2001 Forester S-Turbo Winter Hack
Discussion
So last winter I begrudgingly started pricing up winter tyres for my E46 M3 - my M3 see's very little bad weather use (or indeed much use at all tbh!) so it wasn't something I was too keen on. In the end it was looking like I'd need to spend around £1200 for a set of decent 19" winter tyres and to refurbish the badly corroding and 1 leaking spare set of alloys I had for it.
I then decided to see just what else I could get with the money so with a £1200 budget I scoured eBay for a few possible ideas (Pajero's, Vitara's, Audi Allroads, Volvo 850 AWD, XC70's, Subaru Legacy's, Impreza's & finally Foresters) one night after a few too many I stuck a cheeky, blind bid in on a Forester that was due to end in a couple of hours and was relatively local to me.To my surprise, I won, and more to the point, if it was as good as the advert made it sound, I'd bagged a bit of a bargain as I won it for considerably less than my budget, and considerably less than the going rate for a Forester S-Turbo.
I went to view it the next morning, having won it I basically had to have it anyway - I even forgot to test drive it before paying the money & signing the V5!!
Initial impressions weren't bad. However, it was full of pet hair and stunk - so the first thing I did to it when I got it back to my unit was to remove most the interior and give it a damn good clean up:
I haven't really got any up to date photos, but this is the interior. In pretty good nick for 92k, comfortable, and heated cloth seats!
The headlights were also in dire need of freshening up, so a quick flat & polish sorted those out. I also uprated the bulbs to Ring Xenon Max which actually makes the light output at night one of the best halogen lit cars I've driven:
After a couple of thousand miles the brake calipers started to stick on the rear - constant high pitched squealing at motorway speeds and funky coloured brake discs confirmed this! Calipers stripped, cleaned & greased, and new discs & pads all round sorted this. I fitted M-Tec grooved discs too:
There was also a nasty belt squeal, so I booked it into my local Subaru Dealer (Monza in Ashington) for a full check over - an A/C & Aux belt needed replacing, and a minor service was carried out, but the overall feedback about the car mechanically was pretty positive.
Next up were the tyres - all 4 wheels had different ones which made handling 'interesting' at the best of times, and downright lethal in the wet! These were replaced with Vredestein Quatrac 3's all round which have been brilliant in the 6k miles I've covered on them in the last year. Shame that I fit all weather tyres though and this is the best the winter could muster last year!
Happy it was all up to scratch I decided to show it a bit of love on the outside - it actually scrubbed up fairly well considering - although it's a bit of a 50 yard car!
Since last Winter I've also replaced the clutch as this was on it's way out. Other than that, the backbox is on its last legs (rust) - but may see if it passes it's next MOT in March, the front diff has become a bit vocal at times, and there's a gasket that leaks slightly creating a nice burning oil smell after a few miles. On the plus side, it's ridiculously comfortable, pretty quiet for a cheap, Japanese car, the most practical vehicle I own, and reasonably nippy - and pretty good fun to drive whatever the weather. Hoping for a slightly harsher Winter this year though to get some more fun out of it!
Cheers,
Rich
I then decided to see just what else I could get with the money so with a £1200 budget I scoured eBay for a few possible ideas (Pajero's, Vitara's, Audi Allroads, Volvo 850 AWD, XC70's, Subaru Legacy's, Impreza's & finally Foresters) one night after a few too many I stuck a cheeky, blind bid in on a Forester that was due to end in a couple of hours and was relatively local to me.To my surprise, I won, and more to the point, if it was as good as the advert made it sound, I'd bagged a bit of a bargain as I won it for considerably less than my budget, and considerably less than the going rate for a Forester S-Turbo.
I went to view it the next morning, having won it I basically had to have it anyway - I even forgot to test drive it before paying the money & signing the V5!!
Initial impressions weren't bad. However, it was full of pet hair and stunk - so the first thing I did to it when I got it back to my unit was to remove most the interior and give it a damn good clean up:
I haven't really got any up to date photos, but this is the interior. In pretty good nick for 92k, comfortable, and heated cloth seats!
