What’s the best Subaru for off roading?

Damian V

Forum Member
Joined
Feb 2, 2021
Messages
22
Location
Coburg Melbourne
Car Year
2011
Car Model
Forester
Transmission
Auto
Hi I’m just wondering which would be the best Subaru for moderate off Roading? Is a manual better than an automatic and which Subaru has the least amount of problems with a lift kit? I do own a 2011 Forrester there seems to be a lot of problems with oil consumption also it’s an auto, so my question is would I have been better off getting a manual or better off getting a first or second generation Forrester what do you think? Is the third-generation is good enough?
 
A 2011 auto would be fine - what spec oil are you using?
 
It stared blowing smoke so my mechanic suggested putting thicker oil in it 20-40 or 20-60 I’m not sure, but a Subaru person pointed out it’s meant to have 0-20 so it’s now got bottom end rattles and runs rough and blows lots of blue smoke for the first couple of minutes. I was thinking of buying a new motor that’s had the Pistons upgraded so that it won’t burn oil with the correct oil in it

I think I found a good mechanic now but he is very hard to get a hold of, he seems to prefer racing Subarus on bitumen and not using them in the dirt
 
Damian, 0W-20 fully synthetic oil is OK if you live somewhere near the Arctic Circle ...

I run 5W-40 Shell Helix Ultra FS in our 2006 and 2009 Foresters. Both have the EJ253 engine.

My 2006 SG uses no oil between changes - 2 years or 24,000 Kms. The 2009 SH leaks about 0.5L per 10,000 Kms - head gaskets have a very slight leak.

No one in Australia should use an oil as light as 0W-20. That weight is only good for an ambient temperature of about 30°C!
 
The best offroad Subaru is one that actually gets used as opposed to one that looks the part but is a urban princess…

Cheers

Bennie
 
there are no best car for off road 4wd or AWD no matter ... there is just what you need , where you live , it all depends on so many factors.
and auto is better for off roading then manual ...its just better ... specially those older autos they will last forever when your clutch on manual wont. some people chaging they clutches like after every muddy off road here ... so yh depends... manuals can go more agresivelly sure ... but for short time ... when auto will be slugish ... but it will bring you home also after all that fun .. so then depends on your style ... but for 2011 car you dont wanna destroy it so auto is fine ... just take car to places yourself and see for yourself... its pointless to ask stuff. first you need to experience stuff yourself ... how it feels how it drives , how much you need to push it ...what are limits... many things... just take cat to places and learn...
after you can ask maybe what you need to do to improve it ... so then its another story .. as you can improve it ... maybe with skid plate and tires at first ... air down tires... see how it improves just from that soo much ...
 
any car that you have or can have is best rly...because if you could just take it to places .. thats it .. its best experience ... it doesnt matter how good it is even ...
 
There seems little doubt that the Forester has the best off-road pedigree among the stable (L-Series owners might take issue with that!), but we decided against one in favour of a BP Outback.

Why? Because when we were brutally honest with ourselves about the kind of trips we were most likely to do, we recognised that only a small percentage of them would be spent on rough tracks.

This is an honest admission of our age (low 60s) and the fact that my wife has little interest in all-day rock crawls. If I were honest, my appetite for them is pretty low nowadays too, after a youth spent doing little else.

The Outback is our realisation that probably 90 per cent of our trips are now done on tarmac and gravel backroads. It’s a better proposition (in my opinion, at least), for the kind of touring we now do, and the kicker is that we have a Labrador that always comes with - and he likes to stretch out.

In the end, I’d just endorse what everyone else is saying: the best vehicle is the one you’ve got. Look after it and use it wisely!
 
m0r0gu3 said:
A rented Subaru.
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Not in Australia, my friend. They specifically prohibit any kind of off road use, they have your credit card and deposit, and go over the vehicle with eagle eyes when you return it.

ANY damage, and you pay for it.

The old adage that "You can't damage a rental car" stopped here decades ago ...

And :welcome: to the forum.
 
