A technological nightmare
I have never been this disappointed in a vehicle and never paid so much for something I loath. I've been driving for over 50 years and had no idea you need a college degree today in order to drive one. I have a college degree but unfortunately its not in "Car-idiosyncrasies-programed-by-12-year-olds." The salesman did go over a few of the functions of the car when I bought it and everything seemed OK--until I actually had to use the vehicle. It began fighting with me right away. It wanted to hug the center line and I wanted to hug the outer line. We fought for days and then I called the dealer back and they said I could turn that function off. I had no idea. Everywhere I look is buttons, buttons, and more buttons--buttons to the right, buttons to the left, buttons up above and buttons below. The doors have them, the console has them, the touch screen has them, the mirror, steering wheel, the seat, the glove box, the trunk, the key fob, EVERYTHING has buttons and it seems every dang button can do more than one thing. I wanted to keep my extra key inside the car--my spare in case of emergency. It took me months before a salesman-in-training at the dealer could tell me how to do that. A month later I realized I didn't remember the process so I returned to the dealer and the sales people and the service department didn't know what I was talking about--told me the key couldn't be deactivated. I argued, telling them it was in the glove box right now and my car would lock--I just needed to know how to deactivate in case I needed it. They looked at the spare key and pushed some of its buttons and it reactivated. BUT they didn't know how to deactivate it again. Just treated me like I was stupid and it had been active all along. Then they asked why I would want to carry a spare because, "after all you have to have your key with you to get in." I explained I might lose my purse or have my key stolen, then have to get into my car where hopefully, I would have a spare. The guys hadn't thought of that. They made a service appointment for the following week to talk to their tech guys.
In the meantime I was told by another source that there is a secret button on the hatch and when it is programed you can get into the vehicle without a key. I looked it up on Youtube and sure enough, there is. I couldn't get it programed. So when I returned they found a helper who told me how to deactivate the key again and now I have that memorized.
My android app doesn't start the car except about every 10th try!!!!! I had it at the dealer for that--my vehicle was there for HOURS and no one could fix it. Their suggestion, "Get an iPhone!"
For me, remote start is a biggie, especially in below zero weather--so I have a $35,000 vehicle that no can tell me why the remote start doesn't work.
I am paying for a Starlink subscription. No one can tell what that is!!!! It's internet, been bought out by Subaru--they combined it with their console-dashboard--WHAT IS IT???? Can I get on the internet with it? Does it work the road map and navigation on the dashboard? No one knows. I do know that the navigation on my Subaru does not work. I was talking to the tech guy who was trying to fix the remote and he was at a loss as to what Starlink did too except call the dealer if you're in an accident.
So I'm paying for a mystery service.
I begged the guys to tell me about getting the car doors to open with the secret button on the hatch. They emphatically told me Subaru had no such function. Since I had been messing with it, unable to get it to work, I begged to differ with them. Again, they treated me like I was addled. The salesman asked his supervisor who told me the same thing while rolling his eyes, and they called the manager of service who also said he'd never heard of that. I stood my ground and once again, a young man-in-training came by saying he had heard about that function (you could see the bemused look on the faces of the "experienced" Subaru personnel) and he looked it up on his phone. Together we tried to program the vehicle--and he discovered why I couldn't do it earlier BECAUSE if you use numbers that are easy, it won't program. BUT Subaru does not tell you that and so you think you are doing it wrong. We were doing it right, the stupid program was making decisions for me without letting me know it was rejecting my numbers because it didn't like them, for safety reasons. If you have a safety feature like that TELL THE PEOPLE TRYING TO PROGRAM IT! We figured it out finally and now I have the secret buttons working. If I find myself somewhere with a lost key, I can go to my trunk, put in a secret code get in and get my spare from the glove box, reactivate and drive myself to a sanitarium.
My daughter drove me to the hospital once (minor procedure) and was to pick me up later. I got a call from her, "Mom, I'm at the gas station and I remember, you have the key. Can I turn the car off?" This was before I had a spare in the glove box--NO, she could not. She'd be stuck there. So you can drive off without a key!!!! Imagine how dangerous that can be.
