Used Subaru Forestor - Any Info?

[jyl]

Young friend looking at 2005-2010 Subaru Forestors. No, she’s not a lesbian :-)

What do we know about these cars? Weak spots, recalls, reasons to avoid?

[RWebb]

head gasket failure

[DonDavis]

Head gaskets were a much larger issue for the 2.5 from late 90's to about 2003.
That Forester should be fine as long as it ( like any car ) was maintained fairly well.
Have a mech look it over. My '96 2.2 SOHC is at 325,000 miles and runs great.

[Arizona_928]

The head gaskets aren't that bad on the H-4 cylinder.

[RWebb]

my 2010 Forester has head gasket issues

[Cajundaddy]

Decent cars along with the Subi Outback. Less reliable than the similarly sized Honda CRV/Toyota Rav4 with head gasket issues being the most common significant issue. Interior seems pretty durable and they are fun to drive.

[DonDavis]

Originally Posted by RWebb

my 2010 Forester has head gasket issues

Sure, but on a much less frequent basis.
Doesn't make yours less painful for you.
But the Forester shouldn't be tossed out with the water.

[Nostril Cheese]

The EJ25 is just a mistake in general. I work on too many of those engines. The biggest things are timing belts and making sure to use the correct coolant.

[jyl]

How often should timing belt be replaced? Looking at a 2005 with 75K miles and Carfax shows belt change at 57K. Yah, kinda old, but lowish miles.

This kid lives in Portland, doesn’t drive much, car will mostly be used for weekend camping and around-town, probably <10K/yr.

[vash]

We have a 2005. The Turbo version. 135,000 miles.
‘We’re they trouble free? Nope. Motor started ticking. Memory fails me, but something with the valves went bad.

We elected to do the top end.

I think they did the timing belt too.

We still have that car. It runs really well. Pretty quick. Stick-shift is smooth.

One thing; this car has the most difficult to reach spark plugs. Contrary to conventional wisdom, the motor doesn’t need to be tilted up to get them. I dud it myself with a lot of cussing. Two PPOT friends came to offer support.

My wife still enjoys it. Besides that one expensive fail, it’s been okay. Oh, the sunroof locked opened once. That wasn’t cheap either.

My biggest complaint is wind and road noise. It has frameless side windows. The car is very noisy. Even when it was brand new.

[Steve Carlton]

I had a 2007 Legacy non-turbo and the head gaskets and pan gasket were leaking.

[Nostril Cheese]

Originally Posted by jyl

This kid lives in Portland, doesn’t drive much, car will mostly be used for weekend camping and around-town, probably <10K/yr.

Id be happy to look over a car if needed. PM me.

[Nostril Cheese]

Originally Posted by vash

One thing; this car has the most difficult to reach spark plugs. Contrary to conventional wisdom, the motor doesn’t need to be tilted up to get them. I dud it myself with a lot of cussing. Two PPOT friends came to offer support.

Its really not that hard to change them. just an extension and u joint. Few things need to be moved out of the way

[john70t]

https://www.carcomplaints.com/Subaru/

It looks like the Outback has the most issues, followed by the Forester.
I looked at an '10 Forester and the doors creaked, the rear main was leaking, and had more underside rust than my old 95 Legacy.

[vash]

Originally Posted by Nostril Cheese

Its really not that hard to change them. just an extension and u joint. Few things need to be moved out of the way

It’s the coil packs that are the problem.

[ZOO]

I love Subarus of this generation, but they aren't paragons of reliability. Rust is also an issue here in Ontario.

I'd still buy one, knowing that they are finicky. Does she need AWD? For a non-car person I'd maybe guide her somewhere else.

[unclebilly]

My wife drives an 08 Tribeca (her choice, not mine). I bought it with a known faulty tranny 2 years ago, and once I got this sorted out it has been 100% reliable and excellent. I like driving it and it is a great family ski vehicle (every weekend for us from late November to April). It does use a bit of oil however.

Also the plugs were a biotch and I had to get my then 8 year old son to help with them.

[Mike Andrew]

Have had '08, '09, '12 and '17 Foresters. 2008 of wife's had leaky head gaskets and we traded it when she bought the X1. My '17 uses a bit of oil and has since I bought it with 7500 on the clock. Awaiting delivery of a '20 any day now and trading the '17.

I am pretty happy overall with the brand(obviously). I drive 20K a year between fishing and skiing and am impressed by the AWD in winter.

Newer cars have solved the timing belt issue which is a pricey repair, about $800 IIRC.

[NutmegCarrera]

Nice little cars. My daughter acquired mother in law’s 2007 as her first car. Has just over 50k miles. Biggest issue with these is that it can be difficult to find one.
For a car that age, the timing belt, tensioner and water pump MUST be done. Annika’s had a bit of a “surge” upon starting. My best guesstimate is that the T-Belt tensioner ‘bled down’ when not running and ‘bounced’ when the car started. After I did the service, it has been rock steady upon startup.
I searched a bit for a non Chinese kit for the service. Beware of the Gates kit - all Chinese parts. I found Japan sourced pump, tensioner and idlers. I think they are NTN. It took some doing.
The project isn’t quick or easy, either. I spent an entire day at it - being careful. Alignment of the belt to all the idlers is crucial (of course).
Once I got it all together and the belt on, I started tightening the water pump screws (there are six or seven - the unit is quite large), and found what must have been a bad portion of the casting. One screw never tightened - just pulled the threads right out. Fortunately, it was an easy and accessible location for a heli-coil. With that, everything snugged up nicely.
You do have to pull the radiator for the belt change. Bonus - as that forced me to flush the coolant too.
So-
My daughter has a 50k mile 2007 Forester in “blend-in” champagne beige with a new timing belt, water pump, new plugs, new brakes all around, an alignment and full interior and exterior detail (she helped on most of this stuff). And I’m in it for a little over $1200.
I’d do this any day of the week - if I could find more of them.



Drives like a typical 80’s/90’s small car.
Handles well and decent power.
Airbags - so I’m a pretty happy dad!

[Mike Andrew]

Anybody else remember the Subaru parody ad of several years ago with the lesbians and their lab?

My wife always referred to her '08 as the Lezmobile. Not that there's anything wrong with that