[subego]

I’m assuming the shift paddles are mainly there for engine braking in the mountains.

[Thorzdad]

Originally Posted by andi*pandi 

It is weird using paddles to shift as there is no cue that you've, like... shifted. I'll try again tomorrow.

There’s no obvious change in engine revs when you shift? Are you sure you activated the paddle shifting? On our Forester, you have to move the console shifter into a side notch to put the CVT into shifter mode. Otherwise, the paddles do nothing.

[andi*pandi]

I tried again yesterday. The red car sold in a day so we were in a different one with too much miles but since I was there...
I am used to more engine noise when shifting. After putting the main shifter in M, we did notice the dash showed the gear, and the paddle did shift, quietly. Gave it a second and the number changed and it did sound like the engine was slowing down.

Not in a good area to try highway ramps or steep hills. The hunt continues.

[subego]

Typical dumb question from me… why do you even want to use the manual shift?

[ShortcutToMoncton]

It honestly does not makes much sense.

Do you have some type of special driving use case? Why would you want to add shifting requirements to the convenience of an automatic/CVT?

[Laminar]

I had a rental Corolla once with a CVT that pretended to have 7 speeds. I wish everyone would just do the Nissan thing and own the fact that it's a CVT. I assume there's market research out there showing that customers expect paddles and they expect to hear the revs change as they accelerate and all of these things are accommodate peoples' expectations.

Nissan just has a little button at the bottom of the gas pedal travel that gets pressed when you put the pedal to the floor hard. That jumps the revs up to like 6000rpm so you get full acceleration.

[andi*pandi]

Originally Posted by subego 

Typical dumb question from me… why do you even want to use the manual shift?

because... it's there? to see if it's useful. Maybe I'll never use it, maybe I will. But if I never use it should I be looking at vehicles that don't have it? Regular automatics? That sounds like work to evaluate a bunch of other cars. I'm assuming that I will like Subaru #5 circa 2021 as much as the others circa 1984, 1989, 1998, and 2010. It's 11 years of differences tho and subaru reddit is full of people complaining about the digital stuff - apps, lane change beeps, fuel economy feature (car shuts off at stop lights unless you disable every time you start the car). I want some new features of course. Carplay yes please!

Not dumb question because it made me wonder if I need it. Our other car is plain automatic.

[subego]

Maybe I’m mistaken, but I think every automatic has something like that for engine braking. My van has it, just not paddles.

Back in the day the automatic shifter would be P/R/N/D/1/2. It’s changed to where you have an M at the end that lets you go through all the gears. With my van, to do that you slide the shifter to the left in D, and then forward and back shifts through the gears.

You will rarely if ever need to use it. I’ve needed to override the automatic exactly once in my life, on the way down from 5,000 feet. It’s definitely not something which should strongly influence your decision.

[subego]

Originally Posted by subego 

You will rarely if ever need to use it.

More precisely, you’ll only be required to use it in the mountains. It’s flat where I live, so I never use it.

[Thorzdad]

Originally Posted by andi*pandi 

because... it's there? to see if it's useful. Maybe I'll never use it, maybe I will. But if I never use it should I be looking at vehicles that don't have it? Regular automatics? That sounds like work to evaluate a bunch of other cars. I'm assuming that I will like Subaru #5 circa 2021 as much as the others circa 1984, 1989, 1998, and 2010. It's 11 years of differences tho and subaru reddit is full of people complaining about the digital stuff - apps, lane change beeps, fuel economy feature (car shuts off at stop lights unless you disable every time you start the car). I want some new features of course. Carplay yes please!

Not dumb question because it made me wonder if I need it. Our other car is plain automatic.

Keep in mind, car forums like r/subaru are naturally going to be overwhelmingly full of complaints. Our 2020 Forester has all that digital stuff, and you can disable all of it if you want. Generally, though, I don’t find it gets in the way at all, and I’ve come to actually like some of it.

For instance, the car has sensors at the rear that sense a car coming up alongside and will turn on warning lights on the rearview mirrors to alert you. The really cool detail is that the system is speed-sensitive. It will start to alert you way in advance if it senses a car hauling ass toward you from way back.

The start-restart function is a bit of a pain in the ass, at least for me. My wife doesn’t even notice it anymore. But, the button to disable it is pretty handy and pushing it every time I start up has become second nature. I’ve found that you can actually come to a stop without engaging the stop/start function by not putting full pressure on the pedal. FWIW, there are third-party mods you can buy and install that will permanently disable that function.

[subego]

I absolutely can’t stand those things. I could probably accommodate the required change in how I use the brake, but the sound will always drive me batshit.

[reader50]

Seems like an engine restart at every traffic light will put heavy wear on the starter. A starter isn't the most expensive thing in the world. But being stuck at a traffic light with a blown starter will likely involve a tow, and possibly a traffic ticket. Plus being late for work.

I'm not sure the gas savings is enough to cover the eventual costs when the starter blows.

[subego]

Last time it came up, the savings turned out bigger than I thought. I think Lam knows.

[Thorzdad]

When the stop/start is active, my Forester starts a little counter that estimates how much fuel you’re saving.

[andi*pandi]

someone at /subaruoutback or whatever linked to a video about the gas savings, so that seems possible, and says they've put in a more robust starter to accommodate all the extra starts. So who knows.

[Thorzdad]

Tons of vehicles have the stop/start thing now. Not sure if it’s required, though.

[Doc HM]

Originally Posted by reader50 

Seems like an engine restart at every traffic light will put heavy wear on the starter. A starter isn't the most expensive thing in the world. But being stuck at a traffic light with a blown starter will likely involve a tow, and possibly a traffic ticket. Plus being late for work.

I'm not sure the gas savings is enough to cover the eventual costs when the starter blows.

