Shed of the Week: Subaru Forester
Most modern crossover SUVs are appalling. The Forester isn't though. It's too honest for that.
All good, then. But is this week's Shed, a 2004 XT Turbo, any good?
Using his special privileges, Shed has unearthed this car's MOT history. There's good news and not so good news. The good news is that the current ticket runs until the end of November. The not so good news is that the tester used quite a bit of ink on the advisories section last November.
In the usual manner of advisories, it's the owner's choice as to whether they want to address them by throwing a bit of cash in their general direction. In this case, he didn't. That could be because he'd already spent a fair-sized wad on rectifying the items it actually failed on, to whit 'seriously weakened' rusty front subframes (both of them) and the offside front suspension arm.
All these are of course all capable of being sorted by the simple application of time, parts and money. Or, as the vendor did, they can be ignored until they become critical. None of these issues was regarded as being serious enough to warrant failing the car last year, so you can understand the owner taking that line. But there are so many advisories with the dreaded word 'corrosion' in them you do wonder what sort of bill you'll be facing in November, just when you're trying to save up for Chrimbo and wondering (in the case of this particular car) how you're going to fill the boot up with presents if the tailgate is still refusing to open like it did for the MOT tester. The remedy for that could be something as simple as a squirt of WD40 into the mechanism, or washing the salt out of it a bit more often, but given what's been happening to the rest of this car it could just as easily be yet more corrosion.
All that is in addition to the vendor's own revelation of a mysterious and as yet untraced coolant leak, plus the current need for a second replacement window winder motor (a used one will cost you around £55 off eBay).
Who wouldn't want a Forester, though? They're comfortable, practical, incredibly useful in bad weather, fabulous for towing (this one has all the back-end trankilments in place), and immensely tunable to 400hp and beyond, according to the girth of your wallet. On top of all that, the flat-four sounds amazing. Here's one going fast on the drag strip.
And it's called a Forester. As it happens, Mrs Shed is quite familiar with a couple of beefy lads who run a small forestry operation in the woods just outside Shed's village. It's a 'green' setup using no conventional fuel-powered machinery whatsoever. Instead, everything is driven by huge beasts of burden. Naturally, the lads have invited Mrs Shed round to take a look at their gigantic ox, but she'd need something like a Subaru Forester to make the muddy trip up there. And Shed isn't sure about this particular one.
Is it worth the gamble? Depends how quickly rust spreads in your neck of the woods.
2004 (54) Subaru Forester XT (2.0 Turbo). 126,000 miles with almost full service history.
I've owned this car for nearly three years, but I'm going back to Land Rover ownership and so it has to go. New radiator just before Christmas, but there's still a slight coolant leak which I've not had time to investigate, hence the low price.
New front brake pads a few weeks ago, new stainless exhaust (cat-back) about two years ago, new driver's window winder motor (although the passenger one now needs doing too). A few minor scuffs & dings to the bodywork. Climate control, electric heated wingmirrors, sunroof & OEM stereo
From what I understand they're basically an impreza on stilts, so share a lot of components..
Also the classic failing of XT foresters is the self-levelling rear suspension. This ad includes no straight shots from the side so it's hard to tell, but I think it might be starting to suffer from this. The symptom is a lowered rear end, akin to a dog dragging it's ar$e along the carpet.
Rust is a pain & an undiagnosed coolant leak could be something simple like a hose, something medium like a water pump (which if replacing you'd do belts/bearings/tensioner etc) or could be leaking head gaskets.
Nice ones that haven't spent their lives as farm hacks will only cost a bit more.
The saggy self levelling suspension can be swapped to normal easily enough, the previous owner of mine did that. Bloody good reliable cars which are faster then the numbers make them look. I wouldn’t have another as I’ve had one but I now have a legacy and an outback as the fozzy was so good.
Funnily enough, ended up parked next to one in the identical colour scheme last week. Anyway, still got it – and it's one of the best cars I've ever owned. Well over 160,000 miles now and still running like a top.
Always tempted to re-map it but it's so sweet that it'd be a shame to do so then, say, pop a gasket or similar. Still, as EXMX5 has mentioned, they're surprisingly swift even in standard form.
(Hat tip to PHer Ved, who I bought it from last year!)
Back on the SOTW though... private seller is good & the way it should be. The rust & coolant leak are the obvious negatives - particularly as it has had a new rad & that hasn't cured the issue - you can't help but think that's why it's being sold on. People generally keep these until they break - which I fear this one might be about to.
I will admit to never owning a Subaru, and having had only one Japanese car on the fleet (2002 Honda CR-V). But you never hear horror stories about a Legacy - which is probably the one I would have. I'm not looking though, so all very hypothetical.
Not bad Shed, not bad...
My only issue with running old Subaru's is the maintenance side of things. I know parts and stuff like cambelt jobs can be very expensive. They're also very reliable if looked after though so i suppose you pay for what you get.
Good Shed but keep on top of that rust!
MOT'd only to the end of April but much healthier.
Date tested
28 April 2017
Pass
Mileage
140,039 miles
MOT test number
6587 7822 6786
Test location
unavailable until further notice
Expiry date
1 May 2018
Advisory notice item(s)
•Front Brake pad(s) wearing thin (3.5.1g)
•Nearside Front Headlamp deteriorated but light output not reduced (1.7.5a)
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