Opinions of Forester?

[Henry Paul]

I am looking at a second car. I have an Impreza sedan now and I am looking at something with a little more cargo room for the second car. I have looked at a few Foresters and have been impressed with the build and the space.

So, of those that own one (or two), what are your impressions? Does the 2.5 engine have the same problems that the Outback suffers with? Does anyone have experience with both an Outback and a Forester?

Thanks in advance for the information.

 

[Jeffrey Burns]

Hi Henry,

After much shopping around I purchased a 2004 Forester and I'll never go back to anything else. I got a plain 2.5 X and the engine is fine. The Forester weighs less then the Outback which results in much better performance.

I would highly recommend the Forester.... lots of room, good performance, and excellent safety.

Jeff

--

"I got a fever... and the only prescription is more cowbell!"
---Christopher Walken
I am looking at a second car. I have an Impreza sedan now and I am looking at something with a little more cargo room for the second car. I have looked at a few Foresters and have been impressed with the build and the space.

So, of those that own one (or two), what are your impressions? Does the 2.5 engine have the same problems that the Outback suffers with? Does anyone have experience with both an Outback and a Forester?

Thanks in advance for the information.

 

[Woody]

I am looking at a second car. I have an Impreza sedan now and I am looking at something with a little more cargo room for the second car. I have looked at a few Foresters and have been impressed with the build and the space.

So, of those that own one (or two), what are your impressions? Does the 2.5 engine have the same problems that the Outback suffers with? Does anyone have experience with both an Outback and a Forester?

Thanks in advance for the information.

I assume that you already ran a google search of this group and have
looked at the hundreds of posts already covering some of your basic
questions. Presuming that you have extended us that courtesy prior to
your post, I'll offer the following:

We just traded in my wife's '98 Forester s with 120K miles for a '04
Forester xs.

The '98 was an excellent all around vehicle for my wife here in
central NH. She is a horse person so saddles and other related items
fit easily in the back. The AWD gives very good winter performance
once we got good tires on it. The original Croak-ohama tires lasted
only 18K miles and were dog crap in the snow. Replacement tires gave
long mileage and good traction. We recently looked at all the
competition and went for another Forester. Hopefully the Croak-ohama's
on the '04 will be a little better than what was on the '98. We got a
very good price on the '04 so we will just deal with getting better
tires later on.

As for reliability of the '98, very good overall with these
exceptions: leaks in front axel seals early on, fixed under warranty;
leak in engine oil seal at about 80K, fixed at our cost. Otherwise, a
great car. Too bad it can't pull the horse trailer.

 

[Andrew J. Perrin]

We've had our 2004 2.5 X for about 8 months now, and in the main are
very happy with it. It's comfortable and easy to drive, reliable,
quiet. A little bumpy ride on bad roads, but not a big
problem. Mileage in town is less than we had been led to believe (we
get about 18-20 mpg for strictly city driving), but freeway mpg is
very impressive: pushing 30.

ap

 

[Henry Paul]

I had a set of Yokohama Geolanders on my old Jeep Cherokee. They only lasted
about 15,000 miles. I don't know if it is soft tread or what, but I wore
them bald in 2 summers.

--
Henry Paul


looking at something with a little more cargo room for the second car. I
have looked at a few Foresters and have been impressed with the build and
the space.2.5 engine have the same problems that the Outback suffers with? Does anyone
have experience with both an Outback and a Forester?

 

[Karen Martin]

I had a '99 that I dearly loved. By far the most fun and nicest car I had ever
owned up to that point. It was a breeze to take care of. I recently needed a
slightly larger car (grandma having trouble getting in and out of the small
Forester seats), so I "upgraded" to an '05 Outback Wagon.

You will not go wrong with a Forester...and you'll want one as soon as you drive it!

-KarenM-
http://members.cox.net/kamartin/2005outbackreviews.html

PS: check out my "old" Forester reviews page, too....many of those links will be
outdated, but the reviews are still out there for the newer models and they are
still raving about Foresters, as well: http://members.cox.net/kamartin/forester.html