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Subaru Forester (up to 2005)
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Comments
Ken
63 cu ft and 64 cu ft for a 2003 on the Edmunds website.
sorry to hear of your troubles. What's the progress with your lift kit? I've only ordered from ISR once, but that will be my last time. Took one month, 10 e-mails, and 5 phone calls to get the right parts, and they still messed up the delivery. And I'm less that 15 miles away, you'd think they could get it right.
joybell,
were you comparing the same models? The ones without the moonroof more space. I think the two are very similar, i actually thought the newer models looked larger because of the redesigned opening.
Choices available locally are:
Three Michelins: Energy MXV4 Plus, Pilot XGT H4; and All-season confidence.
Dunlop SP Sport 5000
Sumitomo SRIXON4
Two Yokohamas: A550V and YK420
Pirelli P3000
I have looked at Tires, Tires, Tires. The discussions there seem to be more in tune with the needs of folks in places that get LOTS of winter snow. I need high heat resistant tires, so that place was useless to me.
Any other desert rats out there with experience on replacements for the 215-60-16 Geolanders in the desert Southwest???
-mike
John
Of course I get to drive in some serious snow but they are great on the highway also. Got mine at Tire Rack..........$75 per.
Ed
-Bob
The stock Geos are good for only 30K miles, which is what I'm pushing on my '01 S. This seems to be almost a standard on new cars... had same experience with '77 celica and '87 mazda B2000...oem tires lasted only 30k miles.
As I mentioned, am mostly concerned about heat resistance, since we travel to the low desert area on a regular basis. Wet traction and snow is not as critical, although once the summer monsoons hit, I don't want tires that will aquaplane on a damp roadway.
I know I'm being overly picky, but a $500 expenditure for 4 tires takes a tad of research. Being retired and on a fixed income, we try to squeeze every drop of marginal utility out of every buck we spend. That's one reason we like the Sube.... am getting 26+ mpg and it is pure pleasure to drive.
BTW, I do have the tires rotated at approximately 7500 mile intervals and have an air compressor to assure the proper cold inflation pressure.
Pretty impressive that they try to improve an already excellent score.
kajko: bummer about the springs, I was meaning to ask you about that. Still?
So the visors are nicer and it gets those foot pedals, but loses the cassette? I was hoping they'd make the mud flaps standard again.
Terry: look under the glove box, it's just two screws to access the air filter. You could remove and inspect. Even vacuum it if it's not that dirty. But replace it if it is.
I bet the tranny is the placebo effect. I think they just changed a locking pin, it should not affect it's operation.
For any rattle, try putting your finger on things until you quiet the rattle, then you've found it. Often it's just loose items in the glove box or one of the storage bins. Another thing you can do it get self-adhesive felt liner for those compartments, which I did.
Good news - my sister just bought a 2003 Forester X auto yesterday, in silver. She was cross-shopping the Camry, but it kept raining, and the Camry felt disconnected to her. I swear we've had rain for what seems like 3 weeks in a row, Mother Nature just forced her in to a Forester! :-)
-juice
Bob
The MSRP with freight was ~24,850 (give or take $20-30). They gave me a $2500 trade in value on my 1999 V6 Contour with 31K miles and initially offered me the car for $21.3K with the trade.
I offered them 19.3K including the trade figuring on a 22.5K invoice and 3K for my trade. I expected them to counter and we would settle somewhere shy of 20K.
Most every place I've been able to check on the web has Forester XS's at or just under invoice, and besides myself, there was only one other couple in the dealership. It was very slow.
I thought it was a fair deal. Apparently the dealership owner did not. That may explain why he still has a 2003 Legacy GT 5 Spd Wagon sitting on his lot with a manufacture date of July 2002.
I’d suggest expand your dealer search criteria. Compose a brief Bid statement in MS Word, or the like, state you are an immediate buyer of a SUBARU Forester XS and are requesting their lowest one time bid to include the price of the vehicle with the final delivered price. Include the options required and the ones you’d prefer plus your Trade situation. Don’t state any dollar amounts; let the dealers come to you. Go to SUBARU.COM, enter you Zip Code and the site will post the three closest Subaru Internet manager E-Mail addresses dealers near you, then the next 3 farther out , and the next 3 again. Cut and Paste your Bid statement for each dealer. Initially request E-Mail responses versus telephone. Then wait; it won’t be long until you see nuggets in your E-Mail Inbox.
This worked great for me last week on Forester X. It was the easiest and most confident car deal I ever made. Good Luck.
Live in the NE so I don't get the extreme temps you speak of, but I did however run them at the Track (limerock) which builds a great deal of heat during a 1/2hr session.
-mike
I've had the SP Sport 5000s a little over 7 months and have put approximately 7K miles on them.
Hope this helps.
Ed
Boy, though, the residuals on that Contour are very low. $2500? Really?
Drive to MD and buy at Fitz, then take a road trip home! ;-)
-juice
-Frank P.
-Frank P.