Besides the big stuff that none of the salesmen, supervisors, or tech guys know anything about, there are small design flaws that drive me nuts. The screen on the dashboard is flat and sticking out so that any amount of sunshine creates huge glares--it constantly flashes in my eyes and I have a hard time seeing the screen if the car is driving in the wrong direction or makes turns. My Honda had a recessed screen where this was not an issue. Does anyone do quality control on design flaws like this?
My radio constantly flips to Sirius out of the blue--trying to get me to subscribe. I have other mysterious, probably evil, apps that stare at me from the touchscreen. I'm afraid to explore because I'm afraid of my car. What's it going to do? Drive off without me? Take control of the steering and I'm unable to get it back? Keep trying to force me to pay for Starlink again even though I'm paid to 2026? Call the dealer and make an appointment for me that I know nothing about. No, by gosh, I'm not messing with those evil apps.
I opened my sunroof after owning the car for 6 months (I hadn't know I had a sunroof!). But I discovered it and slid open the cover, only to see a HUGE crack right down the middle. WTF? I have no idea if it was there when I bought it or I acquired it after. I have no way of knowing because I did not realize I had a sunroof. I guess it comes with premium, which I wanted for the heated seats.
Now, I must compliment Subaru on the lumbar supporting heated seat. I love it. So, there is that.
Originally I did a lot of research on AWD vehicles because I am in snow country and I was out for the safety features. Subaru won the reviews by a lot. However, driving in snow is only one of many safety features one must consider. It does drive well in snow. But not in the rain--in the rain it slips and slides--I'm sure there is a button somewhere for this but I can't find it. The remote doesn't work consistently and I have to get into snowy cold cars with snow on windows and it takes forever to get them defrosted. The car takes over the steering wheel a lot and I have to dig out the manual to try and figure out what button needs to be pushed to get it back to manual. I like the auto breaking when in cruise control but not that it doesn't work with not in cruise--The wipers are too slow or fast--the nice comfortable in-between speed doesn't exist. It can drive off without the key (it may not even need a driver but I haven't encountered that yet). It was advertised as getting 33 MPG and I can't get over 26 in the winter and 27.5 in the summer and its mostly highway, very little city--It's not my driving--I'm an excellent driver. My Honda got consistently close to 33 (once broken in).
My Forester is NOT safe. It's one of the most unsafe cars I've ever had. It's the unintended consequences things. Subaru had gone all out to create every safety feature in the book and created a nightmare. From locking yourself out of the vehicle, to it taking off without a key, to being unable to find a dealer that tell you how to carry a spare key or get into the vehicle without a key, to broken sun roofs, to Starlink that no one knows how to use, to a trunk that is automatic and smashes itself on tree limbs when opening, there are so many unsafe things with this vehicle, it's not a laughing matter.
When you have so many functions that not even the folks who deal in the vehicles every day can tell you how to do things, they can't fix the programing and offer no solutions, to having drivers be so confused so often about what the car is doing and what they can or cannot control, the new Foresters are UNSAFE. And I don't want you to think I'm just a Senior who tries to turn on the microwave with cell phone kind of woman. I am not. I design and host websites, I program ads in online media, I write books, and I run a small publishing company. It is me everyone comes to when they can't figure out how to do something on their computer. So I'm not saying I'm an expert, but I'm certainly not the old guy who thinks the microwave is a TV and says "hello" into the remote when the phone rings.
This car is the worst mistake I've ever made from a company that I have loved and trusted over the years. No more. Everyone in my family owns a Subaru--we're known at the dealership. They all love them. But with the 2023 models, Subaru has turned a corner and its blind, and the unintended consequences are the reason I hate this car.
(PS--the rating scale below doesn't say if 1 or 10 is the best rating or the worst--lots of people will get confused. for your reference--I'm using 10 as the best.)
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