ernieb

Sorry to hear you’re having so much trouble finding pads. I’m sorry to bang on about it but it’s a problem of having a car with such low UK production problems. My MOT a few weeks ago said I should monitor the brakes and when I talked to the tester he said I’d need to change them by the next MOT but they were OK in the medium term. There looks to me to be 5mm+ of material still there. Just hope you manage to get it sorted ASAP, I share your pain, good luck.

This is what I really want or the Subaru version, https://www.toyota.co.uk/world-of-toyota/Toyota-bZ?gclid=Cj0KCQjwvr6EBhDOARIsAPpqUPHocb-bZq4kifheaPpTm6pQshRzgptIcvdJHukyer5nQZzciAaQfJEaAu95EALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds#

@kash0613 understand about the caravan we had one for for about 10 years and needed a decent car weight, hitch nose weight and torque from the car to make driving comfortable. I always wanted to keep to the 85% rule. The very best tow car was the Isuzu Trooper, 3.5 Turbo D, which could tow most things up the side of a house! Of course not much good in terms of emissions etc., different times. Agree that Subaru have not kept up the pace on electrification etc., although they released cars in the US that never made the grade. I really think the next big step is the BZ joint development with Toyota, I’m sure that both companies will be showing real prototypes soon enough. Let’s hope that they have the guts to tow a decent load. The RAV4 PHEV can tow 1500Kg braked, not as much as the Hybrid version but the PHEV will operate in pure electric mode up to 85mph before the engine kicks in.

@kash0613 sounds like you have a good plan and for similar reasons in terms of car size. Although I liked the XV MHV the boot size is reduced even further. I do think there will be a few more cars with a decent PHEV range on the market soon and they make sense as a bridging car to full EV, for me the range anxiety of going to a full EV right now just would not work. The MG looks good and I think is good value right now and priced to build market share, similar to the Skoda brand a few years ago. I will be keeping up to date with the forum and if I can make a comment I will do so based on the three Subaru’s I’ve previously owned. I’d be happy to also post my impressions of the RAV provided that’s acceptable to the MODS.

Last post on this thread - honest! It's just an interesting observation on the Rav4world forum 4.5 Prime which is the US equivalent to the RAV4 Dynamic in the UK. At least one topic that gets a lot of attention and has featured on this forum, tires or tyres and what are the best for the RAV4, the Cross Climate 2's seem to be more or less voted the best. It's certainly the ones I'd have looked at first. Other topics which create some anger, cost of fuel (petrol and electricity which vary from state to state and supplier) and the possibility that due to tanker driver shortages that there will be a fuel shortage, lots of heat on this topic. The retail price that is referred to as MSP in the US is problematical as many people who want to buy the car are having to pay premiums for any car that is available, maybe not in the colour or the spec they want. (even buying in the north, flying to pick it up and driving thousands of miles home) There are some threads where they are talking litigation because of a price hike for a minor item e.g. a tow hitch, which was then queried by the guy who had paid a deposit and was then told because they were not prepared to pay the would cancel his order. In a nut shell the car had been sold to someone else for more money. The car is a hot seller in the US helped by the $7500 tax credit and sometimes $2500 State credit and it seems obvious that some dealers are looking to capitalise. It can and does get very political and the moderators only seem to step in when things get extreme and I mean extreme we're talking 'gun fight at the OK Coral".

@kash0613 The UK based Toyota Forums are also a little poorly populated but there seems be a few people, like on here, that keep the topics going. The mainly US forum is very active. It's called the 'world' forum but mainly US, Canadian and the occasional EU subscriber. The range of topics covered is wide and diverse and I've found it beneficial to read through the old posts. The US get big financial incentives to buy Hybrid and PHEV cars which we in the UK no longer get and even the pure EV cars have had the UK government cash back reduced. I do find it strange that they bang on about the cost of gas at nearly $2 a US gallon (about 80% of a UK gallon) However, i certainly will keep an eye on this forum as the development of the next generation BZ range is very closely linked with both Subaru and Toyota. Much in the same way as Toyota and Suzuki the later selling effectively a badged version of the RAV4 PHEV, cheaper but with some missing features. I hope you continue to enjoy your XV.

@Jay762 thanks, the XV is my third Subaru my previous cars being Forrester's, it’s the same dealer and has been excellent in the past. Overall the XV is a great car.

