I purchased the base model Forester with 5 speed MT in early 2005. The time has come to move on, but I thought I'd share my ownership experience with it.
The pros: Extremely reliable until final year. Solid build quality. The car still has a solid "tightness" and has aged very well. Zero rust after 10 years of Northeast winters. AWD system very good. Engine is still strong and I did not have any head gasket issues that many said were not if, but when.
The cons: A bit more wind noise at highway speeds than I cared for. It had a propensity to consume oil. It typically required 1.5 quarts of fill oil between 10k oil change intervals. Mileage was lackluster, but the MPGs improved a bit with the Bridgestone Ecopia tires I had on for the last 25k miles. I was getting 32 MPG highway with the Ecopias. I was lucky to hit 30 without them.
In the last year, the AC has developed issues. The mechanic recommended charging it frequently as opposed to going through the expense of installing a new compressor in a 10 year old car. I had problems with the brakes recently. It was something related to the ABS that would be relatively costly to repair. The mechanic could not diagnose the issue with the brakes and recommended I go to the Subaru dealer to get it properly diagnosed.
My wife does not like the MT and we are a one-car family as we mostly commute to work by public transportation.
With that being said, we decided to trade it in for a new Impreza 5 door with CVT.
I really hate to give the car up, but it is time to move on. If I had the mechanical ability to make DIY repairs, I'd hold on to it. I don't think it is cost effective to have a professional mechanic to do all work on a vehicle this old with so many miles on the odometer.
I'll give a review of the Impreza after I have a few weeks to drive it.
The pros: Extremely reliable until final year. Solid build quality. The car still has a solid "tightness" and has aged very well. Zero rust after 10 years of Northeast winters. AWD system very good. Engine is still strong and I did not have any head gasket issues that many said were not if, but when.
The cons: A bit more wind noise at highway speeds than I cared for. It had a propensity to consume oil. It typically required 1.5 quarts of fill oil between 10k oil change intervals. Mileage was lackluster, but the MPGs improved a bit with the Bridgestone Ecopia tires I had on for the last 25k miles. I was getting 32 MPG highway with the Ecopias. I was lucky to hit 30 without them.
In the last year, the AC has developed issues. The mechanic recommended charging it frequently as opposed to going through the expense of installing a new compressor in a 10 year old car. I had problems with the brakes recently. It was something related to the ABS that would be relatively costly to repair. The mechanic could not diagnose the issue with the brakes and recommended I go to the Subaru dealer to get it properly diagnosed.
My wife does not like the MT and we are a one-car family as we mostly commute to work by public transportation.
With that being said, we decided to trade it in for a new Impreza 5 door with CVT.
I really hate to give the car up, but it is time to move on. If I had the mechanical ability to make DIY repairs, I'd hold on to it. I don't think it is cost effective to have a professional mechanic to do all work on a vehicle this old with so many miles on the odometer.
I'll give a review of the Impreza after I have a few weeks to drive it.