Xtrail V Forrester........dare I ask??

Thanks Bob

Power comment duly noted as I tow a heavy trailer regularly.

Craig

Craig. Had a friend trade in a 4 year old Forrester on a Hyundai Santafe CRD in may this year(both auto's). He tows a 16ft Caravan. Just completed 1500Klms towing the van and said there was no comparison. The diesel ate it in terms of torqe and fuel economy with ample room and comfortable ride as well. May be another vehicle in the lease range. Bob.

Don't know about Hyundai.
I know the I30's have been popular at work.
Will ask the Q.

craig

Graig I have a 2.5 Forester X with high/low range and I agree with Bob about being a bit underpowered, but for fuel consumption when I take it easy the Forester gets not too bad mpg.

In the four+ years we have had the Subie we have towed a 680kg campet trailer with 60ltr water tank - probably 950-980kg loaded and (first time towing for me any further than to the tip). I got stuck once through lack of power on a short sharp but pretty steep bit of ground (off-road), really struggled to get it start moving again that time and we averaged;

- 6.2km/ltr while travelling very fast to get SWMBO out of 40C heat & into motel;
- 7.2-8km/ltr travelling at 95-100kph;
- 8-8.7kmltr travelling 80-90kph.

We got into a Coromal Magnum 340 Rally XC camper, 980kg with 80 ltr water tank, big toolbox - probably 1300kg loaded and if I stopped on any steep suburban pinches around Blue Mountains I had to work hard to get it moving.

All above averages were down 7-8% with the Magnum.

Now we have a Coromal Compac Caravan 860kg and we were down again probably another 5-7%, but recently travelling south from Tibooburra to Broken Hill (60% black top) I averaged;

- 8.6km/ltr travelling around 20-70kph on the dirt and 75-82kph on the blacktop.

I found that travelling 78-83kph between Bourke - Cunnamulla and then out to Thargomindah was the most economical speed to travel at.

The occasional high speed burst to clean the cobwebs out has gone completely out of my time behind the wheel, especially as I can get another 60-120km out of a tank of petrol.

When travelling from Noccundra to Tibooburra, Fionas first trip over 5km on dirts roads terrified her as we had a brand new van (not even off-road), I got down to 10kph when I had to I felt I had made it when one joker and his bride driving a new Toyota and towing a hughe new off-road van going north on a really rocky section, throwing dust and rocks all over the place didn't slow down but managed to wave madly as they went past and we came to almost a complete stop. I saw it coming but only because someone here had related a similar experience.

One more thing, the Subaru has low entry and exit, not a lot of ground clearance and in the very sandy sections (Noccundra -Tibooburra) I think I was doing a bit of grading and chewed a lot of petrol.

Hope this helps Paul & Fiona

Thanks Paul

Fortunately I have the landie for the real off road stuff. The Xtrail/Forrester will only be a drive car from our property to work and back each day (around 70k round trip) The driveway at home can get a bit interesting in the wet season hence the requirement for something better than a sedan.

Work are reccomending both these vehicles over sedans (all sorts) due to better resale. Apparently a Commodore/Falcon is worth a hand full of stones at the end of a 3 year lease with 75000 k on them.

Craig

My vote also for Subaru, simply on engineering and build quality. Have had a WRX since 2001 now with 186k, only normal maintenance, except rocker cover gaskets replace recently. Still original clutch! If the Xtrail diesel mentioned above is like other small Nissan diesels the torque is developed way too high and this is not great for towing, especially in diesels. The Subarus have very low levels of NVH due to their superior engineering, IMHO.

Regards, John.

Thanks John,
How well do they compare on interior size though? The subaru seems a lot smaller especially in the cargo area.

Craig

John and Craig,
We run Foresters and xtrails plus Ravs.Believe it or not the xtrail is far superior to the foresters in nvh and general driveabity. All our ferry drivers prefer the Xtrail also as a road vehicle, in fact one brought one himself after driving the work ones. Now if it was my dollars I* would go the Forester purely for reliabity and resale.
Cheers Pete

Thanks for the backup Pete, but, I wonder if I could fit a WRX motor into the Forester - maybe!

Paul H

Remember we have to start arrangements for the Bathurst members Xmas do.

LOL , might lack in low down torque.
Cheers Pete

Paul, the factory do that for you... it's called a Forester XT (it's down a few KW ion a WRX but same motor)

That's not something I need to hear! lol..... Going on a month road trip in 3 weeks time from Sydney, hopefully up to the Daintree. Just got a new petrol x-trail in February and will be towing a camper trailer the whole way. Only done short trips so far, so looks like my fuel consumption is going to be interesting!
In general though, love the car - heaps of room and a smooth ride.

Sir Kevvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv...

I took mine to Cape York with my Tvan. 14.2/100 on the round trip.