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Subaru Forester (up to 2005)
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Comments
The Costco in San Diego has an all-season Michellin that they sell for $92 and is rated for 80,000 miles. The only other all-season they sell that fits my Forester is $55 and is the Kirkland house brand.
What should I expect an alignment to cost if it's needed?
Donn
The Sears tires on my Miata were actually Bridgestones. Try to find out who makes Kirklands.
They don't have BFGoodrich tires in 205/70R15? They may not be all-terrain tires, but that's why they last longer. They'll definitely fit. Ask them about it.
The beauty of Costco is the price includes mounting, life time balancing, new valves, life time rotation, and a road hazard warranty.
-juice
Thanks for the feedback juice.
Donn
As long as you don't drive off road in the mountains or where there's a lot of snow, then you could benefit from a more street-oriented tire.
-juice
Yeah, sure, but wasn't it just a few days ago when newspapers pictured nearly a foot of accumulated hail in Los Angeles?!?
Anyone else have this happen to them? Our 3-year warranty runs out next March, do you think a Subaru dealer would replace a skipping CD unit?
Steve
Steve: I have the WRX' 6CD in my Forester, it never skips. My Miata has a single CD and it skips at every bump.
Maybe check tire pressures. At 30psi, my Miata skips even on rough pavement. It needs 26-28psi to ride smooth enough.
I would not go below 29 on a Forester, but see if they're high right now.
-juice
Note: that's on my '98. I think they moved it later on the Phase II engines.
-juice
Donn
Sorento: Frame Based truck out of the Kia/Hyundai camp. One of the best trucks out there IMHO, as it has a full frame and is relatively in-expensive for folks who want AWD + Low Range + Offroadability + towing with a frame.
-mike
I have a 03 XT w/AT w/2.0 engine. My dealer recommends to drive by "3" mode on a town traffic. Does it really help to prolong Subaru's transmission life as they say? I drove by "d" mode on my previous cars without any problems. So I wonder now.
As I know MTs are pretty small in numbers in the US, so you guys probably know about the AT much more than me.
Thanks in advance.
Steve, Host
You can leave it in D. I would only agree with the dealer if you are towing, then you want the shorter gears, not overdrive.
-juice
I don't think it will help longevity, in fact it will probably shorten it, but it makes it more fun to drive!
Greg
Besides, for 2004 Forester is rates 28 EPA Hwy.
I'm impressed with the apparent value here.
Anyone out there with an '04 manual who can provide a little fuel efficiency feedback...ez
Not bad for an AWD 2.5l.
-juice
My '00 Outback AT also goes into OD at ~35-ish, that's normal. But, it responds quickly to even a little gas pedal and shifts as needed.
How many miles you have?
-Brian
-mike
I guess I got spoiled with my wife's BMW 325 5spd AT, it didn't do that "drop" into overdrive. It was also a lot more willing to hold gears longer under part throttle acceleration.
-mike
Your engine is very 'green' as well. It will respond better with some more miles.
-Brian
(I get about the same mileage in my Outback with the 3.0-H6 by the way, which *really* impresses me).
Craig
-mike
-Brian
I'd love to see it. How cool would that be?
-juice
We live in the burbs west of town that have a "country" flair (lots of small horse properties), so I'm rarely in true big-city stop-and-go - most of the time I'm on a 2-lane road with occasional lights going 35-55.
My highway mileage therefore isn't much different. Best tank was 30.5 driving the mountains (curves) - going cross-country (fast), I get about 26.
Hope this helps,
-brianV
Bob
I test drove an Escape, Jeep Liberty, Forester XT.
The test drive of the Forester reminded me of my test drive of a Miata (took about 30 seconds to say "SOLD").
I'm not sure about the non-turbo forester but the XT is very fast. What I think is more important is the handling of this SUV blows everything else out of the water. It loves to go through the twisties. I had a chance to take the XT on the race track. The club I belong to will NOT allow an SUV on the track for safety reasons (high CG roll over considerations). They let me play without any questions. Had fun beating up on a friends Porsche 928. I think he was ready to sell it after seeing what the XT would do.
I have not had this much fun driving since I bought a Miata (I still have two by the way).
Life is too short to drive a boring car.
Paddyk
Westland MI
Congrats and good luck with your new XT!
From all reports, seems as if it moves like a bat out-of-hell. I'm sure it's a lot of fun to drive, but since it's still not a sports car, just be particularly careful with it and you'll continue to enjoy.
Piscean
Wisdom of the ages, encapsulated in one short sentence.
>> WARNING! Use of this vehicle may result in desirable personality changes. <<
- D.
PS Hoping that my poor humor is recognized as such.
Craig
FWIW, the price difference is more like $2 grand, not 5. Being an enthusiast myself, what price can you put on happiness? )
-juice
I'll turn the question around. Which would you rather look at -- the CR-V in your review mirror or the Forester XT gingerly accelerating away from you? :-)
It's a very small price to pay to be in the fastest mini-SUV ever.
Ken
can't resist turning it around once again:
Which would you rather do - take you family for a nice ski/sunshine vacation in your CRV or have them playing on the street (watching your XT carefully), while you work all these overtime hours to cover for the price difference.
K
But...you still have side air bags that protect your head, even the top-line CR-V doesn't have that.
The X still has AWD, ABS, 16" rims, PW, PL, PS, PM, CD, A/C, etc. So your family could get to that ski resort safe and secure.
You could go real low-budget with a CR-V LX, but then you'd give up important safety features like side air bags and ABS, plus you won't save much compared to the X. Honda also offers plain FWD versions, but then you're not going skiing at all.
-juice
I deliberately left that one out. Reason - choosing between comparably priced CRV and Forester should be no-brainer
K
Nothing quite that dramatic has occurred (yet). My carping about several unfortunate XT attributes in no way diminishes its many positives. I'm genuinely delighted with the handling, the ride, the front and rear space inside (once I figured out how to set the seat to maximize what space there is), the exceptional outward visibility, and a host of other great qualities. And I haven't yet even been able to enjoy the anticipated winter prowess, because we haven't yet had ice or snow.
So - it's a very good car that just misses my definition of greatness because of several significant shortcomings that Subaru could easily have avoided.
This weekend, three or four dealerships in Oregon were having sales on Foresters. Anyone think it is a coincidence?
I do not think it is a bad product, just a bad economy, so I put my money where my mouth was and when one dealership offered a XT PP for about 1200 less than invoice I drove it home.
I would call this a compact utility performance vehicle. Drives great ... personally I expect the auto trans. to save me about one speeding ticket per year...
Anyway, anyone considering a Forester might want to see if their local dealerships have had similar reactions to this news. Forester sales in the U.S. declined from Sept 02 to Sept 03 and from Oct 02 to Oct 03 even though there is a new, clearly superior, model. This cannot be encouraging for Fuji, as Takagi-san's comments imply. I think they would like to avoid this in November 03 and might be willing to find significant new discounts in order to attain this goal.
I am relieved you took my somewhat misguided humor with strides. Of course it is perfectly fine and (in his forum) even very useful to point out any shortcomings of the product. It was just too tempting to respond.
I agree with Eric, this is a great time to buy Subarus - unfortunately, it looks like I am going to move and will need to drive my trusty 11-year old Golf at least until my new home (and - more importantly - its mortgage) will be settled. I hate moving from one of the most expensive areas in the country to one even more expensive. How are you supposed to afford a decent home?
At least, since my wife has been driving our loaded Passat 4Motion, I (should?) have the right of "drivership" in our new 2nd vehicle. Sigh.
- D.