This past summer, I went looking for a car to replace my eleven year old Oldsmobile minivan. After a great deal of research, test drives and soul searching, I settled on a Subaru Forester.

I’ve had it for a month now and am pleased with the decision. It’s just the right size, and I’ve never had more fun driving.

First—and most importantly—it has ample room in the trunk for all of my golf equipment. As you can see from the side photo, it’s wide enough for a bag (and then some). Behind it, I stash my Sun Mountain pull cart, two shoe bags, a gym bag of extra clothes, a toolbox, a large first aid kit, and some other things. I could easily put a second bag in the cargo area, or up to four bags if I removed the pull cart (which is somewhat awkwardly shaped).

The rear seats also lay down flat, creating a very large flat bed. To keep all of the stuff from view, it has a neat cover that works a bit like a self-reeling window shade. Under the floor of the rear bed is a hidden storage area, set just above the spare tire.

The Subaru has a 4 cylinder “boxer” engine, also known as a horizontally opposed cylinder engine. This means that, rather than going up and down, or in a “V”, the cylinders move left and right. One nice side effect of this, Subaru points out, is that it keeps the center of gravity on the car low. The engine has 170 horsepower and I’m getting 24 - 26 MPG in mixed city-highway driving.

Like all Subarus, the Forester has a symmetrical all wheel drive. In normal driving conditions, the power is divided between the front and rear wheels on a 90-10 basis. When needed, it automatically redistributes power to the individual wheels—not just to the front or rear axles, as with some systems.

Subaru improves stability by keeping the car’s parts aligned along its longitude, while maintaining symmetry. There’s an exhaust system on either side of the center drive shaft, for example. The center of gravity not only is balanced side to side, but is placed in the center front to back. The heaviest parts—transmission, transfer case, differential and propeller shaft—are mounted inside the wheelbase.

The upshot of all of this technobabble is amazing handling. I’ve never driven a car that was so quick to respond—and yet felt so perfectly balanced. The independent four wheel drive system kicks in, not just in slippery conditions, but also on turns. I’ve enjoyed taking friends into an empty parking lot and showing off the turning radius. With the wheels all spinning at different rates, you can turn the Subaru so tightly that the passengers will get sick.

With the four wheel drive, I’m actually am looking forward to the first heavy snowfall. I want to be able to cruise along, looking smugly at the other buggies that slip and slide.

Although it’s just four cylinders, the Subaru Forester’s engine has more than enough power—and if it doesn’t, there’s also a “sport shift” where you can instantly bypass the automatic transmission and control the up-and-downshifting yourself. I had, for a moment, considered getting a turbo model, but the premium gas requirement tanked that for me.

Another nice aspect of the engine design: the battery, and all of the fluid tanks, etc. are accessible. In my minivan, I couldn’t give someone a jump start because the battery was behind a side panel (that also meant I had to take it in to get the battery replaced).

On the inside, the the car is practical, but not luxurious. The cockpit is spacious—a very large friend of mine commented on how much room there was. The leather seats are quite comfortable, and adjust adequately. The car also has a “climate control system”—just set a temperature and let the vehicle handle the rest.

The rear view mirror has a compass and dims automatically at night.

The “radio” actually is a mini computer with a touch screen that integrates a radio, CD and DVD player, speaker controls, GPS/Mapping system, and car monitoring. I can push a button and see my mileage, get turn-by-turn directions, find out when my next maintenance is due, see a calendar or calculator, and more. A port in a storage compartment lets me plug in my mp3 player and hear it over the car’s speakers.

But it’s missing a few touches that you would find in American cars. The passenger seat has only manual adjustments. The vanity mirrors don’t have a light, for example. The cup holders are laughable. The headlights don’t turn on and off automatically. I also miss the built-in air pump that I had in my minivan.

On the other hand, the Forester has the biggest moonroof - sunroof I have ever seen. It’s immense, capable of opening up over virtually the entire front and part of the rear seats.

The boys like their seats in the back. They’re leather, and either side of the bench reclines independently so they can take a nap on long trips. Between them is a wide folding arm rest (more than enough room for two arms), and a hidden storage compartment/snack-and-cup holder.
The only downside is that I feel guilty for not having bought American. Michigan depends heavily (too much, really) on the auto industry, and I have this feeling that I’ve let some of my neighbors down. I also won’t be able to park in some lots of places I occasionally need to go. Those “No Foreign Cars In This Lot” signs are not just there for show.

I guess I’ll get over the guilt.

In many ways, this Subaru is the sports car I didn’t get when I didn’t suffer a midlife crisis at age 40. It’s more fun than a Pete Dye course.

I’m a mean dad. Both of my boys were given a workbook of math, english, science and social studies as “bridge work” this summer. Studies have shown that kids suffer significant learning loss while on vacation, and I am determined to keep them ahead of their classmates.

It’s tough to get kids to do “homework” in the summer months. But I added an incentive. When they finished the books, I agreed to pay for part of the Wii that Thing One wanted, and to buy Thing Two a Nintendo DS.

