To CVT or not CVT - AKA Tweaksta's Future Ride?

Today I finished the last 0.3-0.5 miles of a trail that had denied that segment to the Outback. The point was to see how the 4R would do. While I had very little experience then and only 1" lift back then with the OB, there is no way I could have done that even with the 2.5" total lift I had for a year.

Looking at the video, I used 85-90%% of my approach angle (33 vs about 19.5 on the OB back then and 22.5 or so on the fully lifted one), scraped the recovery insert in my hitch 4 times (three spots, gotta go both ways), considering that I have 26 to hitch here vs 20-21 to hitch on the fully lifted OB, and managed to run out of brakeover angle twice (partly because the transfer case skid plate eats 1" of clearance). But this is why I have a 3/16 steel skid there.

The three spots in question are also narrow and tippy (not that the latter was ever an issue in the Subaru).

A 2009-13 Forester with a 2" lift and oversize tires would have made it, barely (I am stock except for stock size AT tires and aftermarket skid plates).

Basically, if you stick with Subaru, do also stick with a Foz....
 
There seem to be the occasional concern about the CVT and the newer Foresters not being as capable. As Nachaluva said they are plenty capable. With a lift and underbody protection etc they will get to just about anywhere and yes the X-Mode works very well.

So, if the new 2019 is at least as capable as the current SJ NA with CVT (which it seems it is) I won't have too many complaints and would happily drive away in one. Based on my experience to date I think it is very unlikely that I will come across too many situations when I would need something more capable than what I have, especially when half the fun is surprising others in what our vehicles can do regardless of what particular model we drive.

To answer a question from the original post, I haven't noticed any significant difference when going up a tyre size from 225/60/17 to 225/70/16 and there has always been enough power.
 
Where's the video ?!

On my hard drive:iconwink:

You know, I dont post video or pics on the internet. I have posted very few only, just terrain.

There is nothing to see on the video other than the dog and a bumper coming close to kissing the ground. The hitch in the rear did scrape nicely.
 
Here is a fun moment from today.

I have been thinking that it is the low center of gravity more than the presumed light weight that makes Subarus so successful in challenging conditions despite the lack of low range or lockers. After all, modern Subarus are not light and their tires remain quite small, when we talk weight all that matters is the weight relative to the contact patch. Eye-balling the contact patches on the 4R vs what I had on the OB, it might be that the pressure per sq cm is actually lower with the 4R.

Anyway, here is what happened:
There was one nicely eroded spot at the start of a hill on the Blue Monster Spring trail today (Central AZ), where someone had thrown a couple biggish rocks to get by. There, I finally got serious wheelspin in the 4Runner (this was my fifth moderate 4x4 trail in the 4R in the 5 weeks I have had it). I was climbing it in 3rd gear low range without using the rear locker or any of the offroad traction control modes. The 4R failed just as the Outback would have, but, unlike the Subaru, it also slid sideways to the right when I gave it another try (the OB would have remained in the same place). That put an end to the experiment; I put terrain select on "moguls" and powered through with ease without the rear locker. I did not need the rocks and in fact the 4R threw the biggest of them a couple yards backwards when spinning (never seen the OB throw a rock this big!).



This is a big difference from the Subaru. There are plenty of fun dials in the Toyota--and they need to be used. When they are used, the 4R is amazing but I am not sure the 4R would have even made it in 4H, whereas the Outback with no low range and single-mode traction control would have certainly made it, lots of wheelspin and all.


This does not apply to Subarus without VDC, which would have had extremely hard time getting by this spot.

As has been said before: a Subaru's efficiency is remarkable. It does so much with no low range and just a single-mode traction control. And X-mode cars will be better than my OB was.

Yet, Subaru insists on deleting all that capability courtesy of the angles of the Outback, the Ascent, and the XV (approach only but that's key). The Forester is better, but even there, instead of improving, Subaru went backwards in 2014 (US models at least).
 
As has been said before: a Subaru's efficiency is remarkable. It does so much with no low range and just a single-mode traction control.

So imagine how good it is with low range, available up until 2014. Although it's only 1.19, the SF 1.447 gearset can be swapped in.

And X-mode cars will be better than my OB was.

I haven't used XMode offroad in any real capacity but have heard all about how good it is
 
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