light nice looking
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Nice, but the right hand drive design is a problem as the light pattern will blind oncoming traffic. Swapping left left and right will improve the situation a bit. But the pattern still won’t be correct. Now if they do a left hand drive system they’ll really have a product for us yanks.
My wife's car has projector style lights and I find them annoying. They aren't nearly as bright as other, much older, cars we've had.
Lane Anderson posted:Nice, but the right hand drive design is a problem as the light pattern will blind oncoming traffic. Swapping left left and right will improve the situation a bit. But the pattern still won’t be correct. Now if they do a left hand drive system they’ll really have a product for us yanks.
they sell left hand as well.... maybe I should said racemic for you guys that are chemistry afficionatoes, 
Robert, I think it depends a lot on the car make/model and whose light assemblies they used in the build. For instance, my 2012 Nissan Rogue does not have projector headlights, but it does have HID assemblies. Pretty cool when they first ignite and the color is very white light (as opposed to the halogen projector fog lights that look downright yellow and dim by comparison).
My wife has a 2011 Subaru Outback with Halogen projector lights that seem to be almost as bright as the Nissan but less white (and I always thought Halogens were pretty white til I got the HIDs). The Subaru on both hi and lo beam is about the same brilliance and color tone as the halogen H3 (driving) and H4s (hi/lo) in my Speedster and they both project about as far. To be honest, I cannot turn off the driving lights on hi beam on the Speedster as they're wired to the hi beam circuit relay with no separate switch, so they tend to project about 100 yards farther than the Suby and right down the middle of the road.
All of them have a distinct cut-off line for low beam, usually about halfway up the trunk on the car in front of it, and all of them have a kip-up on the right so you can see street signs on low beam.
How do you like the 2011 outback? is it a 6 cylinder?
It is a 2.5L non-turbo flat-four, now with about 95K on the clock. It's been a great car - more refined and solid than my Rogue (with the same size engine) but with fewer bells and whistles. Rides better (softer) but accelerates slightly slower than the Rogue. Both have continuously variable transmission (CVT) so it never "shifts" in the older sense, it just accelerates. Only problem has been a cracked catalytic converter (replaced under warranty), an airbag inflator recall and what looks like the need for new front trailing arm bushings and spark plugs coming up on 100K miles - pretty normal stuff.
Thanks for this... Just wondering I was looking at getting a winter car for our 6 months of snow
Ray: Subarus are great winter cars. All wheel drive is fantastic.
Señor Ray: As far as motoring in deep (up to 24" depth) snow is concerned, the Subaru in this instance loses to the Nissan Rogue for one reason only - There is a nifty button on the dash of the Rogue that "Locks" all of the 4-wheel-drive differentials to all four wheels and lets me plow through deep powder like a snowmobile. The Subaru doesn't have that (on Kathy's model). The difference is that I can plow through 24" of fresh powder in the Rogue that would quickly disable the Subaru. In my warped sense of reality, that is fun. I have to be careful about tight turns in locked 4WD as it tries to rip detonate all three differentials in the car, but out in the pastures, tearing around, it is great.
HOWEVER! The Subaru has it's own nifty dash button that engages the emergency brake when stopping on a hill to hold you in place, and then, when you step on the accelerator, it automatically notices and quickly releases the e-brake. THAT is a pretty nifty feature that I use a lot, here in hilly southern Worcester county. It also has superior heated seats (might be a selling factor as you might be closer to the Arctic Circle than us).
So, if you absolutely, positively have to drive in 18" - 24" of fresh powder, get the Rogue.
If, OTOH, you prefer to NOT go out in 24" of fresh powder but can use the "Hill-Holding feature" for 99.9% of the time when snow is not an issue, get the Subaru. Oh, and I'm about to replace all four spark plugs at 95,000 miles. The Subaru takes some exotic "Laser-Iridiium" plug (honestly, who are they trying to kid....."Laser Iridium"???) that I found on Amazon for $14 each. That seemed like a good deal, since I pay abut $8 bucks for the much simpler "Platinum Tipped" plugs for Pearl, and besides..... $56 bucks every 100,000 miles? That's a bargain in my book.
I grew up driving school buses loaded with children in all sorts of snowy conditions and can drive in pretty much anything - Fog, snow, ice, sleet, all of the above. I no longer have to go out in snow so I would prefer the features useable in better conditions. Like decent Sirius/XM radio. And Heated seats. And a decent climate control system. Maybe convenient cup holders. A button that pops me out of "overdrive". Something that tells me how many miles I have before "empty". Give me those, and I'm happy, regardless of the make. Especially the heated seats in New England for my 70-year-old tush.
We recently took the Subaru in for an airbag recall and I also had them give us a new timing belt (it was time at 95K miles) and do a coolant flush and fill. They had it done in less than three hours. Total cost was $650 and I thought that was fair (the timing belt also included the two tensioners and a water pump). While it was in the shop, Kathy resorted to driving "my" Rogue and all she said was that she liked the Sirius/XM satellite radio, and that it seemed a lot more "zippy" than the Outback (she never mentioned that it is also Pearl white, while her Outback is deep metallic blue, almost black). As far as the "zippiness" is concerned, that is in how the CVT transmission is programmed. Amplified torque is a wonderful thing, especially in "Sport" mode.........
Well it seems like it is a good DD, I think I would like to try the 3.6
Gordon: The hill hold feature on the new Subarus does not require pushing a button. Just stop on a hill, put in the clutch, press the brake pedal. When you want to go, simply release the brake, let out the clutch, and hit the gas. The car will hold for two seconds after you release the brake pedal.
It's a great feature when you get those behind you in automatics who creep right up to your rear bumper. Other drivers just do not expect, nor do they understand, the characteristics of a standard transmission car these days.
As for headlights, the STI has steering activated ones, that sweep the corner as you turn. Great for dark roads...
Both those features are great for the aging driver ! Better Vision and Easier on the left leg.
I have that hill-hold feature on Pearl.
It’s called a center-mount emergency brake.
Doesn’t even need a dash button.
Really tough to do an easy hill-hold with an umbrella e-brake under the dash....
I love my little VW pan. 
Harder with an umbrella
Gordon Nichols posted:I have that hill-hold feature on Pearl.
It’s called a center-mount emergency brake.
Doesn’t even need a dash button.
Really tough to do an easy hill-hold with an umbrella e-brake under the dash....
I love my little VW pan.
I learned to drive in a manual transmission Toyota truck with the under dash handbrake. You definitely had to learn how to make it all work in unison to get a smooth start. It didn't take long before it all became second nature though.