Thing One, the twelve year old, was pretty efficient about doing a page or two a day until he was finished. On the other hand, Thing Two, being seven, had a hard time finishing his book.  It took a lot of work on my part to keep him on task.

But he finally finished today. And I let him open the DS box that’s been sitting on the homework table all summer.

After opening the box, he turned to me, and with the most serious of faces, said (and I quote exactly) “Thank you for your support and encouragement. You’re the nicest dad.”

He talks like that all the time. Sometimes I get the feeling that Thing Two really is a thirty-year-old trapped in a kid’s body.

As I wrote in a previous post, I’ve been in the market for a new car. My current vehicle, an Oldsmobile minivan (the Cadillac of minivans), has 150,000 miles and I want to replace it before it dies.

Thus far, I’ve test driven a Pontiac Vibe, Saturn Vue, Chevrolet Equinox, Chevrolet Malibu, Dodge Caliber, Toyota Camry, Rav4, the Volksswagen Passat, a couple of Jeeps and a Subaru Forester.  I also went to a Ford dealership (Gene Butman in Ypsilanti) to try their offerings, but after ten minutes of being completely ignored by the salesmen, walked away. I guess Ford is selling all the cars they can make, because they apparently didn’t need to sell me one.

The Chevy Malibu is by far the best vehicle I tested. It’s quiet, classy and has plenty of power for a four cylinder. I was absolutely stunned by the apparent quality, attention to the little details, and by how much car you get for a very low base price. The trunk space is plenty large for my golf bag, Sun Mountain push cart and a bag of shoes, extra clothes, etc.

It’s a good sized car, and it’s rated for 30 miles per gallon highway.

It’s definitely not your father’s Chevrolet. If you’re in the market for a car, you should give this one a test drive, if only for comparison’s sake.

I would have bought it on the spot, but for the fact that I’m not sure I really want to drive a sedan. The test drive was lengthy, but I worry that after a couple of weeks in it, I’ll miss the higher ride of the van. I wish there was a way I could drive one for a month before making a final decision.

Several of the cars listed above don’t have the trunk space, which automatically disqualifies them. Interestingly, one of the smaller ones—the Vibe—does. And right now, that would be third on my list.

Outside the Malibu, the one I liked the best was the Subaru Forester. But, as I work in a Ford neighborhood (there’s a big assembly plant just a mile from the school, and a huge percentage my students’ parents work there), I feel a bit awkward about that. Those people support their schools strongly and pay taxes to pay my salary and a big part of me thinks I should return the support by buying American (if not Ford, since they apparently don’t want to sell me one).

Then there’s the issue of several local places with the “No Foreign Cars Allowed On This Lot” parking.

Still, the Forester has a lot to offer as a commuting/golf vehicle. The cargo space is plenty large. I could easily carry four bags in there.  It rides very well and the four cylinder “boxer” engine has more than enough power for the type of suburban driving I do. I took it out on the highway as part of the test drive and it handles very well there, too. A neat feature is that the shift has a “sport” setting which adds extra zip when you need it (at the expense of fuel consumption). You just push the stick left from the drive position and “sport” kicks in. That’s handy when you’re merging and notice that there is an 18-wheeler bearing down on you. You also can use it to shift up and down like a manual.

The four wheel drive is a nice plus. In the winter, I’m often on the road before the plows and salt trucks have gotten to work, and the ride in to school can be slippery. My sense of it is also that the four wheel drive and stability control give the Forester a very nice feel in the handling.

Inside, the Forester has more of a truck or van feel, with the cockpit being quite open.

I’m going to try a couple of more brands this next week, if only for comparison’s sake. I don’t really have an interest in the Honda Element, for example, but I’ll give it a try.

Apropos of nothing. I just thought it was funny.

I’d been feeling light-headed for a couple of weeks, and last Friday, Mrs. Golfblogger, the nurse, finally put her foot down. She made a doctor’s appointment and ordered me to attend (she’s also a retired Air Force Captain, so she knows how to give orders). I went in expecting the physician to find I had an inner ear infection or vertigo, or something that required big pills. Instead, after poking about and peering in my ears, nose and throat with a lighted instrument, she put me on an ekg.

Now that’s a scary moment.

Good news. I wasn’t having a heart attack. But what they found was a strange little blip—a rabbit ear, as the doctor described it. On the graph it looks like little upward blip just before the big one. It’s almost like my heart has a little stutter.

“Nothing to worry about,” she (the doctor) said.

Then she immediately went about making me worry by referring me for a stress test. That’s where they hook you up to a bunch of wires, put you on a treadmill and make you run like a rat on a wheel.

Or maybe not so much. When I made the appointment (for later this morning), the clerk said that I should wear comfortable clothing for fast walking.

Fast walking. I can do that. Just like walking and getting a round in under three hours—something I do all the time.

Mrs. Golfblogger suggested that I might feel better if I wore a pair of golf pants, my favorite golf shirt and a pair of cleats.

I just might do that.