NA vs XT manual offroad

[NachaLuva]

I know you lose a bit of power with the auto but there's no clutch to burn out. You can crawl with ease over rocks and never have to worry bout finding 1st on the move. The only thing is doing that mod to manually lock it in 50/50.

I kinda like the XT...but I think an H6 with 6spd MT or modded auto would be my pick!

 

[Rally]

Tell that to the 20 odd GT and XT owners on the GTYRydaz drive a few years ago. None of them could keep up with me on a drive around Oberon on sealed roads. I started off towards the middle of a fair size convoy and passed everyone in front of me- great fun. I was really proud of my poverty pack MY05 X. On the corners I kept it flat everywhere, while they obviously had to lift. And yes, they were trying and some even came up and had a go at me- not aggressively mind- for making out my car was not turbo'd. It was the most enjoyable, thrilling drive I ever had in that car and it made me appreciate just how good the basic package is. What other car offers that level of ability on tarmac, and yet can go where it does off road, for anywhere near the price?

It would be fair to say that on that occasion I was not driving around like an old woman!

 

[taza]

I know you lose a bit of power with the auto but there's no clutch to burn out. You can crawl with ease over rocks and never have to worry bout finding 1st on the move. The only thing is doing that mod to manually lock it in 50/50.

I kinda like the XT...but I think an H6 with 6spd MT or modded auto would be my pick!

Really? I'd either like an auto or dual range manual with 4.11 diffs and 1.59.1 low range
I can see the benefits of the auto but with the 2.0 or 2.5 N/A I'd take a manual as they would be gutless, but that's for another discussion.

Tell that to the 20 odd GT and XT owners on the GTYRydaz drive a few years ago. None of them could keep up with me on a drive around Oberon on sealed roads. I started off towards the middle of a fair size convoy and passed everyone in front of me- great fun. I was really proud of my poverty pack MY05 X. On the corners I kept it flat everywhere, while they obviously had to lift. And yes, they were trying and some even came up and had a go at me- not aggressively mind- for making out my car was not turbo'd. It was the most enjoyable, thrilling drive I ever had in that car and it made me appreciate just how good the basic package is. What other car offers that level of ability on tarmac, and yet can go where it does off road, for anywhere near the price?

It would be fair to say that on that occasion I was not driving around like an old woman!

Far out, you must of really been hammering your Foz! I do understand where you are coming from though, when I used to race and drive quad bikes as a teenager I used to have a small engined quad (300cc) and it could keep up with 500cc's and 600'cc's. Especially if you know the terrain well and your skills are upto the challenge.
I did however slide out and hit a steel pole and fence and really stuff up one bike. I also hit an emu too. lol

 

[Davidov]

Tell that to the 20 odd GT and XT owners on the GTYRydaz drive a few years ago. None of them could keep up with me on a drive around Oberon on sealed roads. I started off towards the middle of a fair size convoy and passed everyone in front of me- great fun. I was really proud of my poverty pack MY05 X. On the corners I kept it flat everywhere, while they obviously had to lift. And yes, they were trying and some even came up and had a go at me- not aggressively mind- for making out my car was not turbo'd. It was the most enjoyable, thrilling drive I ever had in that car and it made me appreciate just how good the basic package is. What other car offers that level of ability on tarmac, and yet can go where it does off road, for anywhere near the price?

It would be fair to say that on that occasion I was not driving around like an old woman!

Yeah but thats the driver not the car. Im sure if you were driving one of those XT's in that same situation you would have absolutely left them behind.

 

[Rally]

You have to adopt a very aggressive driving style- and you simply cannot lift off even for a second, otherwise the turbos will have you. Basically I was prepared to go in harder and deeper than they were and the straights were not long enough for them to haul me in. I got into a rhythm and the car was so good- better than a soft roader had any right to be. It was because of this drive as much as my desire to go bush again that I decided to get another Forester when the opportunity arose.

 

[Ratbag]

Gidday David

Yeah but thats the driver not the car. Im sure if you were driving one of those XT's in that same situation you would have absolutely left them behind.

It's always the combination, mate.
The driver AND the car.

It also depends to a large degree on the familiarity of the user with the tool; be that tool a car, camera, scalpel, multimeter, whatever.

I am not yet anywhere near as familiar with Roo2's habits as I was after driving Roo1 for nearly 18 years. Because of this, I will not push Roo2 to anything like the same degree as I would have happily and with confidence pushed Roo1. Give me another 30,000 Kms behind the wheel of Roo2, and I will be too old to do anything as stupid as that anyway ... :iconwink: :lol: :rotfl:

 

[NachaLuva]

You have to adopt a very aggressive driving style

lol :rotfl:

 

[taza]

You have to adopt a very aggressive driving style-

Done. lol

I feel strong enough to push my Forester to it's limits. But not as it curently is with bald tyres. Offroad I know it's limited (mainly limited by lack of power and open diffs) .

I can push the L-Series a fair but but not to it's limits.

 

[Rally]

Just be aware of lift off oversteer. It can bite very hard with disastrous consequences

 

[taza]

Just be aware of lift off oversteer. It can bite very hard with disastrous consequences

Really? is that to do with AWD vehicles in general?

I find if im in a slide I have to keep my foot planeted for the the car to straighten up, otherwise it will slide out if I lift off or brake... *this if offroad on gravel of course*

 

[Rally]

No, it can happen in lots of cars. The shorter the wheelbase the worse it can be. The Subarus have very soft rear bushes which certainly do not help.

