Justin Time

Really sorry to hear that - what a !Removed! ( word removed! was .. an adjective, blood·i·er, blood·i·est. stained or covered with blood: a bloodX handkerchief. bleeding) pain. I need access to a car everyday living in a rural spot so at least I'd hope for a courtesy vehicle. I'd also read on a US Subaru owners' website that there have been issues with 'weak' windscreens. It was posited in one thread that the screen is 'thinner' in places to accommodate the Eyesight system to function more accurately. Not sure how true that is. But I understand that Eyesight also needs to be recalibrated when a new screen is fitter. Subaru windscreen cost Regarding access to Subaru spares, I've been unable to get hold of a new set of steel wheels any-time-soon, or even Subaru wheel nuts as apparently these have to be ordered directly from Japan and shipping takes weeks (months?), especially with the current global supply issues. I guess that owning a brand of car that has relatively low sale figures in the UK also impacts on the availability of spares.

I read this today and thought of your post https://www.subaruoutback.org/threads/check-engine-light-eyesight-lane-departure-rab-collision-avoidance-failures.537365/ so it's a very very long shot but maybe.. just maybe... fingers crossed it's that simple - fuel cap?

Great to hear you're enjoying the car Richard. How is the cvt different from other autos to drive ? I ask as I've only driven a cvt auto (well, apart from a 15 min test drive of a Mitsubishi Shogun Sport auto around a ring-road so too brief to really notice).

Brilliantly clear instructions - thanks. I'm tempted to change my pin to a new, easier for me to remember one, but as I have butter-fingers and a knack for technological mayhem, I'm leaving well alone (for now!!). 😂

Seems so... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TJgUiZgX5rE

I've not had that happen yet, but at the w/e I had my first in-car warning symbol that eyesight wasn't functioning. I was 'wild' car camping (sleeping in the back) in the Lakes and when I started to drive away on a fresh, dew soaked, cold morning, even though the condensation cleared on the top of the windscreen inside (from my breath), obviously it hadn't cleared sufficiently on the eyesight camera lenses. It only took a couple of miles driving with the a/c on before eyesight started to function. While on this trip, I also used the 'carabiner trick' to fool the car into thinking that the rear hatch was closed (when in truth it was wide open) and so stop the battery drain which can happen when leaving the hatch open ( only needed on auto open/close boot hatches) for long periods, as often required when car camping.

At risk of asking a daft question, as you'd think the dealership would know if this is an option or not, but.....Is using your home wi-fi to update maps possible on a 2019 XV? I'm not sure when Subaru equipped/updated their info system in the UK, but it is possible on the late Gen5 Outback and I believe the Forester too. Sorry if it's not.

Srotty., I can't answer your q re why a cvt is any better (or worse) than other forms of auto gear box. I just love mine (but am also glad its got a 100,000 mile warranty attached!). But tyres, now then! Cheekily changing your q a bit, I've been using winter tyres (not all season) for over 20 years now, ever since i moved to the NE of England (God's own country) and had a few early commuting scary moments in my old ford escort, on long drives home in the dark and snow/ice. Now I know better, and I can't understand why anyone who lives north of Birmingham, and away from the milder coast, doesn't change from their usual summer tyres to winter tyres (or maybe all-season), November to April-ish, especially if they drive their kids/family around and care about their well-being. Best current advice is from: winter tyres and All Season tyres It's a no-brainer, especially if you live in a rural spot. Down-sides? If you have one set of wheels and you have the tyres changed twice a year (winters on then off) there's a cost, and you need somewhere to store them, unless you use a 'tyre-hotel' but that costs too. If you have two sets of wheels (say alloys for summer and steelies for winter), there's the cost of the extra set of wheels, and TPMS valves, but you can switch the wheels at your own convenience at home, at no cost, until the tyres wear out. Again, you need space to store them at home. Yes, there's also a cost of investing in a second set of tyres, but then the other set aren't wearing out when they're 'resting'. People often mistake having a 4x4 with better winter traction - they're wrong if they have summer tyres on. A 2x4 with winters on is better than a 4x4 with summers on. If you've no, or little tyre traction then it doesn't matter if you've 4x4, 6x6....etc - you ain't going anywhere (safely).

