Hi, Steve here, new to the forum...

Come next Feb, post-tax return, I'll be in the market for a new(to me )vehicle, and I'm researching the Foresters as they have pretty much all I'm looking for, AWD, ABS, and a fair amount of bells/whistles. My current car is a '98 Dodge Stratus that has served me very well (I'm at 193k miles and going strong) but New England winters, plus the fact I've had it 8 yrs, I'm looking to upgrade.

Are there any big $$ issues that I should be aware of??? Reliability of the engine/drivetrain/electrical systems?? Or are they pretty much stone-reliable?

Any/all input welcomed... :rockon:

Welcome to the forum!


The forester is a good vehicle, are you looking for a daily driver and care only about gas mileage/reliability or are you looking for something to play with?

it'll primarily be a commuter, I regularly put about 22k miles per year on my vehicles. From the reviews I've read, the Forester handles well, brakes well, has decent power (my dodge, with the base 2.0 4 cyl has a whopping 132 hp, but with the manual tranny, was fairly peppy believe it or not) I also own a jetski, so will need to be able to tow a single ski trailer (which my dodge does, no problem)
I get my 'performance kicks' from jetskis and motorcycles, not cars. Probably cause the true sportscars are not currently in my price range. I'm interested in used (no older than '03) because of the price factor as well.

The Forester is a solid car and will serve well in the snow. It also has lots of cubic feet for travel/kids/whatever. If you're looking for performance, check out the XT. It's one of the few SUVs (if you can call it that) that can hit 60 in less than 5.5 seconds and finish the 1/4 in 13.8 with a good driver behind the wheel-not bad for a wagon/SUV hybrid. Modification through COBBTuning can make it quite the little sleeper (enough to take a Porsche Cayenne):D.

The naturally aspirated motor comes with 160hp and a little more torque. It should be plenty for your daily commute if you're not interested in performance. Good luck!

it'll primarily be a commuter, I regularly put about 22k miles per year on my vehicles. From the reviews I've read, the Forester handles well, brakes well, has decent power (my dodge, with the base 2.0 4 cyl has a whopping 132 hp, but with the manual tranny, was fairly peppy believe it or not) I also own a jetski, so will need to be able to tow a single ski trailer (which my dodge does, no problem)
I get my 'performance kicks' from jetskis and motorcycles, not cars. Probably cause the true sportscars are not currently in my price range. I'm interested in used (no older than '03) because of the price factor as well.


Then that is probably the right car for you. Are you interested in any others or just the Forester?

I know that you said that you would be towing things, but coming from the stratus you might also want to look into a legacy gt they're quite nice cars, even comparable to a bimmer in the luxury department and performance wise, although I would much rather have the bimmer....The forester is a good choice they are actually very quick cars if that's what you want to call it, and could deff haul your jet ski, but so couldn't my wrx although I wouldn't put my car through that, but yah just figured I'd throw the legacy out there also

I'm sure Steve1 will be on here soon him and his brother both have a Forester. They're pretty reliable from what I've heard. Last time I was at the Subaru dealership in vegas (which i despise) some really old man came in. He said that he had 150K+ miles on his forester he had the car for 10+ years and loved it and wanted to trade it in for a new one because the Forester had been so "loyal and reliable" to him over all the years.

Cool, thanks for the replies. If I can find an XT in my price range, that'd be nice...
What's considered hi-mileage for these engines(either engine for the forester, not just the turbo one)? Or for subaru's in general as the forester has only been around since '97 mor so...Should I avoid those with mileage over, say, 60k for an '03?

Cool, thanks for the replies. If I can find an XT in my price range, that'd be nice...
What's considered hi-mileage for these engines(either engine for the forester, not just the turbo one)? Or for subaru's in general as the forester has only been around since '97 mor so...Should I avoid those with mileage over, say, 60k for an '03?
Anyone wanna offer an opinion as to what's considered hi-mileage for Subaru's when buying used??

our 02 has about 50k...that is usually considered average. We have a couple hi-mile trips on it.