I guess that as Toyota own 20% of Subaru and they are the largest share holder I’m not really moving away from Subaru but just to another part of the family! it’s interesting that Toyota and Subaru are in a major development to design the BZ cars, with Toyota’s battery technology, my understanding is that Toyota got access to Subaru’s 4 wheel drive train as part of the deal. The battery they are looking to use is a development between Toyota and Panasonic and uses a a solid state battery which is high density and can be charged to 80% in 10 mins. that’s the future I guess and it’s where I’d like to be right now but the cars don’t have the range and the infrastructure is not there. When I bought the XV I was really looking for a hybrid with AWD but nothing really seemed to be there, the promise of an XV with a battery was on the horizon and I bought the current car with the understanding that if a battery model was released we would be first in the queue. When the MHV (mild hybrid) was released my dealer did not contact me but I was able to apply for a test drive at a Subaru event, really good drive and I reported it here. When I contacted my dealer all the first batch with the better spec as a bonus were allocated. I was not very happy but that’s life and after consideration we decided to wait to go full hybrid or even netter PHEV. My Subaru dealer did offer to make a deal on their test car when I last had the car serviced but again they did not happen. That is all back story. The current XV has turned to be somewhat small for our practical purposes, which means that things we carry all the time get bundled into the back seat space (Walking. Boots, shopping bags, emergency wet coats) as putting them in the boot does not give us much space when we travel. Even though both of us are on the other side of 70 we are fit and mobile, we also travel to Derbyshire probably close to 20 times a year as we have a share in a family lodge so regularly clock up 12K plus a year, lots of motorway driving but plenty of local trips when we are out and about. So a PHEV with a decent EV range would be ideal, up comes the somewhat expensive RAV4 PHEV which has a battery range of mid 40’s and according to the YouTube reviews I’ve seen better than mid 30’s even during the cold weather. It is expensive but as my son keeps saying please spend you cash dad, don’t leave it to me you’ve earned it. No cars were in the UK for a test drive so I did a deal and ordered one conditional on a test drive. It’s been cooking for months and a couple of weeks ago we go the call to test drive the car, rolled up and they gave us a set of keys and let us do our own thing, brilliant. I could give you my thoughts on the car but probably not the place to do that but it was a an easy drive and took no time to get used to the car as effectively the layout and controls are the same as the XV. I must just add that it goes like a rocket, 306 HP din, and with the dual electric motors it really gives a push in the back 0-60 in 5.8 secs. (AWDi) As for the current XV I’m finding the drivers seat has got more uncomfortable, that is partially due to my body configuration I guess my the dealer says the seat is OK. I also find the reflections in the windscreen due to the reflective nature of the dash and the cream roof is getting more distracting. I can mitigate it by wearing polarised glasses but at night I find it even worse. I may be a function of my seating and driving position and other may not experience the issue. The attached photo gives some idea but in real life for me it’s worse. I’m likely to hang around the Subaru forum as the BZ range is something that will interest me when it’s released in both Subaru and Toyota models (2025/26 maybe).

Hi all, Just a quick post to say I’ll be selling the XV and moving onto a Toyota RAV4, due the end of May all being well. Good luck to all on the XV forum. Cheers Ernie

@GGMan, Interesting that you'r looking for front discs and pads which sounds pretty early in the cars life cycle. But, when I had my cars second service they warned me that they might have to change the pads. My reaction was that I'd have been surprised but interesting that they felt it necessary to pre warn me. I'd probably look to the US for data as their version sells in big numbers. It's one of the issues I have with owning a Subaru, the cost of ownership. The services are expensive as are the OEM spares/ . When a tyre fitter damaged one of the TPMS sensors they said no problem they would pay for it but they could not provide it as it was a OEM part only, they were as shocked as I was that it was £120. Hope you get it sorted, brakes are so important. I'm du a third service and first MOT soon, I think I might get the MOT done independently prior to the service.

Wow, interesting photos that clearly show the effort to get those off. This seems to suggest that the design/assembly procedures does not make any effort to think about maintenance. Sadly, this does look to be a problem with many parts that might need replacement, e,g., spark plugs.

I think they did have a PHEV but it was dropped there is a new one for the US that is PHEV with what Subaru call StarDrive? It does not look like it's heading our way any time soon but the US market for Subaru's is so much bigger than the UK. It will be interesting to see how it performs in real life.

As has already been said probably best to find a local small garage with relatively low overheads to give you a quote. you might be better sourcing the bearings and get someone to provide the labour who has some decent tools to extract and correctly replace the bearings. The bearings of Subarus do seem to be a weak design feature.

