I’ve spent the vast majority of my adult life driving as many new cars as possible every year. Hundreds and hundreds of cars. But until eight years ago, I’d never purchased a new car. That changed with the acquisition of an Ice Silver 2016 Subaru Forester Premium. If “love” is what makes a Subaru a Subaru, then I got shortchanged, because I like the car but haven’t loved the ownership experience.
The joke that’s been bouncing around my head is: Get a Subaru so you can have a Toyota driving experience without the Toyota reliability. While I haven’t been stranded by my Forester yet, I’ve had to replace so many parts of the car and deal with so many small annoyances in my first few years of ownership that I’m pretty much over it and looking forward to trading it for something that’s either more fun to drive or cheaper to operate.
This is only my experience, of course, so your mileage (both literal and figurative) may vary. But I’ve talked to enough other Subaru owners that I don’t think I’m alone.
Why I Bought A Forester In The First Place
One of the limitations in the way I’ve mostly reviewed cars is that I get a car for about a week and then it moves on to someone else. I can tell you what it’s like to live with a car for just long enough to get the radio presets right, but I can’t tell you what it’s like to live with that car for many more miles. It’s a good argument for checking Consumer Reports, a publication that buys its cars from dealers and puts real miles on them.
I didn’t do that. It was 2016. I was living in Brooklyn. My wife and I had just brought a tiny Hardigree into the world and, because of my wife’s job, I’d found out I was moving to this mysterious place called New York-outside-of-New York City and so I needed something dependable, safe, and big enough to schlep a new human and all the stuff you’re told a new human needs to thrive.
Did I actually want a Mazda CX-5 with a manual? Yes, but those were rare and expensive at the time. I was considering a C-Max Hybrid just because C-Max Hybrids are roomy and weird. On my list was also the Subaru Forester. I’d had one to review a few months earlier and both my wife and I thought it was good at everything, even if it wasn’t particularly great at anything. My old pal Tom McParland also offered to help and, based on my list, thought I could get the best deal on a new Forester somewhere in New Jersey.
He was correct. For just $25,000 and a low 1.9% interest rate, I could get a brand new 2016 Subaru Forester Premium with a sunroof and the cold weather package. It was an anonymous silver, but it was extremely affordable. The dealership experience was pretty good and very quickly I had a new car.
The Honeymoon Period
For the first two years or so of Subaru ownership it was pretty smooth sailing. Nothing major went wrong, it mostly needed oil changes and tire rotations, and our local dealer was fine. Was it Lexus-level of service? Nope. It was fine. Like everything about the car.
Even the driving experience was just fine. The boxer motor is a little noisy, but it was faster than the CPO Honda Civic we owned before and way zippier than the old Volvo 240 wagon I bought as a project car. Did I love the CVT? No. Almost immediately, I had to adjust to the car always feeling slightly wrong at low speeds, with the car’s transmission trying but always failing to find the ideal ratio to maximize performance and efficiency.
Handling was not Mazda sharp and the ride wasn’t CR-V soft. Was it nominally better in the snow than other cars? Yeah, maybe. In spite of the CVT, it sucked fuel around town (about 22 MPG), which is mostly where it was being driven. It was a little better on the highway (27-28) but, again, it couldn’t hold a candle to our old 2006 Honda Civic LX, which I feel like I put gas in twice in eight years.
Where the Forester does better is in general usability. It’s big and roomy, outsizing the Mazda CX-5 or the available Ford Escape, making it easier to load-in the kiddo and all the kiddos gear. Something about owning a Forester makes you want an REI membership, so we did that and bought camping gear and took the Subaru camping.
We even gave the car a name. Subie! We road-tripped her to Canada and all around New York. Good miles and great memories.
Here Come The Problems.
Based on my own experience and after talking to other Subaru owners, every Subaru is at least a little misaligned roughly 10 minutes after an alignment and for the rest of its life. The stock Yokohama-brand tires, therefore, wore super fast. This is something a lot of Subaru owners complain about. Given that the stock tires only lasted about three years, I assumed an upgrade to some Michelin CrossClimates might improve this.