Mini's apparently have a separate battery for the stop start system which is buried deep behind the engine and requires a lot of dashboard removal to swap out. Once its failed the stop start stops starting. Seems like a lame idea if true.

[Thorzdad]

Originally Posted by Doc HM 

Mini's apparently have a separate battery for the stop start system which is buried deep behind the engine and requires a lot of dashboard removal to swap out. Once its failed the stop start stops starting. Seems like a lame idea if true.

That’s weird. The battery in my Forester is designed to work with stop/start systems. It’s an industry standard. You can go down to any parts store and get one. No disassembly required.

[Laminar]

Originally Posted by reader50 

I'm not sure the gas savings is enough to cover the eventual costs when the starter blows.

They thought of that.

Originally Posted by Thorzdad 

Tons of vehicles have the stop/start thing now. Not sure if it’s required, though.

It produces a measurable city mpg savings. If the car has the system turn on by default each time it starts up, manufacturers can use the city mpg rating that includes savings from stop/start. If the owner can turn it off and it stays off forever, they have to use the city rating without stop/start, usually 1-2mpg lower.

[subego]

For my van, that would save about a gallon per tankful.

[subego]

@andi,

Imgur was giving me issues, so I couldn’t post this at the time.



If I pull the shifter to the left in D, I can step through the gears.

[andi*pandi]

I think I would like that better than the paddles on the wheel. However it does present a useability conundrum... Shift down by moving the lever up? Shift up by moving down? It is consistent with the other options, kind of, if you imagine the top being stationary and moving more forward as you go down...

[subego]

I guess the idea behind the paddles is keeping both hands on the wheel.

As for the shifter direction, this feels inverted, but I’m an inverted y-axis type, so I could get used to it.

Never actually used it in the 9 or so years I’ve had it.

[subego]

I forgot to mention, in manual terms, my van is a 9-speed.

[Laminar]

Originally Posted by subego 

I guess the idea behind the paddles is keeping both hands on the wheel.

As for the shifter direction, this feels inverted, but I’m an inverted y-axis type, so I could get used to it.

It's a hot topic in the automatic transmission community. If you're emulating a manual sequential shifter, then pull back to upshift is correct. Watch any of Ken Block's Gymkhana videos to watch a rally-style sequential manual shifter.

Some cars don't follow the convention and put + up top and - down below because something about "upshift" feels like it should be up, at least semantically.

[Laminar]

This thread reminded me that my rearview mirror fell off sometime in the last year or two. Since it's in the racecar, I don't really need the mirror so I hadn't bothered putting it back up. But right now it's 40-70 degrees outside so it's actually not brutal to drive a car with no A/C, and I've been using it to commute. I bought the adhesive to repair it a long time ago so I dug that out and got the mirror reinstalled last night.

[subego]

That’s not a windshield divot?

[Laminar]

The windshield has a black coating where the mirror should be mounted, but yes, it ripped out part of the glass. I glued the mirror and glass back in, we'll see how long it lasts.

[subego]

Any worries in general about the windshield cracking?

Just like the manual shift, the air conditioner is also something I’ve never used.

[Laminar]

Originally Posted by subego 

Any worries in general about the windshield cracking?

Like most things, that will be a problem for Future Me to deal with.

[subego]

[subego]

In completely random car talk events, since I’ve owned my van, the exterior lights get killed when the motor stops.

Suddenly, now the running lights stay on.

This will screw with me because for years I’ve kept my lights always on.

[reader50]

It's unlikely the behavior changed right after we talked about this subject. That would imply your van is monitoring your social media activity, and reporting important developments to Skynet.

Alternative: the exterior lights stay on when the ignition key is in the Run position. So they stayed on all along when your engine stopped during idle periods. You seldom got out of the car at stop lights, so only noticed when getting out with the key no longer in Run. In those cases, the lights were off.

Alternative2: a firmware update the last time your van was in the shop? Might be listed on your receipt.

[subego]

One of the advantages of a no-frills car is no Skynet connection.

My running lights always used to go off once the key was out of the ignition, or even with the key in the ignition but the ignition set to off (when I’m parked in my garage I leave the keys in).

Now they stay on no matter what.

[reader50]

Check your owner manual. Besides a firmware update, this could also be a user pref. If so, a shop might have changed the setting. Or you even did it by accident, holding a button or two for slightly too long.

[subego]

Definitely not the shop. Sunday morning it was acting how it should. Sunday night it changed. My first assumption was the accidental preference change, though I tried messing around with every conceivable way that could have happened for 5 minutes.

I’ll dig out the manual.

[andi*pandi]

Did anyone else drive it and futz with anything?

This is not a good trend of breaking windshields with mirrors. Must be some kind of bad luck.

I've got the official terminal condition report from the trusted Subaru garage. The 2010 cannot be repaired to be a kid car. In addition to the timing belt and clutch which I knew were overdue, and the air shield is being held on w duct tape... he says the frame is rotted. So some lucky car salesman will hear us coming, but ah well we got our money's worth!

[reader50]

If you can't find a user pref, and no one 'fesses up about pranking your van settings ... try a reboot. Every computer seems to benefit from an occasional reboot, despite what manufacturers say.

Disconnect a battery terminal for a few minutes. Or overnight if you're paranoid. note: don't do this if you're about to take a smog check. Or you'll have to run a bunch of miles before the test, so your engine computer returns to normal running mode.

New garage mechanics used to get pranked by their co-workers. Traditional stuff: small rocks in the hubcaps, plastic wire ties around the half shafts, with the ends sticking out to slap against frame pieces. One guy even discovered a harmonica taped to the drive shaft. Odd noises when he was at highway speeds. I could totally picture one of your pals changing an obscure pref setting.

[subego]

I visited my dad this evening and somewhere between arrival and departure, the problem fixed itself.