Hard Suspension

[Boomer]

Hi from a newbie in Ireland

I'm a very happy owner of a 2010 Subaru Outback SE NavPlus since July of last year when I went to the UK to buy and bring back one. Truly, the Subaru build quality is a step up (more like a leap up) from anything I've encountered before.

I just have one little niggle. Well a couple but one that I'm trying to sort at the moment. Recently while driving as a passenger in a friend's 2006 A6 Audi Quattro on the potholed gravel track to his remote and secluded house I noticed how incredibly soft the suspension was. I mean it was like floating on air. I asked him about the suspension and I just got an incredibly cocky smile as an answer. As a bit of a wiz on all things technical and engineering I asked him why would the suspension of my Outback be so incredibly hard, could there be a fault to it. And it is hard. Driving down this 'boreen' of a driveway at the same speed in the outback was a bone jarring, teeth clattering experience. Having pressed down on each front wing and released he just said that he didn't think that there was an issue with the suspension, just that it was hard.

I pursued it further with a mechanic I use, who has owned 9 Subarus in the past. He basically reiterated the same info. He told me that he could change the shocks and it might make next to no difference but then again, it could be that the car could bottom out. He also told me that I was the first Subaru driver he's met to ask him about making the suspension softer. Usually it's the other way round.

As Subaru's in general are a rare sight on Irish roads and Outbacks rarer still I'm having a hard time finding any other 2010 Outback drivers around to ask how theirs behaves, suspension wise. As some forums I've encountered have said how soft the Outback suspension generally is, I'm thinking that I've got a dud Sube, the previous owner made some alterations to the shocks or I've been on American forums and there is a different suspension setup on American models.

So I'm just wondering, if there are any owners of the same generation of Outback and how they would rate their suspensions?

Many Thanks in advance

[shms]

quote from road test...

 

The ride does a decent job of ironing out bumps and rough surfaces, although it can get caught out by deeper potholes, but it's impressively smooth on the motorway, so Subaru Outback comfort levels do impress.

**assuming yours is a Gen 4 (Gen5 legacy) either 2.0D or 2.5 petrol.... if it's rock hard something is amiss,,sounds like it's on coilovers !

mine's a 2007 and very compliant.

maybe get a Subaru dealer or Indy to take a look at it ?