Dave Hansford said:
There seems little doubt that the Forester has the best off-road pedigree among the stable (L-Series owners might take issue with that!)
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I agree with this Dave, many ppl upgraded from their lifted Ls to the foresters - and had the same ground clearance as their old Ls did before adding any lift. Where the forester lucked out was with the unlockable centre diff and poorer approach and departure angles and the lifted L series. But lifting a foz helped that.
Plus, the forester was made in different trim levels, with different engine options and for a MUCH longer period of time - thus many more to play with! The L series had a run of ten years (‘84 to ‘94, ok, technically 11 years!), had one engine option in three setups (carb, NA efi and efi turbo) and two trim levels. It had one update in ‘87 which changed diff ratios and some styling. And that’s the L series in a nutshell. The forester, well, too much to share here!!

Ratbag said:
they have your credit card and deposit, and go over the vehicle with eagle eyes when you return it.

ANY damage, and you pay for it
Click to expand...
You need to learn how to 4wd better @Ratbag :poke:

Cheers

Bennie
 
I’m still nostalgic for my L-Series, Bennie; all four of them. The carburetted 1.8, maybe less so (although it did have a genuine low range). My favourite was a JDM turbo with pneumatic height control (brilliant on the few weeks a year that it was working) and a locking centre diff.

I put a viscous LSD in the back. That thing was unstoppable on sand, and so much fun on gravel!

I’m one of those crusty old buggers that laments the electro-complexity of modern Subarus.

Ideologically, me and Subaru probably parted ways the day the company decided it would build cars for US market preferences from now on. When I look at the bloated, ridiculous post-2020 Outbacks and read the burgeoning forum threads about their nanny tech going wrong, I can’t help but feel we’ve lost our way.

There’s not a single model post-2008 that I want a bar of, which is why my BP Outback will see me through to that great trailhead in the sky.
 
Dave Hansford said:
There’s not a single model post-2008 that I want a bar of, which is why my BP Outback will see me through to that great trailhead in the sky.
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I agree. I had a loan 2019 Liberty, and prefer my 2006 SG in every respect. Specially steering, suspension (ride and handling) and drivetrain.

It was also like driving an unfamiliar Apple computer. A nightmare!

I want to drive the car, not have the car drive me.

SWMBO's 2009 SH is OK, but I still prefer my SG.
 
If ever you're in need of a chuckle, those forums make great light entertainment — like the guy whose car wouldn't let him start it because he was wearing sunglasses. And the one that chirped a warning every time the guy checked his side mirrors, because it had seen him take his eyes off the road. But my personal favourite is the Outback that actually FOUGHT another guy's efforts to take a motorway offramp, because eyesight saw he was trying to cross a white line. The world has gone mad...
 
I started with Subaru's in 2001. I currently have manual and auto foresters and outback. All older models. If I take them off road it does not matter that much that they get lightly scratched. My preference when off road is lifted (2" SLO lift) auto forester (SH 2009). My son drives manual SG again lifted (SLO 2") . I like beach and bush driving. Bouncing off rocks and damaging my cars does not appeal. I have driven newer foresters with bells and whistle's and nice on road but I would not want to damage. Fix what you have and use it!
Graeme
 
Graeme said:
I started with Subaru's in 2001. I currently have manual and auto foresters and outback. All older models. If I take them off road it does not matter that much that they get lightly scratched. My preference when off road is lifted (2" SLO lift) auto forester (SH 2009). My son drives manual SG again lifted (SLO 2") . I like beach and bush driving. Bouncing off rocks and damaging my cars does not appeal. I have driven newer foresters with bells and whistle's and nice on road but I would not want to damage. Fix what you have and use it!
Graeme
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Thanks Graeme, I decided to fix up my 2011 forester. You mentioned you not to fussed if you get a few knocks on your old Subaru’s just wondering if you seen the YouTube page “she’ll be right” a few fellas down it Tassie doing amazing things with there’s I haven’t seen anyone driving them that hard before, I was thinking of adding a lift kit, but I heard 2” is pretty high and causes lots of CV breakages is it worth going for a lower lift, some one I know suggested adding spacers between the body and chassis to get a bigger tyres and a 1” lift, less strain on the CV joints. What do you think?
 
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