They were better performers but still wore faster than I’d like. In year seven of ownership, at around 70,000 miles, I had to put another set of Michelins on and they’re already starting to wear at the edges.
In year four, Subie’s front wheels started to judder at speeds over 55 mph. That required swapping out the passenger lower control arm, at great cost (I did it at the dealer and it’s not covered on the warranty), and then, not many miles later, it happened again and I had to swap the other lower control arm. Both times Subie needed a realignment.
At under 70,000 miles I had to replace both rear wheel bearings because they were screaming. This time I skipped the dealer and went to my mechanic, who informed me that this happens to most Foresters he sees of this vintage and, oh, yeah, I’ll probably need to replace the front lower control arms if it hasn’t happened yet.
I’ve had to undergo multiple recalls, including for the old 3G modem in the vehicle. The most annoying one is for the mat airbag sensor in the passenger seat, which had to be replaced (the tech also left some parts in the car which I found when I vacuumed). It still barely works and often gives me a false reading if I so much as look at it wrong. The battery went early, though the new one seems to be holding up better (although there’s a class action lawsuit about that, which I think is my second battery-related class action lawsuit.)
What Finally Broke Me
One of the perks of Subie is that she doesn’t have complex headlights or other parts. Everything is theoretically replaceable without taking the car apart.
This includes the headlights. I know this, because I have to keep replacing headlights. I had two go out on me at the same time, at night, last year. I replaced them and, big surprise, it’s been less than a year and the passenger side went out again. This, too, appears to be an issue that Subaru owners are used to dealing with, though some owners haven’t had issues.
Is the alternator throwing off too much voltage and cooking them? That’s my guess, and I’ll have to confirm that when the driver-side light goes out any day now.
Why I Wouldn’t Do It Again
This is the only new car I’ve ever purchased and the only car my daughter knows, besides our project cars. Parting with it will be difficult because it does hold a lot of precious memories. Also, new cars are expensive and I don’t want a car payment.
I understand that new vehicles are still vehicles and they still have wear items so it’s foolish to expect that nothing will go wrong and nothing will have to be replaced. Unfortunately, the tempo of replacing wear items and other necessary fixes have been way above what I expected when I bought the car. In the roughly 7.5 years I’ve had it I’ve spent around $7,500 keeping it running on top of the cost of buying it.
That seems high to me given that I’ve spent a lot less on previous, used cars that I’ve owned.
If the car were stellar. If it made me happy diving it every day. If it looked great and made me feel great I’d maybe feel different. It would maybe be worth it. I just can’t imagine spending money again on a new Subaru. I drove the Forester Wilderness and I liked it, but it wasn’t that much nicer than my car, had the same CVT issues, and I can just imagine how expensive it would be to keep running.
After driving the Corolla Cross Hybrid, I’m suddenly thinking about the ease of Toyota ownership.
I had a 2014 Forester Limited 2.5. Earliest form of your vintage. I recently traded it in for a 2023 Sportage PHEV, probably a year sooner than we should have, but I was personally tired of the Subaru. We bought the Subaru used with 24k on the dial when we had our 2nd kid. As a car…it did car things fine. Here’s my list of issues, from the top of my head, so not exhaustive.
OEM Tires…they sucked. I got them on a used car with 24k already so whatever. Gave me a reason to begin swapping out winters/”summers” (just LRR All-Season)Alignment…hahahahaha it was NEVER right…wait…it always pulled to the right.All 4 corners had failed wheel hubs at some point. I did the work the second time. It’s a rust belt car, so never again.”Leather” seats were toast pretty quick. Steering wheel peeled away whenever the sun came out.The head unit was out of date in 2014 and never ever worked well with bluetooth. System really can’t handle a second phone.The vehicles computer couldn’t handle two sets of TPMS sensors, so my winter tires never got connected.The oil consumption was bad, albeit, not bad enough for the recall/new short block, but bad enough that I’d check the oil level religiously 2-3 times/week (this was one of the big issues I had with it. I was tired of dealing with this.)MPG was exactly as you mentioned above. I tracked every mile when we owned it. It progressively got worse. We were fueling up 1-2 times/week.The lower control arms luckily went bad at the same time, so when we had the shimmy you mentioned above, those were replaced at the same time.Last tune up I did in July of 2022, there was enough oil on the plugs and boots for me to say “this isn’t good, but not bad enough…yet” (This was another major reason I advocated for getting rid of it. Didn’t want to be forced into a bad situation)The last two summers, we had to replace all the A/C components.The window sprayer components needed to be replaced because the sun, even though hidden from the sun, wrecks things.I went through 3 batteries from 2015-2023. Three.The 2.5 was a dog. The CVT made it worse. Unless you’re driving on a slight decline, the car simply was gutless.
