[Borsig]

We stopped while in richmond for one of our weekly appointments and looked at an 18.

Our local dealer is flat terrible, and the saddest part is Ive been going there for VW service for 7 years. I'll never go back. They are 40 minutes away. The next closest dealer is an hour and 15 mins. Beyond that everything is 1.5-2 hours up the road.
We were actually on their lot on Saturday, and walked out due to poor service. Sad.

We didnt drive it. Did not have time.

Pros -
Looked nice in black.
Interesting seating arrangement (couldn't test for comfort - not really enough time but seemed OK) Nice field of view, nice displays and driver interface. No blind spots.
Roomy. (crosstrek way too small for our main vehicle)
LED are a nice upgrade (we saw a limited)
The whole 18 upgrade in interior materials is a big change from the 17, imo. Especially coming from german cars.

Cons-
HK audio sounded like complete hot garbage. Maybe It needed the eq adjusted. It was on XM. The fender in my VW sounds much better. Maybe it didnt get a fair shake.

Doors felt thin. The door trim seemed to move a lot when I pulled the door closed. You pull on the handle and the whole panel moves? It didn't seem solid at all. Wife gave me a 'WTF is this?' look. Our last 4 cars have been German. Is this a Jap thing? Body panels also seem to be thinner and the car overall is more 'tinny'? Not severely, but the door thing.....

Dealer network. The next closest dealer is over an hour away. We were treated so poorly at Casey, we will never go back for anything. In fact I likely wont turn in my TDi there now either. This makes service a problem. It also makes actually finding the time to test drive one, and even an over night test a problem. It might actually end up even being a deciding factor to us, unfortunately. Its proven very time consuming to even get to look at one of these. Let alone get one serviced if there is a warranty issue, etc.

Right now the main comparison for us is the Grand Cherokee. I dont even know what else to look at. I need something that will handle beach sand on the outer banks and assateague, that isn't garbage or over priced, and doesnt drink fuel like it's water. It also needs to be a solid DD and hold up to as much as 25-30K miles a year until we get a second car in 2 years.

I despise car shopping. :|

 

[provels]

Right now the main comparison for us is the Grand Cherokee. I dont even know what else to look at. I need something that will handle beach sand on the outer banks and assateague, that isn't garbage or over priced, and doesnt drink fuel like it's water. It also needs to be a solid DD and hold up to as much as 25-30K miles a year until we get a second car in 2 years.

I despise car shopping. :|

I hear you. Hard not to feel victimized when your adversary in the deal does every day what you do every 10 years.

Not so sure I'd go with what has become the 2017 version of a 1970's Fiat, though. No Toyota or Nissan dealers around?

 

[Borsig]

Plenty. But toyota what? Nothing toyota is sand capable and gets more than 20 mpg. The 4 runner is a joke. Sorry. It is.

Toyota are over priced and underwhelming.

Nissan. Haven't looked, but their economy and capabilities have never been what we want.

The grand cherokee isn't a fiat. Not yet. It's still on the same platform as the ML was. It's a diamler Chrysler product.

And you can get lifetime maxcare for it, for about 2600.00


I don't feel like a victim. I know the car game well. We were flat out disregarded as a customer, and they wasted our time, and the sales people were quite rude. It was actually kind of shocking.

The holy trinity of car sales. Someone in for service, (state inspection), car on manufacturer buyback, (tdi) and interested in new product (Subaru). But we weren't buying today so not worth their time.

 

[specialtest]

VW Alltrack? CPO Volvo's (XC70, XC60, XC90, V60 Cross Country...)?

I was in the same boat (VW Buyback) and I wanted something a bit more different than what I was replacing ('15 GSW TDI) so I didn't really consider the Alltrack. That, and that it's only a measly ~.5" higher up than a standard Golf Sportwagen.

 

[Borsig]

We have a 15 GSW TDi As well. SEL model, loaded.

The alltrack is useless for ground clearance. Also the AWD is not up to subaru par. If I didnt need to go in sand and didnt want a beach capable car, we'd consider it. But it doesnt fit our need.

Volvos in sand? nah. Id rather have a grand cherokee, and volvo dealers are just as far. The Subaru is smarter on paper, sure. But that really counts for not much if the dealer network in your area is trash. I guess these cars are more popular up north on in the midwest.

Its still on the list, but its getting to be a hassle. If buying one is a hassle, service will probably be worse.

 

[provels]

If you have no faith in JD Power, that's fine. Go for it if it's what you want.

 

[eagleeye]

I have 2 dealers at 60 miles, that I would not buy from due to issues with service or sales,

maybe the one at 80 miles I would consider.

probably plenty more people out there on this board, are in the same boat, and they did not write off the brand due to a bad experience with personnel.
_____

I also know of people that buy local Ford/ Chrysler/ Jeep / Cadillac / Chevy etc.....and complain about sales / service,...as they can't think of driving 50 miles to a nicer crop of dealers.

