Subaru Forester Review Part 3

This post is sponsored by Subaru.

Let this be a warning to automobile companies: if you contact me to see if I want to “test drive” your car, I’ll do so BUT please understand, I’m not taking it for a Sunday drive around the city and writing a review. I will really give it a test drive – as in 2,600 miles sort of test drive. After 5-days of camping with the Subaru Forester, we spent the next 5-days going to the beach and surfing in Carlsbad, California  and THEN, we drove it 17-hours. Straight.

I know this sounds like an awful car trip for a family of 4 but our kids prefer it this way to an extra night of camping on the drive home. We all get through it by singing songs and playing car games. Joking!

What I really liked about the car for beach and highway driving:

• The highway driving is super smooth and you don’t even realize how fast you’re going. This sort of fast driving can occur while driving in the Mojave Desert and there’s not much of anything around. I suggest using the cruise control for keeping your speed around the legal limits. Don’t rely on back seat drivers to say, “Mom, you’re driving way too fast!”
• GPS – I’ll just say that we are not a fast food eating type of family, but our big exception is when we’re on long car trips. Our routine when driving from San Diego to Portland is to leave very early in the morning (4:30AM early) and hit the In and Out Burger in Stockton around lunch time (11:00AM ). Even though we’ve done this drive several times over the years, I can’t remember which exit we need to get off for our fast food feeding frenzy. With the built in GPS you can get the exact location of the restaurant you need and then it will tell you which exit you need to take to get off of I-5. I loved this! For once someone else was telling my husband which way to drive!

What I would change about the car for beach and highway driving:

• Add some cross bars to the top racks for goodness sake! If someone is buying a brand-new Subaru, they want the cross bars so that they can put surf boards and boogie boards up top without having to go out and purchase more racks. The sand gets everywhere if you have to put boards inside the car. We had our camping gear in the back, too, so I didn’t really want that to get sandy along with the 5-days of dirt it already had from camping. Yes, you can buy cross bars but when I went to the rack store to inquire, the least expensive set was $250. After buying the premium outdoorsy car, I’d want the cross bar racks without feeling like I had been nickeled-and-dimed.

Subaru gave us a Go-Pro camera (yes, we get to keep it!) and a $50.00 gas card to use on the trip. If you’re wondering how my campaign is going to get Subaru to let me have the slightly-used-but-almost-brand-new Subaru Forester back for keeps, it hasn’t happened yet but keep your fingers crossed!

Let’s all Tweet this…

Hey @Subaru_USA let’s give @GoGingham her #SubaruForester car back! Her 20-yo Subaru is getting old! Pretty please! #RT

Here’s a short video from our trip:

Thank you, Subaru, for the car! We really had a fun trip – even the teens admitted to having fun with their parents.

Are you a long car trip type of person or do you prefer shorter trips? What’s your favorite road trip food stop?

Disclosure: I am a voluntary participant in the Subaru of America Forester Blogger program. I have been asked by Subaru of America to review their products in exchange for the use of a short-term vehicle loan. As always, all opinions are 100% my own. My disclosure policy can be found here.

Go Gingham related links:

Take the night off and let your kids cook dinner every week
Our weekly ritual – Technology Free Sundays
A beach weekend away – beautiful weather – in November?!
Camp cooking supplies and what I cook with