That’s what I have off the top of my head. I live in Indiana. I’ve received a behind the scenes tour of the factory in Lafayette. I think highly of the company. This car though…it sucked. It did car things. It was easy enough to work on, as I did the vast majority of work on it. Brakes and tune-ups were easy enough. Diffs…easy enough. Most work, easy enough. But the vehicle was a compromise in the first place. Family does better financially now, and we were tired of the compromise. I would never suggest a Subaru to anyone again. I took $4k for a trade-in on a pretty clean example of the vehicle, but 166k miles were too much I guess. I’m sure my new Kia will eventually be a a source of frustration and anxiety, but my *worst* mpg’s in the Kia have been on road trips (think 2-3.5 hours in winter conditions) when I am not utilizing the 34 miles of electricity. The *worst* mpg’s are equal to the Subaru’s best. When not road tripping, we get minimum of 50 mpg. Last tank was 70+.
My daughter cried when we got rid of it. There’s a lesson to be learned for her there, I guess. I will miss the sort of analog nature of the Subaru, but when I feel nostalgic for that, I will get in my 07 Rabbit or 98 Sonoma. Good riddance, Subaru!
I’m going to sticky this comment because this is basically my experience.
This just surpassed that 1-hitter I pitched in Little League when I was 10 yo as the crowing achievement of my life. I will sacrifice a single H11 bulb in your honor tonight.
I looked into the Silverstar Ultras for one of my cars. I lost interest when the expected bulb life was measured in 10s of hours, not hundreds.
Silverstars are the biggest scam. Sure they’re bright, but they last one year max. Sylvania figures if you’re dumb enough to buy them once you’ll keep buying them because *brightness*.
Yup. My ‘17 F150 Lariat (bought used) was spec’d w/ chrome and a giant hole in the roof, but has the poverty spec headlights. 3 fireflies in a jug could match the standard light output. I replaced the H-7s w/ H-11s but I’m seriously contemplating going w/ LEDs in the future. Mostly I try to avoid driving it at night. 😉
I highly recommend seeing if LEDs last longer. The replacements are plug-and-play, and when I did it with my 2012 Prius v, the output pattern remained the same, with a sharp cutoff below the windows of other cars on the road.
A friend’s late-aughts Jetta was also eating halogens and we were going to try experimenting with replacing them with LEDs but a deer kamikazed onto their hood over a highway barrier, so that didn’t happen.
Go for the LEDs, but FFS get ones that are geometrical identical to your factory bulb size. The cheap ones you can find generally aren’t, and are the cause for all the folks complaining about “LEDs are blinding!”. Proper LED retrofits aren’t that expensive ($60-250/pair depending on type and brand and features). I’ve had LED retrofits in my last few cars, and zero complaints about glare. I also get as white for color temp as is available so it looks like it could be factory-fitment.
Get name brand. Morimoto, GTR, Diode Dynamics, SuperBrightLEDs.com, Lasfit, etc. There are lots of good choices, but probably exponentially more bad ones.
Can confirm. I get good prices on bulbs, but even with my 1-2 minute bulb replacement time it became more trouble than it’s worth. So I switched to LEDs and haven’t looked back. Now almost all my exterior vehicle lighting has been converted to LED.
