'05 Forester: recommendations?

[Morgan]

I'm about to ditch my '94 Legacy wagon for high mileage and expensive
repairs. I'm considering replacing it with a 2005 Forester, 5 spd, about
50K miles on it. The price is $18,000. My thought is that if I'm going
to spend that kind of money on a car, I'd rather spend it up front on a
car that won't need major repairs every month for the next two years
(the '94 has cost me $8,000 in repairs since I bought it for $2,500
almost two years ago).

Any thoughts, suggestions, recommendations?

Thanks,
Morgan

 

[daszkiew2000]

Morgan wrote:
Dear Morgan: 1) 18 grand for Forester w/manual trans and 50K miles is
too much - moreover, the yearly mileage count indicates that is was
either
a) salesman's car or
b) off lease vehicle or
c) vehicle, that was recently retired from usage as a rent car
If any of above is true, I would personally stay clear
2) If none of above holds, try to get more realistic price - say, 12
grand and - if purchased from "used car dealership" get a basic
divetrain warranty from the seller, because factory warranty will
expire in 10k miles
3) when you negotiate a realistic price, pay CASH and only
CASH.(period)
You will obviously avoid finance charges ( going high today for used
cars) and mandatory full insurance coverage ( depending on your driving
habits and area where you live, you may well get by with liability
only, which, e.g. for my 2000 OBW Ltd. runs at like 10 bucks a
month...)
4) when you finally made the purchase , be religious about maintenance
of your new toy - Subies DO REQUIRE it; moreover - a lot of it may be
done DYI style
I wish you many happy years with one of the most sophisticated and at
the same time dependable automobiles available in the US market

cheers
krzysztof duszkiewicz
http://www.soundclick.com/krzysztofduszkiewicz

 

[QX]

I'm about to ditch my '94 Legacy wagon for high mileage and expensive
repairs. I'm considering replacing it with a 2005 Forester, 5 spd, about
50K miles on it. The price is $18,000. My thought is that if I'm going
to spend that kind of money on a car, I'd rather spend it up front on a
car that won't need major repairs every month for the next two years
(the '94 has cost me $8,000 in repairs since I bought it for $2,500
almost two years ago).

Any thoughts, suggestions, recommendations?

Thanks,
Morgan

I have an '05 Forester XT (USA) with the auto trans, and no
major problems. I have about 15,000 miles on it. No off roading, but
plenty of rough washboard and rock based primitive roads in addition
to Las Vegas commute traffic.

My only complaint is that the driver's side sun visor doesn't always
stay in place when in use. Subaru has replaced it once, but after a
month or so, the same problem started. They will have the opportunity
to swap it out again.

 

[Bob H]

I'm about to ditch my '94 Legacy wagon for high mileage and expensive
repairs. I'm considering replacing it with a 2005 Forester, 5 spd, about
50K miles on it. The price is $18,000. My thought is that if I'm going to
spend that kind of money on a car, I'd rather spend it up front on a car
that won't need major repairs every month for the next two years (the '94
has cost me $8,000 in repairs since I bought it for $2,500 almost two
years ago).

Any thoughts, suggestions, recommendations?

Thanks,
Morgan

Keep drivin the 94 if it's possible. Get your $ worth out of those
repairs.

 

[Frank]

A new Forester would not cost that much more and you'd have all the
warranties. If all US dollars, this one is overpriced and way too high
mileage.

 

[Morgan]

Keep drivin the 94 if it's possible. Get your $ worth out of those
repairs.

I think the another problem I have with continuing to drive the '94 is
that we also own a '96 Legacy Outback wagon with 150K miles on it (the
'94 has about 180K miles on it). The '96 will need a new catalytic
converter in July to make it through inspection (we scraped by last
summer) and needs an oil check every fill-up to avoid an engine block
replacement. Right now the '94 is undriveable. It's sitting in the shop
waiting for a decision. The electrical system is so dead that they
needed to use a battery charger so I could get my favorite CD out of the
player. We put about 15K miles on the '96 in a year and a lot less
(maybe 5K? not sure) on the '94.

Problem is that the 15K car has to have an automatic transmission, the
other has to have a standard (I'm particular about that). The '96 has an
automatic, the '94 has a stick, so we can't swap cars. (The 15K driver
can't drive stick and isn't in a position to learn.)

So we need two cars with AWD, preferably Subarus (Central NY). We're not
in a position to make car payments, but I think we might be able to come
up with up to twenty thousand dollars cash. I won't know until the end
of the week. Life gets complicated when you're buying a house and a car
breaks.

Thinking out loud here.

Morgan

 

[Morgan]

Thanks.

The car's from the original dealer, so the history is known. The
original owner apparently drives from Central NY to NYC every weekend,
which is where the mileage comes from.

We'd pay cash in any case--you're right, finance charges are not
something we want. And car payments on top of the mortgage payments we
hope to be taking on shortly (did I just write that?) are something we
really don't want.

But a Subaru is something we very much *do* want.

Morgan

 

[Steve]

I'm considering replacing it with a 2005 Forester, 5 spd, about
50K miles on it. The price is $18,000.

I bought a 2005 Forester, 5 spd, new about a year ago with about 50
miles on it. I paid a little over $18,000 for that (there was a rebate
program in effect at the time). So, I would say that price is quite
high for a used vehicle with that many miles.

 

[Grolsch]

Which 2005 is it. If it is only an X then the price is too high. If it's an
XS or XS premium and well maintained hwy miles then it's probably in the
right range. Try for 15,000 - 16,000. Consider that a well maintained Subaru
should do you 300,000km easy. Also consider that while the mileage is that
of a three year old car, the body style and equipment is virtually current
year, that should add value. Are there maintenance records?

OTOH, I just spent $2410.00 on our old 1990 Legacy for a clutch, timing
belt, CV Joints and full tune and Synthetic in the tranny and engine. It's
got 160,000km on it and runs almost as new. It has the old 2.2 DOHC engine
which, arguably, was one of Subarus better engines.

My 2004 Forester XS (42,000km) is my third consecutive Subaru, starting in
1986. These cars are keepers, generally speaking.

 

[Blair Baucom]

I purchased a 2005 Forester XS 5 speed, new for $22,500 USD at Thanksgiving
2004. I just turned up 18,000 miles with no problems at all except one blown
tire from highway debris. I have been very happy with it so far. I did
notice when renting a 2006 OBW that it was quieter than the Forester as
someone else here also noted before.

Blair

 

[Morgan]

Thanks to everyone for advice. I'll be picking up my new 2006 Forester
2.5x this evening. 5 spd, steel gray. I can't tell you how exciting this
is. I haven't owned a new car since my 1990 Acura Integra RS. (That was
a nice car, 5 spd, stealth red.) I won't have to drive my husband to
work anymore. He can decide when to come home instead of waiting for me
to remember to pick him up.

Morgan

 

[Theodrake]

Thanks to everyone for advice. I'll be picking up my new 2006 Forester
2.5x this evening. 5 spd, steel gray. I can't tell you how exciting this
is. I haven't owned a new car since my 1990 Acura Integra RS. (That was
a nice car, 5 spd, stealth red.) I won't have to drive my husband to
work anymore. He can decide when to come home instead of waiting for me
to remember to pick him up.

Ah the memories. Nothing I hated worse then waiting for my wife to
remember to pick me up at work