The car will definitely adapt over time. Mine has changed quite a bit in the 38K miles I have driven it. All the miles cruising on the highway have been interpreted as less aggressive driving by the computer and my car has adjusted things accordingly. What it means is it tends to get me into higher gears more quickly. Even in DS mode it will end up in 7th gear now. and it doesn't hold the RPMs up high like it used to. I actually like DS more now though. If I do push on the gas it will respond very quickly and it will hold RPMs in turns and such. All in all it is even more of a joy to drive, which is good since I drive it 500-600 miles a week.

 

So the OP got some great help from the boards and learned that some of his issues appear to be operator error or common design issues. Gotta love the boards!

In regard to people jumping on the Lemon Law idea - there are a few things that I can recommend having been through one.

1. Everyone thinks they have a Lemon Law case whenever they have an issue (not OP - just talking in general when you read these boards). I agree that we pay a lot of money for these cars and they should be perfect but the LL is for serious issues that affect the value of the car, not annoyances. However, most states have the 'headache' clause if your car is in 3 times for the same issue or is in service for the same problem for a cumulative 30 days (I'm in PA and that was the law when we did ours).

2. If you TRULY think you have a LL case just call a LL attorney. In most states (if not all) your attorney fees are paid as part of the judgement if you win your case. Most attorneys take LL cases without any cost to the owner knowing that, if they win, they will be paid by the auto company. Now, do the math here folks, they have tons of experience here and they know when they WILL win and when they don't have a good case with a 99%+ chance of winning.
If they don't get paid unless they win, why would they take a case that won't get them paid.
This is why I always say - call a LL attorney if you think you have a case. It doesn't cost you anything and you'll get some great feedback about the chances of an actual win. These people do the LL stuff all day long and know what is, and isn't, a LL case.

Our issue was unbelievably simple but caused water damage in the car - significant water damage. It was something simple too. During a rain we would get about 1/2 cup of water that would pour out from under our glove compartment and the headliner was alway wet after rains. (Subaru Legacy GT many moons ago by the way) We could actually see water streaming along the glass at highway speeds. Obviously something was wrong. Dealer did 3 'tests' putting a hose on windshield and 'could not duplicate'. I called the dealer and corporate with no help. I kept explaining that there was water infiltration at high speeds but they didn't/wouldn't test correctly so they couldn't duplicate.
Went to a LL attorney and they had one of their techs look at it. He popped on a set of headphones with a mic and drove the car for 2 minutes and found a bad seal around the windshield. Too bad for Subaru!
Got our money back, etc. and all attorney fees were paid. They would NOT have taken the case if they didn't feel it was slam dunk.
Funny side note - we got a crack in the windshield and, before the finalization of the process was done we had to get an inspection so we had to have it fixed. The guy came out to fix the windshield and when he took it off, the problem turned out to be that they simply didn't finish the black squeeze sealant in a complete circle behind the glass. There was a 4 inch gap and that's where the rain was coming in. Stupid . . .

Anyway - if you are thinking Lemon Law - just call an attorney and they'll give you the cold hard facts. If they won't take the case it's because they don't think they can win - and I'll bet they'd be right most of the time.

Cheers and hope that helps. I just find it funny that people come to the boards to ask non-attorneys and people who don't even live in their state if they have a Lemon Law case and expect to get a solid idea if they should file the court documents. I know it's a great place to vent and get feedback so I'm not judging but if someone truly feels that way then they can get a 100% answer from a local LL attorney and make themselves feel better (or worse).

Jay

 

Well my car just hit 800 miles so I guess it still has a lot of learning to do

I've never bought an automatic before and really wanted a stick shift, but there didn't seem to be any around and I was in a hurry, so I just took what they had. I do miss it, but the AT is handy when you're crawling down the highway with nothing to do other than watch construction workers milling about.

I have no idea what the DS mode is supposed to do, other than it looks like you can shift gears manually. I think I need to break out the manual.

 

That's what it does.

 

Ah ok. I thought it somehow modified the transmission's shifting behavior too.

 

it does that too. in DS mode, it holds your RPM higher before shifting. shifting manually only occurs after you have engaged the paddle shifters, (or the shift **** up or down, if you don't have shifters). simply putting it in DS will not automatically put you in manual mode.

 

DS mode is not manual shift mode. DS mode puts the car into a more aggressive shifting mode. It keeps the car in a lower gear with RPMs higher. This keeps the car in the sweet spot for power more. It is great for cornering, windy roads, hilly areas, etc. Ironically it is also often good in semi-heavy traffic as it can stop the car from being in too high a gear.

Try it out.

D mode tends to get you into the highest gear as quickly as possible.

 

Well yeah, like others said it makes the transmission shift more aggressively, but it doesn't affect anything beyond the transmission.

 

Thanks again for all your help guys. After the adjustment, my car is running really well. Still not happy with the radio/audio system or the water running into the trunk in the rain (not just drops), but I took the car through some curvy New England roads at a reasonably high speed this weekend and it handled amazingly.

As far as the Lemon Law issues go, I hope all of you realize when looking at my post, I never sought legal advice here--I am in the judiciary and certainly would not seek legal help on these boards (nor can I, by law, give legal advice, just in case that just occurred to you). I sought info about the specific model here and, if there was a general problem that included severe safety issues, was willing to take it further through my own channels.

I am sorry that anyone has had problems using their state's Lemon Law. It is only for serious issues that cannot be fixed, not for "minor" issues.

Thanks again everyone for all your advice that helped solve some of my "issues" that really were non-issues once I understood more about the car.