GF Thinking about getting a Subaru Forester?

[Blackoyote]

And people believe that shit?

:nonono:

Of course there are limitations and some common sense involved...if your tires only have a few thousand miles on them and you rotate regularly, it's not an issue. If you have 4 tires near/at the wear bar and blow one, you don't want to replace just one.

 

[03cobra#2]

Foresters are a great SUV. Subaru is definitely focused on quality over quantity, most of the service departments and the dealerships are highly focused on customer service...much more than the average Ford, Chevy dealership, and the cars have crazy resale value. I would say say their AWD is the best out there too, comaprable to Audi's Quattro and Mercedes 4-matic.

With that being said, Subaru is not for everyone. It's not a Buick. Meaning not the most luxurious but gets the job done as far as comfort and features.

 

[dannydarko11]

Of course there are limitations and some common sense involved...if your tires only have a few thousand miles on them and you rotate regularly, it's not an issue. If you have 4 tires near/at the wear bar and blow one, you don't want to replace just one.

Yeah i was thinking along those lines as well. But, then again I've never owned an AWD car before and neither has she.

 

[dannydarko11]

Foresters are a great SUV. Subaru is definitely focused on quality over quantity, most of the service departments and the dealerships are highly focused on customer service...much more than the average Ford, Chevy dealership, and the cars have crazy resale value. I would say say their AWD is the best out there too, comaprable to Audi's Quattro and Mercedes 4-matic.

With that being said, Subaru is not for everyone. It's not a Buick. Meaning not the most luxurious but gets the job done as far as comfort and features.

Thanks!

 

[kevinatfms]

And people believe that shit?

:nonono:

Look at the 2002-2009 Explorer. We used to replace 4wd modules, transfer cases and hubs from tires being more than 7% of roll out. Caused all kinds of problems. Seen people ride on 2 different size tires front to rear and blow a transfer case up with enough force to dent the floorboard. They heat up trying to transfer the power at 60+mph and when they finally stop all that force has to go somewhere.

Wear patterns would cause surging and premature 4wd activation on them also which led to people bringing them in for the slightest issue. You tell them they need tires cause the worn ball joints wore the tires uneven or cupped them and they take it as you are ****ing stupid. Not the case and a simple tire swap fixes the issue. Some would drive out and come back a week or two later with the transfer case missing chunks out of the side.

 

[Zemedici]

Might want to check if your girlfriend doesn't have a girlfriend.......

Literally the same thing I thought

So....does your GF like to play bass or snowboard? :lol:

In all seriousness about the tire wear nonsense. Unless one tire is like ZERO tread and the other is new, I don't see it causing premature wear on the diffs.

 

[Coiled03]

Of course there are limitations and some common sense involved...if your tires only have a few thousand miles on them and you rotate regularly, it's not an issue. If you have 4 tires near/at the wear bar and blow one, you don't want to replace just one.

Well obviously, if they all need to be replaced anyway, you would do it.

My point is it sounds like the manual is suggesting you do it REGARDLESS of the condition of the other tires, which is ludicrous. Nobody in their right mind would replace all 4 tires, if 1 of them blows, and the other three are in good condition.

 

[GT Premi]

Yeah i was thinking along those lines as well. But, then again I've never owned an AWD car before and neither has she.

Once the first big snow hits and she's driving around like it's nothing, she's going to be hooked for life. Foresters are as rugged as they are ugly, and they're pretty darn ugly! Subaru has THE best AWD system on the market, bar none. (As it pertains to driving on bad road conditions.) Go to a dealer and see how many used Foresters are on the lot. You won't see many. Once people get one, they hang on to it for a LOOOOONG time. I can't count how many times strangers have come up and offered to buy our Forester. I honestly can't see us parting with it for any reason. It has MORE than earned it's spot in the garage.

If your girlfriend's looking at a base model, tell her to get the manual transmission, if she can drive manual. It's more fun, and the CVT is a bit rubbery.

