Originally Posted By: dlayman
That's the bad part about Subaru, the maintenance costs are high, partly due to the AWD, partly due to the timing belt, which I think they have a pretty short limit on. Hopefully you won't run into the widespread VTC actuator issue, although I think they finally do have a fix for. If you experience it, MAKE Honda fix it, they tend to try to weasel out of it. And yes, definitely keep on to of, ahead of actually, the drive fluids. The winter traction won't be as good as your Forester, but put some snows on it and it will be a trooper. Trade in seems a little disappointing on the Forester as they hype that they maintain their value better than any other SUV.
Yes, Honda has the updated part available. I can confirm as my Accord has the part! If you hear the grind on start up take it in, they will probably want to keep the car overnight to hear it for themselves. Honda is well aware of the issue and they should cover it under warranty if yours is affected.