I Finally Got To Drive My Subaru Somewhere

For various reasons, not all of them pandemic-related, the 2018 Subaru 
Outback 3.6 Touring I purchased in January of 2018 never got further than 
35 miles from home. Well, on Saturday I finally drove up north to take care 
of some serious family matters. After completing ~1125 miles I have a 
better feeling for the car. First off, the mileage while not stellar, was 
not horrible either at 26.8mpg overall with maybe 75% being at high speed 
on major highways but sometimes it degenerated to gravel roads (and 
badly-maintained county roads) in the SW PA 'gas patch.'

I have determined also that the built in navigation really sucks. It gives 
you three choices based apparently only on time and distance but never 
warns about the pitfalls of any of them. It gives 'accurate' directions but 
almost never 'good' directions and will gladly divert you to a gravel road 
from a county road if it will shave 5% off the distance and will put you on 
that crappy county road even if a perfectly good highway route was 
available that is only 5% longer. Up until now I had been unable to get 
Android Auto to work (reasons unknown) but in desperation I tried again on 
my way home and it worked perfectly and gave much better results even 
though I was using it blindly. I hereby apologize to all those who have 
posted that Android Auto is superior to the inbuilt. I was definitely wrong.

Oh, the seats are comfortably enough even for someone as old as me, 
visibility is good except when driving straight into the sun with bugs 
splattered on the windshield, handling and stability are excellent, the 
cruise control is exemplary, the lane keeping can get annoying, and the 
noise level is good. The newly-installed replacement Michelin 225/60R-18 
Michelin CrossClimate2 SL tires were excellent even in some blinding 
downpours in West Virginia with never a trace of hydroplaning.

-- 
Bodger's Dictum: Artifical intelligence
can never overcome natural stupidity.