I took the Forester on a camping trip at Joshua Tree this weekend. The Forester makes for a decent tent. Sleeping in it isn't bad at all: With the second row folded, the cargo area has just enough room for a small air mattress. That same space also made it easy to lug the bulk of the group's camping gear around. As many in the camping group noted, there's nothing special to the Forester. It's a workhorse.
As mentioned plenty of times in our long-term note book, the four speed is just not suited for uphill climbs. The constant switching between third and fourth just kills a rather decent ride.
The satellite radio is awful. It's either cutting in and out or shutting down completely. That we've lived this long with it is baffling. It's a deal killer for me, a $400 dollar option gone to waste.
And so I tried to plug my iPod in the auxiliary jack. Lo and behold, there's no 3.5 mm plug like the one every other car on market has. Instead, the Subaru has red, white, and yellow RCAs. Why? These inputs mean you have to buy a separate adapter if you want to plug in a portable audio device.