I didn’t even go all the way to Silverstars on my truck when I had to replace the bulbs, but even the Xtravisions (or whatever they call them) have a shockingly short lifespan. When they died about a year after I installed them I thought something must have gone wrong, but then I looked up the life expectancy of them and it’s a fraction of what the standard bulbs are. I also didn’t find them noticeably brighter so it was a complete waste.
Yeah ditch that thing. Either get the Corolla Cross hybrid or even better wait until Mazda drops the CX-50 hybrid with the RAV4 drivetrain.
My wife purchased a brand new 2024 Impreza sport 5-speed manual after her 2001 civic was done after 300k. Thought we’d try something new. Was crazy good with 4-snow tires up here in North East. Shortly afterwards, we had the same experience: wheel bearing after wheel bearing. Once you got the the 4th corner, the first was going out again. Bulbs constantly blowing, which I never had an issue with on any other modern car. Then, brake calipers started sticking. Finally, the electrics started doing weird things… when the car got hot, the entire dash and stereo would just cut out. No speedo, tach, ect. but the car would keep running. Only when the car got hot.
One night, we parked it across the street from a Honda dealer. The next morning (while it was cold) we traded it in for a new 2019 civic “earth dreams” 1.5t, which was another disaster (oil dilution, direct injection buildup). Talked her into dumping that turd for a Toyota, finally.
No more Subaru for us, sadly… now we all own Toyotas.
I was going to make the point that it seems like people enjoy their manual ones more (no surprise) and, for whatever reason, they seem to be more reliable.
One less thing to go wrong.
My son had an Impreza wagon WRX 5-speed. Having driven 3 Hondas over 25 years, I thought the WRX clutch felt like I was trying to squeeze a wood block. His wife drove a Tribecca.
When the WRX hit 100k miles, it was time to replace the cam belts and “while you are in there” the water pump. Getting the cam timing correct and the water pump installed turned out to be a huge hassle. He got it running and dumped it right quick.
His wife got rear-ended in the Tribecca and felt that it protected her so well they bought an Ascent. Neither one of those really have adult friendly 3rd row seats.
I meant to say 2014 Impreza 5-speed, not 2024.
Toyotas are generally good. Also consider Mazda. They’re an underdog in need of enthusiast support, and they generally have similar reliability to Toyotas.
I did consider Mazda, but I am done with turbos, and direct injection. After my Honda civic experience, I can’t throw a car away at 100,000 again.
We have a 2017 we bought used for my wife to replace her Veloster. She was set on the Forester and I wasn’t going to say no to her. We got the extended warranty on it pretty much because it’s a Subaru.. we had the rear bearings replaced also but other than that it’s been pretty smooth sailing with 90k on the clock. We do put VERY minimal miles on it though so that’s a factor.
Would you say you’re crying in your Subaru?
https://youtu.be/JL7iyqTcQF4?si=zghQoQZvHdrhx5QG
About a decade and a half ago, I talked the person to whom I’m related by marriage into getting a Subaru Legacy as we had just moved to the “Snow Belt” in Northeastern Ohio & I didn’t think her Mustang could handle the snow & ice (& I’m a lazy bastard who doesn’t want to deal with snow tires).
Well, after about three or four years the radiator decided it didn’t want to radiate any more & had to be replaced, out of warranty & out of my pocket.
The missus swore “we’d” never buy another Subaru.
Fast forward to 2020 & my better two-thirds decided that, after test driving every small, hybrid SUV available, the Subaru Crosstrek Plug-in Hybrid was the vehicle for her. (Can you guess what state we lived in at the time? If you guessed California, you’re correct – the PHEV Crosstrek was only available in CA.)
Anyway, we’re about to make payment number 42 of 48 & my wife still loves the car. She’s so used to the instant torque of the electric motor that whenever the battery runs down & the gas motor is the prime mover starting from a stop, she says, “Honey, I think there’s something wrong with the car.”
The only real drawback is that, since we now live in Florida, when I had to take it in for a recall on the battery, the dealer had to get certified in repairing hybrids because there are so few of these vehicles outside of Florida. (The first dealer I took it to kept putting me off, saying “We can’t get the part.” The second dealer I took it to ‘fessed up & said they had to go through some extra training & get some special equipment but they’d be happy to do that to service the car.)
