My sister is car shopping...

We have a winner:

View attachment 252309
2025 Forester Touring.

It still drives like a Subaru but the 2025 “redesign” brought significant improvements in refinement.

They are being heavily discounted — I got 12.4% off MSRP with no dealer add-on’s.

I also added a genuine Subaru 10/100k extended warranty with $0 deductible. Don’t worry, I got a good price on it. I simply don’t have a lot of confidence in the reliability of these cars and I think I’ll be taking full advantage of that warranty.

Nice, I think she'll be happy. I drove a sport recently and was pretty impressed with it, quieter than expected.
 
We have a winner:

View attachment 252309
2025 Forester Touring.

It still drives like a Subaru but the 2025 “redesign” brought significant improvements in refinement.

They are being heavily discounted — I got 12.4% off MSRP with no dealer add-on’s.

I also added a genuine Subaru 10/100k extended warranty with $0 deductible. Don’t worry, I got a good price on it. I simply don’t have a lot of confidence in the reliability of these cars and I think I’ll be taking full advantage of that warranty.
Wise choice IMO. Reliable, easy to work on, AWD etc. I’ve taken many Subaru’s over 200k with just basic maintenance.
 
Find a 2023 Mazda CX-9. Your sister will thank you and it will only use half (or less, or slightly more) of that $50k budget. Nice place to be, roomy, efficient. See video below 👇🏼: this Mazda was outgunned in every category - less cylinders, least horsepower, least amount of gears, oldest platform. Yet it held its own VERY well, and delivered the best fuel economy.


View attachment 251743View attachment 251744View attachment 251745
I found a bunch of 1-owner examples of 2021-2023 models, with only 5k-20k miles, and at $25-$35k price tags. Brand new options that she is considering are severely less impressive, yet cost a lot more...
https://www.autotempest.com/results?radius=300&zip=28001&make=mazda&model=cx9

I, personally, being a tall person, would not characterize a CX-9 as roomy. Legroom and headroom are tight for me, I have sat in them and it was a hard pass.

Ironically the CX-5 has noticeably better front seat legroom for me, probably because they didn't have to think about accommodating a 3rd row.
 
Except Toyota is where driving fun goes to die…..

And they now own 20% of Subaru.
I have never heard it put in those words, but very true. There is a reason that Toyota had Subaru design and build the FRS 86 and GR86, and had BMW design the new Supra.


We have a winner:

View attachment 252309
2025 Forester Touring.

It still drives like a Subaru but the 2025 “redesign” brought significant improvements in refinement.

They are being heavily discounted — I got 12.4% off MSRP with no dealer add-on’s.

I also added a genuine Subaru 10/100k extended warranty with $0 deductible. Don’t worry, I got a good price on it. I simply don’t have a lot of confidence in the reliability of these cars and I think I’ll be taking full advantage of that warranty.
Your experience with Subaru has been different from mine. The first repair I have had to do to my wife's Outback was just recently, at over 150,000 miles, when I replaced the solenoid valve body, in the CVT.
 
I have never heard it put in those words, but very true. There is a reason that Toyota had Subaru design and build the FRS 86 and GR86, and had BMW design the new Supra.



Your experience with Subaru has been different from mine. The first repair I have had to do to my wife's Outback was just recently, at over 150,000 miles, when I replaced the solenoid valve body, in the CVT.
You replaced what on the transmission? Wow. I assume you don't have to disassemble the transmission or remove it from the car to do that?
 
I have never heard it put in those words, but very true. There is a reason that Toyota had Subaru design and build the FRS 86 and GR86, and had BMW design the new Supra.



Your experience with Subaru has been different from mine. The first repair I have had to do to my wife's Outback was just recently, at over 150,000 miles, when I replaced the solenoid valve body, in the CVT.
We drove one 289,000 miles, another 255,000 miles, and a third 255,000. Just got a message from the buyer of my 2009 WRX, whose biggest repair was a new AC compressor at 114,000 miles.

Hence the saying “The only thing cheap about Outbacks is the owner. “
 
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You replaced what on the transmission? Wow. I assume you don't have to disassemble the transmission or remove it from the car to do that?
Your assumption is correct. The TR580 has the valve body up in the forward top of the transmission. Access is pretty easy, taking only a few minutes to remove an air tube, disconnect a few wires and a vacuum line, and remove the access plate. The service manual says that the throttle body is supposed to be removed too, but it isn't necessary.

