Non turbo Subarus

[Pete-mojsh]

Hi,

I'm at the point where I am looking to change from my 2005 Mazda 3 Sport to something else. As a new parent of our first child I had been looking at something sensible and family based, Isofix a must and enough luggage space to fill with baby crap and anything else we may need to take with us when we go to see friends and family. All sense says an Avensis estate, dull, looks OK in an estate, reliable workhorse, but I'm not sure I'm ready for that yet, although I'm not quite ready to take the petrol hit of a turbo yet either.

I've been looking through autotrader and there are a few non turbo options that look OK;

Legacy estate
Impreza estate
Impreza hatch (although at 97k I'm not sure how they hold up with the bigger miles in comparison, sense would say well but there's a sacrifice for luggage space
Impreza saloon

I don't want to spend a lot, I go to the office 2/3 times a week which is about a 40 mile round trip, it will need to do similar mileage when we go to see friends but we'll be using the wifes car for that as well (although we still have to find her something to replace the Fiat 500 that she currently has. Budget probably £3.5k but ideally less, would need to be trade really so that I can part ex and finance it conveniently.

2008 Impreza hatch

http://www4.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...

Impreza wagon

http://www4.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...

The above are a couple of examples I've found.

What do I need to know? What crops up with age or miles? I'm guessing suspension bits are usually a bit worn and belts need staying on top of to keep it reliable. I know mpg isn't going to be great but to be honest it's not a huge drop from what the Mazda does and I'll be doing less miles this year, similarly performance won't be at WRX or STI levels but that's OK when I'll have my daughter in the car most of the time. Safety and reliability are really important.

I'm happy to do most service and consumable bits myself although belts I would prefer a decent independent to do.

I'm sure there are more things to consider but that's what springs to mind at the moment.

[vxr2010]

buy a forester petrol preferably

[Freds]

vxr2010 said:

buy a forester petrol preferably

+1. Buy a Forester, you won't find a diesel within your budget. With a bit of patience you will find a nice one pretty quickly. It's surprising how many one owner, full dealer history cars you come across that are 10 years old plus.

[loskie]

do you need the petrol hit of an awd car?

[PomBstard]

Freds said:

vxr2010 said:

buy a forester petrol preferably

+1. Buy a Forester, you won't find a diesel within your budget. With a bit of patience you will find a nice one pretty quickly. It's surprising how many one owner, full dealer history cars you come across that are 10 years old plus.

I've just sold a 10-y-o Forester with the 2.5NA engine. Just about the perfect urban car - torquey engine, AWD (I live in a hilly place where it rains a lot), good visibility, piece of cake to drive and manouvre, reliable, roomy for a family with 2 kids (from experience...), supple suspension with 60-profile tyres on 16" rims for the sthouse urban streets around here, and stood up really well to the punishment dished out. We filled it several times with family crap and took it on quite a few trips of 2000+ km. Only thing that failed was the AC. Not bad in ten years.

It won't win any beauty or fuel economy awards, I think we averaged about 28mpg around town and 35'ish on the motorway. But it was consistent and utterly dependable. Just keep the oil fresh, and drive.

I've also had 2 Liberties with the same engine and they were the same. Can't go wrong. Now on my 6th Sube.

[Ahbefive]

Get a turbo.

[AussieFozzy]

Have had an '07 N/A forester for 5 years now. Does everything i ask of it and has never ever let me down.
As for suspension wear ect i have not had to replace anything yet and i am one of those idiots who takes their Subaru off road. Its done jumps and slammed holes and ruts so hard that i have stopped and gotten out because i was certain one of my wheels would be hanging off. Ive had it stuck in the sand and beached on its sills when i overestimate my abilities and ground clearance.
Never has even the slightest hint of major damage, just needs an alignment and shes good to go again.

[julianm]

Don`t forget an outback - bit taller than a legacy & plenty of room for all the baby stuff. If you can stand the tax & fuel consumption there is the 3 litre version which is a favourite with a lot of drivers.

[loskie]

and the £500 tax dependant upon age. My 2002 128bhp Forester is £295

[TEKNOPUG]

Work out how many miles you are likely to do year and how much motorway. Then be realistic about MPG.

You might be surprised at the differences between NA and Turbo. I can easily get 300+ miles out of a tank in my WRX and have averaged 28mpg over 50k. Sure they'll drink more in traffic and short trips but I doubt the savings in NA are as big as you imagine.

Over 8000 miles, the difference between 35mpg and 28mpg is 80p a day.

[vxr2010]

on the turbo side a remap can help them to run more efficiently if you don't use the loud pedal all the time , the loud pedal unfortunately can be a bit addictive , if you drive a car not on boost then they are fairly frugal for a 4 wheel drive turbo'd car

[Stants]

Don't know if this is too old but it would be my choice if I went from turbo to na

http://uk.subaruownersclub.com/forums/index.php?/t...