Cheers Jay. I'll look into that.

There's loads I love about my Outback, but one of my early grips was with the DAB radio reception which is far worse than the DAB in my old (2016) Skoda. I think the culprit is probably the awful antenna printed on the rear hatch. The new Gen 6 OBs have a sharkfin antenna, so I guess when I next buy one of them (likely no time soon ) I'll be sorted. In the meantime, does anyone have any advice on how I can improve the present reception, aside from bent wire coat-hanger suggestions ?

My last car, a Skoda, also had no service booklet as Skoda started to do all there's electronically as digital records. But what if, like me, you used an independent Skoda garage? No problem. Just keep your service print out invoices and, IMPORTANTLY, staple the payment/debit card receipts to the copy so as to verify payment and authenticity. When I had a warranty issue with the Skoda, I simply photocopied the service invoice sheets, with receipts of payment attached, and gave them to the Skoda dealership as proof I'd kept my end of the service/warranty bargain. I used copies, not the originals, as I didn't trust the main dealership not to lose them! I eventually, this year, traded in the Skoda for my current Outback and the service records (sheets and receipts) were all seen as authentic proof - no problems. My current Outback does have a booklet. But remember, booklets and service stamps can be mocked up easily. I'm still going to keep the service sheets and receipts as they're much more difficult to fake. Re your question. Do your records have the names, addresses and contact details of the VAT registered garages you took the car to? Mileage authentication for each service? Details of what the service entailed? Ideally, do you have proof of payment also, which match the invoices from the garages? For an older car (say 2015) that looks in good really nick, it probably isn't a deal breaker if you haven't, but it will most likely reduce the trade in valve.

Just back from another overnight 'wild' car camp in the Outback. One of the reasons I bought the car was that, with the rear seats down flat, it allows me to stretch my full 6 feet easily (take the rear seats headrests out, reverse them and put them back in again to make a platform for a pillow). Sleeping bag and bedroll - sorted. Also, as most car campers will know, having the rear hatch open for extended periods is often necessary, if only to lounge in the back, with the nose of the car pointing into the wind, and take in the landscape while quaffing a brew. As I'm often stealth camping in areas with no phone signal, I don't want to get stranded with a flat battery. So I tried this Rear Hatch OB Battery Drain Fix and it works! To be fair, I've no idea if my car has had a fix for this known issue (it's still a reported problem on the Gen6 OB so maybe not). So....I'd be grateful if someone could see if it's still an issue with the late Gen5 OB and save me the hassle of being stranded/needing a jump start... 🙂

I've recently had the same issue through the Subaru website trying to get a price quote for an accessory (sump guard) from Ullswater Subaru. That's 3 weeks ago and not even an automatic acknowledgement email. I wonder if it's the Subaru website - the one that forces you to use the online contact form? I've found phoning the dealerships directly better. Regarding servicing, I telephoned half a dozen or so a few months ago, just out of interest for the cost of the first service (1 yr 12,000 miles). Most were asking (for the Outback) around £250, with the exception of the dealership in Alnwick which was £150 (I double checked that too). More recently, I was speaking to a member of staff at the Dales Subaru stand at the Westmorland Show the other week. Seemed very pleasant. Skipton (Barnoldswick) would be a couple of hours for you? About the same for me. The two more locally based Subaru dealerships (Darlington and Penrith) are new franchises and I wonder about lack of Subaru servicing experience. Mine's due a service in December. I usually use an independent garage I trust, but I think I might go Subaru dealership first this time and see what's what. Let us know how you get on Andy.

It might be worth posting your question on here https://www.subaruforester.org/ as the Forester is a very popular car in the US, certainly compared to the UK.