All of this discussion pretty well captures my experience with the ’07 Legacy sedan we passed around the family for several years. It felt just right when I bought it with about 40K on the clock–no bigger than it had to be, AWD in a normal sedan, decent handling. But in hindsight I think of the old joke about GM cars, that they’ll run badly longer than many cars will run at all. It sucked oil, it was loud without being fast, and worst of all, it needed a valve job at…I forget the miles, but way too soon.
It just always felt like we were nursing it along with some disaster lurking around the corner. Finally, a drive through some high water during Hurricane Ida carried it across the good-money-after-bad threshold. Merciful for all concerned.
Parents in laws have a ’15 Forrester. It makes me look like first time student driver behind the wheel. It rides like being on top of a conestoga wagon. The pedal has almost no connection to what you want the speed of the vehicle to do. It’s either full Initial D with the lightest feather touch, but when you want power at about 60mph it screams NO THANK YOU MAYBE LATER. The CVT is such garbage.
That sounds like the behavior my former ’17 Outback I had when it was killing CVT #3. I suspect the forward clutch was slipping. From a stop, the only way I could accelerate “smooth” was to lightly tap the throttle until the RPMs hung around 2500. If I didn’t tap the throttle, it was anyone’s guess what level of acceleration we were going to get. It would either be less than normal, normal or higher RPM launch mode. The worst was when things would slip/grip repeatedly and make everyone car sick. CVT #1 was the only one that worked well, until ~30k miles. It was very easy to drive smooth until it started to fail.
I will also add I lost drive on CVT #3 a few times. The car would bounce off the rev limiter, in gear, until things gripped again. But because it still moved and didn’t throw a check engine light, Subaru wouldn’t install CVT #4. I dumped that car at CarMax. It still had enough CVT warranty that the next owner is hopefully taken care of.
Had a similar experience with a 2010 Mazda5 we bought new when the twins came along. It’s the only new car I every bought. At that point, with young 3 kids, we needed 1 vehicle that I didn’t need to worry about.
My wife insisted on getting a 5 speed (bless her) and it was fun to drive. But over time it became a maintenance headache. 160k on it now and not a thing on the engine/drivetrain has needed any work. However, it eats tires, brakes and suspension components. Lost count of the tie rods ends and alignments we did. All 4 wheel bearings, controls arms, inner tie rods, rear shocks several times, several broken rear shock mounts. The front struts are amazingly still ok, the only suspension components not replaced. 2 AC compressors? And the same stupid light bulb issue as the Subaru. Did all this work myself or we’d be broke. Well, more broke…
The final insult is that it rusted out terribly. It’s off the road right now as we have my Mom’s car for the winter and 3 others on the road. Come spring I’ll probably patch up the rust so it passes inspection because I still like driving it. My son has a learner’s permit and wants to learn to drive a stick. Still on the original clutch and hopefully the boy doesn’t toast it.
My 5MT Mazda3 was a huge disappointment. Only nice to drive in comparison to a Corolla and it rusted like it was built in 1982. At barely over 5 years and 167k miles, I traded it in with it feeling end-of-life. Not a ton of maintenance, at least, but it felt flimsy, especially in comparison to the platform-mate Focus I replaced it with.
Sorry far my used Crosstrek (2018) has not be a major pain, just routine items. Plus it a manual which I like. Has under 60k on it.
My wife’s Impreza (2018 as well and manual) which higher mileage is also routine work.
Maybe I am lucky or there is an evil problem hiding just out of sight.
The only down side is the Crosstrek has a one off, one year only option for wipers that only the dealers sell. The off brands are no longer available or fit if you modify them. At $34, that is what I usually pay for wipers.
Our 2003 Volvo XC70 had the same issue with the headlight bulbs burning out. Every single year of ownership I replaced one or the other or both. (And none of them touched my bare skin – at least not before they were dead.)
Agree
We also have a boring Silver Forester, a 2018. But I think ours is the only 6 speed manual in the entire state of Ohio. 60,000 trouble-free miles so far. I take it to Whitie’s Car Care every 3000 miles for service. I think Whitie’s must sprinkle some special fairy dust on our cars, because this one, as well as our 2012 and 1996 Outbacks were great cars! All manuals by the way!
