Rizmo

I often drive my CVT manually, with lever flipped across gate and using the paddles. So cool, and impresses the girlfriend(s)! On Chris Evans motoring page, in the Mail on Sunday, there is a box with mention of the new XV. Says only that it has new front, bigger spoiler and alloy wheels (as though it had steels before!).

That sounds very much like a problem experienced by some Kia owners, where the tank lining is coming off, and clogging the fuel filter, which is in the tank. It is easy to change the filter, but Kia have admitted a problem, and are replacing fuel tanks on any affected car, whether in or out of warranty, and with any service history. Whilst yours may not be losing its lining, the low mileage history may mean there is sludge in your tank, which is being sucked into the fuel delivery system, when you put your foot down. The Sportage owners usually only experience their problem on overtaking or steep hill climbing, with heavy throttle. I know it is a pain to remove the Forester tank (the Kia filter is bolted into the top of the tank, and easy to access), it might be worth a check.

Had a car with a strange noise behind dash, and turned out to be a loose section of wiring loom rubbing on back of glove box. That sounded more like water sloshing than a rattle.

I wonder if Subaru will be able to fit Eyesight to current UK cars, as it is available on US spec cars. As so many UK sourced cars are now being fitted with various types of accident prevention automatic braking systems, it probably won't be long before it is a Subaru option over here on new cars, but a retro fit would be nice.

Not much wrong with any XV, I would have thought. Try and drive as many as you can and check out the dealers in a reasonable distance from you (not all dealers are good). If you go for a sat nav version, don't expect up to date mapping (not just a Subaru problem). Good luck with your search.

I will keep my £1000 (a year????) and my spare, and not have to sit for a couple of hours on the hard shoulder, admiring my lpg tank, while waiting for the recovery truck, as my tyre is shredded and a can of goo is of no use. That is context. I would rather wait for Subaru UK to import the hybrid, which would be much cheaper to run. It might be OK for some, but not for me. Then again, perhaps I could buy my mates RR, that would be a deal.

I would love lpg, but what would I do with my spare wheel??? Major downside is the tank for the gas takes up so much room. A mate has it on his Range Rover, and has removed the petrol tank, and replaced with a gallon tank (as petrol only used for starting), and the lpg tank is where the old petrol tank used to be, so no loss of boot space.

Here is a photo of where my boot floor sits, with factory spare wheel fitment. There is a rubber mat on top of the carpet which makes the floor look higher than it actually is!

My XV is slightly lower than my old Kia Venga (but both have adjustable height seats). Changed as elderly mother cannot get into Venga, as sill is high, but floor low, so a bit of a stretch for her old legs. The XV has a lower sill, and higher floor, so easier for her. Used to have a 54 Forester, and that was easier to get into, but the seats seemed lower again (replaced a RAV4, which was high).

If you have the factory fit spare wheel, the floor comes up level with the bottom of the hatch door, so giving a level boot, rather than one where you drop items into it.

Reminds me of when I bought a new Nissan Bluebird Turbo, and had no code (not in dealer pack). Mentioned it in the pub, and was told, by a person (known to deal in car radios!!!), that you could reset a radio, by leaving it in the freezer overnight, and putting in any code you wanted, next day. Needless to say, I got in touch with Nissan, gave them the vin number, and they gave me the code.

Welcome to the forum. Sounds like a nice motor - bring on the snow!

Had mine for 6 months, and covered just over 3K miles (not my only car!). Car is running perfectly, with no real issues (groaning door mirror on nearside is about all), but the paint is very soft, and had to get it repaired by chip man already. As mine is petrol with CVT autobox, the performance is as expected - slow take off, but then power comes in big style, and off you go (I have a heavy right foot), and manual overide paddles are great to use. Only drawback is the optional get you home spare wheel is huge, and takes up a lot of boot space (if buying new, you have to order spare, as boot floor is factory modification, but after market spare fits OK, just not secured by factory fixture). Have a long test drive (my dealer in Worksop was happy if I had driven it until the full tank ran dry!), as it can be noisy/jittery on poor tarmac roads, at normal speeds - but is great off road at slower speeds. Just waiting to try it out in the snow! Just remembered - if you are thinking of towing a caravan, there is a low weight limit, and only suitable for towing light 2 berths, like a Sprite Alpine or Bailey Ranger.

And never dent the other car's bodywork, with carelessly opened doors!

Hi, and welcome to the forums. Not mine, but good luck with the search.

Brilliant! Will ignore the maps, and follow my ears!

Sorry for appearing a bit thick, but where exactly is the meet? The post code has put me in a trading estate, but the facebook entry shows a water park or similar (which is up the road, a bit). I know I can follow another car in, but sod's law I will end up leading someone else (the wrong way)!

Sounds like a trip to the dealer, but not urgent, as I can still manually switch them on (oh, the hardship - lol). I agree about the wipers too, mine refuse to work when I start the car, if the screen is wet, unless I do a manual wipe first. Been told the sensor has to "see" rain falling on it, and can't do it if already wet. Again, switching the wipers on, is no big deal.

Room for a little one? LOL Hope to make this one, but it is my lunch time!!!!!

My auto headlamps only work in the dark (as expected), but not in the fog or rain. Before I take it back, to see if the sensor sensitivity is too low, do any others find the lights reluctant to come on? Oddly, in the summer, the lights always came on, when the sun was still shining, but at the official lighting up time. So, are the lights also paired with the clock?

Forgot to update! All done in under 2 hours, and would not know car had been marked in the first place. Even did the horrendous looking scratch across the roof, in front of the sunroof - which turned out to be adhesive from the factory protection film (poor pre delivery cleaning!).

Anyone fitted these flaps, especially to an XV? Advert states fits to existing holes, which suits me, as I hate drilling into the car for no reason, but not sure there are enough holes there. Any thoughts, before I part with £136 of hard earned pension money?

Took it to Paint Chip Techniques Ltd in Mansfield. Used them 10 years ago for the Forester I had then, which had been hit by a rock on the A pillar, and they did a great job then. Looks like I will get it done next week, so very happy with that.

I had a 2004 Forester All Weather - lots of toys and a good 2 litre engine. Would need to check the specs, as may not be heavy enough for your towing needs.

Had the car 4 months, and treated it to a valet. Reported that there were some paint defects - two scratches on rear bumper and bunch of stone chips on driver's door bottom. Took to local paint shop, and they will do it, between jobs, for £35, including paint. Quite happy with that. Now will make sure car is garaged, and not left out for local kids to ride their bikes into it (bumper), and will get some mudflaps to keep the stones at bay.