car buying these days...

[VJ]

In Poland, the XV comes only with a CVT and electronic handbrake. It may differ in different markets (US version exists in manual with manual handbrake, they also have different engines that are not available here. But the version in Europe is produced in Japan, whereas there is a factory in the US for the domestic market - so I guess it will be similar everywhere in Europe).

However, you don't really need a manual handbrake to recover from situations. (you would need one to start slides where you want the rear to break out)

[VJ]

As we hardly have winters anymore it may not be a big thing but in certain climates, it should be required to do such a course as part of the exam. If only just to feel how easy it can be to lose control.

It is amazing to see how grip disappears suddenly. At 30kph you have grip, at 32kph (same exercise: same location and conditions) you don't have grip. We did all the exercises with our car and all aids switched on and are curious how it would with be Polo (FWD, no esp) - judging by how one woman was fighting her old Opel Zafira, it would be interesting (for the record: she managed very well!). It would also be nice to see how it would be with ESP switched off, but of course that would be more for fun/experience than real safety (normally you would keep it on). We are thinking of a follow-up course, as it was so much fun and at the same time so interesting.
Not sure what the best time is though: winter has ideal and more realistic conditions for practising, but it is cold when you have to get out of the car for discussing the exercise; summer needs more artificial conditions (special surface sprayed with water) but it is more comfortable to go outside... Most likely it will be something for next winter.

[Umfriend]

It is amazing to see how grip disappears suddenly. At 30kph you have grip, at 32kph (same exercise: same location and conditions) you don't have grip.

Jup. Grip is like being pregnant (you have/are or not).

[VJ]

And we've discovered the gas particulate filter...

In EU, cars from 2017 (or 2018) that have direct fuel injection are mandated to have a gas particulate filter which filters and neutralizes particles, a bit like diesel cars already had to have. This neutralization process does not work well under some conditions (too slow, at cold temperatures and for short distances); which makes particles accumulate too much. When this happens, a warning indicator illuminates and one has to regenerate the filter. The process, according to the Subaru manual is:

The gasoline particulate filter warning light will appear when the accumulated particulate matter exceeds the specified limit.
When the gasoline particulate filter warning light illuminates, drive the vehicle to regenerate the gasoline particulate filter.
Drive the vehicle under the following conditions after the engine has been warmed up completely.
- Drive the vehicle on a residential road (a road with a speed limit higher than 60 km/h).
- Periodically release the accelerator pedal
- Release the accelerator pedal for approximately 3 seconds to 10 seconds.
- Driving at an engine speed of 2000 to 2500 rpm using the manual mode. Refer to “Selection of manual mode” 7-13.
The indicator light will turn off after approximately 30 minutes.
If the indicator light does not turn off, we recommend that you contact a SUBARU dealer

And if you drive too long with the warning light on, it starts blinking, and the car should be taken to a dealer for inspection. Drive it too long with the blinking warning indicator and the car can enter into a limp mode....

Yesterday, the light came on... I had a 20 km drive in cold temperatures in big traffic...
Today I have to drive in the evening, again around 20 km, so I hope there will not be much traffic so I can try to regenerate it. Luckily it is quite a long section of road where the speed limit varies between 70 and 80 kph, so if there is not much traffic it should be an ideal location for it.

Turns out it is a recurring complaint of people with new cars. Some cars have quite big demands on the regeneration cycle; a quick google learned that Subaru is not among the worst but also not among the best for this (may also have to do with the sensitivity of triggering the warning light).

A nice feature of the car is that if there is a warning light, you can push a button and it gives a textual description of the warning. It would be fantastic if it would display the section of the manual on the main screen (but that does not happen)...

[VJ]

Managed to regenerate the filter. After the light went on, I drove another 15 km in traffic jams so I could not do it (and I did not know what to do). The next ~15km drive gave me some opportunities, but it is tricky when you do not have feedback on whether or not you are doing it right. The next ~8km drive also gave me some chances, and on the third drive, after about 12km the light went out. One suggestion I got is that it does not regenerate the filter when in EV mode, so every time it switched to EV I made sure to touch the gas pedal.

In the end, I managed to regenerate it in ~30km at outside temperatures of 3°C, on roads with speed limits of up to 80kph that are on my normal routes. The good thing is that I did not need to drive especially for it (at current fuel prices...) and it worked using 3 separate drives that had cold starts (the engine heats up fast and has good indicators to show it). The time estimate in the manual, 30 minutes, was rather correct considering that I had to wait each time for the engine to heat up.

I also read that it is not a bad thing to do a bit of this regeneration drive-style on every drive, in order to prevent the filter issue in the first place. It is not difficult to do, but as the car tends to prefer very low RPMs it is something to force (through acceleration or manual downshifting).

[UtwigMU]

Ride sharing is on again since I'm recovered from Covid, so while I need to move 180km, I can now mitigate high petrol prices by taking on riders. After I move job is remote and if I need to go to office it's only 1km. 15 minute walk or 2 minute drive.

Do you have ride share app / site in Poland?

[VJ]

Probably... but my wife and I work at the same place, so it is already the two of us. And we go quite in an opposite direction than most people (we live in the centre, the research institute is just outside of Warsaw; most people go to the centre) and often we are not sure what time/days we go there until the last moment. So it is rather about minimizing the number of times we drive. Currently we are at once a week, but should be not much issues to change it to once every two weeks. Her parents live quite close, so we combine it with one night at their place.

[VJ]

Made the change to summer tyres this morning. We went to the dealer as the set of tyres came from them (they were added as a promo when we got the car), to be sure that if there would be anything wrong we would be able to complain and not have two parties pass the blame.

It was quite expensive though. I've had tyre changes at official Volkswagen dealers and they were slightly over the price of tyre-centres but not too exaggerated. But I'm not sure I can compare: Polo tyres were much smaller and do not have TPMS. I know prices change with type of car and tyres (SUVs are more, big tyres are more), but we'll see next time, as we'll go to our normal tyre guy.

[VJ]

Trying to get some estimates on fuel usages... At the moment still difficult as we are doing quite short trips (<15-20 km) of city driving, each time after several days of leaving the car (below 0 at night) parked.

First observations are that it is quite fuel consuming in the beginning of a drive, as apparently its hybrid battery discharges a bit while parked for a few days (it shows as rather empty when starting, although it corrects those estimates upward after a few km). The engine very quickly reaches temperature, but from the fuel consumption I think it first aims to charge the hybrid battery: as the drive goes on, it shows fuel consumption drops a lot. This is however a bit killing on short trajectories in cold temperatures, as you don't benefit from the charged battery (you arrive when it would start to be used) and it again discharges while parked. However, today it was better: temperatures are warmer and after less than 3 km the car even switched to EV mode. I'm expecting this to improve when the wetter is warmer (less discharge of the hybrid battery, even faster reaching of temperatures).

For now, it seems to be around 8-9 l/100km, which is very similar to our VW Polo in the same driving/usage conditions. Sounds like a lot, but seems normal for real works usage in short city drives in cold temperatures with a cold start (parked outside).

[UtwigMU]

I had 8l with Polo, with Civic I get 7l while driving around small towns with no traffic lights and 50km/h limits and, 7l on highway 120km/h, 8l on highway when driving 150-160km/h and 9l in city.

Due to moving had to do 600km over weekend.

[VJ]

A cold start (at near 0 temperatures), after a couple of days parked in temperatures that reach -7, followed by a city drive in traffic with plenty stops for red lights will always consume much. Polo was similar. In summer, the Polo could go as low as 6l on longer trajectories.
Still, if in the same real world winter conditions the Subaru equals the Polo in fuel usage then that is not a bad thing (it is bigger and 4WD). And it looks like warm weather performance could be even better than the Polo.

[VJ]

First dent.... Looks like it is from a car-door that was slammed into the side of our car. Quite a deep dent in the panel surrounding the front-right wheel... A bit of a weird location, but I would guess a rear door of a four-door hatchback parked next to us but facing the other way could hit it at that spot. It is very visible when the light catches it as the whole panel is deformed towards it. It even punched the lacquer I think. Deeper and more visible than any dent the Polo sustained in its 20 years... Why are people so negligent and careless about other peoples stuff?

Thinking of having it fixed, but not sure if to put it in insurance or not (we have full coverage, but it may increase next year's)... I'm slightly worried though that it might start rusting if the lacquer is pierced and it also looks quite bad ... OTOH it happened on the parking in front of our apartment, so we are always parked on that one...

[VJ]

Interesting EV-price dilemma:

https://jalopnik.com/ev-prices-are-trending-in-the-wrong-direction-1848722277

Right now, Bloomberg analysts say EV prices must go down 25 percent to boost adoption. While analysts with Morgan Stanley argue EV prices must go up by 15 percent to keep pace with supplier costs.

According to that article, it would be better to buy an EV sooner than later... but with the limited infrastructure around us and our car usage, EV was not an option... Of course a lot can change in 10 years or so...

[VJ]

Big mess at the VW garage...

I went on Friday for annual maintenance and mandatory technical check (and I asked them to check the rear wiper). They did not have time any more for the technical check, but gave me back the car so I could go myself (quite a normal procedure to go by yourself) later - only remark was the expired fire extinguisher, so I got a new one. On Monday, the car failed the technical check due to the very bad state of the front suspension springs - a failed check gives you 2 weeks to get it fixed. They also mentioned that the rear break balance is bad but just in the norm. Driving on eggshells on the way to the VW garage (I was warned that I should avoid shocks), my rear wiper stopped working and just started pointing down. Quite furious at the garage and I complained; the wiper was just the icing on the cake. They are very apologetic and are very puzzled how they could have missed it all: they already confirmed that the technical check was right. But the parts will have to be ordered... They said they are also working out a compensation, as their error put me without a car for a much longer time than it normally would have been - they don't know we have another one .

The car was serviced there for 10 years, so I'm a regular client there and never had any issues with them... let's see how they handle this...

[VJ]

Picked up the car on Friday.
Still very apologetic, and I have the impression relieved no accident happened because of their error. The excuse as to how it happened is a bit weak: they did not clean the springs well enough, which made the damages (which were right at the bottom of the springs) difficult to see...

They really managed to do it quite fast and gave me a big discount on the work. So I'm ok with how they dealt with it.