I take it back. The 2012 did need a new lightbulb at around 80k miles. Oh, and after teaching two teenagers to drive a stick, its clutch gave out around 90k.
On light bulbs. It would be nice if Autopian looked into the following questions: If you buy “Ultra” or other enhanced brightness halogen bulbs do you give up longevity? (I suspect there is no “free lunch”)
I like this idea. I always look at ’em, but end up going with the spec halogens just to be sure.
And my Focus, like many others these days, requires you to basically remove the front end to replace bulbs, so I’m not looking to do that any more than strictly necessary…
Yes, they run on the higher end of light output specs, which trades against lifespan.
Those Silverstar bulbs seem to have a reputation for not lasting more than a few years at most. Bright, but burn out fast. Pro Tip: Don’t handle the bulbs with your bare fingers. The oils off your hands could cause problems. Especially true if you are handling HIDs.
If the incandescent bulbs are not lasting, try some LEDs. Maybe the power regulation circuitry will counter any weird electrical waves you are experiencing. Don’t cheap out on them and get whatever brand off Amazon.
My wife’s V70 used to eat bulbs. While it was under warranty, I let the dealer replace them but once the warranty expired and they charged me $30 to change a rear brake light bulb, I started doing them myself. What I discovered is that there are heavy duty versions of almost any automotive bulb that last much longer. I usually get about 5 years on those bulbs vs 1 year on the regular bulbs.
I put Silverstars in my Expedition and they both burned out within a week of each other after about 18 months.
I’ve had great experiences with whatever are among the better-reviewed LEDs of a given profile on Amazon. I replaced the headlights in my 2012 Prius v with LEDs just after getting it in late 2019 and I haven’t had to replace them since then.
Still nice and bright, and they kept the sharp cutoff below the windows of any other car on the road.
Amazon rando name LEDs have worked, but the light pattern, color and output aren’t as good compared to Xeon Depot or Morimoto (even the noisy Strok-2). Even the Amazon offerings can be an upgrade from halogen.
The only caveat is that people should NOT just put LEDs in regular reflector housings. LED or HID upgrades should only be done in projector housings. Other drivers do not appreciate being blinded.
The absolute best part of this article were the four Subaru Forester ads throughout.
Wrenching Wednesday: David supports us
“I Bought A Subaru”: we support Hardigree
It’s a virtuous cycl
(Sorry, it’s wearing a little fast around the outside)
FIL has one of these and it is absolutely horrid to drive. Floaty and the electronic nannies are always doing little things to ensure that you feel completely out of control.
My brother traded in a dual-tank f-150 for cash for clunkers. Whenever people get upset about the emissions and carbon footprint of taking old cars off the road – a legitimate concern! – I think about that thing and console myself knowing it wasn’t all for naught.
What he got was a new Outback, and as far as I knew at the time, Subaru was the brand that made WRXs and STIs and sacrificed tires to Gymkhana and blue over gold BBS wheels. I didn’t expect those things, but I expected *something*, anything better than what the Outback actually is.
It’s dog slow, it hunts forever with its CVT, it feels big in a way that’s hard to describe – neither not wallowing all over, but not sharp, but also not the average of those. Maybe it’s boring or numb? But what really greased my goose was that every time I’d see him, another motor would have failed, the alignment was out, the brakes were acting funny and wearing extremely asymmetrically. And the piece de resistance is the stupid tiny little plastic cover that goes over the rear windshield wiper spindle. Within three years I had watched it dry rot, crack, and disappear.
Shit happens, I get that. But it always seemed plagued with issues that never should have been issues, especially on a bread and butter, dull as dishwater family truckster. Hard pass.
There have been good and not so good memories tied to cars and my kids. Made parting with them a little hard. Edit: Parting with the cars, not the kids.
I still remember driving my wife to the hospital at 1:30 in the morning, being told to open it up because I evidently was driving too slow at 80 MPH and a couple days later bringing my daughter home in my ’04 Acura TSX.
I also remember my son crying for 2.5 hours in the middle of an 8 hour trip in my wife’s Accord to the grandparent house.
I bought a 2016 Forester with my ex and handed it down to my teenage daughter for college. Other than the A/C, brakes and tires, it has been fairly trouble free. The CVT is awful though, if you stomp on the gas pedal there is a noticeable lag before forward momentum builds. I had a NA Impreza before that with pretty much the same engine but a 6MT and that thing was a blast to drive.
I have exactly the same car, which I bought new in October 2015. Like you I replaced both rear wheel bearings at about 70k, but otherwise have been pleasantly surprised with nothing other than scheduled maintenance, and the car has 120k on it now. Hadn’t heard about issues with lower control arms, and the car tracks straight on the highway. Surprised to hear about the headlights and other issues (except the peeling steering wheel leather – I’ve got that too) – I haven’t changed my headlights once. I’m also just bored of the car – it is the car that helped me understand what it means to say that “a car is an appliance.” In September of last year, it retired from daily driver duty, to be the car that our learning drivers use to learn to drive with, but it’s still going strong. Replaced it with a Highlander Hybrid which is even less interesting to drive, and really hammers home what “appliance” means. But, like the forester, I like it just fine, and expect it to last at least the next 10 years.
Wow. I have a 2012 and I’ve thankfully avoided all of that crap. It just started with the oil consumption problem a bit within the last year (apparently a Subaru thing), and it sure has a lot of squeaks and rattles now, but otherwise it’s been fine. As you said, fine at everything, great at nothing. Needless to say, we’re shopping, that oil consumption problem ain’t gonna get better.
I already miss my Isuzu Vehicross. 22 years and only repairs needed were a rear axle main seal, under warranty and a new engine.
I mean, greatest car ever made.
I am holding my breathe but a guy from NC wants it for a father son project and agreed to $5k. I am sad I was going to put the new engine in but can’t turn down the offer.
I live in Colorado, and I’ve gotten incredibly tired of talking to people who want/love Subarus. Straight, not watered down, delulu kool aid
The real reason you got the Forester is the big sunroof. Admit it 😀
They offered in green. Yeah you were able to get a green manual Forester back then!
At least now, they have aftermarket control arms that cost much less.
Maybe you should’ve gotten the C-Max LOL
(also available in green btw)
A green manual forester would have been great.
“The battery went early” This is a Subaru problem for sure. Their supplier is terrible. That you got 7 years and 70,000 miles out of a set of tires on an AWD wagon is par for the course with any car. I sold my forester though for similar reasons – if it was this bushing it was that, or a wheel bearing or the CV, etc. Subaru’s are NOT reliable cars.
I own two Subarus (’18 Outback and my wife’s ’19 Forester) and that’s exactly how I feel. I’ve one wheel bearings on both. They both go through rear brakes like crazy. My CV axles are ticking and I’m trying to put that off until warmer weather hits (driveway mechanic). Her “thermo control valve” went, which is just a really dumb and expensive computer controlled thermostat. My CVT is slipping for the first mile or two of my commute on days it’s below ~50 mph. Batteries in both vehicles lasted less than 4 years. Oh, and the replacement battery I got for the Forester, despite being the same group, doesn’t quite fit the hold-down mechanism quite right.
My Outback has hated the cold since day 1. It groans and creaks when temperatures are below freezing. It’s like it’s coming from the bowels of the vehicle itself. My wife’s Forester is a bit more quiet about it, but still doesn’t like the cold. I had a diesel VW that was far happier in the cold than these two.
All of that would be fine if I actually liked the cars. There’s nothing to hate about them, but there’s just nothing to fall in love with. They are utterly bland and boring and get mediocre gas mileage (duh, AWD and unimpressive engines). Combine that with their less than stellar reliability and I’m just itching to get something else.
And this is coming from someone who has other “fun” vehicles so I chose the Outback as a sensible daily driver.
Unless I misread that, Matt is putting on the 3rd set of tires at 70k miles, not getting 70k out of one set.