____

...and I wonder if at this point in the year such places are short on help.
(august vacations,...if dealership people are permitted such things).



maybe you could search the internet or the dealership reviews section of the places you are willing to go,

 

[eagleeye]

and here is a the link to your existing thread for everyone to look at,

http://www.subaruoutback.org/forums...-ability-coastal-nc-maryland.html#post4979082

I have read "assateague island" in like 3 different new posts in the past few weeks here. ... I guess subaru thought there is prevalent.

 

[Borsig]

Never said jeep didnt have issues.

Its expensive. And stats say un reliable. Would not own one without maxcare.

Its too much to drive every day though. It's still very very nice, at the current selling price of 40K ish for a trailhawk, its direct competetion for a 6 cyl subaru.

 

[Borsig]

and here is a the link to your existing thread for everyone to look at,

http://www.subaruoutback.org/forums...-ability-coastal-nc-maryland.html#post4979082

I have read "assateague island" in like 3 different new posts in the past few weeks here. ... I guess subaru thought there is prevalent.

On paper it seems the logical choice. Its just not as 'solid' a car as I expected. Then again, if it was, it would probably be a 4300 pound hulk.

 

[provels]

Even though I do 90%+ of my own work, I wouldn't buy something I'd have to drive more than 15 miles to get service. But I'm fortunate to have 2 of nearly every marque in that radius.

 

[eagleeye]

On paper it seems the logical choice. Its just not as 'solid' a car as I expected. Then again, if it was, it would probably be a 4300 pound hulk.

like on your other thread, weight counts against you.

all the car companies will be out to make things out of lighter weight items for fuel economy, ...the question is can they find material that is still actually strong and does not break in the real world.

the good news: in the 2015-2018 section here,...not a whole lot of systemic complaints as to broken trim,...

as opposed a weak choice in batteries that need to get swapped out in the first day of ownership. (I don't know if this has persisted into 2018,.
..but very normal for 2015-16 people here to complain and question why their subaru won't start or hold charge....and all it needs is a slightly different variety battery that did not happen to be the OEM choice at the factory).

edit: noticed here that subaru put better factory batteries in the 2017 outback.

 

[russellpat]

I found the 2018 interior not much of an improvement over the 2017 unless dash stitching is a big deal. I agree on the doors "feel" thin and the door pull flexes when pulling on it. So does my 2017. That I do not like. I fully expect what I touch to feel solid. I am lucky that my dealer is 2.5 miles away and seem do an excellent job on sales and service. One of the reason we decided on the Outback.

 

[provels]

Why not a Tundra/Land Cruiser/Tacoma? They seem to handle sand fine, it's ISIS' fav...

 

[Borsig]

Why not a Tundra/Land Cruiser/Tacoma? They seem to handle sand fine, it's ISIS' fav...

17 mpg.

tech sucks.

Interior sucks.

Subaru still the logical choice.

 

[Rico]

VW Atlas?
If you are still into VW that is.

 

[Brucey]

There is that VW Golf Outback thing and the Buick Outback thing too.

 

[EricVA]

I went from a 2010 VW JSW TDI to a 2017 OB Touring 3.6 after the buyback last November. I really like my OB and find it to be a bit more refined and certainly a lot larger and more comfortable than my JSW. I had not noticed too much on fit and trim issues - the interior of the Touring in particular is very luxurious and feels solid to me. Rear passenger space is way better and cargo capacity (volume and length) is excellent as well. I'm not a huge fan of the stereo/nav unit, but it's servicable. I absolutely LOVE Eyesight and the ACC.

As for other options, have you considered the RAV4 or CR-V?

 

[Borsig]

really we've looked at everything.

Eric - the MK VII (2015 wagon ) is a world away from the JSW. I owned both. Not even in the same league. The MQB GSW is a wonderful, wonderful automobile. Maybe the best car I've ever owned.

Really guys we have looked at everything that I can think of really. Wife hands down doesnt want a truck. She thinks the JGC is unreliable, and austentious, but very nice to ride around in. The alltrack, well we like our GSW, but the alltrack doesnt have the ground clearance, or the AWD capability the OB or a 4x4 has. We really liked the new CX5, but again, ground clearance and awd capability.

So we either have to give up the ability to drive on the beach, and open up our options a lot, or stick with the vehicle that will do most of the things we want.

 

[wickets]

HK audio sounded like complete hot garbage

not an audiophile, but compared to the sound of a 2015 bmw anyway, the suburu system sounds a lot better.

We were flat out disregarded as a customer

same thing happened to me. found a dealer a few miles in the opposite direction and had a totally different experience. I doubt service will be anything like bmw. but hope springs eternal