 

[dannydarko11]

Once the first big snow hits and she's driving around like it's nothing, she's going to be hooked for life. Foresters are as rugged as they are ugly, and they're pretty darn ugly! Subaru has THE best AWD system on the market, bar none. (As it pertains to driving on bad road conditions.) Go to a dealer and see how many used Foresters are on the lot. You won't see many. Once people get one, they hang on to it for a LOOOOONG time. I can't count how many times strangers have come up and offered to buy our Forester. I honestly can't see us parting with it for any reason. It has MORE than earned it's spot in the garage.

If your girlfriend's looking at a base model, tell her to get the manual transmission, if she can drive manual. It's more fun, and the CVT is a bit rubbery.

Thanks for the input!

Doubt we will be seeing much snow living here in San Diego LOL. She tells me there arent many cars out right now that appeal to her, then she saw a Forester on the road and liked it.

 

[SonicDTR]

Ex's family loved subaru foresters. her mom had several of them and never had any issues. Only replaced them b/c she got into a few wrecks.

 

[suaveflooder]

I would be a bit weary buying a Subaru personally. They love to eat oil, amongst more serious issues. My in laws have an Outback with 90,000 miles and that thing just drinks oil. Seems like everyone I talk to with a Subaru has about the same experience. A friend of mine runs a machine shop and specializes in Subaru's, every single WRX/STi engine that comes through has the rod bearings absolutely pounded out of them. Not to mention the issues they've had with headgaskets, ring lands, etc. Just not a well made product IMO.

To answer some of these "absolutes" you've mentioned:

- Some DO eat oil - I'm on my 3rd subaru (going to count the FRS since even the emblems have "subaru" written on the back of them), two NA and one turbo and none of them have burned much oil. I actually burned more oil in my Cobra. One of my currents is a '14 outback that has never burned a single drop.

- Some do have rod bearing issues- Mostly turbo models, and from what I've seen and it's because they tend to use the wrong oil, such as the crappy 5w30 subaru oil that shears to a 20 weight in less than 3k miles. Then they continue to drive it for another 4500 miles to hit the 7500 mile OCI because they fail to read the owners manual where it warns that turbo models need to be changed twice as often. Another reason the bearings go pop is that people beat on the car before it's warm. (You would be SHOCKED at how often this happens).

-Head gasket issues are few and far between on newer models-

Biggest issue that I can agree with is interior quality. It is not all that great. Pretty comparible to the crappy interior I had in my 03 cobra. My WRX rattles like crazy. Oddly enough, my outback has more miles and is perfectly quiet inside...go figure.

They are pretty dang reliable cars for the most part in NA form (plenty of them at 200k+ miles on the forums on the same engine). The turbo cars are a little more hit and miss from what I've seen, but the failure rate is still pretty low.

For the OP, if you can hadle the crappy interior quality, they really are great cars for the most part, and as mentioned above, the dealerships tend to (tend to, but obviously not all of them) go out of their way to help out. Subaru is pretty good (for non-WRX/STI cars) about "good willing" any work that happens just outside of warranty.

 

[dannydarko11]

To answer some of these "absolutes" you've mentioned:

- Some DO eat oil - I'm on my 3rd subaru (going to count the FRS since even the emblems have "subaru" written on the back of them), two NA and one turbo and none of them have burned much oil. I actually burned more oil in my Cobra. One of my currents is a '14 outback that has never burned a single drop.

- Some do have rod bearing issues- Mostly turbo models, and from what I've seen and it's because they tend to use the wrong oil, such as the crappy 5w30 subaru oil that shears to a 20 weight in less than 3k miles. Then they continue to drive it for another 4500 miles to hit the 7500 mile OCI because they fail to read the owners manual where it warns that turbo models need to be changed twice as often. Another reason the bearings go pop is that people beat on the car before it's warm. (You would be SHOCKED at how often this happens).

-Head gasket issues are few and far between on newer models-

Biggest issue that I can agree with is interior quality. It is not all that great. Pretty comparible to the crappy interior I had in my 03 cobra. My WRX rattles like crazy. Oddly enough, my outback has more miles and is perfectly quiet inside...go figure.

They are pretty dang reliable cars for the most part in NA form (plenty of them at 200k+ miles on the forums on the same engine). The turbo cars are a little more hit and miss from what I've seen, but the failure rate is still pretty low.

