Does the "end of month" thing apply for Subaru dealerships?

[Monique]

I have an Android and my wife has an iPhone and a new Subaru, so I've used both a little bit. (As it is not my car, not very much).
CarPlay looks good and works well with the Subie, other than accidentally having two mapping programs talking at us at once.
Based on 5 minutes of experimentation, Android Auto does not seem to play as nicely with the Subaru console.

Interesting. What isn't playing nicely? We don't have an iPhone to compare.

 

[Monique]

Hmmm. This got me to thinking. My manual transmission experience is actually quite narrow. A long string of Subarus -- the biggest variation over the years was the clutch feel. A few big-ish trucks. Yes, a tractor. A right-hand drive British Escort (nothing like the US Escort) -- that was fun.

Now I want to demo a "good" transmission.

My husband loves his BMW transmission and thinks my old Outback's transmission is garbage. But you know, when I'm used to skiing (wait, what? driving!) the Outback, his transmission felt weird. So I dunno.

 

[Philpug]

1988 Honda CR-X Si had the best transmission I've ever driven... Z06 Corvette was like an M22 Rock Rusher.. Bunch of other cars..nothing stands out particularly.

Yes the CRX Si was very good, especially considering that it was a FWD car. Best I have driven Miata's, S2000's and Toyota MR2's. @Monique to drive a quality manual transmission is a visceral experience.

 

[mdf]

Interesting. What isn't playing nicely? We don't have an iPhone to compare.

Well, take my comment with a grain of salt. I literally spent less than 3 minutes playing with it. (I could go down to the garage and experiment, but I haven't. My wife has a low tolerance for me fussing with the systems when we are supposed to be going somewhere.)

The carplay, I plugged it in and brought the map up on the console screen right away. With Android Auto, it was not clear how to do that... it put my phone screen in car mode and did not remote it.

Maybe I'll remember to give Android Auto a real chance this weekend.

 

[James]

"Shifting? What's grandpa talking about? Oh, is that when people used to have to control their cars themselves?? How weird."

- not so distant future teenager

 

[François Pugh]

My old Honda 750 Interceptor had a sweet five speed transmission, but I suppose that's not fair.

 

[Monique]

The carplay, I plugged it in and brought the map up on the console screen right away. With Android Auto, it was not clear how to do that... it put my phone screen in car mode and did not remote it.

Maybe I'll remember to give Android Auto a real chance this weekend.

On mine, I do have to hit the "Android Auto" button on the car - it doesn't automatically reflect onto the car's screen.

 

[Monique]

So, ignoring all the discussion of safety issues when using a console display -

Oh, man, did I say I wasn't going to fall in love with this car? I'm falling in love with this car. I drove the 2008 Outback up to Breck this weekend to hand off to a neighbor who's also a private dealer. There wasn't much traffic, so the shifting was fine - but the road noise was awful! And ... huh ... I actually noticed that the new car's 3.6L H6 steps out nicely, even on climbs. I mentioned this to my husband. "Well, there's an old saying - 'there's no replacement for displacement!'" He also enthused that it is a *much better* road trip car than the old one. It's much quieter. The seats don't bother his shoulders. There are various nanny features that could save your bacon if you got tired or mesmerized by a long drive. Every storage spot is bigger than in the old car - more room in the door pockets, more room in the center console, etc etc.

I'm still infuriated by the car's "need" to play audio every time you turn it on. There's no way to disable this. Also, I realized that there's only one "cigarette" charger in the front. I guess they figured they didn't need it because they provided built-in USB. But overall, I'm enjoying this. My husband says this just means I'm getting old. I guess I'm okay with that. I'm realizing I'm more of a "point A to point B" driver anymore - not driving for enjoyment's sake.

 

[mdf]

I'm still infuriated by the car's "need" to play audio every time you turn it on.

On mine, it remembers the setting when the car was turned off. The problem is you can't change the volume or turn it off till it finishes booting up. So we have this common exchange

"Too loud!", "I'll turn it down as soon as I can."

I try to remember to turn off the radio at the end of my commute home.

 

[Monique]

On mine, it remembers the setting when the car was turned off. The problem is you can't change the volume or turn it off till it finishes booting up. So we have this common exchange

"Too loud!", "I'll turn it down as soon as I can."

I try to remember to turn off the radio at the end of my commute home.

Trying to decide which is more annoying, LOL! If I set the default volume too low, it will auto play my phone, and I'll miss a chunk of whatever it's playing (podcast or audiobook, usually) before I realize it's been playing silently ...

 

[scott43]

So, ignoring all the discussion of safety issues when using a console display -

Oh, man, did I say I wasn't going to fall in love with this car? I'm falling in love with this car. I drove the 2008 Outback up to Breck this weekend to hand off to a neighbor who's also a private dealer. There wasn't much traffic, so the shifting was fine - but the road noise was awful! And ... huh ... I actually noticed that the new car's 3.6L H6 steps out nicely, even on climbs. I mentioned this to my husband. "Well, there's an old saying - 'there's no replacement for displacement!'" He also enthused that it is a *much better* road trip car than the old one. It's much quieter. The seats don't bother his shoulders. There are various nanny features that could save your bacon if you got tired or mesmerized by a long drive. Every storage spot is bigger than in the old car - more room in the door pockets, more room in the center console, etc etc.

I'm still infuriated by the car's "need" to play audio every time you turn it on. There's no way to disable this. Also, I realized that there's only one "cigarette" charger in the front. I guess they figured they didn't need it because they provided built-in USB. But overall, I'm enjoying this. My husband says this just means I'm getting old. I guess I'm okay with that. I'm realizing I'm more of a "point A to point B" driver anymore - not driving for enjoyment's sake.

Yeah that's kinda my take. It's actually a decent long distance driver with the 3.6. Quiet..smooth..nice ride. The steering sux, I hope yours is better, but really not bad.

 

[Monique]

Yeah that's kinda my take. It's actually a decent long distance driver with the 3.6. Quiet..smooth..nice ride. The steering sux, I hope yours is better, but really not bad.

I haven't noticed it, and I hope I won't notice it! The old Outback didn't exactly have tight steering, either.

 

[scott43]

I haven't noticed it, and I hope I won't notice it! The old Outback didn't exactly have tight steering, either.

I've read that the 2012's has a shimmy in the steering that was not easily resolved. So for 2013 they installed basically a friction damper in the steering box to stop oscillation in the steering wheel at speed. The downside is the steering is numb and difficult to move on-centre. For instance, on a gradual steering wheel release, like a highway on-ramp, the steering will not return to centre without some help. It's a little..off-putting. That's one of the few things I don't like about the car. Otherwise, I like cruising at 130kmh at 2300rpm..quiet and sedate.