Latest news with #OutbackXT
The Citizen
02-07-2025
- Automotive
- The Citizen
New Subaru Forester coming to South Africa
Its most recent local market developments having been in 2023 when it announced pricing for the XV and the turbocharged Outback XT, Subaru has officially confirmed the sixth generation Forester for South Africa by way of a teaser image on its Instagram page. What to expect? Shown on the eve of the Los Angeles International Auto Show nearly two years ago, the internally named SL Forester not only sports a less rounded appearance than the preceding SK, but a stiffer Global Platform foundation as well as improved steering. Wider and longer than the SK, the SL also has more boot space ranging from 838l to 2 106l, and inside, improved materials plus the portrait-style 11.6-inch Starlink infotainment system with wired Apple CarPlay and wireless Android Auto. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Subaru Southern Africa (@subaru_sa) While specification is set to vary depending on the trim level, notable items available in the States include heated and ventilated front seats, a hands-free electric tailgate, wireless smartphone charger, dual-zone climate control and LED headlights. As part of the heavily revised EyeSight range of safety and driver assistance systems, the Forester comes equipped with Adaptive Cruise Control, Autonomous Emergency Braking, Blind Spot Monitoring, Reverse Automatic Braking, Driver Attention Alert, Rear Cross Traffic Alert, Rear Exit Assist and Lane Keep Assist. In addition, Subaru has upgraded the quality of the forward facing camera, as well as the overall 360-degree surround-view system. Up front Up front, the South African-spec Forester is unlikely to offer the 1.8l turbocharged flat-four Boxer engine, or indeed the pair of hybrid units consisting of the mild-hybrid 2l e-Boxer and the self-charging 2.5l e-Boxer. As in not only the US but also Australasia, the only unit set to be available is the conventional normally aspirated 2.5l that produces 132kW/241Nm in the former and 136kW/247Nm Down Under. In both instances, a revised Lineartronic CVT sends the amount of twist to all four wheels through Subaru's Symmetrical All-Wheel-Drive system. At present, the outgoing local market Forester has a choice of two powerunits; the 2l flat-four outputting 115kW/196Nm and the mentioned 2.5 rated at 136kW/239Nm. More soon Priced from $43 490 (R504 629) in Australia and $29 995 (R528 536) in the United States, Subaru South Africa is yet to confirm an exact date of reveal, however, given the commencing of the teaser campaign yesterday, expect more details to be announced soon. As a reminder, the current three model SK Forester range starts at R699 000 for the 2.0i S ES, extends to R729 000 for the 2.5i Sport ES and ends at R780 000 for the flagship 2.5i S ES. This article first appeared in the The Citizen. Breaking news at your fingertips… Follow Caxton Network News on Facebook and join our WhatsApp channel. Nuus wat saakmaak. Volg Caxton Netwerk-nuus op Facebook en sluit aan by ons WhatsApp-kanaal.
Yahoo
29-01-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Why Don't Turbocharged Cars Need Hood Scoops Anymore?
You never know what you have until it's gone, and the proliferation of hood scoops on turbocharged cars is a perfect example of that. Looking back in time a decade or two, it was more common for turbocharged or supercharged road cars to have functional hood scoops, from station wagons to muscle cars to pickup trucks. Nowadays, though, cars leaving the production line with these attention-grabbing features are less common, and that sucks. Hood scoops are pretty self explanatory. They're raised openings on a car's hood that are used to increase the flow of cool air into the engine compartment, and were once most common on cars with forced induction systems like turbochargers or superchargers to maximize their power output and efficiency. Hood scoops can also benefit naturally-aspirated cars, but the nature of forced induction systems calls for extra cooling. Whether turbocharged, supercharged, or a combination of the two, forced induction systems force air into a car's engine which allows it to burn more fuel and produce more power. Forced induction, especially turbochargers, have become commonplace in modern cars because they allow physically smaller engines to produce the power of a larger engine while allowing more fuel efficiency and weight savings. Cars ranging from the smallest and cheapest Chevrolets and Dodges you can buy to the most expensive Ferraris and McLarens now use turbochargers, so where are all the cool hood scoops? When the revival of the Mini brought a sporty Cooper S to the U.S. market, it prominently featured a tasty hood scoop to feed cool air to its supercharged four-cylinder engine. The second and third-generations of the Cooper S transitioned to using turbochargers, and their distinctive designs still retained hood scoops, but they were no longer functional. The fourth-generation Mini Cooper S recently launched, and it did away with even the fake signature hood scoop entirely. How was Mini able to keep the high-performance powertrain without needing the additional cooling from the hood scoop? The air intake was moved to the top of the front grille, which rendered the hood scoop unnecessary. The latest Cooper S dropped the fake hood scoop in favor of a smoothed-out design ethos that sterilized the look into its current form. Subaru used to sell many different cars with hood scoops, from its weirdo crossover pickup truck the Baja to the Legacy family sedan to the Forester family crossover to the Outback station wagon. Now, Subaru only sells one model with a hood scoop, the WRX performance sedan. The Outback XT still features a turbocharged engine, and so does the three-row Ascent, but for some unfortunate reason neither car comes with a hood scoop. Subaru said the hood scoop was dropped from the Outback XT's design to maximize aerodynamic efficiency and thus maximize the platform's fuel economy. As car design shifted to focus on maximizing aerodynamic efficiency and fuel efficiency, hood scoops got the axe. Engineers started integrating the air intakes necessary for turbocharged cars into the grille, instead of letting big rowdy hood scoops do the work. As we continue inching toward an electric future, EVs don't need anywhere near as much airflow as an internal combustion engine so cars with hood scoops may end up disappearing from new car lots. Don't go sticking fake AutoZone hood scoops to your cars, though, we don't need any of that. For the latest news, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