The headlights were also in dire need of freshening up, so a quick flat & polish sorted those out. I also uprated the bulbs to Ring Xenon Max which actually makes the light output at night one of the best halogen lit cars I've driven:
After a couple of thousand miles the brake calipers started to stick on the rear - constant high pitched squealing at motorway speeds and funky coloured brake discs confirmed this! Calipers stripped, cleaned & greased, and new discs & pads all round sorted this. I fitted M-Tec grooved discs too:
There was also a nasty belt squeal, so I booked it into my local Subaru Dealer (Monza in Ashington) for a full check over - an A/C & Aux belt needed replacing, and a minor service was carried out, but the overall feedback about the car mechanically was pretty positive.
Next up were the tyres - all 4 wheels had different ones which made handling 'interesting' at the best of times, and downright lethal in the wet! These were replaced with Vredestein Quatrac 3's all round which have been brilliant in the 6k miles I've covered on them in the last year. Shame that I fit all weather tyres though and this is the best the winter could muster last year!
Happy it was all up to scratch I decided to show it a bit of love on the outside - it actually scrubbed up fairly well considering - although it's a bit of a 50 yard car!
Since last Winter I've also replaced the clutch as this was on it's way out. Other than that, the backbox is on its last legs (rust) - but may see if it passes it's next MOT in March, the front diff has become a bit vocal at times, and there's a gasket that leaks slightly creating a nice burning oil smell after a few miles. On the plus side, it's ridiculously comfortable, pretty quiet for a cheap, Japanese car, the most practical vehicle I own, and reasonably nippy - and pretty good fun to drive whatever the weather. Hoping for a slightly harsher Winter this year though to get some more fun out of it!
Cheers,
Rich
OP, that's a splendid winter bus. Excellent value for money and when well looked after will last for years. There are many early US Forester owners with 250K+ miles on the clock...and these guys simply won't part with them. Super tough and super parts availability. Have fun this winter...
ps keep an eye out for rust on the underside...there's a very good rust neutralizer available from AquaSteel http://aquasteel.co.uk/ many engineers and industrial co's use this product in extreme applications, it works superbly on subframe and suspension components.
ps keep an eye out for rust on the underside...there's a very good rust neutralizer available from AquaSteel http://aquasteel.co.uk/ many engineers and industrial co's use this product in extreme applications, it works superbly on subframe and suspension components.
Edited by v8250 on Sunday 15th November 11:17
Butter Face said:
Nice winter wagon! Looks like it's cleaned up reasonably well!!
Better than I expected. I'm a detailer but didn't buy this to clean up really lol, I just wanted a car I could use during the winter, and park wherever without having to care about it much. It gets used as a test bed for various new products though! v8250 said:
OP, that's a splendid winter bus. Excellent value for money and when well looked after will last for years. There are many early US Forester owners with 250K+ miles on the clock...and these guys simply won't part with them. Super tough and super parts availability. Have fun this winter...
ps keep an eye out for rust on the underside...there's a very good rust neutralizer available from AquaSteel http://aquasteel.co.uk/ many engineers and industrial co's use this product in extreme applications, it works superbly on subframe and suspension components.
Thanks, and yes I have had it up in the air and rust wise it's nothing more than surface corrosion atm. I'll see how it fares come next MOT as to what I do with it next. I may move it on for a later XT in due course as I've really grown to like it! Always had a soft spot for Subaru's as my Dad ran a few legacys back in the day! ps keep an eye out for rust on the underside...there's a very good rust neutralizer available from AquaSteel http://aquasteel.co.uk/ many engineers and industrial co's use this product in extreme applications, it works superbly on subframe and suspension components.
Edited by v8250 on Sunday 15th November 11:17
rare6499 said:
Nice one Rich, I drove a few of these when I worked for Subaru. Capable cars for sure in all-weather.
Fancy seeing you on here sir! It's ridiculous in the wet on decent tyres, really hoping for some snow to play in this year though! Not been brave enough to attempt green lining as don't think it's got enough ground clearance, and it's shed a couple of undertrays over the last year so don't want to bash holes in anything! Refined Detail said:
I may move it on for a later XT in due course as I've really grown to like it! Always had a soft spot for Subaru's as my Dad ran a few legacys back in the day!
Planning on an FXT is a jolly good idea...you'll be a very happy man with with an SG in 2.0 or 2.5ltr form and wonder how you ever managed without one...Gassing Station | Readers' Cars | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff