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Shopping for a fairly rugged hatchback (or compact cross) w/ AWD. Maybe Forester vs Mazda 3 Hatch? (feddit.online)

submitted 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) by misterred@feddit.online to c/cars@lemmy.world

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Hi, has anyone compared these head to head? I like the idea that the Forester has an available manual transmission. The Mazda looks reliable and very fun to drive. The frontend/grille looks kinda stupid.

We're in very rural northern Vermont with quite a few dirt roads, usually but not always pretty well maintained.

Car dealerships aren't close by. The Subaru dealer is just under an hour drive, the Mazda/Volkswagen dealership just over an hour and a half each way. Locally we have Ford, GMC/Chevy, and Chrysler/Jeep/Dodge.

I'd probably buy new this time although I've had good luck buying 'certified' used cars off of leases, most recently a 2015 Audi A3 off of a 36-month lease cancelled after 24 I think? so pretty close to new - with manufacturer + dealer warranties; someone else having eaten the depreciation; low mileage, and full confidence that scheduled maintenance has been adhered to, prior to my taking ownership. Comfort and tech, of course reliability, and ease of third-party servicing and parts are all considerations for me.

Reasoned opinions very welcome; TIA for any thoughts at all. Buying is hard.

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[–] dual_sport_dork@lemmy.world 3 points 2 weeks ago

and nobody with a recent manual wants to give it up, so good fucking luck

Agreed. You can pry mine from my cold, dead flippers. And maybe not even then.

If I ever grenade my engine, rest assured I'm sticking an electric powerplant in this puppy and keeping it moving. Stick shift and all.

One thing I do know for sure is that the all wheel drive system between the CVT and manual models, at least for my Crosstrek, is very different. The CVT is front wheel drive until it detects wheel slip at which point it may deign to send some power to the rear wheels, but with significant caveats attached as you have noted. The manual is a full time split 50/50 between front and rear, with limited slip (IIRC an electronic one in the front?) differentials between the left and right sides. This makes mine great fun to scrabble around sideways everywhere in the snow with the traction control turned off. If you start losing it you can pretty much just point the front wheels about 50% of the way towards the direction you want to go, drop it into 2nd, and mash it and it'll claw itself back in that direction eventually.

I also have a set of mildly oversized studded snow tires for mine, just to be an asshole. With those you're basically unstoppable, although what with one thing and another climate-wise I haven't had much use for them in the last three winters or so.