It looks like an engineer team was actually thinking about serviceability.
 
Mr. Subaru addressed an oddity: Subaru Of America does not recommend changing the CVT fluid. The rest of the world does.



My 2008!3.0R had a recommended tow limit of 3.500 lbs. The larger more powerful [201-2014] 3.6 had it reduced to 3,000 lbs. Everywhere else in the world is 2,000kg - 4,400 lbs.SOA is weird.
 
We just traded my wife's 2020 CRV EX-L on a 2025 HRV EX-L. Because of her almost exclusively short trips, she had only driven 14,350 miles from new. The CRV with the 1.5t, with that type of use has real oil dilution issues which required more maintenance. The 2025 HRV is, I believe, Honda's last 2.0l normally aspirated (port injection) engine, which while not the most powerful, is a very reliable engine. Car is comfortable (especially when you upgrade the crappy Hancook tires that it comes with) quiet and roomy.
The EX-L has leather and most all the goodies. Continental TrueContact Tour 54 tires made world of difference. Depending on where you live either FWD or AWD are available. Worth a look, especially at about $31,000.
 
Mr. Subaru addressed an oddity: Subaru Of America does not recommend changing the CVT fluid. The rest of the world does.



My 2008!3.0R had a recommended tow limit of 3.500 lbs. The larger more powerful [201-2014] 3.6 had it reduced to 3,000 lbs. Everywhere else in the world is 2,000kg - 4,400 lbs.SOA is weird.

Does Subaru still nor recommend CVT fluid change? I thought I had heard that Subaru had changed their service manual, to include CVT fluid change.


The different tow limits are, as you say, weird. But I'd bet good money that it has more to do with recommendations of the Subaru corporate lawyers, than it does with actual towing capacity. The USA is the most litigious country in the world - by a long way. It would make sense that Subaru would state a lower tow capacity here in the USA, just to protect themselves from unnecessary litigation.
 
Does Subaru still nor recommend CVT fluid change? I thought I had heard that Subaru had changed their service manual, to include CVT fluid change.


The different tow limits are, as you say, weird. But I'd bet good money that it has more to do with recommendations of the Subaru corporate lawyers, than it does with actual towing capacity. The USA is the most litigious country in the world - by a long way. It would make sense that Subaru would state a lower tow capacity here in the USA, just to protect themselves from unnecessary litigation.
Our Ford Transit Connect van had a U S tow limit of zero.

Think it’s the lawyers.
 
OK-what was the payload? And don't say zero because it had one.
Your towing limit is directly related to payload.
1,600 lbs according to Edmunds. Because they had tow capacity in other countries, you could buy a hitch for them and folks did tow small trailers. Prius is another that is zero in U.S..

Years ago, literally on my way to a VW dealer to buy a Passat wagon when I asked the dealer what the tow capacity was. “Zero.” Didn’t believe him, so called VWOA. “Zero.”

Subaru, not zero.

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My sister is car shopping and I have been recruited to assist with the process.

Her general parameters:
- New
- $50K or less
- Modern infotainment and ADAS features
- Reasonably quiet and roomy
- Good visibility
- A "nice" interior with some type of non-cloth seating
- Prefers to keep length under ~185" for ease of parallel parking in urban environments
- Decent fuel economy, hybrid preferred. However, she will only drive 6-8K/yr for the foreseeable future, so...
- Needs to be reasonably reliable for 7-10 years and ideally, something that I would be willing to work on.

So far, she has driven 9 vehicles and has narrowed it down to these 3 choices:

- 25 Lexus NX350h
- 25 Subaru Forester Limited
- 25 CR-V Hybrid Sport-L, but is also willing to consider the 1.5T EX-L

I don't particularly love any of those options but it is her car, not mine. Looking for feedback on vehicles we should be looking at, as well as general thoughts on the pros/cons of the 3 choices above.

Thanks.

Neighbor had an NX, it works relatively well. For that price and reliability / durability you probably don't have many choices other than Lexus.
 
2025 Camry X#E (S or L depending on her preference) with the premium package. Has every safety package and option of either FWD or AWD depending on her location and driving needs. Good luck.

ETA Guess I should have read all before replying. Subaru is another good choice. Should serve her well for a very long time.
 
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