 

[stilson]

I was planning on fitting a heavier rear sway bar.... That was unti I drove it hard and witnessed the mean lift off oversteer. It can be pretty fun but if it caught you by surprise it could be very scary.

I remember being overtaken by a ford laser on a sweeping bend and witnessing a pretty hairy ride on his part when he backed off.

Back on topic, I bought the NA because I believed it would be the better of the two offroad. Is it the best? No. That would be a mixture of the two. If I was to do it again I'd get the turbo and put the smaller wheels and dual range gearbox in it.

I am very happy with what I have though both on and offroad.

 

[taza]

I was planning on fitting a heavier rear sway bar.... That was unti I drove it hard and witnessed the mean lift off oversteer. It can be pretty fun but if it caught you by surprise it could be very scary.

I remember being overtaken by a ford laser on a sweeping bend and witnessing a pretty hairy ride on his part when he backed off.

Back on topic, I bought the NA because I believed it would be the better of the two offroad. Is it the best? No. That would be a mixture of the two. If I was to do it again I'd get the turbo and put the smaller wheels and dual range gearbox in it.

I am very happy with what I have though both on and offroad.

If I were to do it again I would get a turbo Forester. I would get a manual and put a dual range box in(the same as what I have). I just run no swaybars now as it makes a huge difference offroad. My endlinks are worn out with massive amounts of play in them so it made very little difference taking them off.

 

[NachaLuva]

Just be aware of lift off oversteer. It can bite very hard with disastrous consequences

My biggest problem is learning to deal with the Foz's understeer. Im used to entering a corner at the right speed then powering out through the apex. But I've found as I enter the corner I just get a bucket load of understeer...worse since the last W/A. I havent had a chance to test the idea of braking mid corner to load up the front...

 

[taza]

My biggest problem is learning to deal with the Foz's understeer. Im used to entering a corner at the right speed then powering out through the apex. But I've found as I enter the corner I just get a bucket load of understeer...worse since the last W/A. I havent had a chance to test the idea of braking mid corner to load up the front...

I get understeer in the wet in the foz, the L-Series get's it really bad. Pretty much never get over steer unless I'm really trying on a gravel rd or use the hand brake..

 

[Rally]

The whole approach to any bit of driving is to get 3 things right before a corner. Get the speed right, get the line right and be in the right gear. With that sorted, all you need to do is turn the wheel. I think once you have to start doing corrections on the road from that, you are driving too fast for the conditions and you need to look at driving on the race track- especially if it is dry

 

[thunder039]

I get understeer in the wet in the foz, the L-Series get's it really bad. Pretty much never get over steer unless I'm really trying on a gravel rd or use the hand brake..

agree understeer on bitumen but i can get oversteer on gravel etc
i dont generally care too much about understeer on the road as i dont drive that fast and i like to leave my idiot driving habits off the main road were no one else is around!

 

[guzzla]

If I were to do it again I would get a turbo Forester. I would get a manual and put a dual range box in(the same as what I have). I just run no swaybars now as it makes a huge difference offroad. My endlinks are worn out with massive amounts of play in them so it made very little difference taking them off.

But can the dual range gearbox take the turbo power and torque? There must be a reason Subaru has doesn't fit them to turbos. I'm with the people who'd go for the auto if you want to do rock crawling - and then you probably need to be looking at a completely different vehicle anyway.

 

[thunder039]

But can the dual range gearbox take the turbo power and torque? There must be a reason Subaru has doesn't fit them to turbos. I'm with the people who'd go for the auto if you want to do rock crawling - and then you probably need to be looking at a completely different vehicle anyway.

they can take the power apparently as long as dont hammer the gearbox, which to me seems pointless in buying the turbo if you cant have any fun :iconwink:

to me the low range just makes up for the lack of low range power from the NA rather then for rock crawling. if i had more low end power i doubt i would use mine very often. for example when i 4x4 in my brumby due to the low end torque i very rarely use the lowrange maybe once or twice

 

[taza]

agree understeer on bitumen but i can get oversteer on gravel etc
i dont generally care too much about understeer on the road as i dont drive that fast and i like to leave my idiot driving habits off the main road were no one else is around!

I only do in the wet around round abouts.. You have to be giving it a fair bit though which is just danergous anyway.

If you want to get a slide offroad you really need to be in 1st high range (in the foz), ~4000rpm then turn (maybe give the handbrake a little pull but keep the button pushed in so it drops back down), then plant your foot on the accellerator so it's at 5500rpm. You will get a good controlled slide then :iconwink:

But can the dual range gearbox take the turbo power and torque? There must be a reason Subaru has doesn't fit them to turbos. I'm with the people who'd go for the auto if you want to do rock crawling - and then you probably need to be looking at a completely different vehicle anyway.

Sure can, Just don't be dropping the clutch and it shouldn't break..

they can take the power apparently as long as dont hammer the gearbox, which to me seems pointless in buying the turbo if you cant have any fun :iconwink:

to me the low range just makes up for the lack of low range power from the NA rather then for rock crawling. if i had more low end power i doubt i would use mine very often. for example when i 4x4 in my brumby due to the low end torque i very rarely use the lowrange maybe once or twice

The Brumby has much better low end torque than our Foresters, but sucks up high that's why you don't need to use low range much. My L-Series is the same :iconwink: