SH Forester offroad questions

[GreenEggsAndCam]

Hey team,

Looking at selling my Legacy this year and moving on to an SH Fozzy, with the intention of doing an overland sort of build (mild lift, A/T tyres, roof tent etc.) to get out and about and do some exploring and a few trails.

I've recently moved to Auckland and due to having to deal with traffic now I'll be leaning towards getting an automatic XS, purely for the comfort factor. 

Basically what I want to know is, has anyone with experience taking an N/A Forester offroad noticed a difference in capability compared to an XT? Outright speed isn't as much of an issue as I'll be getting a bike as well for when I need to scratch that itch, more concerned about getting places. 

It'll be my first dive into the Forester world as well, is there anything in particular to look at when buying other than the standard Subie things?

 

Cheeers for any help!!

[TNHSTI]

3 hours ago, GreenEggsAndCam said:

Hey team,

Looking at selling my Legacy this year and moving on to an SH Fozzy, with the intention of doing an overland sort of build (mild lift, A/T tyres, roof tent etc.) to get out and about and do some exploring and a few trails.

I've recently moved to Auckland and due to having to deal with traffic now I'll be leaning towards getting an automatic XS, purely for the comfort factor. 

Basically what I want to know is, has anyone with experience taking an N/A Forester offroad noticed a difference in capability compared to an XT? Outright speed isn't as much of an issue as I'll be getting a bike as well for when I need to scratch that itch, more concerned about getting places. 

It'll be my first dive into the Forester world as well, is there anything in particular to look at when buying other than the standard Subie things?

 

Cheeers for any help!!

 

Hey mate I have an old 99 SF forester that I do a bit of off-roading in mines an NA Manual, I chose the manual as it had the hi/lo ratio

 

Id have to say its VERY impressive off road only thing that limits mine is its not lifted at all so ground clearance is sometimes an issue

 

Occasionally I find a bit more power would be great especially on some steep muddy/rocky slopes

 

In some ways an auto might actually be better off road as well as the hi/lo range isn't actually very low... 

 

if your going for an auto SH series i would probably get the XT just for that extra power..

 

Hope this helps

[GreenEggsAndCam]

I was wondering about the hi/lo box, was looking at the base model SH because of it but coming out of a Spec B legacy I don't want to lose the creature comforts I've gotten used to... It's the classic toss up between getting something cheaper to thrash the living s*** out of or something that's actually presentable and able to do longer trips comfortably! As it'll be my only car I'm leaning towards the latter though. 

 Now you say that, there's a VERY nice XT that's just popped up on TM, maybe it's a sign...

[Andy_Mac]

Get an Outback XT and lift it like Gotasuby’s one, gives you the nicer facelift Legacy interior with some form of offroad ability.

[GreenEggsAndCam]

On 11/01/2020 at 1:22 PM, Andy_Mac said:

Get an Outback XT and lift it like Gotasuby’s one, gives you the nicer facelift Legacy interior with some form of offroad ability.

Much as I love the Legacy platform - I still love my Spec B to bits - they're all I've owned for the past 6 years and I feel like it's time to change things up a little

[Sphinx]

On 7/01/2020 at 10:50 AM, GreenEggsAndCam said:

Hey team,

Looking at selling my Legacy this year and moving on to an SH Fozzy, with the intention of doing an overland sort of build (mild lift, A/T tyres, roof tent etc.) to get out and about and do some exploring and a few trails.

I've recently moved to Auckland and due to having to deal with traffic now I'll be leaning towards getting an automatic XS, purely for the comfort factor. 

Basically what I want to know is, has anyone with experience taking an N/A Forester offroad noticed a difference in capability compared to an XT? Outright speed isn't as much of an issue as I'll be getting a bike as well for when I need to scratch that itch, more concerned about getting places. 

It'll be my first dive into the Forester world as well, is there anything in particular to look at when buying other than the standard Subie things?

 

Cheeers for any help!!

Not sure how I missed your query, COVID lockdown probably.

 

I have an SG5 4EAT that I take off-road touring all the time. It's not too much of a difference when driving a turbo because what we always need is access to torque and the ability to go slow. Fluid drive on the 4EAT is rather efficient as long as fully-synthetic ATF is used. I have toured the dunes of the west coast of Northland, even Pouto Point with mine. Mine is not lifted but I have underbody protection, which is almost always mandatory off-road.

 

If you are going to go (or already went) with a manual, the NZ New SH still has the dual-range option, however, the ratio is too conservative and can only be an advantage when towing. You can open it and install SF's 1.447:1 low-range with some trimming/shimming. If you want more ability to go slow, you can install the 4.444 diffs in front and rear. NA SGs have 4.444 vLSD rears and they are good enough for most terrains. You just have to know how to use them.

 

Regarding creature comforts, the SH isn't based on the Impreza anymore and it has improved rigidity vs previous models. It also has the double-wishbone rear to maximise rigidity at the back. There is a tendency for the SH, though, to be boaty but that can be solved in many ways.

 

Make sure you don't cheap out on tyres. Go with tyres that have extensive amounts of research and are known to be reliable. BFG K02s are highly regarded but they are too expensive here and can be overkill with the our types of terrain. I have Yoko G015s on mine and they provide excellent grip on loose surfaces. On highways, they perform much grippier than my old cheap (you know where from) tyres. Another option is the D697s. They are LT tyres but they are available on almost any town in NZ and Australia.

 

The North Island has plenty of gravel roads and when relatively unmaintained, produce a lot of corrugations, especially in the Northland Region. at 25 to 28 PSI, my Yokos handle corrugations like a king. My passengers were even able to sleep when treading highly-corrugated roads in Northland.

 

Proper touring for me can only be achieved in a few places here in the North Island. North Island's west coast and some places in National Park. I think the North Island is too developed for such activity, haha.