For the OP, if you can hadle the crappy interior quality, they really are great cars for the most part, and as mentioned above, the dealerships tend to (tend to, but obviously not all of them) go out of their way to help out. Subaru is pretty good (for non-WRX/STI cars) about "good willing" any work that happens just outside of warranty.

Thanks for the write-up! :beer:

I will be discussing all of this with her tonight.

 

[suaveflooder]

Thanks for the write-up! :beer:

I will be discussing all of this with her tonight.

You live right by me if you have any more questions or need to talk. Shoot me a PM and I'll send you my number I'm in the IE as well (temecula)

 

[AustinSN]

For the OP, if you can hadle the crappy interior quality, they really are great cars for the most part, and as mentioned above, the dealerships tend to (tend to, but obviously not all of them) go out of their way to help out. Subaru is pretty good (for non-WRX/STI cars) about "good willing" any work that happens just outside of warranty.

I'm actually interested in how other non-Colorado dealers treat Subaru buyers. I have never attempted to purchase one but my best friend's dad was going to buy his wife a Forester, she liked it after the test drive and his dad asked the sales guy "so is there anything you can do for me on the price?" and the guy literally said "well it's a Subaru, you'll pay what you'll pay." They bought a CRV.

Out here they sell so well I think they refuse to haggle or anything. True car pricing with "what others paid for this car" isn't much off MSRP.

 

[mnewxcv]

im sorry if I missed it, but is there a reason she wants an AWD vehicle? I wouldn't ask if you were in new england, but san diego I have to wonder. I would think competing vehicles in that class without AWD would have better fuel economy which would be worth it in the long run.

 

[suaveflooder]

I'm actually interested in how other non-Colorado dealers treat Subaru buyers. I have never attempted to purchase one but my best friend's dad was going to buy his wife a Forester, she liked it after the test drive and his dad asked the sales guy "so is there anything you can do for me on the price?" and the guy literally said "well it's a Subaru, you'll pay what you'll pay." They bought a CRV.

Out here they sell so well I think they refuse to haggle or anything. True car pricing with "what others paid for this car" isn't much off MSRP.

hmmmmmm....yeah, I've heard that before. Older models you will probably have better luck on (we bought a left over 2014 when the '15's arrived and got some off), but you are correct, I don't thing subaru messes much with the price because they do sell so well. This whole year, subaru has been hitting record numbers as far as sales are concerned.

 

[thomas91169]

im sorry if I missed it, but is there a reason she wants an AWD vehicle? I wouldn't ask if you were in new england, but san diego I have to wonder. I would think competing vehicles in that class without AWD would have better fuel economy which would be worth it in the long run.

Because El Nino dude.

All the SoCal people are freaking out with 2-3" of water.

 

[dannydarko11]

im sorry if I missed it, but is there a reason she wants an AWD vehicle? I wouldn't ask if you were in new england, but san diego I have to wonder. I would think competing vehicles in that class without AWD would have better fuel economy which would be worth it in the long run.

Thats a good question I've asked her multiple times. But, she insists lol. Apparently this is the only SUV/Crossover that she likes right now.

You live right by me if you have any more questions or need to talk. Shoot me a PM and I'll send you my number I'm in the IE as well (temecula)

I live in SD. I travel up to Temecula to see my Dad. My Mom lives in Loma Linda lol
Thanks man! will do :beer:

 

[dannydarko11]

Because El Nino dude.

All the SoCal people are freaking out with 2-3" of water.

Tell me about it.....

I heard on the radio yesterday, someone suggested they shut down schools and businesses.

wut.

 

[DHG1078]

Because El Nino dude.

All the SoCal people are freaking out with 2-3" of water.

2-3" of rain in one day is a lot of rain for parts of socal where roads, sewers, etc. weren't designed to handle that much. Not that I feel the need to run out and buy a car for it.

IDK if you saw the videos where the 5 freeway was down to 1 lane each direction due to flooding, and I wasn't even sure that one lane should have been open. Lots of flooding.

Not that 2-3" is a ton of rain for most of the country, but it is where civil engineers didn't account for strong el ninos.