-juice
I can barely find parking for one car, let alone keep another as a beater, especially with alternate side of the street parking.
I think I should keep the car until I get to the point, a few months down the road, when I have to pay the dealer to take it from me. LOL.
I doubt the dealership will call back.
- Lou
My sister just bought her Subie hassle-free.
-juice
Good luck.
Larry
My car has almost 20K miles in close to 2 years of ownership, so I thought I'd post my impressions. Since my other car is a 1998 Civic hatchback, I will briefly compare the two.
LIKES: except for CEL, no problems so far. Car inspires confidence in rain or snow. At iddle, engine is the smoothest I have ever had (others were 1985 Pontiac Sunbird, 1988 Ford Taurus, 2000 Nissan Maxima, 1998 Honda Civic), you can barely hear or feel it running. Best brakes of any vehicle I had. Very good visibility. Overall gas mileage 23-25 mpg, with auto transmission - pretty decent for a relatively heavy vehicle with AWD.
DISLIKES: Transmission will hesitate from a dead stop. Transmission usually upshifts at 2500 RPM, maybe 4000 RPM if pressed hard. What good is the 6000 RPM redline if won't let you get there. Engine does not like to rev. Overall, the engine/transmission combo is pretty dissapointing. Leg room in the back is just adequate even when short people (I am 5'7", wife is 5'2") stay in front seats. A rear facing child seat will touch the front seats. I have had a high pitched noise coming from the drivetrain since day 1 (somebody said it sounded like an AM radio between stations. To me it sounds more like a jet engine when revved for take off). Noise comes above 60mph. My neighbor's Outback (auto) does the same. Lots of rattles and buzzes. Rear suspension gets easily upset when going over bumps and in the same time changing direction (rear does not feel planted to the ground).
Main differences vs. my 1998 Civic hatchback: the Forester is much quieter in city driving, at highway speeds slightly quieter. Forester is, and feels, much more luxurious, and safer in rain/snow. The Civic's drivetrain (1.6 l auto) is WAY better. Civic inspires more confidence at higher speed (above 60 mph), since it's lower, with a more rigid chassis. In my opinion, as a "package", and for the money, the Civic is the superior car between the two, mainly because of the superb drivetrain and ergonomics.
-mike
Cheers
Pat
While there I asked the dealer to check the manual tranny for shuddering when wet or cold. They couldn't verify the shuddering but they said the had a memo on, I believe, mostly WRXs but some 03 2.5s depending on the VIN. They are ordering the parts to replace on my Forester. I think they said pressure plate and fly wheel.
Wheel 8-) see what happens. They have been real good to me. A refreshing change from previous experiences with dealers.
http://www.mnchopshop.org/images/TSB-03_51_02.jpg
Ken
My '98 S was in for service at 70,000 and the dealer claimed that I had 20% of the rear pads left and 30% of the fronts. I know that Subaru pads tend to last a long time, so when I went to a muffler-brake shop for a minor muffler repair, I had them check the pads also.
They pulled out a spec book, took off the wheels, measured the pads, and claimed that there was still about 50% of the pads both front and rear and that I should come back in another 30k miles for a free recheck. They did say that runout was just out of spec and recommended turning the rotors. I declined based upon previous experiences with turning rotors resulting in warping within a few thousand miles.
The dealer has always been honest and fair about service, so I do not think they were trying to sell me an un-needed service, and the muffler-brake shop has always done good work for me before, so I do not think they are making an error. But I now worry that I am going to wear out the pads and trash the rotors.
I drive conservatively, keeping well back, so that I make minimal use of brakes, and much of my driving is on expressways. So, I would guess that my pads would last longer than average. But I wonder....
-mike
-mike
IIRC, the reason for this is the first time you press it, it forces the recirc on -- even in Auto mode -- even if Recirc is already on. This way, if you are behind a stinky bus, you can force Recirc without going out of Auto.
The second push toggles it off and takes the system out of Auto mode. Press Auto again to go back to normal.
Elliot
I vacuumed it out, but I'll need a new one. I checked, and it was installed on 7/21/2000. I checked it a year later, in 2001, and it was still clean. So I just cleaned it, but did not replace it.
Well, after almost 3 years it's history. The formerly white filter material is gray/black, and there was all kinds of debris in there. Time for me to e-mail parts@libertysubaru.com to get a new one.
But it's doing it's job. I have asthma and I sure am glad I didn't inhale all that gunk! Yuck!
-juice
I just went over 10k in my Forester so I think I'll check the engine air filter and hope it doesn't look at all like my cabin air filter.
At least the engine air filter is easier to change than the cabin air filter. Which makes no sense.
-juice
paisan,
these were TSD rallies, mostly on backroads and canyons. First one I did was 16 hours long, and that was a straight 16 hours of intense driving. But it was a lot more fun than I expected. I wish I could invest the money on real rallying, but no funds. But that doesn't stop me from having a little fun on any dirt road I can find.
-mike