covertrussian

Another data point, I did about 500 miles city, not a drop of oil was consumed. Then this weekend went on a highway MPG test, 160miles, ate 8oz.

Highway MPG test was for testing LED's, I'm still working on getting enough data for city tests, but so far looks promising!

Hey that's better then my around town! I got 18.25mpg around town (barely any 50+mph), for 310 miles, and that's with the wife driving most, so fairly light footed .

Looking forward to the highway only mileage .

I would put a pretty fat bet on the 2020 Outback having a 2.4DIT with HDCVT. But Subaru execs did say that there is no turbo Crosstreks because the regular versions sell too well. Legacy sales have been really bad so they are hoping to improve them with a turbo version.

Anyway, I'm really curious on how 3.6r does in, the real world, gas mileage wise compared to the 2.5i's. Gas mileage wise it's only 2mpg less then my 6MT EJ253, telling me that if I had a traditional auto (not CVT), it would get similar to the 3.6r.

MrSubaru1387 ran it on non-ethanol, and that's what we're running it on. Will do an actual comp on it whe we fill up today or tomorrow.

 

And you've "tweaked" the OB tune correct?

Gotcha, I only run mine on E-10, it's not worth the drive to get to ethanol free (plus it's not a Shell ).

I'm actually back on stock tune, it's just not worth the head ache to mess with it. Subaru basically programmed the ECU to be a dual octane. I noticed that stock tune will eventually find it's happy place and the car will run good on 87 (and even better in the winter). But if you reset your ECU often, then your back to square one every time, and at that point it's better to start with a fine tuned base.

I basically lost all of my motivation to tinker with the Outback after the Ascent came out. I'm actually thinking about selling it before it depreciates more :-/.

I've had both 5th Gen and now a 6th Gen legacy and they get quieter every generation.

This is what actually annoyed me about going from 4th gen (2005) to 5th gen (2012). It was a step back for me sadly. A friend bought a 2006 Outback 2.5i, standard (non leather) and it even has a quieter engine (pretty much the same EJ251-3).

Call me an ass, but seriously you're comparing the words limited and premium, not the vehicles. This post has to be one of the silliest things I've read.

2005 Limited Sedan to a 2012 OB premium to an 2019 Assent Limited.

In the words of one of favorite TV adds - "That's not how it works, that's not how any of this works."

 

 

 

You have to drive the same vehicle in different trims to make any comparison of trims.

 

 

 

You might as well throw a Ford Limited into the comparison. Heck there has to be other manufacturers with Premium and Limited as trims, bring those in as well.

I'm afraid you missed the point I was trying to make. The point is, Subaru puts extra comfort magic into Limited trims compared to lower trims. It's a trend that I'm seeing going back to even 2005.

Another example! My friend has a 2009 3.0r with cloth seats. I was so underwhelmed by it that I swore off Legacies, when it was time to upgrade from my Infiniti. I then test drove my 2005 LGT Limited and instantly fell in love. The 2005 limited, even though 4 years older, was miles ahead of the 3.0r with cloth seats.

I DID test drive the Ascent Premium couple months ago, while it was nicer (mainly because it was newer then my 2012), it still felt like Subaru took the same kind of shortcuts that they did for my 2012 Premium. I simply didn't test drive the Ascent Premium on my specific road, which is not the smoothest road in my city.

My 2012 Legacy GT Limited also is quieter than my 2012 2.5i Premium was. The engine was quieter. I initially thought it was muted sound of the turbo and some of my imagination (I owned them at the same time for 3 months) I am 100% sure the electronic e-brake was less noticeable in my GT than 2.5i.

That's great to hear, which further proves my hypothesis on Subaru really stepping up their game for Limiteds and higher.

Also the e-brake is pretty loud on my 2012, it's pretty annoying, another reason I never use hill assist

7 seats + Cloth seats = Premium. Also if tinted windows stock = at least premium.

The Limited replaced all those cheap hard plastics with leather, at least on the dash, I didn't crawl around too much in the back seats .

Other than the wheel sizes what makes the two feel different? Or are you referring to the interiors not the ride?

