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This is the kind of thing that has me questioning whether I will every buy another Subaru with a CVT.

I had to go out during our snow on Saturday, so I went in my wife's Forester with the Avid Ascend GTs. Assuming it was the tires, but they were great in a mix of snowy, slushy, icy conditions.

I was thinking back to all the times I've driven in snow with all season tires, and I could only think of one experience that was worse. I had to drive to the airport in my 2003 Miata SV with Toyo Proxes T1S, an ultra high performance summer tire, after a snowstorm in January 2004. I made it, but it was very slippery. That experience was worse than the OE Goodyears -- barely.

I only need tires to be decent in the snow about 1 week a year. I put my the Yoko Avid Ascend GTs on my wife's Forester last time around, but, thanks to the pandemic, they haven't seen snow yet. They only sing on really fresh pavement, but so have a lot of other tires we've owned with good traction characteristics. Sounds like my experience with the Goodyears isn't surprising.

I just had a very bad experience with the OE Goodyear LS-2s in snow. I was driving in central NY last weekend while visiting family, and these tires, which were at 6/32 at last check, were slipping and sliding all over the place in less than 2 inches of new-fallen snow, even with smooth, consistent inputs. I've driven my wife's 2011 Forester in worse conditions up there with that car's OE Geolanders and Michelin Premier A/S, and the experience was completely different: almost no slippage when driving like a sane person. I grew up driving in the area, so I am not unfamiliar with driving on snow. I find it kind of hard to believe that Subaru sold the Legacy with these tires in northern states given my experience. I visit my family up there every year for the holidays. I think I am going to have to find a better tire if I want to drive the Legacy on those trips. I am curious to hear what other people's experiences and recommendations are.

Every time I see another 6th gen Legacy on the road, I think how good it look. I also liked the 4th gen. Maybe Legacies are like Star Trek movies, and only the even numbered ones look good.

I need all-seasons good enough to take 1 trip a year to upstate NY in the winter and the 1-2 snowfalls we get a year in NC. The Yoko Avid Ascend GTs on my wife's Forester are perfect for this. The OEM Goodyears on my Legacy are not quite as good in the snow, but they are fine for the most part.

FWIW: It cost $1400 to replace the timing belt on my wife's 2011 Forster XT earlier this year.

I wish I could say the same. My 1995 Taurus needed a new transmission at 46k, and my 98 Cherokee needed all the window regulators replaced (some more than once), along with a the instrument cluster and an AC compressor before 50k. My luck with Japanese car brands has been much better. (Mazda, Toyota, and Subaru)

In a sense I did, but I don't have two big dogs. I actually went from a 2016 Outback to a 2017 BRZ to a 2018 Legacy. I won't go into all the motivations for this odd progression, but I essentially didn't like the way the Outback drove/handled, loved the BRZ but my bad back made it almost impossible to get into and out of at times, and settled on the Legacy because it addressed the bad back situation and drove like a car. Having recently driven a 2021 Outback loaner, I feel really good about where I ended up.

I got a mailer from Subaru offering roadside assistance through Cross Country Motor Club for $79.95 for our entire household, which is about $10 cheaper than AAA Basic plan for 2 people. Has anyone compared the Subaru plan to other options or actually signed up for it? I looked on Yelp, but pretty much all the roadside assistance companies get terrible reviews.

Aside from the diff changes, it is pretty much like any other midsize sedan. If it were me, I'd bite the bullet and get the new tires myself, so I would feel good about the tire choice. The OP could also try to get a tire allowance from AutoNation since they sold the car with mismatched tires which goes against manufacturer recommendations.

Just one anecdote, but I had more (qty. 2) head gasket failures on the 1 Suzuki and 3 Mazda products I've owned than any of my 6 Subarus over the years. In fact, I've had none on the Subarus. Would I still buy a Mazda? Sure. Can't buy a Suzuki in the US, but I might consider the Jimny under the right circumstances if I lived where they were on sale.

My dealer did something very similar for a seat belt recall on my wife's Forester, and that was before the pandemic, which has decimated their service business since people are driving so much less.

https://www.amazon.com/60mm-center-caps/s?k=60mm+center+caps

There are a couple in Central NC that might be able to help: http://turbotime.us/subaru-performance-tuning-services/ http://insomniamotorsports.com/subaru-performance/ There are others around I am sure

Are you sure this vehicle was never in a front-end collision?

My dealer offers prepaid oil change & tire rotation, which saves me about 30% off their regular rates. I pay ~$300 for 6 at a time, which ends up costing around $50 per visit. I used to do it myself, but I have developed back problems which make it impossible for me to do any more, plus my time is worth more than it costs with the prepaid plan. There used to be an independent shop near my work who I could go to to get work like this done at a lower cost, especially the big service intervals, but then I changed jobs, and they moved about 20 miles farther away from home, while the dealer is <5 mins away. Again, time is money, so the dealer gets my business. I've tried some other independent shops, but they either don't know what they are doing with Subarus, or they cost as much as the dealer. Finally, as for the drain valve, it might be fine on a Legacy, I don't know. However, my brother-in-law put one on his mom's minivan, which was great until she unintentionally ran over a possum, and the carcass ripped the end of the valve off unbeknownst to her, draining her oil all over the road and eventually damaging the engine beyond the point it was worth repairing the car. It is apparently not without risks. If you are savvy enough to change your own oil, I'd think you would notice the oil pressure light on the dash, but not everyone who drives the cars you maintain might notice in time.

Just a thought: clouding on the top is possibly due to UV exposure, especially since it is on the top of the assembly. To avoid this, there are films and coatings you can add, but arguably, this should not be necessary. My wife's 2011 Forester has high beam DRLs, and there is no clouding of the headlight assembly, but she parks in a garage at home and at work, so UV exposure is very low.

Well, I guess that answers my question as to whether Android Auto was any better than Apple CarPlay on these cars.

My dealer is picking up/returning cars for service right now. I suspect many others are as well, depending on how far you are from them. https://www.subarusouthpoint.com/covid-19-update.htm

I went from a BRZ to a 2.5 Legacy. The BRZ isn't fast, so the thing I missed is the handling. Things I didn't miss were: 1. Premium Fuel costs (not really an issue at the moment though) 2. Hard Ride 3. Climbing in and out I have a bad back, so the comfort of the Legacy was the reason I switched.

Judging from the firmware revision listed in the document linked in the first post in this thread not being anything close to what is currently on my head unit, I am guessing this does not apply to mine, which does not have built-in Nav. However, it does give me a glimmer of hope that maybe one day they will fix at least a few of the bugs I see on a regular basis.

Sorry, not the TSB. I was talking about what the OP posted. The PDF they linked states:

Does this update only apply to Head Units with Navigation? The PDF suggest that is the case.