98 Forester Buy or Not?

[LT]

I'm looking at a clean 98 Forester with 70K miles for $7800 here in Nor Cal.
Assuming it gets a clean bill from my local Subie mech, should I get it or
pass? I'm concerned about it being the first year for the Forester, should I
hold off for a 99 or newer?
Thanks
LT

 

[Herwig Haentjens]

I bought a new Forester december 1999. I have 100 000 km now and it still
drives like new. I replaced the tires at 95 000 km. Brake and clutch are
untouched. No oil consumption. I don't feel a great difference when
driving a new one.
HH

 

[ed]

Yes, it was the first year for the Forester, but it uses the Impreza chassis
and the same drivetrain used in other Subarus, so really only the body is
new, which is not usually the problem on 1st year cars.
Ed B

 

[Jim & Nancy Guerino]

1) Foresters built between APR 1997 and MAR 1999 had a recall for the brake
master cylinder.
(NHTSA Campaign Id Number: 99V040000)

2) If manual transmission, Subaru changed pressure plate design starting in
03/98 and continuing though 07/99. (Subie clutch material is prone to
chatter when the clutch is cold but ours built in 2/98 would chatter even
when warmed up). Check the build date on the vehicle you are thinking of
buying.
See: http://forums.vmag.com/suvsubaru0200/messages/2662.html ,
http://tinyurl.com/svbu and http://tinyurl.com/sv9a (These last two are
Google search results I found from when I first chased this issue).

Jim G.

 

[LT]

Dealer replaced the cylinder and also lubed the axle (anootehr recall item)
when I had them inspect it. The vehicle checked out very clean, just had a
full service 10K ago, so I bought it. $7800 for an L model with 70K miles,
I'm happy. Just need to upgrade the poor factory stereo... Thanks all for
the comments.
LT