Subaru Forester in mt. terrain???

[ncbyrne]

We are celebrating retirement with a cross country 2+ month auto trip around the perimeter of the USA. We will drive from NJ to Oregon following a northern route, then down the Pacific Coast. Then across the southern states into Florida and head north back to NJ.
Will we be ok driving a 4 cylinder 2009 Subaru Forester over the Rocky Mountains? We're not concerned about increased gas mileage in the mts, just about being able to manuever of steeper grade mt. roads. We have been to the eastern mt. ranges, but have never been to the Rockies.

[Midwest Michael]

Welcome to the RTA Forum!

The Forrester will have no problems gettin around the Rockies. I've driven an Outback with a 4 cylender in the Canadian Rockies without any problems whatsoever.

Honestly, there really are few cars that don't have more than enough power to get through the mountains, but this really is one that you shouldn't have a problem with.

[ncbyrne]

How about a NON-turbo 4 cylinder, with an automatic transmission?

[Mass Tim]

I don't think there is a car made today that cannot handle the Rocky Mountains. The Forester is a great car and you shouldn't have a problem. True, smaller non-turbo engines tend to lose some performance in the higher altitudes, but it's not as though you are going to feel like you're driving a 1952 Crosley...

[Midwest Michael]

I wasn't talking about having a turbo engine. The standard engine will be just fine for about 99.9% of the things you could need it to do.

While you might see a slight drop in performance, I can't think of a single situation where I've driven a car at elevation where I've seen a significant difference in its ability to do what it needs to do.