Interesting. My grandson is approaching 17 and hopefully looking to buy a car. His current favourite is the Dacia Sandero which is based on the Renault Clio, not last years or the year before but this years. It’s just won the What Car “car of the year”. These kind of brands often treated as a joke mature over the years can become real competition with better equipment and much improved reliability as the brand develops. I remember only too well when I bought my Skoda Yeti the fellow members of my walking group regaling me with the old jokes, how do you double the value of a Skoda? - fill the fuel tank”. Of the six regular walkers, prior to Covid-19, three now have Skoda cars, with two of them owning two cars both Skoda. I’ve started to think more objectively that a 2 wheel drive with the something like the CrossClimate tyres would for the majority of occasions be more that adequate. Looking at YouTube videos of 4x4 on OEM tyres vs 2x4 on CrossClimates and comparing performance in rain, ice and snow. The 2x4 CrossClimate outperformed the “summer” tyred 4x4. I recognise that a 4x4 is bought for many other reasons, home location tracked roads etc. It will be interesting to see how the next few years bring better alternatives to the market but right now the pricing looks to be getting out of hand if you have to buy a 4x4 electric car.

From the original post it seems to say it's the official Subaru guard?

I’d seen something similar but the dates appear to be more like going into build early 2023 for the new Impreza/XV on a modified version of the current chassis (to get a hybrid battery into the body I guessed). I looks from what I’ve read that the petrol engine will likely be a 1.5ltr di so maybe more revs required to push the car along? The Subaru management forecast I saw suggested that they would be making electric, electric variants from 202t to 2030. The targets for sales are very aggressive but again never sure what that might mean for the UK. All of this looks to be based on the collaboration with Toyota for the battery technology and other battery management technologies. It’s interesting but some way off. Toyota have the RAV 4 4x4 due soon mind you for a well spec’d car it’s in the £45k + bracket. I did also see one suggestion that the hybrid would be more Forrester size than current XV again maybe to get the battery in and keep the traditional Subaru drive train. I looks like other manufacturers would go to electric drive with the engine providing only the electrical power rather than driving the wheels which would reduce the mechanical complexity but move away from the Subaru historical approach. it’s all rather interesting, I’d like to think my next car would be a hybrid but a Subaru looks to be a long way off in reality?

Totally agree it’s also not helped by the not very objective reviews from the car magazines etc., always rather predictably trot out. It seems to be a miracle if they get to 3 stars. I’d hoped that when the new boss at Subaru UK took over he would fore fill the promise he’d made in opening up the dealerships and pushing the advertising, it’s obviously difficult trading right now so maybe a little hard to judge but I have a sinking feeling that the brand will likely stay very much where it is. I recently talked to my dealer about when there might be a proper hybrid rather than the mild hybrid current versions. Reading between the lines of his prevarication it does not look to be any time soon and I’m not even sure that the “new chassis” is capable of bigger batteries other than what’s being fitted without reducing the boot space even more. Hopefully I’m wrong and Subaru produce a proper hybrid very soon.

It does seem that Subaru’s in general are expensive to have serviced only bettered by the LandRover Freelander I owned many years ago. One of the things that undoubtedly goes against getting competitive servicing is the low UK car sales rates, low volumes higher prices. It does impact on the cost of ownership and that seems to impact on the value of the car after a few years of ownership.

Sorry I thought they’d be the same hopefully someone can help.

There are some YouTube videos showing the US Crosstrek version which should help.

It’s been a distraction from lockdown, something different and good fun. The family are all into Lego, my son and grandson have made some really big stuff. The Lego Defender is about 44cm (17”) long, all wheel drive, 3 diffs, 4 speed sequential gearbox, hi/lo selection, D-N-R lever, etc., and about 2600 pieces. (No electrics it’s too small) It’s probably more reliable than the current crop being produced in Solihull?

I did also take this for a drive this morning?

We've had about 50mm (2") of snow on the ground and temperatures below zero. The local roads are snow packed but the CrossClimates perform brilliantly. It's been interesting watching neighbours struggle with low profile tyres even on the flat road let alone on the drive inclines, not a pretty sight. I had a neighbour come over, socially distanced, and ask what my car was as they were impressed at how easy it seemed to drive on the snow/ice.

@GGMan Glad you got it sorted finally. The third is SRT 282 – Positive crankcase ventilation valve replacement. Interesting comment on acceleration. I'm a somewhat defensive driver and rarely us maximum acceleration, a firm right foot just seems to be a waste of good money under normal circumstances but occasionally it's needed. I've tried prior to the recall to use less than max acceleration and increase the pressure as the speed builds in an attempt to decrease the noise level associated with the CVT when the engine is max'd out. Never worked as the engine always wanted to be gunned to get anywhere. Fast forward post recall and this increasing the right foot acceleration following the speed works a treat with an acceptable increase in pace with a very much reduced amount of engine noise. The engine revs build but don't need to max out, the torque and power look to peak earlier. I thought this was just me but you appear to indicate that something may have been changed in the way the engine is mapped so I'm happy that this for me is a benefit.

Sounds like a win - win, always good to look at new motors.