2006 Subaru Forester 2.5 - Talk to me

[Pique]

Crossposted from the lounge due to lack of answers!



Am I missing something here? I have been pondering between an Impreza and an Evo for next year, but they are a bit shouty for me - I want something quick, preferably 4wd for the winter months, with a bit of subtlety so as to avoid the attention of the local fast and furious brigade. So when I actually stopped to look at the stats on these - 0-60 in under 6, quicker again with a PPP pack, they seem like a good sleeper. I have looked at STi versions before but at 11k+ are a bit out of budget at the moment against £8k for a standard XTE model.

One of these + a decent set of springs - a B-road monster? Anyone have any experience or alternatives?

[LancerG]

Nice car for old people. There are loads near me (Devon) and all driven by people who have seen the best side of 60 many years ago. They are very capable and I always fancied being a hooligan in an old Turbo'S model. Just a very "tweed jacket" image, kind of like a poor mans Land Rover Disco

Buy a scooby C'Spec or an Evo8/9 - you know you want to

[Hol]

Totally disagree with the above. Ive owned some quick Evos, Twin Scroll Scoobs and also..... two Forester turbos - to name a few cars.

These are very underrated cars in a straight line, but as standard its no sports car, so dont expect a quick turn into a corner - they slide worse than a Clio cup with the ESP turned off.

However, everything is shared with the impreza and hence all the Impreza suspension parts fit straight on and provide like-for-like handling. But that obviously lowers the car to impreza height, which means you can no longer park on higher kerbs, or drive up and down steep banks on snow days to get round all the cars in the middle of the road.
The year-for-year brakes and performance parts also swap right over, but you'll never need them, asits not really a track car.

The most popular quick mod is the Forester STI (FSTI) suspension, uprated impreza roll bars and better tyres. Thats what we have done and although it's no match the T25 kit I used to have on my last impreza, it was designed for 300BHP in the FSTI, so works well with the 230bhp and hugh low down torque of the 2.5 turbo.

On the more positive side, the Leather heated seats are really nice, the satnave is adequate and the cruise control works just how it should.

And Ive never seen a tweed jacket driving one in SE England.

Edited by Hol on Monday 5th November 20:32

Edited by Hol on Monday 5th November 20:35

[Pique]

Thanks for the opinions chaps. I have a bit of time to think as I don't plan to change until next year but the more I think about it the more tempting it is to speak to an importer about an older 2001 - 2002 spec STi for the same money. Finding a decent STi of that era which isn't on intergalatic milage is a bit of a struggle at the moment so a personal import may be the best way...

[LancerG]

This looks tasty and definately not a tweed jacket model
http://www.neweraimports.com/carDetails.jsp?carId=...

Edited by LancerG on Tuesday 6th November 23:13

[CaptainSlow]

Prices of XTs and XTEs have tumbled in recent years. You don't need £8k anymore, £5-6k will get a good one and you'll have change for the mods.

[GravelBen]

Legacies are worth a look as well if you're something more stealthy. Nicer interiors too generally.

[Pique]

GravelBen said:

Legacies are worth a look as well if you're something more stealthy. Nicer interiors too generally.

Was massively tempted by a gtb, seems the good ones go for about 6k. But I see so many horror stories of piston slap / big end failure etc that I am a bit put off. It seems all the most recent imports for sale are all on 60k, so I assume a big bill is just around the corner on all of them?

[Russ T Bolt]

I ran a 2.5XT from new in Jan 2006 until I sold it in May of this year.

I didn't buy it deliberately, it was a replacement for a very heavily modified STi Impreza, which was impossible to drive on motorways due to the Australian rally suspension that had been fitted by the previous owner. As it was an opt out company car I needed to be able to drive it long distances without getting motion sickness, so rejected it, but the dealer had already sold my car.

So I accepted a new Forester as a replacement. Have to say it was much better than I thought it would be, I also rated it far more than the dealers demo Legacy that I had for 6 weeks whilst waiting for it.

They are very quick for a soft reader, one of the best Q cars. I had a lot of fun up against reps in passat and A4diesels who presumably thought it was a diesel and didn't expect it to disappear into the distance.

Fuel wise mine was low 20's driven pretty hard. I used to regularly get 180 miles out of a tank, when I replaced it and the wife started using it she was getting just over 300 out of a full tank.

The dealer I used was fantastic.

I replaced the standard tyres after a year with Wintrac Xtremes and it was pretty unstoppable in the snow we had. I ended up leaving them on all year and they were fine, provided very good grip in wet weather as well.

Servicing I don't recall it being overly expensive. The only problem I had in the time I had it was with the Kenwood stereo when it was a couple of months old.

[GravelBen]

Pique said:

GravelBen said:

Legacies are worth a look as well if you're something more stealthy. Nicer interiors too generally.

Was massively tempted by a gtb, seems the good ones go for about 6k. But I see so many horror stories of piston slap / big end failure etc that I am a bit put off. It seems all the most recent imports for sale are all on 60k, so I assume a big bill is just around the corner on all of them?

Never heard any more reports of problems for Legacies than Imprezas, pretty rare on cars that have been looked after. The 60k imports are probably due to Japanese tax laws (100k km) or something - biggest bill at 60k is the cambelt, but importers should do that before selling.

The internet is full of horror stories for most cars if you look hard enough , FWIW the only thing to go wrong with my GTB in the 4 years/30k miles I've had it was a sensor.

[Pique]

I am leaning more towards a Legacy now - the appeal of a fast wagon is overwhelming!

Just need to find a good one:

http://classifieds.pistonheads.com/classifieds/use...

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/SUBARU-LEGACY-GTB-E-TUNE...

[yellowstreak]

I think you will find the forester a more flexible vehicle. I've done 50k in mine and its been brilliant, its going in next week to lose some cats and have a remap.

Edited by yellowstreak on Monday 26th November 12:50