I can only answer part of your question (i think) , but according to my Subaru warranties and servicing booklet, all turbo engines Subarus have a 12 month or 10,000 mile (which ever is sooner) interval, while the naturally aspirated ones have a 12 month or 12,000 miles interval. So that would suggest the XT is more expensive to service than the XE, if you do 10,000 or plus miles a year? Other factors might come into play too, but I'll let the forum experts provide those.

Thanks for all your replies. I checked out the issue on subaruoutback.org and it seems it's not an uncommon issue. There's a Subaru Of America note to dealers over there to explain how to sort it out. Basically, the issue can happen with new Subies, with auto-levelling LEDs if they've been recently transported on a truck and haven't been on the level, as often happens. Long-term parkign on a hill/slope can also cause an issue it seems. The SOA advice was that the system usually sorts itself out after a period (although the time period wasn't specified). If that doesn't work there's a trick dealers can do with the fusebox in the engine bay to 'nudge' the correction. I'm pleased to say that the first option (just wait a bit) sorted it out for me. A couple of nights ago I was late home and was dreading driving back along the busy A66. As it happened, no one flashed me, not even the truck drivers who are usually quick to signal if youve forgotten to dip you headlights! So, result! I'll add that in the intervening days and the correction I hadn't done any night driving so it must have been the 45 min drive home on the problem night that sorted it. Still don't like the High Beam Assist though 🙂

Hi Otto Von. I can't answer your question directly, but if you don't find a solution on here, and you've also tried calling a few Subaru dealers, it might also be worth contacting. http://[email protected] directly (they're responsible for importing Subarus to the UK and managing the dealership franchises, etc.). I've found them to be helpful in the past with some queries I've had.

I had a bit of a rant (thanks Forum for the chance to therapeutically vent - I felt better for it afterwards - all calm now) on another thread last week about my issues with the auto-levelling headlights on my 6 months old Outback being set too high from the factory, causing other oncoming traffic to flash me. With the nights drawing in this is the first time I've really used the headlights. I've just phoned the dealer I got the car from to ask for advice and whether any adjustment would come under the warranty or, if not, if I'd have to pay for it. The point being that if its going to cost me I might as well take it to my village garage down the road. The dealer's advice was ambiguous at best about the warranty claim. So, anyone else with a newish Subaru had any similar headlight problems, and if so what did you do about it? Thanks.

Thanks Jay. Checking out a US forum I found that when the cars with auto-levelling headlights are being transported on the back of a truck or similar, it can thrown the auto adjusters out. Apparently, they are supposed to self-adjust 'after a period of time', of driving, with the time not being specified. There's a memo from Subaru to dealers telling them how to sort this which involved messing around with fuses and the like, and running through a routine of switching the lights on and off with ignition and off and so forth. But also, helpfully, this video was posted too Auto Self-levelling headlight adjustment - manual which shows a 2020 OB. If the problem persists (i.e. doesn't magically sort itself out) I'll have to give this a go, or call Subaru assist and let them get their hands dirty.

It's been a 'bad' day with the OB today 😞 First I found the automatic tailgate had mysteriously opened up itself on the drive this afternoon (no keys in my pocket, or similar) and I still don't know why. Then, driving home from the pub (no alcohol for me - 😇) it was the first time I had the headlights on proper. A 'less than wonderful (to get thru the automatic edit); experience. Yes the LED are like star-trek lazers, don't I know it, and so did all the other drivers coming towards me, flashing me and no doubt hating my guts. Even on low beam, they were dazzling on-comers. I pulled over to see if I could manually adjust them only to find they're flippin' automatic (but not so flippin'; clever it seems). I have been searching Subaru threads to see how to adjust the 'automatic' headlight levellers - Jeezzzz! Also, the High Beam Assist is rubbish! Why? Well for starters the super bright headlights bound back off every clean road sign and caused the headlights to dip onto low beam. So when driving along a twisty B road into a tight bend, the lights reflected off the black and white chevrons on the direction signs, jumping them down to low beam, just when you need to see where you're going. Whether the high beam then could be bothered to come back on again seemed totally random, leaving the unlit road, just like that - partially unlit. Same thing happened along an unfenced moor road, with the lights bouncing off the red and white reflectors on every snow pole along the route. To be fair, sometimes the HBA couldn't be bothered to come back on high beam again so we were at least saved the strobe effect from when it randomly decided it could be bothered to light the night's sky between poles. Sorry - rant over. Not a 'appy Bunny 🐰

That's good to know. When I collected the OB the salesperson said that another option to avoid the car alarm going off if a dog is left inside was to turn the sensors each side of the windscreen so they point down. Never tried it myself. Whatever, it's probably really helpful to find out what your code is, and record it somewhere in the car/or similar, just in case you find you can't switch the alarm off or start the car at some time in the future.

I've been working at home all day, looking out onto the drive where the OB is parked. All well...and then, an hour ago, I noticed the tailgate was wide open! Not sure for how long, but I would estimate it was open for less than an hour. I can confirm that the key fob has not been inadvertently pressed. It's hasn't been in my pocket, or anyone else's, since Tuesday, but has been safely hanging up in the key store. When I went outside to check the car, I noticed the alarm was off (no flashing light on the dash), but the car was still locked. I did a factory mode settings check to read the battery voltage = 11.4v (ummm!!!) Scratching my head as how this happened. My very long shot guess is that when I went to the far end of the house (furthest away from the OB) to sort some out some confidential papers, I may have accidentally caused the spare fob to get compressed as it was in the box with the papers. But to be honest, that's an extremely highly unlikely scenario. In fact, I tried pressing the spare key fob (tailgate release button) from the spot where the spare is kept, and it didn't activate the read tailgate as it's out of range. Now I can't concentrate on my work as I'm looking out the window at the tailgate every few minutes. Looks like if I'm going to get any piece, and work done, I'm going to have to rope the tailgate closed from the inside!! Seriously, it's not knowing how this happened which is a real bind. It could have been parked in a public car park or similar. GrrrH! The car has done less than 4000 miles. Anyone else had a similar experience with auto tailgate?

Probably the best source of recent OB towing info/experience is to be found on the subaruoutback.org forum, like this thread https://www.subaruoutback.org/threads/2020-towing-capacity.513581/page-20#post-6149831

I really get what you're saying. I loved my 2.0 Yeti diesel - the sound it made, the sense of torque and its 'gruntiness' ( 😉 ). What I'm not missing however, are worries about the DPF and EGR valve failures, which I knew would be a issue despite my regular use of the more expensive diesel options at the pumps. I guess I could add to the list the absence of a turbo to go wrong and, in the case of Skoda 4x4s, the newer Haldex drive systems which were getting a reputation for built in obsolescence (maybe not an issue with the Mitsie). Have a look at Ssangyong - Korando or Rexton? Despite what I've said above re the Rexton's 4x4 system, you do get a lot of extra kit; they do diesels too; and there's a 7 year warranty (Subaru have just reduced theirs to 3 years). Ssangyong do have a issue with the main company going bust in Asia though, so something to think about.

Great set of instructions Olliesgrandad. Thanks for posting. I did mine too on the OutBack and the only extra bit of advice I would add, was that putting a full lock on the front wheels so they turn to allow more hand space, really helped. The other thing i found confusing is that there is a really great guide for the OB mudflaps on Youtube USA Mudflaps fitting on an OB BUT!!! the US flaps are obviously different from the UK/European ones and need to be drilled (on the front pair only) from below the sills - upwards. It took me a while to work out what was wrong and that the UK set need to be 'drilled' from within the wheel arch. Don't panic!!! if you can't get a drill into this space between the tyre and the wheelarch or/and you're worried about drilling into the bodywork - you're not going to be touching the bodywork at all. You're only drilling through the new plastic mudflaps to make a small hole for the fitting, and in fact you don't even need a drill, just a sharp braddle or similar to make a hole in the plastic will do it and then bore it out a bit more so the screw fits through. Can't believe why Subaru make the whole (hole - excuse pun) process so complicated! It was a 10 min job, front and rears, on the old Skoda.