the way of feedback; and the chassis is heavily dialed in for understeer, a condition accentuated by a heavy load in the rear. Fuel economy averaged around 18 mpg, about 1 mpg less that what we had become accustomed to with the Rodeo. We chalked this up to the full load, mountain driving, frequent use of the air conditioner, and maintaining an average clip of 80-90 mph.

On returning home, the crossbars were removed along with the roof basket. It’s a slightly awkward look, but at least I don’t have to look at the crossbars when I have the sunshade open on the roof. And although most of our driving is done around town, I figured it might help the fuel economy a bit by reducing unnecessary drag.

The last several months with the car have been relatively uneventful. The car has had no issues at all requiring dealer attention. All systems are go at this time. As the weather became colder, the shifting action of the automatic transmission became more rough and pronounced in the first few minutes of driving, but I’m sure that is a common occurrence related strictly to the temperature, since no other shifting problems have emerged.

At around 6000 miles, we had the oil changed for the first time. The maintenance book suggested we could go as long as 7500 miles for the first change, and the dealer recommended it at 3500. Since I planned to switch to synthetic oil, I wanted to wait a full 5000 to make the conversion. It was only because of busy holiday schedules that it was drawn out so long. Mobil 1 took the place of the factory oil, which had not lost any significant quantity in all those miles.

If there has been any disappointing aspect of our Forester, it would have to be the consistently low fuel economy. When Kelly first observed that she was only getting about 200 miles out of a fill-up, I figured my occasional time behind the wheel had made a serious dent in the fuel consumption. But there were numerous tankfuls in which I never so much as sat in the car, let alone drove it. Her personal driving style is too passive to rationalize a 14-mpg return.

Over a period of a few weeks, we carefully modified both of our driving habits to maximize efficiency. We made every effort to reduce our use of high-load accessories, like the A/C compressor, rear defroster, seat heaters, fog lights, etc. No matter what we did, our fuel economy remained in the 14-15 mpg range, a full 25% less than the EPA city rating of 20 mpg, and 2-3 mpg less than what we achieved with our mid-size V6 SUV, which at least only required regular unleaded gas.

At this stage, we have mixed feelings for our Forester. In so many ways, it is a more appropriate vehicle for our everyday use: it drives well, it’s easy to park and maneuver, and it’s fun to drive compared to our old SUV. On the other hand, one of our goals was to reduce the amount of natural resources we consume, one of the reasons so many people revile SUVs in the first place. Instead we have a vehicle that gets Land Rover economy without all of the benefits of space, function, and capability. With our first child on the way, the Forester may well be on the way out.


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