 

THANKS

This is straight up interior. While I don't love leather seats for say, the overall interior feel and sound deadening seems to be much less "cheap". I saw the same exact thing when going from my 05 LGT Limited, to my '12 Outback Premium.

For example, on my '12 Premium doors sound hollow when you close them, the rear hatch vibrates and transmits a lot of road noise and thumps into the cabin, while the 05 LGT Limited is no where near as bad.

For perspective, this Ascent Limited was even better then my Limited LGT: Doors had a nice thump when closing, on my road there were no rear hatch amplified noises coming in from the outside either. To be honest, I forgot and didn't even notice that it had 20" wheels, because it was better then both of my 17" wheel current Subaru's.

Now, Since I didn't test drive the Ascent Premium on my road, I can't say if the premium is as bad as my Outback. I can only judge by the cheaper interior feel of the Premium when I sat and quickly test drove a few months ago.

Test drove another Ascent today. Really wanted to see if the Limited is nicer then the Premium, plus wife has been wanting to see what the Ascent is like too.

Thought? Limited is indeed nicer then the Premium! While the Premium feels like any other non luxury vehicle, like say Nissan, Subaru makes the Limited's feel much higher end, more like an Infiniti.

Other thoughts and key points:

3rd Row: Wife had plenty of room in the 3rd row, we think 3 of hers would fit comfortably back there, thus it's not for kids only. If I had to guess, I think the 3rd row feels as wide as the 4th gen Legacy's back seat.

Spark Plugs: Driver side spark plugs are completely unreachable from the top, but passenger side ones are visible and might be accessible with a step stool .

LED Headlights: I couldn't tell if the LED's are actually replaceable, but I didn't try to push my luck with trying to remove them in the dealers lot

Overall wife really liked it, it's much quieter, and more refined then our current Outback. But price and uncertainty of the CVT reliability and DIT valve fouling, will hold me from buying one for awhile still.

And finally, I took the Ascent up my driveway and my parent's driveway. My driveway was 10* slope on average, while my parents driveway hit little over 15*. This is why we need GOOD AWD to get home around here

Bumping this comment up because Engineering Explained actually tested removing the charcoal filter:

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F1JmOKKAgyQ]Do Charcoal Air Filters Rob Your Engine Of Horsepower? - YouTube[/ame]

Ah right, the whole thing huh. I looked at the service manual, and it's funny that they say "Replace if the filter is clogged, or time for replacement has come." If I were to open it up to inspect, I think I'd just replace as well, after going through all the trouble already. I'm not seeing an interval on the schedule though...

 

Wix is pretty middle of the road, and adequate considering my short intervals (10-15k) anyway. Cost is less than 1/2 a new OEM Denso filter, so I went with the Wix filter to do some experimentation.

 

When I cracked open the airbox over the weekend, there was an additional filter screen/mesh panel between items (7) and (8), ie. after the panel filter.

 

I looked closer at the diagrams for the intake airbox for our year (2012), and what I saw doesn't appear on exploded view. I didn't try removing the mesh panel. from the rear of the airbox. Should I?

PCV is slightly modified, actually going to an aftermarket inlet reduced consumption, since it moved the PCV port from right off the turbo to further up the pipe (lower pressure drop further away from turbo, thus creates less vacuum).

I need to try out 10w30 oil from Valvoline, it seems to have much lower evaporative properties.

I do need to get under the car and see if there is another oil leak that I'm missing.

I would think if turbo seals were shot, it would eat oil constantly. I think the oil sheering and becoming thinner is the best explanation on why it only starts to eat oil after X miles.

In my case, I did oil change, no consumption for 500 miles, drove ~500 miles highway (could different trips) it consumed about 16 (I topped it off at 4-8 oz increments weekly). I now drove about 500 miles since then, city only, and it hasn't consumed any at all. Thus the added miles increasing consumption doesn't apply it seems.

Also my city drive is fully of hills, I do a lot of deceleration, and consumption is still good.

That oil should be good for plenty more miles then that, what weight are you using? Have you done an oil analysis?

It could also be my 5w30 oil sheering at highway speeds, while city driving it's fine.

FWIW, after an oil change, I find it takes about 2500 miles before the wagon begins to use oil.

That sounds like normal oil break down then, what oil are you using again?