Thinking about getting a new car. What to get...

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Moto
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SamirD wrote:
Moto wrote:Few Pics
Forester XT touring with eyesight.
Interesting that you got the eyesight. What do you think of it?
Moto wrote:Tires and valve steams leak more in the winter.

Be careful where you get your air when it is really cold. Some places have a lot of moister in the air they provide and it will cause the valve steam to leak.

Pictures of Blue if you're really bored. http://photography.geothunder.com/?p=454
Great tip on the water in the air. I've always let a pump expel into the air knowing that the water shouldn't be in the tire, but I never thought about what would happen to that water once the cold got to it. :o

Blue looks awesome! So why did you go with the xice3s vs the Altimax Arctics like on Blue?
Not sure what I think eyesight yet. I think it is cool for cruise control, but I have yet to have it activate the breaking system. I don't think it would stop you from hitting anything. It would probably just slow you down a little. On the other hand it isn't very invasive other than it beeps at you once in awhile.

They don't make Altimax Arctics in a size that is really close to what comes on the Forester. I think I would have been significantly undersized if I went with the Altimax.

The xice3s are a green tire so they are suppose to help get a little better mileage. They are also quieter and don't reduce driving performance as much when there isn't any snow.

Having used them both a little now... The Altimax tires are better value if you can deal with the fact that they are a little louder.
The altimax are way better in snow. The xice3s are maybe a little better on ice but not much.
SamirD
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Very cool to hear that eyesight isn't too invasive. I always get worried that these systems will take it too far and actually cause an accident.

I almost got the xice3s, but wanted the ultimate show/ice performance since people here are idiots driving on summer tires with 3" of fresh snow and getting into accidents all over the place. I ran into the Arctics by accident and then kept researching to find out they're the ultimate bang for buck if you've got two sets of wheels.

I love the Arctics. It snowed here a few days ago and while everyone was putting along since they had no traction, I was driving 95% normal with no issues or slipping. I love the Kizashi AWD + Arctics combo! How do you like Arctics on the Aero?
Stodge
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My wife has Arctics on her Versa, but they don't really work that well. But that could be because of the car more than the tyres.
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Moto
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The arctics are stupid good on the aero. Freeway speed on packed snow is no problem. The only thing is that other drivers get freaked out when you are hauling ass and they are on the edge of their seat. The aero is so well balanced that if you get it out of shape you just mash the gas and point it where you want to go.

With summer tires on the Aero is scary. The first time snow is in the forecast I pull the summer tires. I nearly curbed it going 30-40mph last fall because it snowed on day when I wasn't expecting it. The arctics have really good lateral grip keeping sideways travel predictable and controllable.

The car's ability generally exceeds my own.
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Moto
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:facepalm:

.... Copy paste from my post on the forester forum.....

My new forester xt has about 600 miles on it. 350 of those were put on in a dealer trade.

Anyway I put about 200 on round trip to an airport in a neighboring town.
On the way back I noticed an oil/plastic burning smell when I slowed from freeway speed. I figured it was just some of the components breaking in. Today, I drove the car some more and found that the smell was now persistent at low speed even when the engine wasn't fully warmed up.

Figure I better hunt a little as it is a similar smell to my wrx before I replaced the valve cover gaskets...

Pop hood.
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It looks like I lost quite a bit, but the dip stick is showing near full. (hopefully there was enough pressure to everything)

I'll probably call and see if they want to haul it in... but the damage is probably already done if there was a loss of pressure.

So anyway kids if you new forester smells hot you might want to start checking for oil leaks. I only live a few blocks from the dealer. I will take it in tomorrow and see what the deal is. I didn't actually pinpoint the the leak because there are too many shields in the way. I have a feeling I will have to get old blue(saabaru) out from under the tarp though.

On the bright side... I was going to roadtrip the car to Denver from Eastern ND so it is good thing that I flew. At freeway speed I may have blown all of the oil out of the engine before I noticed the problem.

I will provide some kind of update once they pull it apart.
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KuroNekko
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Damn, that sucks. I wonder where it's coming from. Given that the leaked oil looks fresh and you claim that you did not lose much oil, sounds like you caught it early.
I noticed that the newer Subaru engines use a top mounted oil filter (located above the area of the oil that was pooling). Did you check the hoses and fittings around there to see if the oil leak could be coming from that area?

Hope it gets resolved quick.
2011 Suzuki Kizashi Sport GTS 6MT (Black)
murcod
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That's not good! Lucky you weren't heading off on a long trip.

It looks like engine oil??? (I assume CVT fluid is similar in appearance to ATF?)
David
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KuroNekko
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murcod wrote:That's not good! Lucky you weren't heading off on a long trip.

It looks like engine oil??? (I assume CVT fluid is similar in appearance to ATF?)
Many owners say CVT fluid is a green fluid. The photos really look like fresh motor oil.
2011 Suzuki Kizashi Sport GTS 6MT (Black)
SamirD
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Stodge wrote:My wife has Arctics on her Versa, but they don't really work that well. But that could be because of the car more than the tyres.
I don't think they would help fwd sans lsd very much on starting, but probably still would on braking, where they help A LOT on our Kizashi.
SamirD
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Moto wrote:The arctics are stupid good on the aero. Freeway speed on packed snow is no problem. The only thing is that other drivers get freaked out when you are hauling ass and they are on the edge of their seat. The aero is so well balanced that if you get it out of shape you just mash the gas and point it where you want to go.

With summer tires on the Aero is scary. The first time snow is in the forecast I pull the summer tires. I nearly curbed it going 30-40mph last fall because it snowed on day when I wasn't expecting it. The arctics have really good lateral grip keeping sideways travel predictable and controllable.

The car's ability generally exceeds my own.
Sounds super fun. :twisted: :drive:
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