RE: SOTW: Subaru Forester S-Turbo

RE: SOTW: Subaru Forester S-Turbo

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Discussion

ejenner

4,097 posts

182 months

Sunday 6th May 2012
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Good = awesome off road, even as an auto. Loved it in the snow. Loved it on grass.

Bad = engine wouldn't start if left for a few days, only if cranking for 30 seconds and then 5 minutes of awful driving before all the coolant would clear out of the cylinders.

- Not fast. Cars like this should have a ton of power as compensation for the ridicilious body-roll. So you can go fast in a straight line and then just slow down for corners.

- Transmission got extremely jerky and jolty by about 100,000

- Cannot park near mobile phone masts unless you change the original alarm system for the updated unit. Had to push the car out of the range of masts on a few occassions.

- Friend of mine had total engine failure at about 100k. Ours had covered about 100k and it felt to me like the engine was running like sh1p. They sound a bit knockety anyway but ours was getting really loud.

- Rear diff droning. Changed the diff oil but that never really fixes those sorts of things.




Basically, one of the worst cars I've owned lately. I sold it to a man who thought he was getting a bargain (perhaps it was @ 800 squids?) - he said he would be driving it back to his home country but insisted that I throw in the kenwood which I'd just removed.


radlet6

736 posts

175 months

Monday 7th May 2012
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billybob69 said:
radlet6 said:
I thought the idea of shedding was to buy a motor to run for the next year. Well you can instantly add another 25% to your budget for 12 month's tax.
as any 1.5 + engine before 2001. Not really a valid argument. The whole point of shedding is to the run the car with minimal expenditure on deprecation and running costs.
So RFL isn't a running cost? Surely to have minimal running costs you need to buy a car that doesn't have an instant £250 bill; i.e it has to have more than 5 minutes road tax included with the sale.

Not a good shed.

chandrew

979 posts

210 months

Monday 7th May 2012
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Our 2.0 XT, bought new in 2003 has been the most reliable thing I've ever owned. It's done 150k km now, the only thing off the service-items that has needed changing was a rear hub bearing.

As mentioned, it's an absolute hoot on gravel where it can happily cope with national speed limit pace as if it was invincible. Only time it was less than brilliant on snow was when snow built up under the front bumper raising the wheels off the ground.

Quite comfortable on the local autobahn at 200km/h though you get a bit of whistling from around the windscreen wipers.

Only negative is that it likes to drink - 11 litres/100km of super unleaded on average.

We will never sell it.

KM666

1,757 posts

184 months

Monday 7th May 2012
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J4CKO said:
Wouldnt get overly fixated on the oil usage, its an old car, it says to me it is either going through a pint every day or the seller is just being honest as really who would actually admit that if they didnt have to, most cars need a top up occasionally, even some quite new ones, some VAG diesels seem to use it as an alternative source of fuel.

Of course this car is neqaring end of lfe, it is SOTW, Virgin just quoted me £1700 for two weeks hire of an SUV in the states so in context this doesnt seem so bad, if you get 10,000 out of it it is good value, scrap it for £150/200.
£1700??? Not sure on exchange rates but this is close shirly? http://www.autotrader.com/cars-for-sale/vehicledet...

pete.g

1,527 posts

207 months

Tuesday 8th May 2012
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I bought an 06 2.5XT auto with 97k on the clock, to replace an 01 Allroad 2.7t with 152k.

Not a shed by any means, but so much better to drive than the Audi.

Great tow car, getting 25-27 mpg and enjoying my first ever Japanese car.

I don't expect it to be cost free, but after the Audi . . .